Words of Kindness and Joy

 

 A prayer by Laura Jean Truman

God, 

Keep my anger from becoming meanness. 

 Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity. 

Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking. 

Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty. 

 Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love. 

Keep me fiercely kind. 

Amen.

And definitely keep our hearts and our behavior "fiercely kind". Yes, "fiercely"!!!!!

There is so much sorrow, so much anger, so much maliciousness in the world today, keep me kind!

 Sending love,

Marilyn

This Week

Once a week I plan an adventure because if I don't my "live-in gardener"  and I get caught up with what needs to be done around the house and life becomes rather boring. Adventures are what make me happy. So last week I found a tearoom I hadn't been to and off we went. I had a bag of left over magazines from the tea festival to give them for their customers. So we had a treat of some yummy tea food and they got magazines.

 

And then on the home front I am diligently watching for ripe plums. Not quite ripe, but I am beginning to see a few with a purple blush appearing. I am so excited for fresh plums, my dehydrator is waiting in anticipation. 

 

And then, each summer I plan a special adventure for my grandson. Yesterday was the day!!

It was a Big Foot Excursion on a jet boat starting in downtown Portland, going along the Willamette River, then joining the Columbia River and east to Multnomah Falls. It was rather cold when we started, but as the day went along it became quite pleasant.

It is fun to play tourist for a few hours in our own city and to see the city and surroundings from a different view. There is a lot more shipping going on then I realized. This boat with the red cross is a floating Naval hospital. It is in dry dock being cleaned and serviced.

Here are some larger tour boats in downtown Portland. The bridge above is a walking bridge and for mass transit, but not for cars.

 I have seen Love along the river, but never at this angle.

And under a bridge we went. I think we went under about 10 bridges.

Another tour boat on the river. This one is often used for special events and weddings.

One of the docks we rode past with a restaurant that our tour guide recommended. The Columbia River actually divides Washington and Oregon states; so this was on the Washington side of the river. I will be checking the restaurant soon.

There was a lot of activity on the river.

Beautiful views everywhere too.

Not a great picture, but the mound on the top is called Crown Point. There are beautiful views from there, but rather windy standing out on that point.

All along the way we heard stories of Big Foot. Do you believe in them? After listening to stories for 3 hours I think there must be something to it. Hummmm?

And then we arrived at the half way point of the tour, Multnomah Falls. It was fun to see it from the river.

I would love living here and watching the river flow by each day.

All the large rocks and boulders have been formed from volcano eruptions in the past. In fact, the Columbia River was formed by volcanic flows through this gorge.

Here is another home tucked in the trees. I can dream, can't I?

A tug boat! Many years ago we had a friend that had stories of being the cook on such a tug boat. Up and down the river they go, usually pushing a barge.

I think my "live-in gardener" enjoyed the adventure.

Back in Portland. I could also imagine living here to watch the river's flow.

And under the bridges again.

And past downtown Portland.

My daughter holding the mold of Big Foots foot.

My grandson measuring his hand against a mold of Big Foot's hand.

 And home again to watch the Olympics.

Are you watching?

Wasn't the opening ceremony wonderful?

 

Have a terrific weekend, dear friends.

Sending love,

Marilyn

First Word - Repair

 Occasionally I share in my church what we call "First Word", which is 2 minutes shared by someone in the congregation. Recently I shared these thoughts on our word of the year, which is repair. The following is what I shared.

Being a visual person when I visited Lan Su Chinese Gardens last month they had an art show on Japanese “Mending”. It hit me as I viewed the show and read the description that it was a form of “Repair”.  In a way it reminded me of the hippy form of repairing jeans with patches and visible stitching. I remember doing that when my son was little and he needed holes on his overalls repaired.

 

This piece of artwork is by Limei Lai, it refers to each piece as “Mending” or repair. Isn’t it beautiful? The technique is also called Sashiko, “Sashiko is a Japanese stitching style that was originally used by working class people as a means to mend used clothing and household items. But it is so much more than that! The even, geometric patterns of sashiko create a beautiful decorative effect, so that they go beyond being purely practical.

 A friend of mine, you might know Corey on her French La Vie blog, finds beauty in broken china. Here is one piece repaired with staples and hanging on her wall. She has a whole wall in her apartment to display the beauty of broken china.

In Japan they have a technique called Kintsugi.  “Kintsugi — which means “join with gold” — it is the Japanese art of repairing broken objects, often ceramic pottery or glass. Traditionally, gold lacquer is used to piece shards together again, creating a more beautiful object through the acts of breaking and repair.”  

A messy garden can heal or repair the earth. It puts nutrients back into the ground.

The complexity of intergenerational communication brings difficulty in understanding. Conflicts cause fragmentations. In ceramic art, there is gold repair to make it functional and beautiful again. In fabric there is the mending stitch that is even and decorative. It is beautiful in its own way. What if relationships or a government could have sweet repair?

If we have the mindset of doing repair as a daily practice, then beauty and joy can be found daily.

There is beauty in embracing the beauty of human flaws, of something that needs repair. Embrace imperfection and turn weaknesses into strengths. Notice the small things, the hearts that need repair and surround them with love, for they too are beautiful.

 

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on "repair".

We are all a work in progress and beautiful in our own way.

 Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrm3JgOgD4&ab_channel=PanMacmillan  

poem from 365 words 

I came across this reading on You Tube not to long ago and thought you would enjoy. 

This plant is in a corner of my dining room. It was a gift from a friend. I enjoy it every morning as I sip my tea nearby. Isn't it beautiful? It is called an Angel Wing's Begonia. This gift was a gift of kindness and reminds me of that kindness by a friend each day.

Please always remember kindness to others each and every day.

Sending love,

Marilyn

TeaFestPDX 2024

 TeaFestPDX - 2024

 

Last Friday was time to set up for the TeaFestPDX. The tent on the left is the British tent. It is the one I organize. I have organized it each year since 2017, except for 2 years during the pandemic. To the right is where the tea festival sells used teaware to raise money for next year. Setting up is fun -- Oh the anticipation!

My pictures actually are in reverse to what took place for me, but still happened.

Right below you will see the tea van and above are people sipping tea inside the van. They come every year and set up back against the trees. It's a very mellow vibe. I don't get to visit the vendors and tea sipping venues until late in the day, which is probably OK as it isn't as crowded.

The multi colored shirt guy to the left at this table attends all the tea festivals in the Pacific Northwest. He doesn't have a business, but still brings along his table and chairs and sits there all day sharing tea with anyone that wants to sit and drink awhile.

My last speaker of the day, Bryon Marie, spoke on the history of Suffragettes in Portland 100 years ago and was representing a local tea spot in a downtown hotel, Abigail Hall.

Kris and Erin from the Framer's Touch in Forest Grove along with myself shared about art on a teabag.

They have a tea bag art show every April in their shop. It's the show I participated in this year. Their energy and kindness to all the attendees in the tent was so special.

Jhanne and Zack from Stash Tea shared the book, All the Tea in China.

Representatives from the Daughters of the British Empire shared the history of afternoon tea and scones. They baked scones for each of the attendees in the British tent.

Stephanie was the Education Coordinator for the festival this year and did an amazing job. In 2020 I had scheduled Stephanie to talk about Suffragettes and Tea. Finally we got it done!!! I loved having her be a part of the British tent even though I know she was so busy elsewhere in the festival.

The first presentation each year is by Lisa Hand and her assistant, Lynelle. They always come in costume and have something fun to share. This year it was the Language of Flowers.

Here is the tent ready for the day. My volunteers are the best and have fun working to make it a pleasant tea sort of day for each attendee.

Used teaware for sale. I resisted, though tempted.

Before we started the day I did a quick run through part of the vendor tent.

A bowl full of ceramic tiny bunnies for the tea table by Jonathon Steele. 

I did come home with one very tiny white bunny.

Note to Madelyne: The bunny is what "tea nerds" call a tea pet for their tea trays.

The ceramic artist booth.

Floating Leaves, Hi, Shuiwin!

The Tao of Tea gave ceremony demonstrations, which I missed. They were one of the festival sponsors this year.

Minto Tea farm from Salem, Oregon taught a class and sold tea plants and tea.

It's a really big vendor tent and there were more in one building too.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of TeaFestPDX - 2024.

 

Sending love and happy weekend!

Marilyn