Author: Kitty

Last week, we had some of the dead ash trees cut down. They were killed by the invasive ash borer and their trunks leaned ominously towards the gardens and house. We’ll recycle their wood, but we grieve these losses, all up and down the trail and for miles around, and especially the deaths of those we’ve considered old friends and neighbors.

This week we spent a couple hours (midnight to 2 A.M.) in the basement bathroom sheltering with the four-leggeds from the tornadoes whirling through our area. There was damage to the east of us, but none here (this time), for which we are grateful, though for all the fear, wind, booming, and drama, we only received a half-inch of rain, nothing to counter the months of severe drought.

The past few days, we’ve had to close our windows against the smoke from the Canadian wildfires, which have severely lowered the quality of the air we breathe. More’s the pity, as the recent heat wave has just decided to pack up and move along, for now, so open windows had been anticipated happily. The oppressive heat seemed to like it here, so I expect it will be back. The gardens are straggling, but hours of watering have kept them going.

The drought’s made a carcass of the river. This morning, at sunrise, I masked against the pandemic and smoke and walked past more dead ash to the bridge to see if anything moved about. Two green herons hopped and fed; I prayed the smoke didn’t damage them more than the poison agricultural chemicals our local farmers have drained into the river. Still, something green is growing on the islands forming on the riverbed; I am uncertain if it’s a sign of healing or if it glows at night like another man-made monstrosity created in response to the great gift of life we’ve mishandled to the extent that NONE OF THE SENTENCES I’ve written thus far would have seemed possible a decade ago, though the wisest among us tried to warn that this is where we’ve been headed for at least a century.

The Earth is shifting beneath and around us in response to our greed and neglect, and I grieve the losses, the billions of losses that seem to be crashing, or sighing, and falling all at once, here at the end of the road.

We had so many chances to choose other paths.

But I’ve traveled with death so long, that I know it deserves witnesses who honor its presence rather than those who blunt the experience by entertaining regrets that can’t be altered. Death needs witnesses who stare it straight in the eye, call it by name, and treat it as a guest, for its job is to lead life from chaos to new creation. It deserves people who call it death, not “passing,” people who ask for forgiveness, who listen to the lost dreams, who hold the suffering, who assure those dying it’s OK to move on, to surrender…The discrepant event in this vigil is that it’s not the Earth that’s dying, it’s the innocent lifeforms that are held in her loving embrace, fed by her deep need to create and sustain life. And the guilty species that’s caused The Great Ending is my own. Sadly, I fear many–or all–of us may also be shown the door in order for the Earth to heal and recreate herself.

Like anyone grieving, I travel with anger, depression, bargaining, guilt, fear, and denial (still), often getting stuck with one feeling or the other for longer than I can bear, but I’m also beginning to experience a readiness and acceptance that this is the time of endings and beginnings for the Earth and I am here, with my gifts intact, to midwife the death-into-life that’s possible in any way I can.

I was thinking about this as we undertook an adventure to save a chair from my childhood: how funny and materialistic and insignificantly personal it seems to tie this one thing to the end of the known world as we know her, but I suppose, since the meaning of all of our existence is generated through our embodiment and connected to other beings and things in theirs, little experiences with things can seed deeper understandings…hence, stories.

My parents bought this maple rocker when they were very young and, as was their way, they cared for it till my mother’s death left it in my care 50 years later. I can’t say I tended it well, leaving it in a corner of the basement, where Mulligan, the cat, worked out his frustrations with all things fabric-covered, until I took mercy and heavily shrouded the chair and a more wickedly-shredded ottoman in heavy sheets, both sparing them further damage and obscuring them from my view. They really didn’t belong meaningfully in my life anymore. 

During our (first) lockdown, I uncovered and sat in the chair one morning, waiting for the laundry to finish a cycle. Angels sang and trumpets sounded. Comfort! It was like being held and supported by clouds.  And it rocked so gently. Memories stirred.

I found old photos of the chair in various incarnations of upholstery, holding us children as we listened to stories or were rocked in loving arms, and I swear the atoms and energy and memories of all that love and all those stories tingled through me every time I sat in the chair. It had always been a source of comfort, a harbor where we experienced Love and were held in her embrace. Perhaps after all this time, almost 70 years, the chair could be revisioned and be a source of comfort and Love once more.

I located some fabric and a local artist/upholsterer to recover the cushions while I sanded the wood down to its younger essence. Phillip oiled her dry wood and I waxed her, polishing life back into her. We revisioned the ottoman, too, and the two seem like long lost partners, gracing a small space for morning coffee, meditation, and long reads.

I feel like I’m sitting with all the good things in my life when I rest there, rocking and remembering, but also pondering the ways revisoning is the path we must follow now.

Actually, wasn’t my poem, And the People Stayed Home, a call for revisioning? It invited us to listen, meet our shadows, create, and heal…And, when we’re able, we must grieve our losses and recommit to healing the Earth in ways still possible, whether that ensures our survival or not.

The Delta variant, and those coming in its wake are unrelenting reminders that the Earth isn’t yet ready for the return to what we deem normal; we have much more listening and shadow-meeting ahead, I think, in order to revision a world far more beautiful, loving, and equitable than “normal,” and to accept we may not survive to see it. 

And there’s the rub. The black holes of our egos and all they’ve required for life support need to be consciously reined in and invited to surrender, at last, to Love. There are many shrouds to pull back and old ways of being to examine in the light of wisdom and truth, sifting and winnowing, while we’re able. Perhaps we can sand ourselves down to new beginnings and bring humankind back to life in right relationship with all. We’ve been the cats destroying the Earth’s fabric for so long; I hope we can change, but I’m truly not certain we will.

And so, it is a time to grieve the losses we’ve caused, the suffering our choices have ensured. Let us name them, hold them, ask their forgiveness, bid them farewell. Let us sit and rock, deriving wisdom from our memories, examining the choices we’re making now, discerning whether we’re capable of change and of revisioning an Earth where nothing is neglected and everything belongs, everything is valued, and everything thrives.

I have made a promise to myself, rocking in my chair: Whatever comes, I will meet it in peace. If humanity can’t change the course of The Great Ending, then I will live every moment I’m able tending the life and love surrounding me, and in great gratitude for the chance I have had to live with Love and know her embrace. All, all my relations.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

All who have loved us
live within,
and the love they knew,
and those before them,
back through time
to time’s beginning,
agape to omega
and so we are called
Sacred,
and meant to love
self
other
all,
until the Earth
is filled with
only lover
and beloved,
and Love its only
and joyful noise,
created
as blessing for
self
other
all,
in every sacred
moment,
with every loving
breath.
Let everything
fall away
that is not Love.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name ~ Confucius

Last weekend we attended a local art fair, held in the public square. The day was hot and bright, so we thought it best to arrive when it opened and return home before the temperature climbed too high. Even though the fair was held outdoors, I wore my mask, one of a very few people to do so in the quickly-growing crowd of people. Everywhere I looked, there were groups of unmasked people of every age speaking in close conversations, exchanging money, sharing meals, crowding in booths, and playing instruments on stage.

For me, it felt a bit like a Twilight Zone episode. Weren’t any of these people concerned about the delta variant of Covid-19? Yes, we were outdoors, and our local current risk level is “low” (43.8% of the population is fully vaccinated), but across the country, cases are up 70%, with a 36% increase in hospitalizations, as reported last Friday. The delta variant appears to be about 225% more transmissible than the original SARS-CoV-2 strains, and young adults and children are at greater risk. Why not anticipate the tide turning instead of drowning?

The delta variant’s rapid spread means that, at some point, likely soon, the unvaccinated 56.2% of our population will be at greater risk, and those of us fully vaccinated could certainly experience unpleasant days of infection that probably won’t put us in the hospital, but will undoubtedly make us wish we hadn’t been exposed. (Read John Pavlovitz’s account of his ¾-vaccinated family’s experience with Covid-19.)

How could we know that Saturday’s crowd didn’t harbor a few delta-infected people? Why were so many people willing to call the pandemic done and done, take no preventive measures, and expose themselves and so many more to the virus? And all of this is preventable by choosing reasonable caution and practicing simple public health measures. We could all have worn masks, used hand gel, worn gloves, kept a safe distance, and still enjoyed the day and glorious art offerings.

All over the world, it seems people are just deciding, against all scientific data and mathematical logic, that Covid-19 has disappeared forever. But calling a given day “Freedom Day” doesn’t make it so when viral variants are still thriving and seeking hosts. It would seem greater diligence than ever is needed as we travel to safer and healthier days. Wouldn’t that be the wiser choice?

I’m so sad that people, for largely ignorant reasons, are not availing themselves of the vaccine, not just because they’re now the sole population dying from the virus, but because they’re making stronger variants possible. We’re so close to defeating this virus and yet we keep pushing home plate further away.

Illogic and too-easily-consumed misinformation are prolonging and intensifying our collective suffering and may defeat the miracle of the vaccines already developed. Humans abhor sacrifice and discomfort. Historically, it’s always been so, but the vaccine is here, free, and accessible. Confucius says calling things by their proper name is the beginning of wisdom. There are people all over the world who would welcome the vaccine, while more than half of those in our community (and more than 40% nationally) reject its saving medicine and saving grace. Let us call such people selfish and irrational; let us call such times tragic and perilous; let us hope for a day we may call ourselves wiser and healed.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

Sit with our Mother,
holding her hand in silence;
breathe with her dying.

Examine our guilt,
the ways we have weakened her;
ask her forgiveness.

Dusk slowly falling,
her breathing becomes shallow,
life circles her heart.

Stay present to her,
guide her through her life review,
all the miracles.

All the miracles,
the ways she loved and beguiled
her greedy children.

Our tears fall too late;
grieve the beautiful passing;
consider lessons.

Living unbalanced,
avarice, mendacity,
misuse of power.

Sad, blind corruption,
denying mortality;
predictable end.

Her heart quickens, slows,
weakly fueled by questions:
“Why could you not Love?”

When things fall apart
remain centered in Spirit,
breathing, still, watching.

Finally, we’ll see
everything was always One,
Earth’s beauty, our own.

What is here will pass;
observe the web unweaving;
life falling to death.

Innocent victims
dying by fire, flooding,
starvation we’ve caused.

Forgiveness granted
in choosing enlightenment,
embracing the cost…

Bearing the burden
of every choice we’ve made
and those we denied.

All is mystery;
if not for the Love of life,
for what would you die?

For death is a birth;
meet it authentically;
become something new.

Grow into the end,
all that rises must converge;
prepare and connect.

Perhaps there is gift;
beyond this sorrowing field,
an infant world cries.

The Earth collapses;
we’ll stand in rubble, redeemed,
waiting to create.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

It feels like we may have reached the homestretch of the pandemic at last, although a mindfulness and maturity regarding the delta variants and those yet to come are certainly needed as we emerge into our new world and adjust to the ways we’ve changed. Last week we prepared for our first guest since lockdown began in late February, 2020. We were excited to see her, a dear friend of many years, and to hear new stories and breathe new energy. Our efforts to finish up more of the painting and renewal of our living spaces went into higher gear (not that our friend would mind a ladder and paint can in the living room). So, we’re on the homestretch of that journey as well. There are many finishing bits and coats of paint to be added, but, for the most part, these rooms are finished. On to the beds and baths as the budget and time allows. It’s been interesting to see how the pandemic affected our choices for color and detail in our home…we seem to have subtracted a lot of dark color and chosen soft whites and neutrals that have made our home feel quieter and lighter…maybe “eclectic Shaker?” Very peaceful. A bit playful. Safe and happy.

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And what a lovely visit we enjoyed with our friend, sitting with wine, fireflies, firelight, and starlight, and sharing long conversations about our lives and the world and the meanings we’ve derived from the time of lockdown. Our time together was blessed with tears, laughter, deep joy, gratitude, and a sense of amazement, looking back at the road we’ve traveled and the wonder of the journey, a tentative gentle unraveling of this strange time’s losses and gifts before it’s all rewoven into memory. We sat on the deck, offering our stories to each other while the music and fireworks from the county fair drifted towards us across the river, the music of humans gathering in celebration, making meaning and stories together again.

One day, my friend and I went treasure-hunting, a common pursuit we share when we’re together. We both wore our masks and carried hand gel, but enthusiastically joined strangers and entered the hunt for delights. I found a large, never-used birdfeeder and garden shears; my friend found an old, classic electric mixer in pristine shape, and a chainsaw for her husband. We came home with our booty and Mexican carry-out, and more stories to share with Phillip…it was like old times, but shinier, as though we’d all been reborn. In a way, I suppose, we had. Gratitude, again; it’s always been important to us, but never fizzed through and leavened our moments quite like its ever-present merriment is sparkling now.

And the gardens, despite our continued drought, are blessing us with their bounty, too. Berries, vegetables, herbs…To relax with a book and a bowl of treats we’ve grown feels like every good thing has come to roost at Full Moon Cottage, and only blessing could be right around the corner. I know life doesn’t work that way, but right now, for this brief brilliant time, hope is our guest as well, and I welcome and embrace it.

The 4-leggeds have seemed calmer these days, too, especially as our friend’s stay continued. We celebrated Teagan’s 4th birthday this past week, and Murphy was finally enticed to use the new cat condo. I have nepeta/catmint growing all over the gardens, so I cut some leaves and scattered them on the ledges of the condo, which is now his favorite perch. I don’t think Fiona will budge from her window seat, but Murphy is open to change and new adventures. I expect that’s how it will be for many people following the pandemic as well. Some will be willing to co-create the changes we need to save the Earth and reshape our interactions and values regarding power and justice; others will continue to resist. I hope we’re at a tipping point in favor of the Earth and all life.

The time of pandemic lifted us into a time of floating and the constant music of questions; we were as airborne as the virus, drifting into unknown places and patterns, unable to touch down, or to hold answers with certainty. For us, it was a time of great creativity, but also fear, anxiety, and soul-paring exhaustion. As our friend drove away on her long journey home, I felt as though our lives had resettled; we can feel the ground beneath our lives again. We can begin to reorient and move forward.

May we truly have reached the homestretch, open to the deep learning given to us in this time of mystery, and may we pursue the actions to which we are necessarily called to nurture changes and growth in ourselves and for the Earth.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

We’re kicking off our holiday weekend with a meal from our local Chinese restaurant, because why not? I love celebrating my country’s beautiful diversity! In fact, I think there’s much to celebrate this 4th of July: vaccinations, rain, gardens that yield food and flowers, a resurgence of bees buzzing everywhere, public servants fighting for our human rights, voting rights, the Earth’s rights, and the justice that is integral to democracy. Support them, and remain engaged. Happy July! May it be a month that lightens your heart and offers you merry days. Our first guest in over 18 months is visiting next week: Joyful, joyful! We were made for these times: let’s meet them with July-powered hope.

I’m off to start the celebrations!

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It’s hard on such a dazzling day to say,
“You have passed; you are past.” Flowers
still bloom and buzz with bees nuzzling
sweet pleasing pollen near butterflies
skipping and flit-sipping nectar: life’s rising,
she’s falling, she’s delightedly calling from
each shining this and that blazing amazing–
oh, see how her joy juice is flowing through
death; yes through death to bright seeds
that light feeds and night leads to dawn-dew;
the world again offers a new garden view: life
will birth life, unfolding now into then; the
just-once-spectacular-when that we knew
with you slipped through our hands, through
our eyes, through our time here: it’s too brief,
but deep grief rests in great gratitude forever–
a place where we’ll meet after facing the future
you’ve passed; you are past and planted as seed;
you are near you are here you’re in each shining
this and that brilliance, flowing through death,
through death into always amazing eternally blazing joy.

Dedicated to our friend, Ranjini Raghavan, a loving wife, challenging teacher, and dedicated social activist who died on June 25, 2021, from Covid-19. Ranjini was 53.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

I am exhausted.

I’m tired of loud voices shouting crude remarks. I’m weary of illogical and unscientific fools receiving all the attention. I’m appalled by the crude and vulgar behavior of too many elected officials and members of the media. I’m nearly beaten by the wealthy thieves who never pay their due, and the lies we hear repeatedly about stolen elections. I do not understand the pervasive willingness to be stupid about voting integrity, climate change, or vaccine safety and necessity. I’m done with cynicism and sarcasm.

I am disturbed by how many states, including my own, have enacted voting suppression laws, or hope to do so soon. Corruption and greed seem to know no bounds in our country; bold con men and women now lie and cheat and steal in broad daylight and without shame. I wish I could wake up in a world without all the snarky, wisdom-deficient puppets in Congress. They are hollow beings, black holes that have completely doused the lights they came to share.

I don’t want to hear from anyone pushing us into one side or the other; these blatant attempts to manipulate us are beneath our shared humanity. I think there are millions of us who yet retain the ability to reason and consider different coherent opinions and options delivered with calm intelligence. I want problem-solvers solving problems. I want adults committed to service.

Where has decency fled, and why did it take reason, wisdom, and kindness with it? What is this current need to behave without thought, clarity, manners, or recognition of interdependence and reciprocity? When did truth and facts become objects of ridicule?

The madness seems to be building, and my feelings of frustration and impotence to affect its course is crushing at times. We, the quiet, thinking people, are not being heard. Yes, I vote; yes, I write and record messages for my representatives; yes, I protest and donate, where and what I can; but none of it makes a difference. I am exhausted by this country and its downward spiral. I’m the Peter Finch character in Network, and I can’t take it anymore. I can’t tolerate one more loudmouth spewing lies and hate. I can’t stomach the image of some unqualified simpleton brazenly pawing over my private, sacred, voting ballot with no fear of consequence. I am utterly confused by the rise of incompetence and cruelty, and the lack of accountability.

I pray for maturity and common sense to come out of hiding. I pray for the remaining wise women and men in Washington to turn this tide of darkness back. I pray for more and more of us to speak up, rationally. I pray for the loud and vulgar to heal, and I pray for those suffering from the inaction needed to restore peace, justice, and integrity to our communities and country…I pray for all of us.

May we choose to be good, kind, thoughtful, and creative. Forgiveness needs practice; so does personal responsibility. May gentle peace sweep through the noise and hush it into mindfulness before it’s too late. And it nearly is.

I’m exhausted, but I’m still hopeful that sanity and our better angels will restore balance. I read this week about a wise man whose vowed response to the struggles of his own time was to reaffirm his commitment to goodness. He would remain constant in his striving to be a good person, no matter what the sway of culture and country elicited from others. That is as direct and immediate a source of wisdom as anything I’ve come across. Stay the course; remain the good people we have been created to be. We’re near the tipping point. Let’s choose to pledge allegiance to goodness, and so tip the scale in favor of those behaviors and qualities we’ve always known to be our true treasures as humans, grounded in Love.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

A morning walk beneath the spattered light
and shadow of sun-splashed leaves swaying
and dancing, brushed by breezes rushing
through the deepening woods. Sweet waves
of green ebb and flow. The birds sing me on,
skittering, and chipmunks chittering; fluttering
butterflies and whirring-winged dragonflies dart
across my path, and through the trees, columns
of infant corn are evenly rising in farmers’ fields.

I rest on an ancient bench, the pew in my green
chapel where worry spills and all the anxious fears
release. It opens you wide, the world’s wild beauty;
it bares your soul to all others, each thing here and
utterly significant, freely itself, entitled to its time and
place and way of being. There is a generous liberty
evident in nature, and I do not miss the world of men
where, in halls of power, those who’ve sworn oaths
to freedom say they must debate to whom it’s owed.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

Life has been almost too full at Full Moon Cottage this week.

Let me sum up: One month without rain became several months, and the lack of precipitation was then labeled a “severe drought” in our SE corner of the state. We’ve been rising earlier and earlier during this time, because the cooler dawn temperatures have allowed for easier pup-walking and what’s become increasingly stressful garden-tending. (Thankfully, there is cooler weather ahead, or else by the Solstice, we’d just lie down a few minutes around midnight and get up again.)

It’s been devastating to see our dear river dwindling and fading away, devoured by evaporation. Rainstorms have scattered all around us since April, but never here, as though an evil spell cast by some trickster had conjured an invisible wall around our little part of the Earth. Every time a storm blew toward us from the west or north, it dissipated to airy nothingness before any moisture fell. In our 25 years, the river has not been this low. Scorched and parched scenery, everywhere.

The gardens have continued to grow and bloom a bit, but have required 5-hour watering stints (both of us with hoses, on either side of the house) at least once a week, in searing heat.

We’ve headed out on adventures, when we could, to get away from the dismal drought and the dryness of land and spirit it’s caused. This week, we went to our local farmers’ market, held around the town square. Such a small town and insignificant event, it would seem, but it wasn’t, at all; this little gathering was our first maskless contact with other humans in over a year. (We’re still among the very few who wear them in stores, figuring if the employees have to wear them, we will, too. And I’m not anxious to tangle with the Delta variant and be one of those few who’s vaccinated and still catches Covid-19.)

But outside, on a lovely–finally cooler and breezy–day? It was like a hall pass to heaven-as-I-imagine-it. Being human with humans: what joy! Right out of our car, my darling tall Phillip helped this woman erect her stand.

And I had a fascinating visit with the interesting gentleman who, with his wife, runs the honey stand. He shared his history as a former store-owner, and then a painting contractor who’d done much of the stunning detail work on our town’s 19th-century buildings, and now, a purveyor of raw and processed honey, and maple syrup. There were a few other careers in there, but I was gentled into amazement, listening with tears stinging behind my sunglasses, drinking in another person’s story and marveling at the way our words and facial expressions opened us to each other. Such a miracle and profound gift. I’m not certain, but I think sparks of light passed between us. Maybe they always do, and it’s taken a pandemic for me to realize it, to see human connection for what it is. Certainly, we were nourished by these encounters. It’s led me to ponder the gift of life, the chance to be authentic with each other and to share our stories–how these things make us food for each other, and how this diet of each other’s humanity is required if, as a species, we’ll ever be truly healthy. Take and eat; offer and share; feed and be fed; be grateful, be grateful, be grateful.

Then, yesterday, I was gifted with one of Phillip’s Excellent Gluten-Free Brownies (also spirit food, in my book), hot from the oven at 6 A.M., to celebrate my birthday. Once again, it was time for the dreaded watering ordeal. But the forecast predicted a slight possibility of showers in the evening, so we decided to water the newbies and wait to see if rain (was there such a thing?) took care of the larger perennials later. As we watered the seedlings, a lovely storm once again passed mysteriously right over us…Here’s Phillip in the veggie garden, looking as though he’ll get very wet indeed. Nope. Not a drop. All thunder, no rain. So discouraging!

But what a treat to then spend the day relaxing with my beloveds. I received birthday greetings and calls from many friends and relations around the world, which really is the gift of celebrating a birthday at this point in my life: to be reminded how very rich I am in friends and family who bless and enlighten me with their stunning gifts. My goodness, the messages were touching. And I realized again how “full” I felt at day’s end. Fed by all that love.

The pandemic enforced a severe drought in human connection and contact. Until it was re-established, I hadn’t felt the depth of deprivation, but this week has really emphasized for me how we feed each other our humanity in our words and interactions. Or starve each other through our cruelty and ignorance.

And the best birthday gift (other than the 4-leggeds and Phillip) was delivered at 2 A.M. this morning: torrents and torrents of rain, well over an inch, falling into the arms of our gardens and the trees, bushes, thirsty birds and animals, and the dear river–all of us drinking in our beloved Mother Earth.

It is comforting in the night to speak to Love about one’s sorrows and worries, but it’s just extraordinarily fizzy and lightening to close one’s day with nothing but “thank you” on one’s lips. May we all have many more such days, and use our gifts to ensure others do, too. Watch for the sparks of light that pass between you as you eat and drink the moments of nourishing being you share, to fullness!

Gentle Peace.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

The summer my father died,
I lost my language. No words
could meet the grief, could plumb
its depths or pierce its night-black
and binding embrace. I did not say
farewell; I could not be at his side,
his leave-taking more sudden
than my chance to span the time
and distance between us, my mother-
in-law’s memorial service here, my father
dying there, and I on the cross between,
swallowing insufficient language. And
every day, that blinding long summer,
I rode my bike to London or Rome,
grandly-named backcountry towns
in opposing directions from my home
beside the bike trail. I pedaled and listened
to Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt,
or the jazz my father loved. 12 miles
one way or the other, a lifetime cycling
through my heart. The bike and the music
knew my lost words and traveled me through
them to something like peace, somewhere
between London and Rome, where red-winged
blackbirds bobbing on Queen Anne’s Lace,
and chicory flowers, as blue as my father’s eyes,
tenderly brought me back to my language.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

one is what is, and the other,
what might have been. I’d long
traveled on each, missing stops
at different times and speeds;
the problem I couldn’t solve was
how to ride both, at once, as one.
This is why, when your eyes kissed
my smile across the station and
we left to walk down the green
waving trail between the tracks,
I knew I’d found the life I always
wanted: you beside me, rescuing
old dreams and making them real,
learning what wonder may come
from adding trust and subtracting
doubt from life’s equation. If-only
and regret faded; life became a slow
shared surprise of multiplied grace
derived from the division of two
into one, a conversion conceivable if
x equals love. What might have been,
and what is, became infinite; we live
our timeless days, and rest beneath
the shy approving quiet stars, listening
to train horns calling, lonely in the misted
distance, lulling troubled travelers still
longing for the irrational and necessary
convergence of yearning and acceptance,
wishes and substance, the blessed junction
and undeserved gift, a love that will solve
the problem of two trains at the next station.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

It’s come again, as it has come so many recent summers. Drought. The effects of climate change are increasingly realized intimately here at Full Moon Cottage. The river has not even been navigable by canoe this spring; anglers could wade across the shallow water as soon as the snow melted, as could the geese and herons. Fish flee to deeper waters, if they can be found, and turtles are struggling to stay hydrated.

Years ago, when these droughts began to be a regular occurrence, we learned to take the time to mulch the gardens heavily once the Earth had thawed and warmed. This way, the garden retains what rains are offered and stays moist much longer through days of drought, but mulching isn’t enough to ensure the gardens’ health. It can mitigate the worst effects of drought but we’ve also had to re-envision the entire garden, learning which plants best survive, or which new plants may help the garden thrive during these dry times. They are the ones we seek, plant, divide and spread to fill the holes left by those now unable to withstand our permanently-altered climate. Drought demands innovation; former methods of gardening no longer work. We must adapt and change to survive and to flourish.

In the same way, we endure spiritual droughts in our lives, times when we cannot connect with our authentic selves, or are spiritually exhausted due to loss, grief, challenging transitions, or the deadening dullness of unchanging routines. I’ve learned to recognize these times for the invitations to deepening they offer, so I try to continue “mulching” with practices that have always called me back to sacred relationship (meditation, prayer, service, walking, writing, etc.). But more than a faithfulness to the known, I’ve found that seeking new ways to connect with Love has enriched my spiritual journey and “watered my soul” immeasurably. These are our spirit’s high times of discernment. Every relationship benefits from introducing “new dances” and discarding those that no longer spark our souls; certainly, the discovery of new ways for our gifts to translate Love into the world can lead us from drought to profound growth.

First, I think it’s helpful to respect the drought, or desert-time, for what it’s come to teach. Aridity can remarkably clarify our path and options. It is a call for our spirit to travel both forward and down, directionally, rather than rush backward to the safe and known. Times of drought strip us of illusion and shock us into silence. If we can withstand them and listen, they can become the pivotal, most memorable points in our lives, though we may not recognize them as such when we enter them. Free-writing, spiritual direction, journaling, labyrinth-walking, creating mandalas, and dreamwork/meditative collages, can all be methods of actively listening to these calls for a spiritual change of course, and can help us locate where our heart’s compass is pointing us. Creativity and surrendering to unknown destinations are necessities for these journeys; our inner pilgrim artist is the heroine of desert-times.

For me, life-changing shifts have begun on spiritual retreats and many places offer these for a day, weekend, or longer. If affordable, such changes of place and routine can truly shake us up in necessary, challenging, and life-altering ways. One of the blessings from our time in lockdown, however, has been the proliferation of online classes and retreats, some of which can be attended “live,” and some with the benefit of being recorded, so we can be present when our schedule allows. I think it’s better, for me, to attend such sessions and retreats in-person, but so many of us don’t have the free-time or, frankly, the funds to do so, and can now, happily, take advantage of these virtual offerings.

I have several places that are reliable homes for my spirit when it’s in need of being held and guided through pivotal change. One is the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and I have been so happy to see that most of the recent offerings are also available to attend online, as the 2.5-hour traveling time is prohibitive for me at this point in my life. (www.FSCenter.org) You may want to see if any of these programs or retreats speak to your heart, or remind you of places in your own part of the world that can offer you nourishing and creative support and redirection in times of drought and transition.

Spiritual awakenings occur when we first recognize we’re falling asleep. Soul-tending is vital not just to our survival, but to our full flowering as gifted humans, here to serve and to love our unfolding journey and all others traveling beside us. Admitting “I thirst,” can be the beginning of unexpected and profound shifts in our lives, if we pursue the path of drought to the new, green and startling garden waiting to be revealed.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

Turn from the schedule, the list,
the must do, the should, the fretted
checking of calendars and clocks,
and come to the garden, only come
and drink its colors, taste its secrets,
breathe its music, hear its love greeting
the green and rising there, and bidding
farewell just here; all one, the buzz and
tickle of birth and death, the splashes and
scents, everything in rhythms and choirs
of joy unique; once, in your lifetime, let go
of your careful lines, how you draw them
around your hours and days, be still and
caressed by everything coming and going
this moment in the garden, and the next, it’s
new again, dancing in light like your life, if you
allow it to open wide, and follow its song to the
gardens within you, the sacred fullness of now.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

The past few weeks at Full Moon Cottage have seemed markedly different from those of the past year, primarily in the flow and direction of energy.

Like most humans, we were part of a rather tight clustered community in 2020: staying home, sharing online, guarding our health, and focused on making it through one day and then the next. Now, the circle has broken wide and beloveds are radiating out into the world, reuniting with lives and loves from whom they’d been too-long sequestered. Participating in activities outside of their home. Traveling. Meeting. Moving among strangers in faraway places.

A friend is flying to Greece in a few days to meet and hold her new granddaughter. They’ve had weekly online “visits” for over a year, but her excitement to physically connect with her darling granddaughter and children after all these long months of waiting is understandably palpable. I think I’m almost as excited as she is: I can’t wait to hear her updates, and can only imagine the overflow of joy rocketing through our world when all such meetings are realized. There is no substitute for embracing those we love.

Three friends have made arrangements to visit with us this summer as well; how wonderful to know the old well-worn paths have not grown over in these times of long absence, and how surprisingly merry my heart feels anticipating the arrivals of our guests. I think some part of me doubted these visits would happen so soon and safely. Plagues and pandemics have not historically been so swiftly contained. I am deeply grateful for every person’s gifts that contributed to the vaccines’ development and availability, and continue to hope everyone on the planet will have access to them as well. We have to accomplish this justly; we have to love better.

Other beloveds’ stories have also deviated from the main theme of Covid-19 confinement these past weeks, but in sadder ways. My dear cousin endured the death of her husband and has only just begun the huge transformation of traveling through grief and the possible healing that such a parting invites. Their marriage of 48 years certainly speaks to a profound entwining of lives…Oh, the ache of such a loss.

Another precious friend, an extraordinarily talented composer, is adjusting to the cruelty of ALS and the determined devastation it’s wreaking on his body, but his spirit remains incandescent. It’s as though, as his physical abilities are diminishing, his always-stunning light and great heart are shining more brightly and fiercely than any disease could ever dim. All the gifts he has given to so many lives, all the ways he has blessed the world–that holy energy has regathered and multiplied, immense in its power to remind us of truths we’d forgotten, and to teach us new lessons that are deepening and changing us as much and more than the unrealized compositions we’ll never hear. In a way, this final composition is the rarest and most beautiful gift he could offer and we could receive: his love distilled, concentrated and offered freely, a music he has chosen to compose during this time, his active response to this crucial (crucial: cross-shaped; at a crossroads) moment in his life: Creating a music that sings in his choices to live through his dying. A song we can hear, and see, and feel: Take and eat music. There is only Love music. Always with you music. In our sorrow, he lifts us, astonished. Can you tell I love him? Many do, because his life’s work has been to show us how we’re lovable and how that Love grows when we feed it to the world. As he always has and is doing. I ask you to hold him and his family in your hearts and in how you pray.

And here at Full Moon? Writing, gardening, hiking, playing, routine body tune-up’s with doctors and dentists we’d not seen in a year and a half, going on adventures together…cautiously edging out and away from the shore of home.

We’ve had a time of it with the gardens: weeding, mulching, transplanting and filling holes and re-mulching…covering for frost and watering during drought. This week, we received some glorious rain. The river is still very low, but the gardens are refreshed. We both love our time with our green and growing beloveds…one day, I expect we’ll grow roots and leaves of our own. Go out to the gardens and stay forever. I’ll be the plant holding a pen and notebook.

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Blooms have begun erupting a few weeks ahead of old schedules. The houseplants traveled out for a week, but tonight’s frost warnings have led us to bring them in again…I think they’re a bit disappointed. I’d told them they were on vacation in Bimini, and now, I imagine, they’re wise to me. But they’re safe and cozy, and can return to the deck next week.

Yesterday, the windows closed and the heat was turned on again: life in the time of climate change. So a few days’ break from the gardens means time to get going on the kitchen and dining room painting, now that the living room is (finally) finished. We ordered a new sofa and were told it “might” arrive in seven months. We’ll probably forget all about it and then have a lovely surprise just when we need one. Becoming a bit forgetful as we age has benefits.

Our 4-leggeds are sweet and well, and we are blessed, and know it. With Phillip, it’s always the best of times.

Life sails on. And–if we choose–we take what we learn and allow it to radiate outward, wheels of light spinning Love, feeding the world.

Sail on, dear ones, in gentle peace.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

Late in August, after the poppy petals have faded and dropped,
and the stalks have dried, I cut them, timed just before their
tiny round ground-pepper seeds spill upon the fertile earth.
I am the poppies’ servant, gently upturning their slender stems
and rattling pods into small brown paper bags, biding quietly
through all the dark winter for the gradual break of brittle husks,
the hushed eased release of ten thousand miracles, handfuls
of treasure to scatter on pale February’s diminishing mounds
of dispirited snow. The seeds stay or drift, eventually coming
to rooted rest, and it’s not I, the earnest gardener, who will say
which will bloom or where; this is the secret magic of poppies.

I tend and plant my gardens just so: tall in the back and
short in the front, all seasons’ colors carefully arranged,
organized surprises, designed to delight in texture, color,
and patterns that gracefully rise and fall, suggesting elegant,
unplanned perfection. But I am only the poppies’ apprentice,
humbly and forever learning from their wisdom, the one who
witnesses and yearns to master the wiser magic of scattered
poppy seeds, erupting in random joy, fully themselves, birthing
incomparable rainbows among my detailed and reasoned rows.

Here in the United States, we celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday and Father’s Day in June. While I am certainly grateful for my parents and for all those who parent their children with love and grace, I use these days to honor all those who faithfully nurture what they have created and are creating in the world, and to examine my own nurturing responsibilities and efforts as well.

My male friends have often taught me much about using my feminine energy with greater compassion, and my women friends have often helped me deepen my masculine energy: it’s all gift, and we’re each a unique blend of these energies, trying to integrate as fully as we can to bless the world with our magic. I am grateful for all my teachers and the opportunities to become a better parent to myself and the world.

Some of the questions I consider on these days include: How am I doing with self-care? Our actions are constant examples: do I actually demonstrate the self-care I preach (and preach, and preach)? How well am I tending my gifts and using them for the good of others? How faithfully am I nourishing my relationships with my loved ones and reaching out to strangers?

Do each of our 4-leggeds feel loved and safe? Are we embracing their unique spirits and feeding them as attentively as we do our own spirits?

And, oh, the land and gardens of Full Moon Cottage and all the visitors passing through…how faithfully and mindfully are we parenting, befriending, and assisting them in this time of uneven and sudden climate shifts? Do we have enough feeders and watering stations? Do we need to transition to more native plants? Are we providing for the healthy insects as we should?

Most importantly, are Phillip and I nurturing our own relationship with creativity and love? I know unequivocally that he is the most precious being in my life while I also know I don’t always see him before me or hear what his heart is saying. Hasn’t this past year emphasized how quickly time passes and how present we must be to our blessings?

The gardens need all of our attention at this time of year. They are rising and growing ahead of the schedule we’re accustomed to, and tonight, we’re facing another frost warning, so we’ll have to cover the infants and tender-leaved plants again before nightfall.

And all of the gardens need spring weeding, edging, and mulching, an enormous, all-at-once job for a few weeks before our gardening lives settle into much more manageable routines. We have the added blessing and bane of living beside a state bike trail/park that, for years now, has not been tended as it once was, and so is overrun with invasives like garlic mustard and jewelweed, as well as Japanese beetles. We try to maintain a “line” with the invasives, but it’s ongoing and frustrating. The beetles go into traps or cups of vinegar and soap. I loathe killing anything, so it’s a dispiriting job, but necessary to protect our trees, shrubs, flowers, fruit and veggies without using chemicals that would harm anything.

How does one nurture the Earth justly and compassionately? I think it’s a fair and eternal question, but certainly, this weekend is one when I ponder it and examine my choices.

Last year, because of the extraordinary circumstances of having a poem go viral, and all the invitations that ensued, I was glued to my computer for the entire spring and into the summer, leaving Phillip to complete all of these early tasks and the subsequent watering during the long torrid drought days that now seem an annual occurrence.

This year, I want to be a better partner to my dear one and a more-present mother to the gardens, so I’ll be taking a couple weeks off from blogging and other pursuits to get the gardens prepped and squared away for their summer thriving…provided we get through tonight’s frost.

I know we’re all stepping out of lockdowns as we feel called and safe enough to do so, and into re-engagement with more varied social activities and the many invitations warmer weather sets before us. I hope when I return to blogging, you’ll have time to check in and offer a comment or two. Please be well and safe. Tend your spirits, minds, and bodies as a good parent would, and so tend the world.

Gentle Peace.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

They’ll let you down, people,
the small people acting
from pain and from sadness,
and fears they can’t name.
Broken, they break you,
and hurting, they hurt you,
and turn from the damages,
smiling, relieved.
But you, golden one, you
will rise and leave baskets
of love at their windows,
and seek what you need.
The welcoming world
is waiting to teach you
to travel the circle,
to plant and become.
So rest, deeply nourished
by all the world’s beauty
and breathe in her infinite
joy, golden one.
One day you’ll be flying
and healing the broken
with baskets of love,
you will rise; you will soar.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

Last night, just as we released the hounds into their little “dog park” for a postprandial run, an unleashed (!) Great Dane left his people on the state trail that runs beside our home to dash over and chase our pups from outside their fenced playground. He really wanted to find a way in and they were equally determined to break out.

A wild dance ensued. Miles were covered, round and round, up and down, back and forth, all accompanied by extremely frenetic and high decibel barking…Finally, one of his people enticed the Great Dane to be leashed and led back to the trail, where another person and a well-behaved dog waited.

Our pups took forever to settle from all the excitement. This morning, Dooley and Micky were seated in the living room, keeping a very close watch on the trail.

Itching, I think, for Round Two and more fun.

Last evening’s entire episode spanned no more than 10 minutes. Phillip took one look, realized all were safe, and stayed inside, to allow the Great Dane’s person the security of knowing only her voice would be focused on her dog. I felt way too anxious, initially, and stepped out on the deck to observe the situation, entirely ignored by all involved, until the woman led her dog away and, clearly flustered, shouted, “Sorry!” as they headed back to the trail. I shrugged and called out, “Dogs! Right?!” I hoped she knew I was rather amused by the whole episode as it unfolded, but I don’t know; we were not close enough to even distinguish each other’s features.

Our pups, as I’ve mentioned, were hyped the rest of the evening and again this morning, when they stepped out for their early constitutional. I think the surprise of another and very large dog contributed to the general excitement, let alone the human stranger running into the yard and calling after her dog, but I also think the experience brought back the joy of the dog park and the freedom our dogs used to have in running around with new friends and their people. Truly, the Great Dane seemed more intent on play than threatening our pups. I think they were all a bit delighted by the memory of strangers who could be new friends.

This week, for many reasons, I’ve been noticing how short-fused people have become on social media and in the comments of online news articles. It’s not a new trend but it’s seemed to accelerate and multiply. Innocent comments are attacked and the authors are rapidly pilloried with language that would make a dockworker cringe. Accusations of every possible prejudice and politically-correct bias are hurled at a complete stranger with the intent, it seems to annihilate his or her existence. I’m surprised my computer isn’t left smoking.

When did this behavior become acceptable and even encouraged in adult discourse? When did this coarse and inflammatory language become tolerated so widely? I may question another stranger’s view, but I’m very weary of people feeling it’s necessary to shame and insult those with whom they disagree by using violent, incendiary obscenities. It disengages and saddens me. I wish we’d return to fueling our conversations with pondered intelligence rather than self-righteous anger. The intent seems to win a barroom brawl rather than nudge humanity forward in anything resembling the unity necessary to survive the problems we face.

And what, exactly, does hurling obscenities accomplish? How does it alter the energy? Where does it end? I think a little kindness and patience could help us out right now. What’s the endgame, after all? To feel self-satisfied or to invite a change in thinking and behavior? I miss gentleness and polite conversation. I miss basic etiquette. I miss people holding their tongues and listening more deeply before judging. I miss meeting strangers sans agendas.

A few years ago, the culture seemed honorably focused on the lasting pain caused by bullying. This makes me struggle with the current unfazed acceptance of the verbal/written bullying and nasty sarcasm tolerated online among “adults.” If I were having a conversation with someone in-person and they interrupted to bellow vulgarities at me, I know I’d feel intimidated and immediately shut down. I’d probably feel embarrassed or ashamed to be singled out by that kind of language, and I’d feel isolated and depressed…aren’t those the signs of being bullied?

And, if this is the way we treat each other anonymously, how will we behave when we can speak again with strangers face-to-face?

I thought about these things last night as we brought the 4-leggeds in and laughed about their adventure. I hope the woman and her companion walking their dogs back home had a giggle, too, and knew we weren’t angry or upset with them or their huge funny 4-legged. I’m still not certain I didn’t join her to help corral the Great Dane because it was better for her dog to have only her known voice directing it, or if it was more due to fear of unmasked viral exchange, or if I just wanted to avoid contact with another potentially angry human.

We have all had more stress than our health could bear this past year, and yet borne it all we have, but I humbly offer that we humans need to develop wiser methods for discharging our fear and anger than firing it directly into the hearts of others. Because we also have wonderful capacities for kindness and joy.

This long darkness is ending, and we’ll be face-to-face again soon. There will be awkwardness enough without the added anxiety of having uninvited opinions and judgments hurled at us. Let’s give consideration to the feelings of others, practice forgiveness, and try for greater kindness in the ways we interact, keeping our focus on the endgame: To extend the kindness towards others we’d like shared with ourselves, so that necessary progress may be achieved together. No one will always be right; no one needs to be shamed; no one should be isolated. Words can be chosen for the light and beauty they shine rather than the hurt they inflict or ugly noises they make.

I saw a quote on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s page this week: “Since the universe has no center, you can’t be it.” I laughed, and remembered another quote, attributed to many great thinkers. A paraphrase: “Love is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.” Let’s put love at the center of every meeting and relationship, and see how we are then invited to treat each other.

Like the dogs last night, I hope that we can be surprised by the presence of each other, have fun together, and share so much delight that we sit at the window, anticipating our next meeting.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.

It was the summer before I began high school. I had just turned 13, and my spirit was roiling with enough hormones, nerves, and angst to power a revolution. Well, enough to have my father invite me to join him for a chat on the living room sofa.

I sat beside him articulating all that was wrong with the world–the inequity, wars, poverty, and injustices–and how frustrated I felt to see adults seemingly tolerate all of this without solving these problems.

I remember my father saying, “Honey, what may help is to use your power where you are. Just focus on what you can do and change, and then grow from there.”

We had many such conversations, covering a wide range of topics, but I always hang my heart on the memory of those words when I’m frustrated with the world. They’ve certainly echoed rather resoundingly this year, and most recently this past week, when we faced a forecast of three nights with far-below freezing temperatures.

Last month, the temperatures were into the 80’s, warming the earth and coaxing all kinds of plants to grow and bud almost a month ahead of former schedules. (I’ve stopped applying the word “normal” to my gardening experiences; it’s no longer relevant or useful.) The forecast posed a threat to our gardens that we had to address or risk the devastating losses of new and old friends.

So, out came every dropcloth, every cat and dog blanket, every old sheet and towel, a few sweatshirts, and every spare quilt or blanket we could find. The older and hardier perennials would survive, I reasoned, but the tender babies, the seedlings, and the infants we’d planted last autumn needed careful swaddling. The clematis, Japanese maple, lavender, infant fruit trees…it took hours to cover them all, and the yard looked like a tornado had picked up a village rummage sale and dropped it over the gardens.

Of course we were rushed and trying like mad to cover the plants, and then had to scavenge for logs and rocks to hold our covers in place against the cold winds, but later, when I looked out from the living room, I realized I could have coordinated the colors and patterns a bit more skillfully…in its utter lack of tasteful design, the general impression certainly spoke to our frenzy.

Phillip rightly reminded me that people passing on the bike trail would not be judging my choices in fabrics or their placement, but it really looked ghastly. And, more to the point, I worried it wasn’t enough.

Over the next three nights, I kept waking up and peeking outside, as though I could see anything or frighten away the frost. And every morning we dashed around to check the plants, recover anything exposed, and hope we’d get through another night. We checked the hummingbird feeders (which did not freeze) and kept the other feeders stocked with seeds. Wednesday was brutal. Within the span of a few hours, the clouds hurled down snow, then graupel, then hail, and back to snow. Then the winds howled, followed by sunshine and stillness, and then freezing temperatures swept in once more, as though Mother Nature wanted to demonstrate all the variety in her repertoire. At once.

Thursday morning, we spent hours restoring the gardens to a semblance of order. It seems everyone survived. Gratitude falls short in describing the relief and joy we felt peeling away blankets to uncover green tender shoots ready to photosynthesize. Rocks and logs were removed and returned to their proper piles.

Two days of laundering all those groundcovers restocked the pet beds, linen closet, and workshop. Our forecast looks to be above freezing for the foreseeable future. The birds and insects have resurrected in full force.

There are still so many systems, policies, laws, and people I’d like to reform or protect, and while I can certainly address these desires in my writing and voting, I will never have the power to right all wrongs single-handedly. But, as my father told me so very long ago, I can keep trying to tend my little acres, and this week, the joy we felt in protecting our gardens and keeping our winged, crawling, two, four, six, and eight-legged guests safe, reminded me that doing what we can do, while we’re able, is also tending our own spirits and hearts.

Every part of Full Moon is part of us, and as that rises in our consciousness, so does the truth that its borders never end. Once again, I’ve revisited the wisdom my father imparted, what I think he hoped I’d come to understand: when you truly love any acre, any being, any waterway, you love them all and realize you’re intimately connected. You can’t change everything, but you can love it all.

And that love? As Pierre Teilhard said, “Do not forget that the value and interest of life is not so much to do conspicuous things…as to do ordinary things with the perception of their enormous value…Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world. Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis.”

Gentle peace–and temperate weather–to your week.

© Copyright of all visual and written materials on The Daily Round belongs solely to Catherine M. O’Meara, 2011-Present. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited, without the author’s written approval. No one is authorized to use Catherine O’Meara’s copyrighted material for material gain without the author’s engagement and written permission. All other visual, written, and linked materials are credited to their authors. Thank you, and gentle peace.