Dig in, dig in!
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Hi Friends...
I hope this finds you well, happy, full of sunlight and joy.
Ah, even though it's intangible cyberspace into which I write, it's actually quite grounding to get back to my blog.
I write from Frankfurt, Germany. I found a great little bookstore and polished off Short Cuts, by Raymond Carver (oh, I missed you, Raymond!) and purchased T.C. Boyle's Talk Talk and Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You. Excited! I have spent the last 3 weeks lazily working my way through Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God , which was a thought-provoking and beautiful novel, but it was one of those books that was a bit of a chore to get through. I absolutely see why it holds such a prominent position within the African-American literary canon, but I think I wasn't in the "correct" state of mind to be reading it. Therefore, super excited to dig into these new, delicious novels! Yum, yum, yum....nothin' more tasty than a good story.
I'm a sleepy, sleepy, girl right now (even though it's only 6:30pm) so this post will be a short one (plus, I apparently only get 30 min. of free internet here...strange, no?), but I wanted to spill some words onto a "page" and get it out there. It's nice to unload thoughts/emotions/questions/answers/random bits from the mind into a notebook, ear, or in this case, keyboard.
So, phase three is complete! Hard to believe... My experience at the German farm was an interesting one. Not interesting in the sense that the work was varied and gratifying, but more in an "um, what?" kind of way. I just barely departed this morning, so I don't think I've have enough time removed from the environment to truly reflect upon it and process my mixed musings on the topic. The farm's backdrop was beautiful-- long, lean trees came together to form mystical forests full of lush green life, dashing deer, slimy slugs, vibrant butterflies, vicious nettle (AH!), and leaves whispering in the cool daytime zephyr. Winding paths led to open meadows of magic, and hunters' hides provided cozy shelter from both sun and rain. So, why was the experience "interesting", you ask? Well, whereas both Italy and France were totally organized and kept me busy with full days of fun, new, multifarious projects, our "manager" in Germany has little to no direction as far as projects went, and we were often left with only a couple of hours of garden work and a few haphazard tasks here and there (examples to come). No regrets, I am glad I went onward to Germany and completed my initial goal, but the experience was a bit of a bummer as far as organic farming goes...but I think that the level of greatness of the other two farms evens it out and makes me not mind so much. PLUS, every cloud has a silver lining, does it not?
Fortunately, I was not the only volunteer there and I am tremendously grateful, in particular, for one of my fellow volunteers. A pure heart and effervescent soul, he made the time worth it and I was reminded, yet again, of how amazing some people can be and how simple it is to attract these people when you, yourself, are in the proper state of being. It's a very special gift when you meet someone who inspires you to be the best version of yourself. A lifelong friend, for sure. More to come on that overall theme.
I think my time with Mr. Internet it about to let up here.....but already being away from that somewhat strange farm atmosphere, I am feeling light, grounded, whole, and eager to explore Warsaw with the lovely Ms. Magda!
As this Euro farming adventure comes to a close, I am naturally launched into a state of deep reflection. I think I will need a bit of time to allow this quiet storm of bits and pieces to settle before I can write anything concrete/rounded about my experience. But for now, the key themes of my summer have been gratitude, openness, love, life, light, connection, laughter, purity, curiosity, appreciation, and trust.
I've said it before and gosh darn it, I'll say it again: I'm a lucky, lucky girl! Sometimes I nearly go weak at the knees and break down just overflowing with such gratitude for the life I live, the opportunities I've been granted, and the people I breathe in along the way. To be human is a beautiful thing....always.
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Glimpses of Their Eyes Were Watching God...
"Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place"
"She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree ... soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation."
"Most humans didn’t love one another nohow, and this mislove ... was so strong that even common blood couldn’t overcome it all the time. She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around. But she had been set in the market-place to sell. Been set for still-bait. When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered al over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chipped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another, but the mud is deaf and dumb. Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine. "
"Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. ... For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly."
"Love ain't somethin' lak uh grindstone dat's de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore."
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Check it out: The Inspiration Pad (!)
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Ok, will write more when I get a chance. Time for a long shower and a sweet, sweet slumber before tomorrow's adventure kicks off.
Namaste to all
<3
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