Duck

(If you are confused, don't "duck" change!)

Or don't change the duck's lifestyle, which we did.  We got 5 new ducks donated and the "Queen" is not happy that she back in her pen with strangers after roaming around free in the yard all summer eating grasshoppers.

"The stream flows,

The wind blows,

The cloud fleets,

The heart beats,

Nothing will die.

Nothing will die.

All things will change,

That's eternity."

--Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Split Mountain

"I ask all blessings,

I ask them with reverence,

of my mother the earth,

of the sky, moon and sun my father.

I am old age the essence of life.

I am the source of all happiness.

All is peaceful, all is beauty,

all in harmony, all in joy."

--Anonymous Navaho

Just Bee

"Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes."

--Walt Whitman

Fall Equinox

"The birds have vanished into the sky,

and now the last cloud drains away,

we sit together, the mountain and me,

until only the mountain remains."

--Li Po

Racing

The Uintah High School Cross Country team competed in Roosevelt on Wednesday.  As  always, when I watched the athletes race I had to admire their youthful energy and dedication.  

So often all we are hear about are the bad things, sad events, and troubling times. Rarely does the media focus on the positive.  Returning to my musings on choice:  for me it's still an every day, lifetime struggle to choose wisely. Of course I am very worried about the financial crisis in this country, the extreme climate changes, the ongoing wars and conflict around the world.  It's no wonder people are struck down with fear, anxiety and depression.  However, in the words of Mark Twain:

"I have been through terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened."

Today I have a beautiful place to live, a healthy family and way too much to eat.  I don't want to get caught up in the rat race for more material gain.  I want to focus on the things I can do to change into a better, more loving and kind person, and in doing so may I also benefit others.

In life there is no finish line.

Loren Eisley

"We are compounded of dust and the light of a star."

Curiosity killed the cat!

Free Counter

Vernal's lovely flowers

"Experience of the eternal aspect in the temporal moment is the mythological experience."

--Joseph Campbell

Run, Amber, Run!

UHS hosted the first at home cross country meet of the season today.  The course was three miles long.  Amber came in 6th overall.  I admire her for training so hard.  

Surrender

My mind has been filled with so many different thoughts this week.  The ever repeating theme is the fragility of life.  

I'm relatively new to the blogging world.  A few days ago I was taking a look at Janie's daughter-in-law's blog and discovered the story of a young Provo woman with four small children who was in a plane crash with her husband.  They are both seriously burned and in intensive care in a burn unit in Arizona.  I went on to read this young woman's sister's blog as well.  She describes caring for her sister's children in addition to breast feeding her new baby boy.  "nienie" apparently had a huge blogging audience and the story of her accident and the outpouring of love, support and contributions eventually reached the NY Times!   Now it's virtually impossible for me not to get caught up in the lives of people I have never met.  I am awed by those who have written so lovingly about their family and the response of other's who have never met this family as well.  

Two days later I received through email a prayer request followed by a sad announcement of the death of a beautiful 17 year old girl in Park City.  She had traveled the world and started school at the U, had hopes and dreams so similar to my children, my friend's children, so close in age.  

How can I feel so badly about people I have never met?   I can only begin to imagine the emotional pain.  I had read about that plane crash but it wasn't until a face, a name, a family was put to the story that it had an impact on me.  Life is fragile and brief.  Sometimes it's difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the suffering of humans and animals on our small, blue planet.  

On the other hand, my life today was filled with mundane activities--laundry, cleaning, chores in general.  I do try to practice gratitude for my life, my blessings, the many gifts I receive and witness every single day but sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I complain, whine and worry. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by other people's problems and fail to recognize all that is good in my little world today.

Another absorbing but more insane activity is following the election news.  I try not to watch mainstream media and instead choose to read opinions on the internet.  I felt compelled to watch Sarah Palin's speech before everyone put their spin on it.  On the very most superficial level, I could find myself liking her, until I started getting that queasy feeling I get when I hear politicians lie, the feeling I got when Bush was trying to convince us that it was a good thing to go to war in Iraq.  Even listening to Obama sometimes I wonder, how is it possible to change anything in our broken society?  Hope can be audacious and it can also lead to suffering when our expectations go unmet.  I want to believe that things can get better, that we can restore our foreign relations, that we can somehow take care of our problems at home.  But, mostly my response to all of the politicans has been to think, "That is hot air and empty promises."  

So, again, I think, how can I pull myself out of the quagmire of sadness and pessimism?  How can I focus on what's good, true and beautiful?  Because there is a lot out there that is.  It is a choice, a matter of focus.  I can make myself sick with worry and negativity or I can choose to see what is wondrous and magical about life.  It seems to be a struggle for all of us in one way or another.  I want to make the best of it.  There is so little I can control.

I suppose I'll continue to post pretty pictures with spiritual thoughts because it makes me feel better and it's my small way of putting something positive out into the world.

"But surrender asks us to allow events to unfold at their own pace, to get out of our own way and to let go of our desire for control.  Surrender is an act of trust in the universe, an acknowledgment that there are forces beyond our will at work."--Arthur Rubenstien

Mescalero Apache Song

The sunbeams stream forward, 

dawn boys,

with shimmering shoes of yellow.

Trip to Breckenridge, CO

Gary, Alyson and Amber

We drove to Breckenridge, Colorado for the weekend to go to my niece's wedding.  First we played tourists and visited the shops and art fair.  

Our niece, Jamie and her daughter, Bella

The wedding party