'What could be worse than being born without sight? Being born with sight but no vision.'' --Helen Keller This the final in the series about re-thinking giving.  Part 1 was about the need to have better ways for both for-profit/donors and non-profits to help each other.  Part 2 was about  who is it that we're giving to, ...

Sub-title for this post: Local girl does good!  Diane Hammond is a Bend,Oregon resident. This is her third critically acclaimed novel.  Visit Diane's site for more info and for book signing and other media events around 'Hannah's Dream'. “Irresistibly touching, delectably uplifting, Hammond’s understated yet gargantuan tale of ...

Days with my Father http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/ Someone just sent me this link--it's an amazing photo-journal of the on-going journey of Phillip Toledano with his 98 year old father through the end of his days.   There is some remarkable vulnerability from the author--about himself, as well as his father's life. The ...

So this has been a week/month of losing things. I don't normally lose things like keys and such.  But this week, I left my purse in a restaurant--the same lunch restaurant that I left my purse in 2 weeks ago.  I don't ever remember leaving my purse anywhere before.  Twice--same place.  What's that about? Luckily for me, no ...

In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. --- attributed to either Al Rogers or Eric Hoffer [quoted from How to Save the World] This post is a SynchroBlog on The Politics of God hosted through the site Square No More.  See ...

Part 1: The call comes from 'Bougainvillea' (i.e. Katrina) asking me to come help her die. Katrina and I have been friends for over 20 years.  Note: In the late 1990's Katrina took on the nickname from a tropical plant I had carted to Colorado from Florida--a bougainvillea that I couldn't seem to kill--although I left it outside to freeze, ...

This is a guest post from Susan Dearborn Jackson.  She will be a regular blogger on the Virtual Tea House. Stay tuned for more adventures with Susan...and maybe even with Susan's peripatetic boob. In the meantime, here's a little bio: Susan has been an astrologer for almost thirty years and has a Master's degree in Jungian Psychology.  ...

So on a post last week, ''The Dog's in Heaven and the Cat's in Jail'' in a follow up comment, I came to Geronimo's (aka Damn Dog's) defense.  I wrote about 4 things that he has been teaching us about living and loving.  Here's one I forgot, and since it's an important one, thought I'd write a whole post about it. Lesson ...

This post is the essence of a talk I gave February 24, 2008 at the Spiritual Awareness Community in Bend, Oregon. Raising Resistance to an Art Form ”Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated”-- the Borg in Star Trek, The Next Generation There’s not going to be anything said or done today that you don’t already know or understand. What you ...

When I was in Denver earlier this month I had dinner with a friend of 17 years, Rudite. We worked together at hospice while I was in seminary.  We don't talk much in between when I visit Denver, but we always try to get together when I'm in town.  I was 15 minutes late for dinner and she was reading a book when I got to the ...

Several years ago, I attended a fire circle in western Colorado, where I then lived, on Grand Mesa outside of Grand Junction.  The fire was in conjunction with a plant spirit medicine class being taught by a shaman in the Huichol and Nahuatl traditions (central Mexico) named Eliot Cowan.  Eliot is Tsaurirrikame of the ...