Fur Free Friday 2010

Today I marched in the Fur Free Friday demonstration in downtown Portland. Justin had to make soap all day today but I rode the bus into the city and stood alongside 200 or so other compassionate individuals dedicated to acting up on behalf of the 50 million beings who each year are bred and slaughtered in some of the most gruesome conditions imaginable so that sickeningly selfish and obtuse people can wear their furs.

Practicing Patience

Some wise soul said “Patience is a virtue” and after years of deliberate practice it is now abundantly clear to me why. In our super-fast, win-or-die goal-oriented Western culture we so easily forget that life is a journey, rather than a competition or race toward some end prize. The true prizes are to be found along the way, but if we’re caught up in a cyclone of “busyness” it’s hard to really see and receive the wisdom and joy to be gleaned along the way.

Autumn roses, the Pittock legacy and the spirit of Portland

Last week in a warm gusty day the sun and earth aligned just so; the autumnal equinox

Among my favorite places to visit in Portland is the Pittock Mansion. Another of my favorites, this time photographic subjects, are flowers. These roses are from the garden at the Pittock Mansion. I'd like to imagine they may be some of the very plants that sparked the Rose Festival, a Portland tradition Georgiana Pittock is credited with originating.

A dynamic and community minded couple, the Pittocks played major roles in the development of Portland's spirit. Henry Pittock took ownership of the Weekly Oregonian in 1860, changing its format to the daily paper we read today. He was also one of the first to ascend Mount Hood and he ultimately built a large commercial empire that included everything from real estate to mining. Georgiana helped carve a way for women's independence in the early days of the Rose City. She helped found the Ladies Relief Society in 1867, whose Children’s Home provided care, food, and shelter for needy children. Georgiana also worked with the Woman’s Union, and played a key role in building the Martha Washington Home for single, working women.

And I think of my dynamic couple-ship - the mufftastic Siosal union. What we intend to create -

Legacy - a noun; as in a legacy from a great aunt

A legacy or bequest, inheritance, heritage, endowment, gift, patrimony, settlement, birthright;

formally, benefaction.

Questions for the Universe

Often in meditation I go inward seeking an answer or clue to a question that thinking will not deliver. As I close my eyes on this earth,  my inner eyes open into the universe. All around me stretching forever, trillions of stars sparkle like diamonds against velvet and fiery, milky galaxies bob in the myriad dimensions. I let words go and slip into mystery, I am a soul poised to take flight, heading out into the real information superhighway in search of pure knowing.

To blog, or not to blog

As the number of weeks and then months increased since I last made an entry on this blog, I began to question why I started this blog to begin with, and what I wanted out of the experience.