Missing E-Mail

Suddenly, I cannot find email from Dec. 13 until today! I had checked my email and discarded some while on the trip to NM, but the remaining ones were there this morning. I have no idea how three weeks of mail could disappear. I know there were messages to answer, so I am apologizing now for not. It's weird.

Blogger meet-up

Ellie and I met at the Enneagram Conference! She has three blogs: Child of Illusion, Does Not Wisdom Call?, and Meditation Matters. In fact, on one of them, she wrote about the conference, more specifically about a quote from Jung that Richard Rohr talked about, so please read this.

And here are Ellie and me:


There were 649 registered attendees. Richard Rohr and Russ Hudson were inspiring, authentic, and enervating.

We're home!

We got back from our trip to NM this evening. It is very nice to be home. MJ got home last night from her skiing trip with her boy friend and his family. So there are lots of clothes to wash! I have pictures to post and blogs to visit, but that'll happen tomorrow.

"We do not have to improve ourselves;

we just have to let go

of what blocks our heart."

~~Jack Kornfield

January 1, 2009

This morning CB and I visited the Petroglyph National Monument west of Albuquerque.We walked several miles along sandy trails with big black rocks all around. Every so often, we would see figures carved on the rocks, like serpents or birds or turtles. Some boulders had been disfigured by bullets over time. The website for the park states that over 20,000 petroglyphs are there. We didn't see that many, but I took pictures and will post some when I get home.

I have difficulties with MJ's laptop and don't know how to highlight with it, which sounds pretty dumb. Thus, I am not putting links in these NM posts. That's why I am not linking to Ellie's three blogs, which I love.

Because of the inspiration, humor and depth she provides, I am thrilled that I have met Ellie at the Enneagram conference here. She and I are excited by the insights and instruction of both Richard Rohr and Russ Hudson. Wow!

More about the conference and some pictures will be posted on my return to Corpus Christi, TX on Jan. 4.

Happy New Year!

Now

Albuquerque!

CB and I got to Albuquerque around noon today. It was a sunny day in the high 50s F. We wandered around Old Town and visited the Pueblo Indian Cultural Center. There were and are 19 Pueblo Indian tribes!

Tonight I registered for the "Laughing and Weeping" conference on the enneagram. I am excited by all the options, especially for New Year's Eve, but am worried that husband CB is waiting each day for me to be "done." I think I'll go to half of the New Year's Eve events, so I can spend the end of the evening with my husband.

I always vacillate about which number of the enneagram I am. . . .which is why I signed up for the pre-conference session tomorrow: "Know Your Number" with Suzanne Stabile.

I waver in my belief in the enneagram system, and I have been won over by Richard Rohr's interest, this conference, and reading Understanding the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson. (Russ Hudson is one of the speakers with Richard Rohr for this week.) We'll see what I think by Saturday afternoon, when we depart.

Here's a quote I really like at the beginning of that book:

"In addition to giving us insight into our day-to-day behaviors, the enneagram offers an answer to our spiritual yearnings because it shows us with great specificity how our personality has limited us, what our path of growth is, and where real fulfillment can be found. It teaches us that the longings and structures of our personality are actually useful guides to the greatest treasures of our soul. By regarding our self-defeating patterns and even our psychological pain and limitations as indicators of our spiritual capacities, we are able to see ourselves in a different light. With this new perspective comes compassion, healing, love, and transformation." (4-5)

Hope it's true.

Interrelationship

You are me, and I am you.
Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy.

~~Thich Nhat Hanh (1929-)

We're in Carlsbad, NM

Daughter MJ loaned us her new and quick laptop computer, so here I am in Carlsbad, NM. We left at 8 am and got here at about 5 pm (or 6 pm central time). MJ got to Winter Park, CO at about the same time; she's with her boy friend's family.

Getting ready to go

CB and I are taking down the Christmas decorations, boxing them up, and putting the tree outside. It seems early, but tomorrow we start our drive to Albuquerque, NM. We will not be back until January 4th, and we do not want to return to the dusty Christmas things still scattered around the house.

My break from getting ready for our trip and this cleaning is to come to the computer. My desire is to post some inspirational things for the time I'm gone, but I'm not sure that I'll get around to it! Maybe one or two. . . . .?

A Christmas picture

I only have time to post this one!


MJ, BJ, and DC playing the game "Puerto Rico." AE and KA were also playing, but they didn't want their picture taken.

MJ is 19; BJ is almost 24; DC is 29.

Richard Rohr Conference

By Monday, only our two dogs and one cat will be left at our house, to be taken care of by a long-time friend. MJ goes with her boy friend's family to Colorado to ski tomorrow. Also on Sunday, DC and AA will return to Austin and BJ goes back to Houston. They take their bulldog and Brittany Spaniel with them.

And on Monday morning, CB and I start our drive to Albuquerque, NM for the "Laughing and Weeping" conference. CB is not attending the sessions, but magnanimously agreed to go with me on this trip.

And I am going to meet fellow blogger Ellie at the conference. She's going, too! If you don't know Ellie yet, she has three blogs: Child of Illusion, Does Not Wisdom Call?, and Meditation Matters.

Five Dogs at Christmas

This is sweet Morgan, AE and KA's four month old cocker spaniel. She accompanied them on their travels from Seattle to Austin, TX and on to Cincinnati, Ohio. They'll return to Seattle on January 1st.

Sampson is one year old and weighs 50 pounds! He is DC and AA's dog. He and Morgan loved to wrestle and play. They moved so quickly that I had a hard time getting a picture of them playing together.

Here is Morgan with Cisco, the dog our children gave husband CB last Christmas. Cisco came from the Humane Society. We think he is about four years old.
Morgan is here with Baillie, our 13 year old cocker spaniel. AE gave her to me when she was a little puppy--that was such a big surprise!

Here is 1 1/2 year old Troy, Brittany Spaniel, who is BJ's dog. Troy runs and runs and has a hard time being still. He is outside much of the time.

Boxing Day

Christmas was lovely with our entire family together. Growing up near the Canadian border, I always heard of "Boxing Day" being the day after Christmas. I am thinking of that today, especially because a box arrived from my cousin Margaret from Alberta, Canada today. Sadly, it was a little late for AE and KA who left today. . . . but I am mailing all their books to them anyway media mail, so Margaret's offerings will fit into that box! (I've learned it's also Saint Stephen's Day.)

Early this morning strong and silent CB (I had to put that here, because AE was teasing me about using those adjectives for her dad) and I drove AE, KA and sweet cocker puppy Morgan to the San Antonio Airport. All except CB slept most of the two hour drive there.

CB and I dropped them off at the airport and then went shopping at The Container Store for half-price Christmas wrapping paper. I've always wanted to go there on Dec. 26, but never have driven to San Antonio on this date before. There were very few people there, which was nice for us. At the checkout counter, I got a phone call from AE, telling me that their plane to Chicago was delayed by three hours.

So we went back to the airport and got them. We had coffee at Starbucks, sitting outside so Morgan could wander a little bit while still on the leash. Then we drove to one of our favorite restaurants there, Twin Sisters. We sat outside again, with the pavement on the porch wet from the humidity. That was fun!

After a quick trip to Half-Price Books, we again took the girls and their puppy to the airport and left them there. CB and I drove home and got here in the late afternoon.

All the dogs miss Morgan, especially DC's bull dog Sampson. It was so funny to watch the two puppies play. Morgan was so little that she could even scoot under Sampson's tummy!

Tomorrow I will post pictures. I wanted to get a picture of all FIVE dogs together, but it was impossible to get them still at the same time in close proximity.

AE, KA and Morgan will hopefully get to Cincinnati tonight--they finally got to Chicago a few hours later than planned, only to find the flight to Cincinnati delayed also. Traveling with a puppy is much like going with a toddler, except that the puppy is usually happy.

Everyone else leaves on Sunday.

Love at Christmas

Maria Lactans
Artist: Reni, Guido, A.D. 1575-1642

Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas:
star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
love for plea and gift and sign.

---

Words: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), 1885

Merry Christmas!

by Signe Wilkinson

Gingerbread house

Two days ago MJ baked the pieces for the gingerbread house. Yesterday she and KA put it together and decorated it. The note there tells everyone NOT to eat anything until Christmas Eve so people can admire it first. We have to wait until MJ's two brothers and DC's wife get here (with their two dogs!) tomorrow.

After hearing horror stories of all the snow in Seattle and Bellingham, WA, we are very grateful that AE and KA left Sea-Tac Airport before another foot of snow fell on Saturday. The pictures of all the people stuck for days at that airport make me glad I'm not flying anywhere this holiday season!

37 YEARS!

37 years ago today CB and I were married at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Bellingham, WA. It's pretty amazing that we are still married, especially as we were only 21 when we got married. That's why I have always told my children not to get married too young, which may be why my oldest son did not marry until he was 27.



37 years ago neither of us imagined living in Texas or having four children. Here we are.

And we are lucky enough to have all four of them coming home for Christmas. We are blessed.

Cat allergy alert

I don't have a cat allergy, but KA does. She and daughter AE are flying to Austin at this very moment, along with their cute cocker puppy, Morgan. Last Christmas poor KA was miserable and didn't complain at all. So this year we are taking a few actions to help (I hope!) alleviate some of the allergens, though probably not enough.

Husband CB spent the last few days shampooing the rugs. (They needed to be cleaned anyway.) And today I am vacuuming the furniture, hoping that will help.

Daughter MJ and boy friend CS are driving my car to Austin to meet them. They'll get home while we are at a wedding tonight.

Our other children will arrive here on Christmas Eve day.