MaryAlice Musings and More

Oh what a weekend.  House parties for Kevin, we are down to 6 days until the DFL Endorsing Convention.  Lots of conversations with people who are undecided.  It has been great, this political campaign - centered on people, on neighbors, on creating and acknowledging dialogue and engagement.  What fun.  The predictability of the "do it all by the playbook" is not happening, but lots of momentum is.... about the body, the mind, the heart and soul.... off to the Ritz Theater, to see the Kathka Dance Troupe, with classic Hindustani and American Jazz Musician.  Such fusion of movement, the music was incredible.  It was a great 90 minutes, transporting to a place of such openness and appreciation.   What a privilege to participate in democracy, to have art and culture, honoring diversity and tradition and pushing the edges, doing the unexpected.  The sun was high in the sky, the air was cold, but life is cooking here in NE Minneapolis.

I had a great morning with the supervisors that I work with.  We have been doing coaching together, coaching that helps us to better support each other, and to better provide support and structure for all the people we work with.  Today we all took risks,  not only engaged our heads, but allowed ourselves to not only operate from a very cognitive place, but recognize our emotions.  Sounds easy, of course, but in a world of constant change, lots of work to be done, the ability to be real to "exhale" ourselves and help to create a space for all of us to "exhale".  Well, that is  a gift. So as the snow blows, the winds bring really cold air, and there is the complete reminder that winter will not go away with out a little more of a fight.  There is a ray of sunshine and a warmth in a shared commitment and desire to do our work well, and to pay attention to each other.  There is time for this even as the winds blow and the grey clouds stretch across the sky.  

The Anderson House has closed. The Hotel/Inn has been continuously operating since 1856 when it was built along the Mississippi River in Wabasha, MN. It was around 20-25 years (those are big jumps in approximate years!) that I first heard about the hotel. There were many fun and different things about this old hotel. It was not such a long drive from Minneapolis, and lots of the drive winding down the Mississippi River. When you arrive at this bring building looking sturdy you begin to see that which makes it not be like the "chains" across the nation. On our first trip we were drawn by the cats (they have been on national TV). Young Sasha loved cats and she got to have a room with a cat of your choice. There are many choices, check out the website !  It was winter, and I opted for having a HOT BRICK brought to my bed before going to sleep.  We both got a mustard plaster to facilitate clearing the chest, and overall good health.  Each room was different (mostly funky...

This day has been such a treat. Rabbits were dancing in the backyard, hopping up and down, as if they had springs in their legs. The sun was so bright, and as I walked this afternoon there was such warmth on my neck, on the side of my face, my hands were warm without gloves. I still felt the residue of the evening before when women came together to celebrate the equinox, to dance, and be quiet and appreciate ourselves and the awakening from a long cold winter. I kept noticing that my shoulders were not hunched around my ears. It was a day of connecting, being with old precious friends, new friends. Good food, good friends, great weather, time for being, no pressures about doing. A fine first Saturday of this first full day of spring.

I woke up right around the time that spring arrived this morning. The sky and light had a quality that I know well, the reflective light of snow on the ground. As I was taking in the all pervading light, I was also wondering what it would look like outside when the light was brighter and I looked out on my backyard. There is was a thin cover of freshly fallen snow, not covering it all, but most of the yard, the sidewalks, the alley. The dance continues, the cold will come, snow will give way to rain, the sun will shine brightly again, but not today. We are slowly moving into spring, I am feeling the grogginess of winter slumber, the itchiness of desiring something else, the wish of warmth and breezes that wrap me in comfort. I am yearning for a "no weather" weather day, that time when you, your skin, feel just the same as the temperature, the wind, the light of the day. For today, I get another opportunity to notice the in between, first day of spring, last day of...

Tonight I participated in my city ward screening event for Take Action MN - a progressive organization with great values and principles. I went to endorse my favorite candidate. He is a good man, strong values, hardworking, progressive through and through --- he is not a great campaigner - good but not great. It came down in the end to two candidates- both good. It is a good thing when the problem is more than one good choice. Next step, the ward convention April 4th...we keep moving toward Instant Runoff Voting in the Fall Election. Yeah for Democracy - yeah for progressive politics.

I got a great gift yesterday! I spent the day holding the memories and enjoying that it was my daughter's 35th Birthday - she is in New Zealand, so had already celebrated the day before, you know the date line thing! I got to take a walk in the morning - and it was a delight, by afternoon it was 66 degrees F. It is amazing to watch the contrast, so folks are still bundled up, just like in January - it is scary to imagine what will happen when you begin to peel back all the clothes! Then some are walking around almost bikini like, that is equally scary! Whatever the wardrobe, big kuddos for a great day, a great Mom's day, a rare moment when you can let the shoulders down, breathe deeply, and feel the warmth!

My daughter's 35th Birthday is tomorrow, well actually she is in New Zealand so she is celebrating her Birthday today. I have had such a good time today remembering her birth, birthdays, so many of her Birthdays were such a wonderful day for me. I had completed one more year of being a parent. It seemed miraculous. She is such an amazing adult, a mother, a nurse, a very good friend, a devoted wife, a fine daughter. I like her, I love her, and I am hoping she is having a great birthday. It was always a joke each year, beware of the Ides of March, because the next day is Sasha's birthday - so get ready. I am.

Last weekend as I was beginning to feel like I might actually be well again sometime in the near future, I got bit by another kind of bug, or maybe it was a bird. Not only was I feeling the rumbling deep down within the earth, I was also catching the spring cleaning movement. I started with my bedroom (or more accurately for the past few weeks - the sick room). There was clutter, and I could almost see the crud bugs battling with each other to take up permanent residence. So I slowly, with many breaks tossed, cleaned, sorted, folded, rearranged, and just plain cleared the decks. The bedroom is great. So I have moved on, during the week, I started with drawers. I am a great keeper, and drawers just fill up with things I somehow can't bear to throw away or recycle or gift onto someone else. My very first "altered book" is called the Book of Drawers, almost everything within the pages came from drawers in my house. This is amazingly satisfying, I still get to kee...

I know that it is boring to talk about the weather over and over, but it seems bigger than life right now. We are having sundogs in mornings, temperatures 20-30 degrees colder than normal, moon dogs (very very rare)....full moon, brilliant sun. The wild amazing March madness. Each day seems to just be roaring by, the month is filled with city council campaign events, legislative committees, great art events, some basketball games, good music, lots of meetings. It seems as if everything is just a little bit cranked up, recovery and stimulus dollars, old news, visions of a new way, our new president, getting rid of old regulations, allowing science to continue, taking "them"on. All a part of the in like a lion out like a lamb March.

It is March, wild March, one day I am waxing on and on about the earth moving, the birds singing, the next (and today is the next) day I am sitting in the pitch black darkness just before 7 a.m. still shivering from picking up the newspaper on the front porch. The snow is crunchy due to the cold, the the temperature is -2 (that is -2 below 0 real temperature). So I am glad that I have a vase of wild, wonderful huge yellow mums on my dining room table! They are a reminder of what is and what is to come. They are singing out their beauty, their color is delicious, their green stems are bold and strong. They are thriving. Hang on still much more to come in the wildly amazing show of nature in the month of March.

Today was my first full day at work in the last two weeks! It felt good to be a part of the workforce again. I was tired at the end of the day, but have energy, and the light was still strong when I left work. No more leaving work in the dark, you can feel that the sun is winning out as it always does, that winter is on its way out, the equinox is coming. You can almost feel the movement deep down within the earth. Then there is the light, it is shimmering and the rays are higher, and the sun rays bounce at angles that make me appreciate every little light beam. And of course it is the month where anything can happen, rainstorms, blizzards, freezing rain, bright strong sunlight heat, big swings in the temperatures. All teasing, coaxing, reminding us that we just stay present in the day, in the light, in the steady, certain beat into spring.

Saturday night I got more more salvo for my trying to recover body, a 35th Anniversary Concert of Sweet Honey in the Rock, and they were rocking. It was a sold out house at St. Catherine's College (my daughter's alumni) and the music and sign language interpretation was amazing! They just keep getting better and better and better. They have for 35 years been telling stories and touching our souls. They lifted us up proclaiming the "miracle" of Obama's election, then reminding us as if Mother Earth was standing over us all, that he is just ONE man, and our work too has just begun. Their song Greed was so profoundly haunting and beautiful, and such a call for us to make different choices. They sing of a world of justice, of appreciation and love and care of all our children, of the earth, of each other. A reminder that we will all cross over to the other side, and what kind of life do we want to have lived. I was still without a lot of energy but it felt so ...

The good news about being sick and thinking about being well, is there is a new appreciation of recovery. I do know I am recovering and that is more than I can say about our economy. It will happen too, but I know I am going to recover before our nation does. I am on a second round of antibiotics, bronchitis is bad, but no pneumonia or asthma so all and all --- I am grateful. And I am going to be really happen when I have some energy. This morning I had a a follow up appointment with my eye doctor. I had a yag and it really makes my eyesight clearer and better, and next wednesday I will have the second yag done, then never again, my implanted lens will work great for who knows how long, i think longer than a lifetime. We were in the 40's today, and this morning the birds were singing, chirping, making lots of noise that felt undeniably like spring. The check out gal at the grocery store was trying to convince me that it felt like summer. I was not ready to just toss awa...

I am still coughing away as I type (good thing germs can't attach to blog sites!), however I do believe that I am improving. I ache less, my chest is not as sore, and I do have a bit of energy. This is all good. I have mostly gotten over wondering when this is going to be done, and know that I am going to be so very appreciative when I feel as if my health has returned to me. Yesterday I did go to work, and I actually could participate and was not crabby or inappropriate! Last night was our city caucus where we select Ward and City Delegates. I have a good friend and a fine person who is running for the city council so this was a can not miss! There was a spaghetti supper at the Italian American club before the caucus started. This is one major benefit of a community organizer/activist/neighbor being a foodie. The place was jumping! Every event I have gone to for Kevin I meet new people everyone is up for community and we all know how important this momentum and reality ...

For the second day in a row I have ventured out into the world. This is not because I am so very fit and hale, but there are just a few things a gal needs to do. And today that thing was send off the seniors at the UM Women's basketball game. I really like to watch women play basketball, and it is a great distraction for winter here in the cold climes. This years team, has had a lot of ups and downs, today was another down day. Not exactly what you want to do when you are trying to get a NCAA bid, they have ended the season losing 4 of 6 ouch. Regardless of winning or losing, these women work very hard for their scholarships, and I love that they have a the opportunity to play. So off I went to root them on, and to see the folks around me, you get to know the folks around you and we all tried hard to help our team get back into the game. Over 9000 fans, and most of them stayed after the game to honor our two seniors - Emmy and Kay. Great women, good good fans. Onto the ...