singing of angels

Howard Thurman

There must be always
remaining in every life,
some place for the singing of angels.

Some place for that
which in itself
is breathless and
beautiful.

Old burdens become lighter
deep and ancient wounds
lose much of their old hurting.

Despite all the crassness of life,
all the hardness and
harsh discords,
life is saved by
the singing of angels.

Source: The Mood of Christmas, received from Inward/Outward

As we swing into Christmas, I'm hoping for you the lightening of burdens and ears to hear the singing.

5 things

Mike tagged me with the 5 things-you-likely-don't-know about me meme. So with no further adieu:

1. I used to be a magician's assistant. Yes, really. I did the trick where I got locked in a box and magically changed places with the magician. No, I won't tell you how.

2. If I was only allowed to have one sweet thing in the world, I would without a doubt pick Purdy's dark chocolate covered ginger. You'll note that the link I gave you goes directly to the order page. Email me for my address if you want to shower me with chocolate ginger love. I once convinced the office manager at my last work place that we had emergency band aids, tylenol, tampons...but no chocolate. After that, she kept Purdy's dark chocolate covered ginger on hand. I kid you not.

3. I love striped socks. Sometimes when I get dressed for work on the days I am wearing boots, I'll put my fancy work clothes on and then wildly striped socks. It makes me happy to know they're there under my boots.

4. I can speak backwards almost fluently (well, not quite fluently - but quickly). My family all knows their names backwards. When I first met my best friend, I introduced myself as Asil and she came right back at me with her name backwards. I knew I could love her right away.

5. I was once totally convinced that my dad could make rocks by pressing sand together in his hands. I'm not going to tell you how long I believed this - well, okay - 10 years old (maybe older?). The thing that totally tricked me is that he "couldn't" do it all the time - only when he was "feeling strong enough". Yes, I believed in Santa Claus for a long time too.

I'm tagging Claire, Richard, Bobbi, Mel, and Julio. Let me know in the comments when you post your 5 things.

free money!

It's killing me that there is free money over at Mike's and no one seems to be taking advantage of it.

There are matching donations for the next 49 donors (was 50, but I took one of the spaces) to the (red)emption campaign. Your $10 becomes $20.

I really like this campaign because I think most everyone has $10 bucks to give to AIDS work and I like that it's no strings attached, no consumerism involved. I know we all give to lots of different organizations with both time and money...and this is one of the organizations that rallies around us each being equal human beings. Please toss your $10 in the pot. (If that link doesn't work, go to Mike's and follow the pay pal link on the side bar)

Happy smiles

I got to hang with some friends the other day. Here is a picture of me and their awesome daughter.

(Red)emption

Some of you may be aware of the Project (Red) campaign kicked off by Oprah et al about 2 months ago. It is essentially harnassing the power of consumerism to create some extra money for AIDS in Africa. Entirely worthy, but still focused on consumerism.

Two friends of mine have started the [Red]emption Campaign. Rather than spend $210 so that Apple (or another company) can donate $10 to AIDS work, just give the $10 without the purchase. It's a very cool campaign and they're almost half way to their goal of 1000 donations. All the money, every single penny of it, is being donated to the Steven Lewis Foundation. My understanding is that this foundation is doing some of the top AIDS work in the world.

Here is one of the links to the (Red)emption Campaign. Robert's words are well worth the read.

You can donate via the button on the side bar here. Yeah, it's only $10 bucks. Yeah, don't buy two fancy coffees. But the compelling things for me is this: I am not fully human, fully alive, if another of my fellow human beings is suffering. That's why I donated.

I'd be thrilled if you would (a) donate and (b) link to this on your blog. Oh yeah - there is a double your money thing going on right now. If you donate, there is a bunch of matching money that's been pledged. The Scottish part of me LOVES that if I give $10, there is a $20 impact (sorry lovely Scottish friends - I mean that as a compliment!)

goat resources

I'm getting a lot of hits these days from people looking for goats. More specifically, they're looking to purchase a goat on someone's behalf - someone who can actually use it.

For those that remember, this blog started because of a goat campaign. You can flash back here to see the origins of the blog. We set a goal of 10 goats and ended up with 35 goats.

We're not running a goat campaign this year - I'm supporting the (Red)demption campaign this year (more about that in a bit), but I thought I'd link to a few resources for those people that land here through searching for goats.

For Canadians: World Vision Canada
US: World Vision US
International: Oxfam with a specific gift link

That's just a small smattering. Hope it helps.

night prayer

I seek your presence, O God
not because I have managed to see clearly
or been true in all things this day,
not because I have succeeded in loving
or in reverencing those around me,
but because I want to see with clarity,
because I long to be true
and desire to love as I have been loved.
Renew my inner sight,
make fresh my longings to be true
and grant me the grace of loving this night
that I may end the day as I had hoped to live it,
that I may end this day restored to my deepest yearnings,
that I may end this day as I intend to live tomorrow,
as I intend to live tomorrow.

- Philip Newell Sounds of the Eternal, a celtic psalter. Taken from the Monday night prayer.

post Christmas party fullness

Back to more haiku writing to celebrate dinner at Nyala:

it is a good thing
to own and wear stretchy pants
no more food for days

okay, that was technically accurate (5:7:5), but lame. Let's try again:

laughter salts the food
stories of a dremel fire
I spit my beer out

Nope, still too light hearted for a stern and steady haiku but it does refer to a true story. One of my co-workers, a not particularly handy one, was telling about the flames that occurred - twice - when he was using another co-workers' dremel tool. Unfortunately, I had just taken a sip of my beer.

Okay, one last try:

freely flowing beer
no forks, only fingers
makes for lots of laughs

I don't think diamonds are a girl's best friend

Here is a photo essay about diamond production, from earth to the jewelry shops. I've oft admired a sparkler, but the more I find out about who really pays for diamonds, the less pretty they seem.

Distressing, really.

sunday snowshoeing

I got these kick ass snowshoes on Saturday, so I had to get back on the mountain on Sunday to try them out.

Here are two pics from Sunday:

an artsy fartsy shot of the snow:


Kent and Danny in front of Hollyburn Lodge:

makin' tracks

Huge new snow


Dr. Seuss tree


The view from underneath


The crew

A Love Like That

A Love Like That - Hafiz

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe
Me."
Look
What happens
With a love like that.
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

Source: The Gift

via inward/outward

Perspective

"Perspective is a group sport"

Go have a read what Milt has to say today. On World AIDs Day, it's even more pertinent.