David and I have lived in our house in the
woods near Port Townsend for going on 16 years now. It’s the
longest time we’ve lived in any one place. This past May, we
bought a small lot in uptown P.T. where we plan to build a
cottage. A few more years down the road, we will sell our house
in the woods and move to our cottage in town.
Ever since we got serious about the move, I have been looking at
our wooded property with new eyes. “Oh my God,” I
think to myself, “this is paradise! I live in paradise!”
So a part of me wonders if leaving the Garden of Eden
voluntarily is really such a great idea.
But deep down, I know that it is time. Though I love being
surrounded by trees, I am excited about being surrounded by
people again. Though I love solitary walks on wooded paths, I am
eagerly anticipating walks to the library, post office, grocery
store, park, theatre, and church on sidewalks shared in
community.
So I’ll be ready for the move when it comes. At the same time, I
want to savor the paradise my new eyes show me every day.
I’ve started to make little unscripted videos during walks in
the woods around our home.
In part, I make these videos for a record we can take with
us—home movies from Eden. But even more, I make them for the
chance to stop and look, right now, and to share what I see with
someone else.
After my walk, watching this video for the first time I was
struck by those three garbage cans in the orchard sticking out
like sore thumbs, and yet while shooting it, I’d never thought
to explain why they’re there.
So here’s the explanation. We don’t have running water out to
the orchard, and we use those garbage cans as cisterns. We cut
holes in the middle of their lids, then put the lids on upside
down, so the rainwater is caught in the bowl-shaped depression
and runs down into the can. We put rocks on the lids to hold
them in place and keep animals out. All winter, the cisterns
fill with water. In late summer, during the dry season, we empty
them out around the fruit trees.
And there you have it.
With blessings to all, and prayers for the gift of new eyes that
reveal paradise every day of life, for you, and me, and
everybody else,
-- Margaret
Archives: Margaret's Bench
June 2010 --
The auditorium was already packed. The speaker, Sara
Miles, was already talking. I was miffed that the
session had evidently started early...
more...
May 2010 --
On April 24, I joined about 50 other labyrinth fans for
“The Labyrinth – Awakening New Growth,” a day of
labyrinth-themed workshops and presentations...
more...
April 2010 --
A pilgrimage is a journey taken with spiritual
intention. A pilgrim takes a physical journey in the
outer world to set inner, spiritual energy into
motion...
more...
March 2010 --
I was headed to graduate school, marching steadily
toward my true destiny: to become a professor of English
literature. It didn’t happen that way...
more...
February 2010 --
All through childhood I thought I’d be a teacher when I
grew up, except for one moment of epiphany at the age of
about ten, when I had an surprising vision of myself as
a writer in my middle years... more...
January 2010 --
When I was a kid,
I thought I’d grow up to be a teacher. In the first
grade, I wanted to be a first grade teacher. In the
second grade, I wanted to be a second grade teacher. In
junior high, I saw myself as a junior high teacher, and
in high school I wanted to teach high school... more...
December 2009 --
Happy Birthday to the Courtyard – three years old this
month. 2009 was my year of haiku. more...
November 2009 --
Last month, I wrote about being in the in-between time,
waiting for my haiku book to arrive from the printer.
After reading what I wrote, my sister Rose emailed from
her home in Australia and asked, “What does the
in-between time feel like...?” more...
October 2009
--
I am in the in-between time.
My new book,
Haiku – The Sacred Art, went to the printer in
mid-September. I can’t change anything in it anymore,
which is a good thing... more...
July/August 2009
-- Six years ago, my faith community of St. Paul’s
fell into a fiery pit of internal dissension that, at
times, looked as if it might be hot enough to consume
and destroy the parish... more...
June 2009 --
A numen is a spirit that inhabits and gives life
to a place, object, or natural happening. The word’s
Latin root means both divine power and a ‘nod of the
head’... more...
May 2009 --
A few weeks ago, our 21-year-old Plymouth Voyager
finally gave up the ghost. Time to say goodbye... more...
April 2009 --
Near the end of March, David and I traveled to Portland
so that I could attend a lecture and workshop given by
Diana Butler Bass at Portland’s Trinity Episcopal
Cathedral... more...
March 2009 --
My first-ever Episcopal service occurred fourteen years
ago, just a few days after Ash Wednesday. It was the
first Sunday of Lent, and the preacher’s message was not
at all what I expected...
more...
Margaret's Bench
