MaryAlice Musings and More

Yesterday I saw one turkey, she was walking into my alley neighbor's yard.  I had been thinking about the turkeys, how much I enjoyed their visit to my yard this winter.  How resilient and fragile and feisty they seem to be, then there she was.  I grabbed my phone (to take a picture) and when to the alley.   I was hoping that the rest of them would be right behind the one I had seen.  I couldn't see her or any other turkey.  Sometimes that is all we get, a glimpse.  Then I tried to still my mind ,  of course I was off to the races.  Where were the others, was she on her own.... So I thanked her for giving me another look, a moment of chance, that her walk, and my glance would meet.  That she may have felt my yearning.  Oh life in all puzzling ways, aren't you beautiful.  Who would have guessed that a wild turkey could stir such wonder!

Basir conducting my House Blessing and Universal Worship - 2001 I am so conscious of the light these days.  The light in Sicily was fuller, brighter, and yet of course the same.  There is such an attraction to the light, the sun, even in the darkness there are shadows and reflections and beams of light.  It is the absence of light that leads towards the dark.   It is fitting that as the light extends and the sun rises higher in the sky, that I am moving toward  ordination as a Cherag.  This has been something that I have been moving towards for a long time.  My path in the Sufi Order International, and the resonance and love that I have found in the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan who brought Sufism to the west has been one of the most amazing gifts in my life.  It is also one that has carried much doubt, question, fear, and stumbling along the path.  The vision of the Sufi Order International is:   ...

Serafina's Farm In August.... Today I heard that the hours of sunlight today were the same as on my birthday, August 20th.  I felt like a celebration and a reminder of how the light continues to change, growing stronger, higher, hours to its fullness, then moving toward more hours of darkness than light.  Today the sun was not only growing longer, but there was the heat of sun.  You could feel it on your face, on the back of the neck.  The car was really toasty warm when I got inside.  This spring has so much that feels different, an incredible March with really, really hot weather.  A very mild winter, and now it is so over and the sun has once again risen. Higher, longer and hotter.  This year so many days that feel not just like spring, but more like summer.  April has brought some rain, but also lots of flowers, lots and lots of flowers.  The bursting forth is so unexpected, and because I was gone for three weeks, it all feels that mu...

' Palermo at Dusk Weather and Air so universal, it is everywhere we go, and yet the feel and texture of it not always so familiar.  I expected, and lots of my friends, that the weather in Sicily would be warm.  It seems so southern, it IS southern Italy, and yet almost everyday I wore my leather jacket.  When I found the jacket at a neighborhood second hand store, I thought it would be great it Italy.  It is a buttery yellow (not my color usually, but I loved it).  I took it to Lou's Leather Shop, it was cleaned, repaired and conditioned.  It has deep pockets.  Very Retro maybe 40's, early 50's, I probably saw styles like this when I was little, so it resonates with me. Back to the weather.  I wore that leather jacket all but one day, I borrowed a simple cotton jacket once.  I wasn't really cold outside, it felt soft, not edgy like the chill that we feel here in the Midwest.  I think it is about the sea.  It would feel warm, e...

Byzantine Delights on Villa in Noto This morning the sun is shining, we are still chilly, but the warmth is going to return soon.  It is a startling delight the middle of April trees are leafing, flowers are blooming, buds are bursting.  I left for three weeks in Spring and came back to coolness that seemed more like "normal" temperatures but everything has come to life.  The sun is higher and higher in the sky, each day there is MORE light.  I love those moments that with eyes closed I can just raise my head to the sky, just inviting the sunlight to bath me all over.  That deep bath when the inhalation meets with the absolute welcoming of the warmth, the light, the majesty of the sun.  Oh I am still in an in between place.  Solid in my body here in MN, but also floating back to Noto to the delights that I beheld, and just loving that it is spring, that the sun is high, that it shines.  Little blessings to sustain and move me along.  ...

"When I listened to your message , I turned to Laura and said you sound like the Cheshire Cat".  That was one of the best affirmations that this vacation time got into my bones, touched my spirit, soothed my soul.  I loved the Cheshire Cat, and I don't think many people would describe me that way.  The other thing that keeps happening is that in the midst of a conversation or walking down the hall, people will just stop, look at me, and comment about my vacation eyes.  Sparkling, refreshed, alive.  One week home, and I continue to have images, moments waft through my head, through my heart randomly and noticeably.   The image of the woman (I may have posted her before) is still a favorite, the color behind her exquisite, she has been lovingly restored at some point and holding her own.   Take "aways":   pay attention to foundations, they can last centuries if built well details are important and they often are what set a tone ...

I am still adjusting to my 23 hour return to Minnesota.  It is less about the body, and more about the pace, the reintegration of the familiar, and the shift of the atmosphere. My body is working out kinks and strains that had popped up as I carried my bags, and walked many miles in a day.  It is also releasing the last of jet lag, and savoring my bed.  I could hear this collective sigh throughout each cell as I laid back into my own bed with my sweet doggies curled up around me.  Ahhh.  A sweet home coming. The sea is what keeps reaching up and touching me.  The softness of the sea air, the ever changing, delightful colors, and the movement.  It was the time of year when there were no bathers on the beach, the weather was cool, most folks (except some tourists) wore coats.  The breezes off the sea were not cold, they were soft, embracing.  Ever changing always inviting.  Sea and sky mingling, soothing, touching body and soul. T...

Approaching the Casa from the entry Road This is one of the out buildings on the farm. This is where the wine grapes were stomped and stored.  Easter Lunch with the Family! Homemade Cannolli - Ricotto or Chocolate! Stairs to upstairs room and rooftop terrace! I loved the kitchen! These lights are called Bombolino's!  Also Herb Changers! Dining by the Ovens.  Too Windy at Easter! What a great oven, and the food! Wow! The plan had been to go to Pallazollo for the Easter Procession, then Dinner, and an overnight at the B & B in this small town in the hills.  But alas, there were NO buses that ran on either Sunday or Monday (Easter Monday is a full holiday in Italy as well as Easter Sunday).  So we went off to the market and bought great things to make a good meal and I was going to go off to Ortigia for one of the Easter Services.  Yesterday we got an invitation from one of Serafina's friends Maria....

I am back in Siracusa, and realized that I was so immersed in all that I experienced in Palermo that I spent no time writing about it!  I will have to look through my pictures and post some from my city experience.  So different being in a big city by Sicilian standards, 659,433 people living there my guidebook says.  It bustles and has more taste of modernity than in Siracusa.  I liked returning to the Borgata. The pictures above (oh I wish that I felt more comfortable with a camera and could really take better pictures, but you get a sense of what I am seeing!) are of the Duomo, the Cathedral of Siracuse.  It is a stunning Baroque masterpiece, but what is more fascinating is that the palazzi and church were the site of Siracusa's acropolis.  The columns that you see along the wall both inside and out, are the Doric columns from the Temple of Athena.  (5th century BC)..the columns are all that survive of the Temple that was known througho...

Two and one-half hours from Palermo by train, a hike up the road, and then I whimped out and took the bus to the ruins of Segesta.  The highlight after this breathtaking ride very high up is the greek theater.  It is one of the finest preservations, it was carved from the stone on the hill.  Just as in Siracusa, you can see forever from the seats of the theater, all the way out to the sea.  But unlike Siracusa you are in this lush green beautiful countryside.  After sitting in the theater, watching both adults and children take turn being on stage, I walked through the ruins (more pictures of that later).  Then down the hill, it is really down and as you descend you get these amazing views of the temple.  I took a few pictures that give some sense of the beauty.  Sitting there under pine trees, I felt swept away by the enormity and the beauty.  Not just these ruins, but the land, and the intensity of the terrain.  It was a day...