MaryAlice Musings and More

There must be something else to write about, and there is - having said that I just must comment that it is above freezing, the sun is high in the sky, it is half-past eight (a.m.) and it is Minnesota. The sun is brilliant, another winter sun bathing day, and I am in my house, smelling the wild rice cooking for the making of Hell's Kitchen Porridge. Happy to be home! For those of you who don't know, the Iowa State Capitol Building is a beautiful structure. The sun shining on the gold dome is magnificient, and you look down as you drive back into the eastern historical section of DesMoines onto the Polk County Court House, and that isn't too shabby either. Polk County Court House was where I was a witness to my first same sex marriage ceremony! Waited a long time for that. Being a witness was awesome and to actually have two women be able to legally formalize their love and commitment - stunning! It really is only a matter of time before the marriage of couple of any

An evening at home, at my home. I got home just in time for another trip to the deep freeze, moving close to -0. I was hoping we wouldn't have any more of that this winter, but as the east coast braces for another snow storm, we have beautiful, clear, amazing spine chilling atmosphere. So I am snuggled in for the evening, and mentally re-packing my suitcase. This time for Iowa, and it is not for the caucus's. It is for a wedding. Hey California, New York there is somewhere that is not New England for lesbians and gay men to marry. It is Iowa. Yes Iowa, it didn't even seem like a big deal. It was the "right" thing to do. How fun to be able to witness my friends marriage! Yeah for Kathleen and Donna. Yeah for Iowa.

It's getting better - I hope! This a.m. a meeting I have been waiting for with new CMS folks - one of them Mary Kennedy - who has been my boss at several times in my career, and she is now a special assistant at CMS. I am looking forward to hearing how each of these women are approaching their new work, and how they are attempting to move along systems change within their Department and the Country. No small task. Then I get to go home. Ready, big bag packed, carry on next, was glad to start the trip and ready to come home. As it should be.

Here I am in DC, had great meeting today. But an eye that was hurting more and looking worse each hour-bruising, swollen, sharp pain. After stop at pharmacy (I thought it might be the beginning of a sty or ???), then to the drop in optometrist, and then 2 phone calls with my eye doctor in Minneapolis! I have drugs, a diagnosis, it is a long name (meaning infection in the duct of eye) and the big problem is that this infection is very close to the brain....so I am under close watch, every 6 hours I am taking my antibiotic, and will be glad to be home later tomorrow night. Here's hoping for a good, speedy recovery. I am glad that everyone was so helpful to me today, and that my doctor many miles away was able to listen and respond to my needs. Lucky girl, I am.

Before getting on the train at the 30th Street station in Philadelphia, I had a great conversation with the porter who was going to take my bags to the train. He said now that Joe Biden was vice-president, there may be hope for the trains. He has a vision that the entire country would be "electrified". We talked about the high speed train that is planned from Minneapolis to Chicago. I talked about wanting to take my grand-daughter Myah, who will be ten in April cross country on a train this summer, hoping to innoculate in her a love of the trains It made me think about Sasha and I going to San Francisco in the middle of winter, it was a big adventure, it holds stories and memories forever. I love the train, and was glad to have been on a train each day of the past 2, from Princeton Junction to Philadelphia, from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. I had a good time, imagining Joe Biden, our vice-president, as he rode this very same route two times a day for many decades. A

We walked, ate, shopped, laughed, cried, and had a great time. The eating highlight was the French Bistro Caribou Cafe, not to be confused with Caribou coffee shops in MN. It was a fine place to stop after many stores with lots of fun things to see and feel. There were two outrageous art deco lamps, goddesses with beautiful shades above their heads. We had great pate, and frittes, and bubbly water. For a few moments it was as if we were in Paris. Loving the day, our time together and our friendship. It was a the city of sisterly love this afternoon!

A very different view out my window this a.m. I am looking out onto a square in Princeton NJ - home of many things - one I am remembering is this is where the ACT Test folks are from. I am heading off to Trenton this a.m. to meet with folks from the New Jersey Alliance for Full Participation . What a day with the folks from AFP and then the NJ Labor Department. It is exciting and invigorating that so many people are willing to envision, plan and make real that employment is a choice for everyone! That we need to look at ways to educate, train, support all people to successful enter the workforce, start their own business, be treated and compensated fairly for their work. The sun is shining in NJ and people are speaking up for themselves about the importance of work! Day 2 of travel going well. Next stop Philadelphia!

I am looking out the window of the 5th floor of the Nassau Inn in the heart on Princeton, NJ - it is the home of the Norman Rockwell painting Yankee Doodle, which hangs above the bar in the (what else) Yankee Doodle Tap Room. The Inn has been in operation since 1756. Down the street is the Nassau Hall - which in 1783 served as the capitol of the United States for six months. The buildings are amazing, each step some part of history. I just drove down the road the Washington's men marched along during the American Revolution. The town reminds me more of living in Vermont, than what one thinks of when you say I am in New Jersey. Looking forward to enjoying the scenery, the history and some good work time in Trenton! The sun is shining, and all is well!

While I was out of town on silent retreat, Radar decided to speak up. In fact he has figured out how to navigate the world wide web and has his own blog, Radar's Rants - check it out. He is learning new technology and is using multi-media approach to his blogging. I wonder what he will get into when I am going for my 6 day eastern tour! Glad that he is finding a way to express himself, that does not include "marking" on other people's furniture and rugs!

The light continues its pattern no matter what happens to the seasons. 6:30 a.m. and there is light in the sky! 7:00 a.m. it is bright...I can appreciate this, waking up with the light is good for my soul. I am looking forward to returning to my work today. The headlines in the paper are all about the Governor's budget, it is beyond bleak! Need to remember that it is just that the Governor's budget, there is a long way to go before we get to the end of this legislative session. Who will have the courage to really examine an approach that includes bringing in more revenue to the state (that would be taxes!) in this year of a governor's race! So I am breathing in the light, doing what I can to provide solutions, to participate and plan from a different perspective than what got us into the problems of today. Do the next thing, and remember to breathe through my feet - my hands, my heart! 7:20 sun crests over the horizon - brilliance just breathe that in as an antid

Oh the Siena Center was a wonderful respite. This was the 17th Annual Sufi Retreat in Racine, and it was a circle of old and new friends coming together to renew, to deepen, to step out of the bustle and pace of our everyday worlds. I do feel renewed, and now am home and Radar is snuggled up next to me. Nestled in a for another cold winter's night. It is good.

I am off to the Sienna Center in WI for the annual Fire and Ice Sufi retreat. It is a silent retreat and I am packed and ready to go. I had a tug this a.m. oh maybe I could go into the library or an office and send a short blog? No. I am retreating from my daily activities, quieting my mind, opening up to my soul, to the cosmic connections, to life. In silence, which is quite full of communication! No new snow planned, I have warm clothes, open heart, and good intention. Silence will be broken soon.

Most often when I am blogging I am sitting at my dining room table, and looking out the big glass sliding doors to the east. I love the time in the early morning where I start out with my cup of coffee in the almost dark, and then watch the sky, light, clouds unfold into another day. There is snow everywhere and this morning big beautiful pink horizon as dawn breaks. This is a time when I breathe more deeply. My mind has not unleashed itself, is more quiet. I more easily recognize how quickly a landscape can change and stay the same. I love this morning time. So different than the years of making school lunches, rushing out the door, everyone getting where they need to go. It is me that I am responsible for now in the morning. It is me that I am caring for as I begin my day. It is my breath that I pay attention to as it moves in and out, in and out. Breathe breathe breathe. What a wonderful way to start the day.

There is snow everywhere, at least in MN this is not a problem. I am off to work and am feeling the momentum that is building around employment. Check out the new online resources for hiring someone with a disability - this business communication initiative has been an activity of Pathways to Employment , and is used by the Business Service Specialist and the Disability Resource Specialists at DEED and VR. Everyone is feeling like there work is paying off....and I have to get myself ready and show up for another day at the neighborhood of work!

Well, it wasn't really Paris! But an Art Shanty on Medicine Lake, and it was good medicine. Somehow there was something very good about making good fun outside. I am not in a place these days where I am doing a lot of physical exercise - I walk mostly as my "work out"! So wandering outside was good for deep breaths, and the shanties were good for my immune system because I laughed a great deal, and here I am with a third blog about ice shanties! One of the things that I appreciate about the interaction with the creators of a shanty is there absolute appreciation of the people who come to "visit". No veiled judgement or criticism of the "art" object that was brought to the art swap, all art work made is honored in the same way posted in the mail or put up on a shanty wall, dancing is good no matter what. A fine recipe was a future visit and a little more freedom to explore one's own creativity. This morning as a type there is no light yet i

It was a great day on the ice. Radar, in his felted gorgeous coat (made by yes-me!), Terry and myself went out for the last day of Art Shanty-ville 2010. I got a Finnish name: Sanna, I brought a felted heart and traded at the ART swap Shanty for a ceramic something made by an artist from Tucson, at the Shanty shop I made a cared and got a really really old get well card. It was so fun, lots of people, and the snow started while out on the ice. I linked to the Staycation Art Shanty where they took my picture against a Parisian background, check it out. Also on the artswap shanty not sure their website they took pictures of what I brought, what I got. Fun way to have fun instead of sitting at home wondering when winter will end, because it is not in February! Now on Monday night, I have just unburied my lights along the path to the garage, they were completely hidden - just a little glimpse of light, now they are shining around mounds of snow. It is still snowing and is not du

This is the third time I have tried to get to the Art Shanties on Medicine Lake. It is the last day, I'm going. Last year I taught this wonderful gay guy some knitting tips in the knitting yurk...who knows what awaits this year. I am bringing a felted heart for the art exchange...let you know what I get in return. Then there is the Birchwood Soup, the art car taxi service, the dice shanties and the radio station, and the post office.....what fun! I am putting on the polar gear and off I go. This is so Minnesotan I can hardly stand it, and I love it!

Nestled in at home. It is clear that I have been on to go, away from home, and everywhere in my house was asking (screaming) for some attention. Go it! Got the time, and at 4:30 p.m. calling it quits for the day. Off to the coop for some fish - menu Fish a la Grecque and Greek potatoes, salad and something fun for dessert. Tonights menu has been on my table often, recipes from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant (1987 Ten Speed Press - before great pictures!). Feels good, comfort food, listen to Prairie Home (which is from our Thursday night cinecast) and being a homebody. What a great Saturday - and tomorrow off to the Art Shanties. Only in Minnesota.

More about my night at Prairie Home Companion! If you want to wait until Saturday night radio to hear about Garrison's Lake Wobegon this week stop reading. Ok ....for the rest of you, one part of the story was about a 13 year old, out winter camping and he has to go pee. I watched the wonders of the stories that never stop about what it is boys can do as the pee. What was the best in the story was listening to Garrison Keillor and watching LUKE! He was rolling around in his seat, he was laughing and slapping and enjoying that this REALLY old guy on the stage was talking about spelling your name in the snow, outside at night, with the pee that was coming out of your penis....priceless. If only the power of that would stop right at that.

Tonight 3 generations sat in the first row of the balcony at the Fitzgerald Theater and watched the First Live Cinecast of Prairie Home Companion. Sasha, Myah, Luke and me. It all started when Luke wanted to go to PHC as a Christmas present. I have tried several times to get tickets for the Saturday live performance and no go....in trying to find tickets I found out at this the first live cinecast - on Saturday PHC will be seen on theater screens around the country and beyond! Just like the Met performances! In fact, it was when Garrison Keillor went to a Met cinecast that he finally relented and said "yes!". It was great, I remember listening on Saturdays or Sundays to the news from Lake Wobegan as a young woman living in rural wisconsin, no television but I loved public radio! Then when living in Minneapolis when Sasha was young, we would go every once in a while to see a live performance, then about 3 years ago Sasha called one day and said, "Mom, I turning

A rose is a rose is a rose.... how enraptured I was when I learned about Gertrude Stein. Alice and Gertrude, poetry, art and the world of Paris. Ex-patriot and patron of the arts. I loved the way that she used language, although often I could not understand most of what I read. Then the layers began to melt away and I felt as much as read her writings. Gertrude said, "America is my country, but Paris is my hometown". Happy Birthday Gertrude.

I like Facebook! It is great for an introvert - you can just "dip in" for a little while, a way to check in with folks, and you don't have to leave a message - or you can. This morning, I read about finding the #1 song on the day you were born. So I googled my birthdate and #1 billboard song. I was born 2 days after Mona Lisa, Nat King Cole fell from the #1 place on the charts and while the Weavers were enjoying their day 2 success of being #1 on the charts with their hit: Goodnight Irene, I was born. I remember this song deeply. My gramma sang the song, and she had a good friend named Irene. As a young adult finding my way to the folk protest world I sang louldy when hearing Goodnight Irene, and since my middle years I am often brought to tears when listening to a good rendition of Goodnight Irene. Now I can say, Goodnight Irene was the #1 billboard song on the day I was born, burst into song, and wipe away the tears from my touched heart. Never know what you

How great it is to have the opportunity to have a different vantage point. My this a.m. is looking to the west and seeing desert and mountains. Two day work trip to AZ. The days and nights have big temperature range, yet yesterday afternoon I sat in a chair and felt the sun and warmth, it was sun with heat and I just breathed it in to every pore of my body. One of my sufi teachers when on retreat in the dead of winter in WI always encourages us to take a sun bath, sit and deeply take in the radiance of the sun. I remembered her encouragement as I sat on my little porch directly facing the sun and for 10 minutes renewed myself in the sun.