Why I couldn't get much done this afternoon...

A Broader Perspective

"Political awareness can become a tyranny of its own, not least because it locks us into the issues and perspectives of a particular time. But when we are looking at questions of the sacred, we move beyond time. To create the changes in consciousness needed to transform society at a deep level, we need insights broader that the issues of the moment can provide."
- Starhawk, in The Spiral Dance, 10th anniversary edition

Bartering

I've always liked the concept of bartering. Even in our money-based economy, people with skills, products or services to share can find their needs met by sharing them with others who may have just the thing they're looking for.

Lately, I've noticed more evidence of people seeking out barter in their lives, and it has made its way into my own experience. A good friend who is a massage therapist has been offering her (delightful!) services at reduced rates to her community members. Recently, she's also offering to barter for massage. Her barter ideas are things she wants to learn about: nutritious cooking, doing Tarot readings, that sort of thing. To me, it sounds like she's not only looking to expand her knowledge, but also to offer massage as a way to encourage the creativity in the community and help it to flourish.

Quester is bartering some of his landscaping expertise and physical strength for a six-week spirituality class that he, BlackLion and I want to attend. Again, it's a good match for everyone. That's when barter is at its best: when it unfolds naturally and all parties are loving what they're receiving, as well as finding joy in the giving.

Newest Family Members

My brother, who is a dog person, is nevertheless great at finding cats for our family. Yesterday he brought us our newest family members, two kittens. Introducing: Merlin and Percy (Sir Percival)! Yesterday was Kitten Welcoming Day. Here they are in my Mom's lap:



Mystick is not completely happy about them, but he's slowly getting used to their presence. Star is convinced we've brought her two new playmates! Though the kittens are a little intimidated by her size. Right now they are pausing in their brother-to-brother wrestling match to watch Star walking around the living room with a toy.

They slept on my bed, woke me up early to play, and when I fell back asleep and woke up again, they were lying on my pillow snuggled up to my head!

Merlin is a bit more snuggly (Bridget's ideal) and Percy likes to explore (which Tristan is enjoying). They are SO tiny and cute! Welcome kittens!

I Need Some Faith

Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith. - Mahatma Gandhi

A Little Break

The schools have vacation this week. It does affect us, even as homeschoolers. Primarily because we don't have any sports events this week. Recently we've had a lot of basketball practices, basketball games, and indoor soccer games. I'm glad we're getting a little bit of a break this week, especially since they all seem to happen right at dinner time.

Our real vacation is next week. Our homeschool group, the Maine Wholeschoolers, are headed up to Sugarloaf for a week of skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, and lots of other fun! The kids are really psyched. I'm looking forward to it, too. And seriously, why would we go this week, when the slopes are packed with kids? We'll practically have the place to ourselves.

What have we been up to lately? Reading, making Valentines and collages, playing on the computer, playing in the snow, ice skating, cooking. Lots of fun stuff. Bridget had a friend over, and they decorated a birthday cake. It came out great! Here's the photo:

Bridget and Her Girls

...at her 10th birthday party.

Waiting for the Boredom

Since I took over with the kids' homeschooling, I've been practicing "radical unschooling." The basic idea is that all kids want to learn and explore their interests, and if you just let them go with the flow, they'll find out all that they need.

Part of it is relaxing enough to *really* let them do their own thing, even if they just seem to want to play computer games and go sledding and watch movies. I mean, we do things together like read aloud to them and go to various events, but here I'm talking about their unstructured time.

So I've been waiting patiently to see what will unfold. I've been providing materials that they mention an interest in, and giving ideas of stuff that we could do.

Last night, after a very snowy day, Bridget asked if she could read to me. I said "sure," and she mentioned she had a boring day and was sick of computer games. She practiced her reading by reading to me, then reading to herself in her room (which I know because she asked me about a few words). This morning, I offered to help her with writing practice as well. She was psyched, and her first journal entry was a list of goals.

Her goals are based on the ones I have written up on my white board: art, drumming, writing, love, and reading (the last one is her own; mine says yoga). She did a big art project with Sash today, and some knitting. She is playing computer right now, while her brother's at basketball, but I'm sure we'll be reading together later this evening. I love it when a plan comes together! :)

Spotlight on Yoga

So, my brother tells me I'm a terrible blogger, and I guess he's right. That is, because I've neglected this poor site so much! But life goes on, and so now I'm here to tell a little about it.

My Dad had a heart attack on Christmas Eve, followed by triple bypass surgery, and has been in the hospital ever since. He suffered several complications, and it took a while for him to even get out of the ICU. He's doing much better now, and should be coming home soon. Our family has, understandably, been under a lot of stress. For me, yoga has helped.

I'd been doing yoga regularly (4-6 times per week) from late July through early December, then for various reasons I'd stopped. Starting with the new year, my dear friend LM and I decided to do yoga together once a week (rather than attending a weekly class together as we'd been doing). We're also undertaking a study of the founding texts of yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism, and have committed to a daily practice which includes certain poses, meditations and breathing techniques that we decide on each week.

How is it going? Fabulous! I'm really enjoying devoting 45 to 60 minutes to yoga and meditation each and every day. Since we began on January 5th, there has only been one day when I didn't make time to practice. It's great exercise, and helps me to de-stress and center myself. I'm really thankful for yoga!