I Love the Blue Angels!

Blue_angels_flyby_in_column — Photo credit: Wikipedia

Some people love the Blue Angels, others hate them. I have known spiritual people who were shocked when they said something negative about the planes and I responded that I love them. Those people usually remind me that they are fighter jets. That is a valid point, but I rationalize that these particular planes are not used for war.

I have friends who leave town when the Blue Angels fly and the hydroplanes roar. I’m not interested in hydroplanes but each year I eagerly await the arrival of the Blue Angels.

If I had fought in a war or lived in a war zone, my body would probably fill with fear when they came. If I was a dog, I’d probably hide. But I’m neither. When I hear their sound I feel excited.

Wikipedia says this about the Blue Angels:

The mission of the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron is to showcase the pride and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.^[2]

During their aerobatic demonstration, the Blues fly six F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, split into the Diamond Formation (Blue Angels 1 through 4) and the Lead and Opposing Solos (Blue Angels 5 and 6)….. The Solos showcase the high performance capabilities of their individual aircraft through the execution of high-speed passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls, and very tight turns. The highest speed flown during an air show is 700 mph (just under Mach 1) and the lowest speed is 120 mph. Some of the maneuvers include both solo aircraft performing at once, such as opposing passes (toward each other in what appears to be a collision course) and mirror formations (back-to-back. belly-to-belly, or wingtip-to-wingtip, with one jet flying inverted). The Solos join the Diamond Formation near the end of the show for a number of maneuvers in the Delta Formation.

I’ve been to the show at Lake Washington several times, but I tend to get bored. It is not the formal show that I love. What I love is that they fly over my house, often very close. (I have lived in this house since 1973 and I believe they were already performing when I moved in. In those days, there were times when we sat on top of the garage and watched. Now the trees are so high we wouldn’t be able to see much even if the garage still existed.) Because my view is so obstructed, I never know when the planes will be flying over the house. Their presence is preceded by their sound. For me the sound is electrifying, and my body fills with a healthy burst of adrenaline, as opposed to the adrenaline rushes that raise my blood pressure when I am stressed.

I not only enjoy watching them outside, I also enjoy listening to them from inside the house. During the shows they fly within my earshot, over and over again.

Since I have had this blog, I have attempted to get photos to share. That is not easy to do because I have only seconds to get the shot. It is much more difficult than taking a picture of a constantly moving bee. Having the houses, trees and wires in the way is an added problem. And this year my garden has become so big that it covers walkways and a good part of the driveway, making it even more difficult to get to a place where I have a chance of photographing them.

Here are two pictures I took today.

After I took those, I decided to use the burst setting on the camera for the first time and was surprised by what I captured. If anyone has an explanation for these pictures please feel free to share it!

Seattle

The Blue Angels few into town earlier this week and I saw one of the planes when it arrived. There was a practice session this morning and as I am writing this post another one is beginning. Tomorrow there will be two more. Then there will be two official shows on Saturday and two more on Sunday. By the end of the weekend, I will be ready for them to leave, but will no doubt be looking forward to their return in 2016!

It occurred to me that I could end this post with a video clip so ran out to get one! You will hear an excited neighborhood child yell when he sees, or hears, them coming.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up

I decided to start close up and then give an ever bigger view.

Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up

I Remember When #2…….

Photo Credit: blackhistorycollection.com

I remember when:

There were separate toilets for “whites” and “coloreds” in the southern United States.

I worked for a short time picking fruit in South Carolina in 1970. There the “white” workers were given a toilet to use while the “colored” workers had to use an outhouse.

There were department store restrooms where half of the toilets were pay toilets. You had to insert a dime into a metal box on the door in order to get access to the toilet. The pay toilets were kept clean, the others were dirty.

In 2014, I went to a restroom in a public building near Seattle and found a sign on one stall saying “This toilet is reserved for e-cigarette employees only.” (I am choosing to not reveal the name of the company that did this.)

Is a new form of segregation starting?

To read more “I Remember When’s” go to https://livinglearningandlettinggo.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/i-remember-when/

Perfection is Not the Goal!

“We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.”
― Martin Buber

I have a tendency to mull over past mistakes. I am even more likely to do that when I have made mistakes that hurt my children in some way. There are times I still cringe when I think of ways I treated them during their childhood and teenage years.

It is true that I, like most parents, did the best I could even though I didn’t have the knowledge or skills to do a perfect job of parenting. And like most parents, I was often too tired and worn down to always do the right thing. I have no doubt that I was a “good enough parent” but when I am “in my stuff” I expect myself to have been perfect.

For me, redemption comes when I see how they are in the world as adults. Sreejit is 40 years old and has lived in Amma’s California or India ashram since he was 19. He is committed to his spiritual path and to serving the world by supporting Amma’s charitable projects. He does this by being one of the main cooks for the Western Canteen in Amma’s Amritapuri ashram. In addition, he is a gifted musician, author, song writer, blogger and poet.

Chaitanya is 37 years old and has lived in Amma’s Amritapuri ashram since her 21^st birthday. She too is avidly committed to her spiritual path and to supporting Amma in any way possible. She is a born leader, responsible for managing Amritapuri’s Western Canteen and Café. In addition, she is a gifted writer, director and choreographer of Broadway style musicals. When people need support, they often seek her out.

Both of them are loved and respected by all who know them; and they are wise beyond their years. I have had numerous people tell me “If you ever question that you have done things right (in life), all you need to do is take a look at your kids.”

Both Chaitanya and Sreejit have told me how valuable it was for them to have had the life experiences they had as they were growing up. I regularly see them using knowledge, skills, and attitudes that have their roots in things they learned from their dad and me. They took those teachings and then developed them as they became the people they are today.

As Buber said, “We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.” When mistakes I made in the past come to mind, I need to remind myself to look at the bigger picture. My children learned from any mistakes I made and are better people because of them. My being perfect would not have even been in their best interest. I only need to look at the “fruit of my actions” to know I was a good parent!

Chaitanya and me

Sreejit’s fFirst trip to India

Playing around

Chaitanya’s first trip to India

With their dad

Best of friends

Sreejit and Chaitany are on each end

Written for Dungeon Prompts: Redemption Song

Fierce of Heart

While mystical experiences are not the basis of spiritual process and can even be a distraction, in my early years with Amma I believe they were a means for Spirit to get my attention and pull me in. They showed my normal logical mind that there were realms I knew nothing about and that I had to let go of my rigid way of seeing the world and learn to allow my life to unfold.

Last week, when I read Sreejit’s Dungeon Prompts: Only for the Fierce of Heart challenge, I thought of an event that occurred in 1994. Before I tell you that story let me say that I believe it takes courage and a fierce commitment to one’s spiritual journey to be willing to go places that take you out of the realm of normal experience, and also to be committed to doing “whatever it takes” along the way. Some of the processes that were happening to me in those days were public, and since I am very introverted, I believe my willingness to let them occur, with discrimination, exemplifies my fierce determination to do whatever it takes.

After I met Amma in 1989, I experienced tremendous separation grief whenever she would leave. I am so thankful that Spirit led me to places where that empty hole inside of me could continue to fill when I was not in her physical presence.

One of those places was the Power House Church of God in Christ. The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is a black Pentecostal denomination. I never thought I would go to a conservative Christian church again, but other than the fact that I was uncomfortable with many of their sermons, I loved it. The people were so loving towards me and their music filled me with joy.

At some point, my feet started spontaneously moving to the music while I was seated. Many months later, I stood up and let the dance take over my entire body. Soon I began “Dancing in the Spirit” along with other parishioners. My form of dancing often turned into whirling. That process not only removed the grief, it led to exhilarating joy.

In summer of 1994, when I attended Amma’s New York City programs, I decided to go a service at a COGIC church in Harlem. I had visited that same church the year before. At that time, I found it to be similar to Power House, but more restrained. Their music tended to be soulful rather than celebratory and I had not seen anyone dance.

This time, a friend decided to come with me. At the beginning of the service, the minister welcomed both of us and told us to have a good time. Like the previous year, there were no other white faces in the congregation.

During the time since my last visit, I had begun to experience the spontaneous dance almost every time I went to church. As I looked around this church, I saw the ushers were children. At Power House the ushers were adults. Part of their job was to protect the people who were dancing in the Spirit. I concluded that dancing was probably not a regular occurrence here and decided to restrain it should it occur.

I was not prepared, however, for the fact that all of my recent contact with Amma made that unconscious part of me much more accessible. The minute the music started, my body began to dance. While I probably could have shut it down, the energy was so strong I wasn’t sure about that. I decided to let it come. Later, my friend said people looked at her, concerned that I was okay. She just stood there helplessly indicating I was fine.

The energy became stronger than my body could keep up with, so I dropped into a position of prostration, i.e. bowing down with my forehead to floor. The energy inside of me began to calm down.

While I had no doubt that my dancing in that church was acceptable and that the congregation would probably enjoy telling the story of the day the white girl danced in their church for years, part of me was embarrassed. I was once told that the difference between shock and embarrassment is that shock drains life force energy whereas embarrassment may enhance it. A person experiencing shock turns white and “death-like.” With embarrassment, the fear is joined by a bit of pleasure. Instead of turning white, the person experiencing embarrassment turns red from the increase in blood-flow. My experience at the Harlem church was definitely embarrassment not shock. I felt full of life!

At the end of the service, the minister, with a smile on his face, said, “We told her to have a good time, and she did!” I have relished that memory for years.

As I was writing this post, “Hold My Mule” by Shirley Caesar came to mind. The recording starts with a story and turns into song. I have used it in many workshops over the years and was delighted to find it on YouTube. I think it is a good example of being fierce of heart so will use it to end my post!

Abundance from the Garden

Before I left for Toronto last Thursday I harvested everything I could from the garden in an attempt to keep the vegetables from getting huge during the five days I was gone. I can only imagine how big those items would have been if I had left them on the plants. I came home to a whole new set of gigantic vegetables!

This is only a partial harvest from the front yard garden. The vegetables are even bigger than they look in the photo.

This is a zucchini! It is eight inches high and nineteen inches around.

Generally, I only give food scraps to the worms in my two worm bins, but I decided to share one of the big zucchini’s with them. After all, their ceaseless work contributed significantly to making the garden what it is today.

The Wonders of Nature

Several of the rituals conducted during Amma‘s programs use flower petals. Today, I was working with a group of people who were taking the petals off of carnations. In the process of doing that, we removed the stamen from each flower.

We soon discovered that the stamens were very different from each other even though the flowers themselves were all carnations. It was as if every flower was unique. I took a few minutes to take photos of eight of them.

Someone commented that they looked like roots of teeth. One of the men working with us said that when something in nature looks like something else those two things often have some kind of relation to each other. We wondered if there was any chance that the stamens had any medicinal value related to alleviating tooth pain. Just thinking of the possibility that that might be true was wondrous.

She is Incredible!

I just watched this video for the fourth or fifth time and once again tears are rolling down my cheeks. I imagine I will listen to it many more times in the future. The introduction and the events that occurred after she sang touched me as much as the song itself. Enjoy!

स्वेतपुष्पाणां वृष्ठिः

प्रतिदिनम् अम्मा अस्मकिं पृच्छति स्वेतपुष्पाणां वृष्ठिः अखिलविश्वस्य शान्त्यै पश्यतु

लोकः समस्तः सुखिनो भवन्तु

शन्ति शन्ति शन्ति:

Everyday Amma asks us to see white flowers of peace raining on the entire universe.
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings in the world be happy.
Peace, Peace, Peace