Soul Mosaic

Yes, you heard me…menopause….midlife as a gift. Stop rolling your eyes. It’s the truth.

Some exceprts from a Time magazine article I liked in the May 16, 2005 issue: “Midlife Crisis? Bring It On! How women of this generation are seizing that stressful, pivotal moment in their lives to reinvent themselves,” by Nancy Gibbs:

“…the very word crisis, while suitably dramatic, seems somehow wrong for this generation’s experience. Unlike their mothers…this cohort of women is creating a new model for what midlife might look like….Women get to wrestle their hormones through a Change of Life; but however disruptive menopause may be for some women, the changes that matter most are often more psychic and spiritual than physical…They may first turn inward, ask the cosmic questions or retrieve some passion they set aside to make room for a career and family. Take a trip. Write a novel. Go back to school. Learn to kiteboard. But then, having done something to help themselves, they have a powerful urge to help others. Best of all is when they can do both at once…When women find a key to solving their own midlife mysteries, they often want nothing more than to help other women do the same.

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung explained how in middle age people tend to drop the roles they were playing, outgrow their pretenses. Some women become more willing to take risks as they grow less concerned about what others think.

….We come to the place where we say, ‘It’s my turn.’ If women get there, they get there with fervor.”

“We make a living from what we get; we make a life by what we give.”

Winston Churchill

“Gingko:

In the wake of the atom bomb dropped in 1945 on Hiroshima in Japan, every living thing around the epicentre of the blast was destroyed. An exception was provided by four remarkable ginkgo trees that survived, and which by the following spring had even started to blossom again. The closest, at Hosen-Ji, was only 0.7 miles (1,130m) from the epicentre of the explosion. All four trees are still thriving today. Ever since, in Japan the ginkgo has been regarded as the “bearer of hope.” Today there are plaques near some of these trees bearing prayers for world peace.”

Symbolism: Primeval life – force

Divine Association – Oneness”

From the book: The Meaning of Trees: Botany, History, Healing, Lore by Fred Hagenneder

Three bits of wisdom, to honor and remember fathers on this special day:

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.”

Charles Wadsworth

“My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.”

Clarence B. Kelland

“Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a dad.”

Sometimes attributed as an Italian proverb.

“Life is precious.
I will use this day well.
I will live with nobility and dignity.
I will live my life with trust.”

From the book, The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, by clinical psychologist and former Buddhist monk, Jack Kornfield

A few more photo gifts of lilies, both “whole” and a close up of that small part of the flower that causes all our sinuses so much trouble with pollen. 🙂

And now, for a few new shots of the goslings. All 9 continue to survive, thrive and grow. Even though each set of parents are protective of their respective offspring, the two families do stay pretty close to each other and often the small ones interact, while all 4 parents stand guard.

Some shots of the parents as well. The first shot shows one parent with torn neck feathers, evidence of a slight disagreement with the other parents over territory for their babies:

And then there’s the goose popping up his head to check on what the kids are up to, much like a parent on the playground standing up to see where the kids have gone to:

Last – here’s a shot of my buddy. He is the last of the “pond ducks” – ducks who were born and raised here. At one point there were about 12 or 13, and one by one they’ve been killed by predators or died. I’ve buried a few as I found them near my yard….they were good friends. The last remaining one here comes into my garage looking for me if I haven’t filled the tray feeder in the backyard with some corn. He is gentle; just pads quietly around the corner of the house and comes a little ways into the garage when he sees me, quacking softly, almost inaudibly. He is old, and the sole survivor, and at night he is alone. Whatever ducks visit during the day, they fly off and he remains. So I just don’t have the heart to refuse him a treat. He never lets me get too close, but he knows the sound of my opening the feed bucket, and he follows me into the backyard as I carry the little container of corn for him. If he’s in the backyard and I call out hello, he comes up and waits for me to feed him. So…my buddy:

Well, after yesterday’s gift post about sunrises, I was in the mood for a sunrise picture. Alas, the closest I had on hand was a picture of a sunset. I’ll need to get more pictures and next time get a sunrise.

But, no worry for now. I mean if you’ve waited through darkness to make it to enjoy the sunrise, then no doubt you can hang around long enough that next day to enjoy the sunset as well.   🙂    So, a sunset to enjoy, after the joy of the sunrise.

“We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness.”

Author Unknown

I got up this morning to see the CNN webpage article:New RFK Funeral Train Photos, Something’s Happening Here.

Some of the photos are new, some are already on my other post. The power of this video is listening to the man give his, even today, emotional eyewitness account of what it felt like to be on that train and see all those people along the entire journey:

” young, old, black, white, yellow, all there together driven by one concern, a love hopefully for a great man and a loss of their future. Bobby Kennedy at that time made a lot of people believe that it wasn’t only the rich who had a great time to be in America, America was for everybody, everybody had a chance. It was an incredibly emotional train ride. It was unrelenting.”