To Be A Kite, The Rightness of Air

Here they are our two modest & humble kites, hopefully never to be forgotten again...

On Tuesday of this past week when we had just arrived at Misquamicut Beach, in R.I., I realised I had forgotten to pack our kites. For some years now, I would just keep them in the car so I could be on the ready, but low & behold my intuitive Girl Scout method, had been jumbled a bit, due to all the various chapters of us cleaning out the back of my car, for this transport or that, & so there we were standing out on the ancient jetty, the one that's photographed in a previous posting -

http://thepeacegarden.blogspot.com/2011/09/natures-beauty-once-again-after-storm.html

There was plenty of ocean wind that day, but alas, no kite, no kite....

I proceeded to solve that straight away yesterday morning, & immediately put our two kites with

all their string, right back where they belong, back into the car, to be on the ready whenever there might be, the rightness of air....

To Be A Kite, The Rightness of Air

I await the rightness of air

to bring me up

knowing well,

that a wind too

will bring me crashing down to earth

do I not go

take this marvelous wind

and sail, upon the sky

such of course, is my course~

I take this wind

soar, taunting at tethered string

waving ruggard and tattered tail

an adolsolent in the sky

knowing that this too is who I am

one with the wind

so help me God

amen

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This completes today's addition to the Poetry A Muse In Motion Project. May all your winds, be sweet, high, & most positive. We wish you peace.

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It is of course Labor Day Weekend, we plan on beginning it with a documentary movie about the life of Sholem Aleichem, at Real Art Ways in Htfd. Ct., It looks interesting, & here's the link-

http://www.realartways.org/cinema.htm#sholem-aleichem

Have a good weekend one & all!

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

As Pink Floyd Sang- "Welcome To Machine"

Fuel needed, for our generator is apx. 1 gallon of gas, for about 4-5 hrs. worth of electricity. Not a bad trade off considering without one, we'd have no running water, hot or cold, no lights, & no refrigeration. This is not a carefree system. Every other day, my husband & I need to be sure we are stocked with fuel, in order to make this bit of equipment run, & to be certain this man made machine doesn't self destruct; my husband is diligent about checking the oil on a regular basis, of which he has changed it once already. We have been living out here, in these here hills since '84 , & are on our second generator, due to it's high useage, & the terrible power company coverage that this region is known for.

Aside from the loudness of the machine, I really have no complaints, as the weather is still comfortable, & physically my husband & I are able to manage this inconvenience, though in all actuality he's the one doing all of the work, & me, well, we together, are the home team!

When we were hit with Hurricane Gloria some 25+ years ago, we were without power for 8 days, & had no source of heating our home except for a wood stove, as back then it was in October, with those cold, damp, mornings & nights. We were expecting our son Mike then, who was due in January, so you could just image how uncomfortable I must have been. Our neighbor who was also out of power worked at the nearby community college, & shared the information with me that our tax payer dollars had a hot shower on the ready in the college's ladies room, of which I so eagerly took advantage of several times, as 8 cold damp days, of no running water was indeed a long haul, in any condition, pregnant or not!

We're into day 4 now, some say that this storm has thrown us off the grid worse than Gloria, I certainly hope not, but only time will tell if we reach #8 for Irene. Now if we only had a bit of solar power here, at least it would provide us with the hot water. Maybe someday, if it can be made affordable, only time will tell.

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

Nature's Beauty Once Again, After The Storm

One of the remains after Hurricane Irene of my husband's sunflowers. As we can see it doesn't really matter to this hard working bee.

Always, a curious sort, that I am, & wanted to check out the shore line this past Tue. 8/30/11, to take in the lay of the land. As can be noted, not much amiss on this jetty, up the road from Misquamicut State Beach in R.I.

Our saucer magnolias are Aok, & will sun themselves a bit more, thankfully.

Here she is my dog Dolly, finally with the very first picture of her sitting next to the very flowers which truly are the reason I adopted her, can't remember if it's been two or three years since she's been our pooch, as it now seems forever! Anyway, the true main reason, I needed a dog, was that the deer were eating my flowers, espically the white phlox she is so proudly posing next to. These phlox are named David, & I planted them as they are so very wonderful, & yes I have a brother named David. Hi there Dave!

Hurricane Irene has come & gone. Since the last posting of the Peace Garden, we've remained on generator power. Shortly after my last entry we lost our phone & internet, so this morning it's back, yeah, yeah, rah, rah !!!

When a tree falls in the forest, which has been the case since the hurricane, though we really can't say we've heard too much racket out in our woods, but power lines remain down throughout our State of Connecticut, with over 200 thousand people still without power. Am hopeful we are back on the grid soon, as maintaining the operational goings on of a generator, in these here hills, for though it's a small machine, still, it is a lot of work for my husband.

The above are of course a few photos taken over the past few days. None disastrous, or sad in any way, & in all honesty, truly, that's the way we like it, as much as we must acknowledge, & continue to come to terms with what nature wroughts, as it is all, truly, beyond our power. The very best we can all do, as we go forward in life, is to remember that ole Girl Scout motto~ to be prepared. And yes, we continue to work at it, as best as we can!

We wish you all continued safety & peace, from all of nature's storms.

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

Weathering The Weather...

My husband's sunny sunflowers, just a few days ago, with the first photo being of the, here & now...

Below are the peliquins in flight, from our eldest son's vacation album, taken in the outter banks off the N. Carolina coast just a few weeks ago. Time does Fly, as nature, is always in flux....

We're in the midst of heavy rains, & winds. Hurricane Irene has been down graded to a tropical storm, which is ok with me, a bit less of a punch, but nonetheless taken seriously. If the worst we fare here are tumbled flowers, & a few minor branches down, I'm fine with that, for I never really need the excitement of Mother Nature's wrath to feel the power & glory of it all! We do run a very serious risk of some of our trees coming down, & if that were to be the case, as it had been several years ago, when a major 100+, years old, papa of a tree, not only took down our power line, but fell right across the driveway, of which we had no access in or out, until this massive tree, sadly was cut up. We still miss him, but he now has a rather grand stump, like Shel Silverstein's,

The Giving Tree.

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A friend's friend on facebook was concerned about where she lives in Stonington, Ct., which is right on the Long Island Sound, & her fears proved right, as some one's house in that small village community was hit by a power line, & caused a fatal fire, & am of course most hopeful that she was nowhere near that horrific tragedy. It is the strong rains, & winds that remain a possible threat, in regards to all the power lines, not only in our tightly packed cities, but in our small communities too. We lost our municiple power this morning at arround 9:15am, & my husband being the very well prepared individual that he has always been, made sure our generator was in good operational order, & that we had plenty of fuel on hand to last us for at least 3 days.

May the stories we share at the end of this adventure, be of a positive nature. Nature with all she can muster, is a part of us all! Be well.

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

As We Enter Another Eve of Hurrcane Irene

Hurricane Irene made landfall this AM in North Carolina, according to the news reports it is now in the Maryland Chesapeake Bay, & D.C. areas, heading for the New Jersey Shore. This entire week, has been an overall geography lesson of the U.S. & my goodness, the northeast coast is big, as is this hurricane!

At 11am today, we went outside to take the furniture & plants off the deck, & also did a sweep down at the Peace Garden, putting some objects in the trailer of our mower & then getting them into the barn. I suppose there's even more stuff in the yard, but enough is enough, as I finally wrenched my back out a bit, so that's it for now.

Am I stressed... , well I was. Now I'm just plain exhausted, & want it to be over in a good safe & positive way. Nothing more, & nothing less.

Thoughts & prayers of safety, health, safety & wellness, to each & everyone.

~Amen~

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The following link offers some up to date & important info:

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/hurricanes.shtm

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

A Sort of Calm Before The Storm

On Tuesday 8/23/11, the eastern part of North America experienced an earthquake, something like 5.8 on the Richter scale. My husband & I were visiting with our son & grand kids, & on our way back to our neck of the woods we heard about it on an NPR radio news story. We were in the Htfd. area, doing errands, cycling & just hanging out with the extended fam*, & we did not experience even a tremor, but our son in D.C. did as his building shook & swayed, & he & his co workers evacuated from the 6th floor. His brother further up the coast in Boston also experienced the shaking of the building he was working in at one of the universities in the city. These experiences were relayed to us, & of which we were told were rather scary & unsettling, to say the least.

Fast forward, the world does turn, & things move fast~

Here it is now Friday 8/26/11, & we're in the midst of preparing for Hurricane Irene of which all the reports state this is to be considered a major storm event, not seen since some fifty years ago! Oh my!

This hurricane is to come in at N. Carolina, & is headed up the coast towards Maryland, which is of course close to D.C. where our son lives. Our friends on the Jersey Shore are already in the midst of an evacuation, & we have extended family in N.J., Long Island, & New York City, which may also be severely affected. Our New England fam* is of Ct. & Ma., with the storm due to arrive in New England on Sunday 8/28/11, that's only two days away, & already my husband said he was told that people were lining up at our local Stop & Shop, as early as 7am, before the store even opened.

Sooo... we're doing errands, getting things done, but truly one never really knows...

If I sound a bit anxious, that is a true assumption, as I tend by nature to be a rather mother hen, & quite the overly protective type, hence the peace garden here, but when it comes to aspects of nature, even the mother hen knows gather the chicks, & just take cover. My chicks of course, one of them that is, has chicks of his own, & he & our daughter in law, will do a good job I'm sure protecting their nest. Our other two are also fully grown adult men, & as much as I may wonder & fret, the practical side of me says, they will do aok. But, a mother of course is always a mother, & as Mother Nature, once again prepares to rock & roll us a bit, my thoughts are with you All*, for safety, wellness & peace.

Amen

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A Post Script to this day; I pretty much became much like this, during our Y2K chapter,

hyper vigilant as us health care professionals would call it. And yes, I formerly was one of those, though I no longer consider myself to be in the health care profession, nonetheless hyper vigilant. What can I say, I'm pretty much hard wired into that, depending on the situation, as it is quite primal, a response deep down from- the "cave of forgotten dreams"!

So tonight it's a movie, The Help, though I haven't read the book yet, & dinner out perhaps, time will tell...

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

What Does Mr. Potato Head Have To Do With This Anyway...

A symbol of humankind's yearning for peace worldwide~

It's time to get back to the business at hand, Mr. Potato Head you need not fear for this next generation of Peace Potato Peeps will be out & about visiting a farmers market, & a Peace Day celebratory event soon. Perhaps near you!

Please join us for the 4th Annual

United Nations International Day of Peace

Sunday September 18th, 3-5pm

at B'nai Shalom

125 Church St., Putnam, Ct.

*Please bring donations on the day of the event of a non perishable food item, for Daily Bread's Food Pantry.

The above is a United Nations sponsored event, & brought to you by,

the Greater Putnam Interfaith Council & made possible this year by the generosity of~

B'nai Shalom, & all our featured guests, artists & contributors, of whom we are most thankful of their contributions & continued support over the years.

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Post Script to this entry on 8/26/11, at 12:06 am~

An earthquake & a hurricane all on the east coast in less than seven days, what a reminder that we're all in this together!

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden