Who Will Buy....

Who will buy
This wonderful morning?
Such a sky
You never did see!

Who will tie

It up with a ribbon

And put it in a box for me?

There'll never be a day so sunny,
It could not happen twice.
Where is the man with all the money?
It's cheap at half the price!

Who will buy
Who will buy
This wonderful feeling?
I'm so high
I swear I could fly.

Me, oh my!
I don't want to lose it
So what am I to do
To keep the sky so blue?

I just wish I could bubble wrap my courtyard right now so I could pull it out on those cold winter mornings...It just is not possible for the weather to be any nicer than it has been this week!!

If you chance to meet a frown.....

spend a day with Andy!

I took Andy to school today and was ask to bring home this work of art which had been entered in the State Fair Art contest, who knew?? I have smiled every time I have walked past it today. And yes, that is a blue ribbon.

And besides that, if Duchamp could get a place in the Tate with a urinal, I can only imagine the possibilities for Andy...

And he is the only income producing artist in the family!!

With the joy Andy brings me, when I spend the day with this group of men my heart sings!!

My religion is kindness...the Dalai Lama

I have often felt like I have raised my family in two separate generations--I suppose time will tell where one started and another finished. I think, though, that September 11 will always be a defining point and the beginning of what the historians, Howe and Strauss, have referred to as a "Fourth Turning." This morning, I once again read words that have given me strength over the years. The Dalai Lama has a gentleness and wisdom that bring me comfort. His most recent book, Towards a Kinship of Faith, would change the world if we could embrace its simple message. But then again the message has always been simple hasn't it?

Words of the Dalai Lama 9/11/01

The events of this day cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives, whatever is going on in them, and to ponder deeply the larger questions of life. We search again for not only the meaning of life, but the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it--and we look earnestly for ways in which we might recreate ourselves as a human species, so that we will never treat each other this way again.

The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are. There are two possible responses to what has occurred today. The first comes from love, the second from fear. If we come from fear we may panic and do things—as individuals and as nations—that could only cause further damage. If we come from love we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others. This is the moment of your ministry. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come. We will set the course for tomorrow, today. At this hour. In this moment. Let us seek not to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause. Unless we take this time to look at the cause of our experience, we will never remove ourselves from the experiences it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and, likewise, seek retribution from them.

To us [Buddhist thinkers] the reasons are clear. We have not learned the most basic human lessons. We have not remembered the most basic human truths. We have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom. In we have not been listening to God, and because we have not, we watch ourselves do ungodly things. The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one. That is a message the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember is simple: Love, [in] this and every moment. If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what will be the outcome? These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years. Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all. If we want the beauty of the world that we have co-created to be experienced by our children and our children's children, we will have to become use that to happen. We must choose to be a cause in the matter.

So, talk with God today. Ask God for help, for counsel and advice, for insight and for strength and for inner peace and for deep wisdom. Ask God on this day to show us how to show up in the world in a way that will cause the world itself to change. And join all those people around the world who are praying right now, adding your Light to the Light that dispels all fear.

That is the challenge that is placed before every thinking person today. Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beauty and the wonder of our world and to eliminate the anger and hatred—and the disparity that inevitably causes it—in that part of the world which I touch? Please seek to answer that question today, with all the magnificence that is You. What can you do TODAY...[at] this very moment?

A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another. Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience--in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that. If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause [others] to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

-Dalai Lama

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The Family that Labors Together, Stays Together

We had a lovely weekend together at the cabin--Zac was the only one who "labored" as he dug the new swimming pool/water leak repair--all of those years with him and Karsten playing together in the sandbox has paid off.

Lots of fishing (thirty to forty for the fish fry including two that Drew caught), BB guns, hiking and marshmallow roasting--unfortunately not a lot of picture taking, except when Andy got a hold of my camera--he has become quite the family photographer!

We had lots of friends along for the weekend which always adds to the fun! And of course, where Heather is so is a good meal--thanks for helping feed the crowd. We need to get a few more of you up there to enjoy the fall colors with us!

A Bike Trail Built for Three!

A perfect end to the summer--or start of the fall. Heather, Laura, Eli and me rode up Provo Canyon past Bridal Veil Falls to Vivian Park. It was invigorating and beautiful. I really need to get out of the house more often on these gorgeous fall mornings.

(I look like Amazon Mom in this picture--good thing I took my turn pulling Eli in the trailer!)

Eli does not quite share James' love of the camera--all pictures had to be taken on the sly. It is just so hard to resist snapping shots as soon as he is not looking. Thanks Laura and Heather--ski season is right around the corner!

Deep In the Heart of Texas

In our totally unpredictable, predictable life we made a quick trip to the great state of Texas—and I mean the GREAT state-- this week to see Jessica. Friday evening, Steve informed me he had an appointment there and had grabbed an extra ticket for me, so that we could drive over and see John, Jessica and of course, not such a baby anymore, James. The time went much too fast, but I feel much more comfortable now seeing where Jessica has built her nest. It was a lovely trip and made me feel proud to have so much Texan blood flowing through my veins (it is its very own country down there you quickly discover)!

James all grown up!

It was so fun seeing her house and the beautiful neighborhood that surrounds it!

It is all coming together with all the designer touches--and for anyone who was worried, the red entranceway is a must and totally blends with the look of the rest of the house--pictures can never do the workmanship and uniqueness of this house justice!

Not only does she design--She cooks! Jessica has become quite the gourmet in her new kitchen. With some guidance from the natives she has found her inner TexMexan! I should have brought home the leftovers!

There is only one way to endure the heat-lots of H2O

According to the Ten o'clock news--It was the hottest day EVER! Did you get that EVER! It wasn't just me thinking it was the hottest day EVER! The gauge actually hit 113 at a few times during the day. (Remember this isn't "a dry heat")

So the business part of the trip turned out to be much more "pleasure" than "business," as we were the guests at a WNBA game in a lovely box seat--good food, good company and Dog Day at the NBA (no joke everyone brought their dogs--I can't in my wildest imagination think Luke would have sat there!)

With a few hours to kill, we made the pilgrimage to The Alamo to honor our own Texas history and the Crockett relations!

It is a moving place--even on the outside--what an interesting piece of family history!

And finally, with temperatures dropping into the low 100's, we spent the evening at the famous River Walk--it stretches for miles as restaurants, shops and gardens weave through the city--this town had one imaginative city planner indeed! Now with three hours sleep under my belt--and a sore neck from trying to grab a couple more on the plane--it is Monday morning and back to my real life!

Happy Happy Birthday, Jessica Dear!

It seems like this picture captures it all--Jessica has always been "Mom's helper" whether it is doing the dishes, looking out for Andy or running an errand, she was always there as my right hand--making it possible to raise a large family. Now that she is a Mom herself, she is still my helper lifting my spirits with her blogs while the world seems to spiral downward, continuing to look out for her siblings and encouraging me to "expand" my horizons and develop my talents. I have thought of you often this week, Jessica. Happy Birthday to you!

I love, love, love this picture!!