A Parting Shot and The Rising Storm

     Poster children for the unvaccinated enjoying the fog and drizzle between rain storms that have left us with 12 inches of rain in two weeks while our brethren and sisters up in Sierras are buried under record snow.

    We take the good where we can find it and we'll be tightly gripping our "cup of kindness" as we limp more deeply into the '20's. 

    We've wandered many a weary foot children, so drink up the cup and remember the good old times, stingily parsed these last couple of years. The trusty hand of a friend is a companion wise on the rough road ahead.

    Maybe it just me, but there's something regal here.

    Sunny and Hemingway making the best of it, on a rare moment to be in fresh air, as crises of nature and the human kind beat the old year to a pulp. 

    Another variant, bad behavior and now our precious care givers are beset again. Putin is up to little dictator games, and it's suddenly election year in America. Pass me another cup of kindness there and then I'm headed for safety.

        Whoops! Well, any box in a storm! 

    I've been paying attention the animals around here because people are either disgusting, or they are my friends, who I rarely see except on Zoom or masked, or at social distances and they too are worried about the rise of the disgusting. My tennis pals are an exception as we can put all human foibles out of mind as we rock and roll on the court-except two weeks of rain have stopped that. 

        So Auld Lang Syne 2021. You were supposed to be the year of healing and normalcy. Do you think humanitie's karma is catching up with us?

    

        So I've been looking up, as the storm clouds clear, and I can't stop from trying to make my phone work like a telescope.

        These are meager offerings especially when we have some genuine astrophotographers living in these parts, but they point you in a good direction. We can celebrate the launch of the Webb telescope this month. That will do more for human knowledge than all of the weasel heads in congress, all of the unmasked, and unvaccinated combined.

        Grasp this, Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977 are still moving through the heavens. In about 14 thousand Years V 1 will be leaving the Oort cloud. Give it another 280 thousand years and it will be approaching our next nearest star, still in our galaxy of course and we just don't know how many billion galaxies there may be. So there's a perspective to apply to 

the life and times of planet earth in these days of uncertainty. 

        A friend who worked on the Hubble telescope, one of the brightest scientific minds around said often as he aged, "you've got to have a sense of humor in this life." Frank was frequently bemused when it came to how the inhabitants of this planet conducted themselves. 

        So let's take a right good draught for auld lang syne and for the good old days to come.

        Slainte'

    See you down the trail. 

And so it is that time again...

       The spirit and proclamation of Dickens' Tiny Tim encapsulates the potency of this time of year.

        It's a season of tradition, celebration of light, spirituality, and festive celebration. The longest night has broken and for at least 5000 years we take note and undertake rituals.    

     Something we do at Light/Breezes is visit the twinkle shop.

        So we come to the nexus of these "happy holidays" of Christmas, a birth. 

        A boy born to an unmarried Hebrew couple in primitive conditions in a small and unimportant town was a birth that has changed the world for 2 thousand years.

    George Bernard Shaw wrote, "No nation has ever outlived the loss of its gods."

    The Abrahamic faiths on this planet are in trouble. Beset by fundamentalism, theological rifts, and loss of interest. Christians, Jews and Muslims can be their own worse enemy. The other beliefs and faiths on this planet suffer their own frailties. 

    Here, generations have come to learn Christmas means holiday commercials, decorations, merry making, a seasonal play list,  sweaters and all the rest. The illegitimate child of Bethlehem gets lost in the sweep. The tenets of his life of teaching, are rarely considered.

    

     Observant Christians, however, recall and celebrate the beginning of a life and ethic that would try to move the world to love, peace and joy. 

      There was a time when even those who did not observe or believe gave the notion a thought. 

      People of faith are a minority and the origin of this Christmas idea gets further marginalized each year and its ancient Gods become lost to the majority of a nation.

      Kay, an Irish friend, sent a Solstice link so I could watch the livestream of the sunrise at Bru na Boinne, or New Grange. 

      I have posted here of the 5000 year old transit tomb and archaeological wonder built with astronomical precision. Older than the Pyramids, and Stonehenge, Bru na Boinne could be the oldest building on the planet. Whatever other mystery it holds, it observes the return of the light.

    I had the privilege of being in the inner chamber and seeing extraordinary light activated symbols and inexplicable vision. I can't explain the palpable spirituality of the moment, but 5000 thousand years ago the civilization along the Boyne River was up to serious observant and faithful behavior. Humans seek understanding and connection. It is our nature. 

      Humans also have always been getting into deep and dark troubles where the future appears bleak. We work our way back by returning again to our beliefs.

      To those of you who seek to walk the path of the Prince of Peace, Emanuel, I wish you His peace and light. I share these thoughts from a friend who has spent her life in service to the faith. Look out to nature and see the face of the Divine. Look up to the stars and universe and see precision and science. Look inward and wonder where do we get power to reason and know?  Where do we get our sense of right and wrong? We cannot explain ourselves apart from the Divine.

       To all I wish happy holidays; comfort, peace, well-being and Good Will. 

See you down the trail.

Lights at the Castle-From the Archive

 

This is a favorite post from the Archive 

Published December 4, 2014

YULE NIGHTS

 We had the good fortune of an invitation to see the Christmas decorations at San Simeon, the Hearst Castle.

   It is a visual blitz of texture, detail and history.

 Halls are decked.

 The juxtaposition of the tapestries hint at multi dimensional story lines.

 The kitchen is a world unto itself.

  It was a windy and foggy night on the mountain as we moved around the massive grounds.

   

A visit to the indoor pool, beneath the tennis courts, 
before our drive down the mountain to reality.

Some nights as I stand gazing at the deep star field arching from the coastal mountains to the wide sea it's easy to imagine that six miles up the Pacific coast the Hearst Castle is a door to another world. Crossing the threshold is magical.

                     

         A lot of folks are waiting for the Castle to reopen. Hope you enjoyed this "oldie but goodie."  

    Stay safe. See you down the trail.