Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sisters


Sarita con "Aunt Nome"
Solo tengo una hermana. Naomi nacio unos nueve y medio anos despues que yo y por lo tanto no compartimos mucho de jovenes. Siempre estaba yo con mis cosas y estudios y ella con los amiguitos. Pero ahora, de mayores, somos mas unidas. "Nome" vive cerca con su esposo y su hijito, un nino precioso que ha sobrevivido un tumor cerebral cuando tenia 11 meses. El se ha recuperado de sus operaciones de forma milagrosa. Pero ella, por su parte, tiene el salud muy fragil ya que padece de ataques de epilepsia desde los cuatro anos cuando sufrio una herida grave a la cabeza. Lo triste es que en vez de mejorar con tantos estudios, tratamientos, medicinas, etc. . . se ha empeorado. A veces me preocupo que no sobrevivira los muchos anos para llegar a ser viejitas las dos. Cuando estamos todos juntos de fiesta o de visita ya consideramos los ataques como algo normal. Es dificil. Es mi hermana.

I only have one sister. Naomi was born nine and a half years after I was and so we didn't share very much when we were young. I was always busy with my things and studies and she with her friends. But now, as we are older, we are closer. "Nome" lives nearby with her husband and little son, a precious boy who survived a brain tumor when he was 11 months old. He has miraculously recovered from his operations. But instead, she is the one who is very fragile in health; suffering from epilepsy since she had a serious head injury when she was four. The sad thing is that instead of getting better after so much testing, research-treatment, medicine, etc...she's gotten worse. Sometimes I worry that she won't survive long enough for us to be little old ladies together. When we are all together for a holiday or visit we treat her seizures as if they were normal. It's difficult. She's my sister.

Nome con John

Friday, April 24, 2009

Green Bowls/Escudillas Verdes


Tesoros de rastros, de tiendas de antiguidades, de aqui y de alla - escudillas, ninguna igual con la otra, pero todas se complementan de cierta forma que me recuerdan de las experiencias que he tenido en la vida.

Sinfonia en el Pasillo

We love music for the buried hopes, the garnered memories,
the tender feelings it can summon at a touch. -L.E. Landon

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What Women Want

Photos from the Renaissance Festival 2006
King Arthur and the Witch
Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question?...What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.
But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first. The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table. Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding. The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened.

The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half. Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day.....or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

What would YOU do?

What Lancelot chose is below. BUT....make YOUR choice before you scroll down below.

Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.
Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

Now....what is the moral to this story?
The moral is.... If you don't let a woman have her own way... Things are going to get ugly. Haha!

Reflections

There are so many changes and lots of letting go and letting be.
Hay tantos cambios y mucho que soltar y dejar en paz.

Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden, Pepsico - New York

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Who Am I?

"I am a flower quickly fading,
here today and gone tomorrow
a wave tossed in the ocean,
a vapor in the wind.
Still you, hear me when I'm calling
Catch me when I'm fallin,
and You've tod me who I am;
I am Yours."
-Mark Hall -
My heart worshipped God
with this beautiful song this morning
during youth choir practice and
the two services.
Precious and touching.
Listen

Jacobs Coat on the pool railing.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Seder Supper


Last night we celebrated the Passover as we do each year with a Messianic Seder. This traditional Jewish meal is commemorative of God's redemptive action in the release of captive Israel from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. The Hagadah or script of sayings has had many forms, but still has remained consistent for thousands of years. Just like in the Last Supper, the Passover meal shared between Jesus and his disciples, the Exodus is recalled with four cups of wine blessed and taken, and one of three pieces of unleavened bread broken and hidden(buried) to be found later and eaten at the end of the supper. The Messianic Seder recognizes Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb, striped, broken, buried and then resurrected/restored just like the Matzo bread .

Anoche celebramos la Pascua de los hebreos como hacemos anualmente con un Seder Mesianico. Esta cena tradicional Judaica conmemora la accion redentor de Dios cuando libero los captivos hebreos despues de cientos de anos de esclavitud in Egipto. La Hagadah o manuscrito de dichos ha tenido muchas formas, pero se ha mantenido consistente por miles de anos. Igualito a la Ultima Cena, la Pascua de los hebreos que se compartio Jesus con sus discipulos, el Exodo se recuerda con cuatro copas de vino benditas y tomadas, y un troso de los tres trosos de pan azimo quebrado y escondido (enterrado) para encontrar despues y para comer al final de la cena. El Seder Mesianico reconoce a Jesus Cristo como el cordero de la Pascua (de Dios), rayado, quebrado, enterado, y despues resusitado igual como el pan Matzo.
(Esto es dificil traducir para mi, espero que el que lo lea me entienda) One of my favorite parts is when the "woman of the household" begins the Seder observance by bringing light to the Passover table and leading the opening prayer. I always remember the Sabbath Prayer Song from Fiddler on the Roof, the mothers throughout the Jewish communities worldwide all lighting candles and praying for their families moving the flame with their hands. So beautiful. . . .
Una de mis partes favoritas es cuando "la mujer de la casa" comienza la observancia trayendo luz a la mesa de Pascua y dirigiendo la primera oracion. Siempre me recuerda de la Cancion del Sabado de la pelicula Fiddler on the Roof(haz click arriba), con las madres en las communidades judias por toda la tierra encendiendo las velas y orando por sus familias con un movimiento circular de las manos. Tan bello. . .

He said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." -John 8:12
Jesus les hablo otra vez a los fariseos diciendo: "Yo soy la luz del mundo. El que me sigue nunca andara en tinieblas, sino que tendra la luz de la vida." - Juan 8:12

Monday, April 6, 2009

Reflecciones de Childhood


Ultimamente encuentro el papel de ser madre aplastante. Siento un cansancio que no termina. Puede ser porque hago casi todo sola, sin poquisimo apoyo fisico ni moral de mi pareja. Es como si tuviera cinco ninos. O puede ser que esta estacion de vida con cuatro adolescentes es asi, normal, simplemente un monton de cansador. No lo se. Las cosas que antes funcionaban bien en casa se han convertido en un esfuerzo total; quejas cuando hay quehaceres en la casa y jardin , problemas con la comida -o no les gusta o no hay suficiente, y menos cortesia en las interacciones entre personas, algo que siempre exigia yo de mis hijos. Me encuentro rendida. - Anoro en este momento la ninez de mis hijos cuando mejor lo pasabamos juntos jugando y cuando me quedaba mucho tiempo por delante para hablar con ellos, leer juntos, y para ensenarles cosas, valores, y mas. El tiempo se me ha pasado volando y no se recupera nunca. Bueno, a ver si este momento de nostalgia se me pasa. Acabo de leer un versiculo que tenia al lado de mi escritorio y que no he leido en mucho tiempo que consuela un poco: "Porque y derramare aguas sobre el sequedal, y rios sobre la tierra arida; mi Espiritu derramare sobre tu generacion, y mi bendicion sobre tus renuevos." - Isaias 44:3

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What's on Your Plate?

My plate is impossibly full. In an effort to manage so many activites, responsibilities, details in my and other's lives around me I find myself forgetful, always scrambling for time to process, time to think deeper about a subject, and time to hold onto the moment. Yet there's none to be had! I wonder if this "fullness of plate" will change. I do feel really ready for lighter fare. And yet, the food is rich and good. I hope I can fully enjoy each bite that I'm able to taste of life at this moment: A daughter graduating with announcements to send out and gown and cap hanging in anticipation, a collection of fantastically shaped and glazed pottery pieces brought home by another daughter from her college pottery class sit with a tiger orchid that my youngest son bought today just because it was SO beautiful, my other son leaning against me and making a point of just hanging out, and my husband saying he loves me, his wife.

Dutch Plates (Friesland)
"Where theres joy, one can endure much"(wedding gift)

Mexican Lilies Plate (Tijuana)
Rooster Plate (gift from a Neighbor)

Antique French Plate
Italian Plate

Antique Dutch Plate
My Spanish Tortilla Espanola Plate (Florida)
How about you, what's on your plate?