National Poem in Your Pocket Day!

As we near the end of National Poetry Month here in the US of A we find ourselves on National Poem in Your Pocket Day! I am particularly excited because the theme for my process theology class today connects literature to process thought-excellent.

Because I am on a Hafiz kick these days, and because this poem inspired my final project for process theology... AND it is the one of the poems riding around on a piece of paper in my pocket today... I thought I would share it with the wider world and those two whom I can note read poetry in person (at the moment.) Enjoy!

Lousy at Math

by: Hafiz

Once a group of thieves store a rare diamond

larger than two goose eggs.

Its value could have easily bought three thousand horses

and three thousand acres of the most

fertile land in

Shiraz

The thieves got drunk that night to celebrate their great haul,

but during the course of the evening the effects of the liquor,

and their mistrust of each other grew

to such an extent

they decided to divide the stone into pieces.

Of course then the Priceless became lost.

Most everyone is lousy at math and does that to God—

dissects the Indivisible One,

by thinking, by saying,

“This is my Beloved, he looks like this and acts like that,

how could that moron over there

really

be

God?”

Earth Day!

Earth Day was a pretty great this year! Started the day by preaching my second (and last) sermon at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Oakland. Soon after the service, I discovered they actually record all the sermons to be distributed via podcast... cool. How did I not know this before? I immediately thought: my mom will love this! You will have to wait awhile for the April 22nd sermon to pop up and it won't be the same without the wind up dolls I used to illustrate the road to Emmaus story... but.. here is the link: St. Paul's pod-casts. The Gospel text this last week was Luke 24:36-48.

After a suntastic weekend in the Bay Area that I spent doing homework (that is not entirely true, there were picnics and lectures, slam poetry and BBQs) and having a sermon in the back of my mind, I found it difficult to relax... until Sunday afternoon when I went to this: Sunset Party Season Opener! so.much.fun.

If you know me at all, you know that I love to dance... not the kind of choreographed dancing that looks pretty but full out hippie meets octopus arms meets robot meets salsa meets swing meets Egyptian belly dancer kind of dancing... It isn't pretty, but it sure is FUN!! This was a great venue for just that kind of moving-on the grass, near trees and a lake, beautiful sunny weather, bright blue skies and so much positive energy from folks all around. There were even super-soakers that were sprayed into the crowd to cool us off- excellent! I kind of went on a whim and I am glad I did. The folks I met up with there are such wonderfully kind souls and they know how to pack a mean picnic! Plus, I think this might be the first time I have been able to be outdoors for an extended time in the sun without being sunburned! Am grateful for the diligent sunscreen reapplication practices of my fellow picnic dance party people. We had at least 3 different bottles of spray on sunscreen between the six of us--all above 45spf-- win!

It is a busy time at the moment and it seems that finals are just around the corner. I find that it is even more important for me to take intentional time to go and be--life is just too short to let ourselves forget what it feels like to be fully alive. It is a practice I've been more intentional about in the latter half of this semester and I find myself feeling more rested and more productive.

Didn't take any pictures, but if you have a chance to visit Stafford Lake near Novato, CA, I highly recommend it. It is beautiful. There is a Hafiz poem I read for the first time a few years ago (in Love Poems From God ed. by Daniel Ladinsky) and it came across my path again this last weekend. For me, days like Sunday make these poems come to life:

"The Sun Never Says"-Hafiz

Even
after
all this time
the Sun never says to the Earth

"you owe me."

Look
what happens
with love like that--
it lights the whole world.


Oh. Okay, yes there is another poem in my head as well. Such a beautiful day! Rumi from the same collection of poems:

If you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving
every creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm
and we will be, and we will be
so happy.

Happy Earth Day!

New. Hair. Cut.

No, this is not my new hair cut. I see you asking yourself: "Who is that slightly androgynous page boy escaped from some Renaissance play that I see photographed above?" Why, that fetching young lady is 8th grade me. yup. The year I decided to NOT smile in my school picture and also the year after I had a spiral perm... another great decision... which means before my school picture (to improve the aesthetic) I had all my hair cut off into the stylish bob you see captured in time in the photo above. I must say, at least the outfit saves it, no? God bless the 90's.

okay. All that to say... I haven't had short hair since 8th grade for fear that the overwhelming beauty that you see above would rear her 1600's England page boy head.

BUT my hair was growing to be what I categorize as "unmanageably long." I had considered donating my hair before, but the photo of my 8th grade year loomed in the background as a warning to my photogenic fate if I dared cut my hair too short. That combined with the fact that I really like my hair long put me in a pickle.

I laugh out loud half the time I see this picture, and the other half I just smile from ear to ear. But you know what changed my mind from going the salon to request my typical "just a little trim and some long layers" hair cut? Part of it is connected to that 8th grade picture I had my mom scan and send to me. I remembered that it was a pretty awful picture, but I hadn't actually seen it in years. Some of my classmates/friends at seminary had recently donated their hair to make wigs for kids undergoing cancer treatment and seeing 8th grade started me thinking of all the kids that are/were in 8th grade and can't grow hair at all, because they are battling a horrible disease and all the kids who won't make it to 8th grade because of losing a battle with cancer. I thought of my little niece and what it would mean for her to go through cancer treatment as a child; I thought of all the folks that I met in the oncology unit while working as a chaplain intern last summer, all of whom had no hair as a result of chemotherapy. I remembered my friends who have lost loved ones to cancer. I thought of the loved ones I know who have battled and are battling cancer.

All that gave me some much needed perspective on priorities of life and pretty much eliminated my hair hang-ups--this life is short. So I decided to cut my hair short and donate it. That said, I did print out the above photo and bring it with me to the salon so I could be sure to communicate how I did not want my hair to look. The hairstylist didn't think that was weird at all (that's a lie, but at least he laughed.)

I researched hair styles and cuts that I thought would like, measured my hair to make sure it was enough to donate and made the appointment at Sole Salon to have the most hair I have had cut off since that fateful 8th grade photo. This is the before picture. See what I mean? Unmanageably long, something needed to be done anyway so why not cut enough off for someone else to have hair too?

I chose the absolute right stylist, Ben at Sole Salon on Bay Street in Oakland. If you have long hair, if someone you love has long hair and you want them to keep it that way, go to this guy. He told me straight up that he doesn't think woman look good with long hair and would try to keep as much length as possible. I told him I didn't mind, but I appreciated knowing my hair stylist wouldn't try to do anything "edgy" and "trendy." That's just not me; at least, it is not my hair. I feel if I have dark nail polish, short skirts, nose ring, bright colored clothing.. my hair can be a bit on the conservative side--life is about balance.

So he banded it up, chopped it off and sent it in. done and done. I'm not freaking out.

In the end, it isn't as short as I thought it would be and I certainly feel a bit foolish for how scared I was to cut it "short." These are front and back pictures of me at the salon after the deed is done; I don't know if my hair will look this nice again, but I certainly liked the looks of it yesterday!

I highly recommend growing your hair and cutting it for donation. It is a nice time of year to do it and there are different organizations that will accept varied lengths: 8inches (Beautiful Lengths,) and 10 inches (Locks of Love); of course, there is no minimum length.

Having had the first full day with short(er) hair and putting it through the test of cycling and yoga... it has managed fairly well. Plus so much less shampoo needed! win! Although I like it, it is still taking some getting used to. Seems like an abrupt stop when I go to brush my hair. I think I have brushed my hair more today than in the last week. Seems you have to brush short hair a lot more to make it nice... so I will likely grow it out again...if only to cut it for donation. :) Special thank you to Rebecca for lending me her car for the adventure and KD and Roman who came along for moral support; I heart community.

Ceasar Chavez park!!

A great discovery. Why did it take me almost two years to bike down to the marina? Never mind, two years will not pass again with such a pretty park and great happy hour (Skates!) is so near. That is the best part about visitors, motivates me to go out exploring more than the library. :)

Dave was a lot happier than he looks in this photo, caught him mid-sentence. After all, he did get to ride this pretty sweet cruiser that a friend and classmate generously lent to him. All in all, it is a great way to spend an afternoon and since it seems summer is here for a few days I hope to make it down to the park for a quick spin again soon!

Beatrice

It is only a few short days until I see my niece again! Suppose it us about time that I shared some of the photos from my last visit in March. She is the most clever and sweet little person in the world.

Birthday Brunch :)

Thirtieth Birthday Breakfast! Look how I am glowing. :) After a wonderful weekend of festivities my actual day of birth, Sunday February 26th, was pretty low-key. Perfect. However, I love brunch and my friend, Fiona, gave me some presents to open on my birthday morning and the colorful plates and napkins were there to surprise me! How Could I resist making a brunch worthy of such Brit-tastic china?

I couldn't. So I made french toast with these two lovely ladies, Eryn and Emily. they were so good and put up with me as I wanted to light candles and tea in my special tea pot from Maddy (as Maddy gave me the tea pot and Fiona the plates, both gals were there in spirit! I am the luckiest) and took pictures of the spread while they sat there... ravenous... though they look pretty happy too. :)

What a great birthday. That evening we went out to Jupiter, where I won the SECOND beer drinking contest of my life. That fact makes it sound much more rowdy than it was and I think the best part was hearing friends from my seminary sing happy birthday. Lutherans, so beautiful! They broke into a four part harmony and I almost teared up. Okay. I teared up. It was great. Then, with a grand total of 2 1/2 pints I was good to go. To round off a pretty great weekend, Emily and I watched the season 2 finale of Downton Abby. It was a nice day.

Wandering through Berkeley

Alright! Birthday adventures continue. On Friday night of the GREAT BIRTHDAY WEEKEND, Brittney and Nicole joined the festivities. I am the luckiest. <--fact. These girls drove from LA and Santa Barbara, after full days of work, to join in the merry making. I hadn't seen Brittney and Nikki for years... way too long. much, much too long! Let me tell you, there was a serious amount of laughter and general frivolity upon the arrival of these two. .. and lots of hugging!

After a rowdy evening of catch up we wet off the next morning to explore Berkeley. I wanted to take them up to College avenue. I bike down college avenue at least once a week on my route to church. However, I never get to stop and meander around all the shops... this was our destination.

I took this picture for my friend, Rob, who lives back in Chester, UK. Rob was born and raised in Somerset and does the finest Somerset farmer accent and drinks cider like a champ. So I thought, how do I honor my friend? Taking a photo with a vague reference to his home town. Here are you Rob. Miss yah! You would have fit right in with ladies weekend (okay, not right in exactly, but you would have laughed a lot and would have been fun.)

One of my birthday wishes was to find a pair of skinny jeans that looked good (see I'm fairly easy to please. I didn't ask for a unicorn or a million dollars.) We were successful! At a store recommended by my friend, Kara, called Slash Denim. Pretty strange place, really. You walk in and say what you want and then they pull out a few pairs of jeans and magically they work. I think it helped that I had a group of gals to give honest feedback and one random stranger's approval. Bought them. done. not looking back.

After lunch, we headed to the donut shop. I love how donut shops smell.

Look how happy this part of the crew is for their donut treats. I don't even recall who purchased donuts (I didn't, they didn't have maple bars or tiger tails and this girl has specific donut tastes) and how many or what happened, but I do remember that they made fun of me for capturing this moment in time. Jokes on you! This photo below is great! I know the ladies in it won't think so, but I do. It is great, because they are great. I know it is not up for any photography contest or anything, but I just love these gals. I will take as many photos as I please. :)

Which apparently for the day was... three. The three that you see above. Shame Nikki didn't make it into this picture, but you get the idea. Friends reunited with nothing to do but enjoy the sunshine, food, wine and each other. That is a recipe for wonderful if I ever knew one.