Books and Trips

Since the Summer Conference at Oblate with Robert L. Moore as the main speaker, I have been reading books related to Jung. My interest was ignited by the various speakers, and I see that the spiritual journey coincides with the psychological journey to wholeness.

Briefly, I will tell you what I am reading and have read:

The book that surprised me by its synchronicity with the talks I heard at Oblate was a book I brought with me with the strange title of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope. I had bought it long ago because a friend had recommended it to me, but the title turned me off. Still to counteract that, I loved the story of how her daughter-in-law was at a yoga retreat in the NE and asked at their bookstore for a recommendation for her mother-in-law that she described as a "Christian Mystic." This is that book! It is based on the Bhagavad Gita, with descriptions of famous people living out the true life of following dharma--Jane Goodall, Susan B. Anthony, John Keats, and Harriet Tubman.

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up by James Hollis

What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life by James Hollis

Those were easily downloaded on my Kindle and so I started reading the first one while I was still in San Antonio. (This was after a Jungian analyst I met from Houston recommended James Hollis' books).

And I got the cd set for "Through the Dark Wood: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life" by James Hollis, which I will listen to as I drive to Austin tomorrow.

Chuck and I are driving separate cars to drive there to help our son and his wife and two little girls get ready to move into their new house. Chuck will probably stay longer than I will, because he'll be painting walls. It will be fun to see Avery and Emma (and their mommy and daddy)! And we are so lucky that we have dependable people to take care of our dogs, cat, and house.

When I get back, I will try to write about what I've been reading and also finish telling you about our vacation!

Wisdom!

Oblate Summer Institute 2014

I have been attending the Oblate Summer Institute since 2001, when it was a much smaller event. Since Father Ronald Rolheiser became President of Oblate School of Theology, he has fostered many more programs for spiritual development, including the expansion of this Summer Institute.

This year's Summer Institute is featuring Dr. Robert Moore, Jungian analyst, professor, and author. On Monday-Wednesday, he will speak about:

June 16th:

The Flood: Facing the Growing Global Epidemic of Grandiosity

 

June 17th:

Understanding Our Need for a Psycho-Spiritual Ark

 

June 18th:

The Real Ark: Building the Fellowship of the Golden Dragon

I will be attending with other friends from Corpus Christi. I am looking forward to hearing the author of Facing the Dragon: Confronting Personal and Spiritual Grandiosity (which only costs $7.99 on the Kindle).

Grand Canyon: South Rim

When Chuck and I traveled to our new home in Virginia in 1972, we stopped to see the Grand Canyon. However, for the 20 hours that we were there, it was filled with fog, which is probably normal in late winter months. So 40+ years later, we decided to see it again (and really for the first time).

Driving from Albuquerque, we reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the early afternoon and spent daylight hours there. It was beautiful, even though the view was hazy with smoke from major forest fires south of there.

Our first stop was the viewpoint where the 70-ft. high Watchtower is situated.

We ooh-ad and ahh-ed at the beautiful views and took some pictures. Then, I decided I wanted to climb the tower, while Chuck said he would wait for me below. That must have taken at least 30 minutes, because I had to look and take pictures at every window!

The first level of windows has a round room with paintings of Indians on the walls. These are in the Hopi Room which presents paintings by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, who took the room's theme from the Hopi Snake Dance.

Viewpoint from the Watchtower

 The walkways up are narrow, with people trying to both ascend and descend. It got tight with me trying to make myself smaller than I am for people passing by! A few parts seemed very steep to me, so I was glad that Chuck had not attempted the climb.

The magnificence of the rock formations overwhelmed us, just as they have for centuries. It is hard to imagine early people seeing this, exploring and trying to find their ways with all these canyons and cliffs.  The tribes who have lived here are many, including the Haulapi, Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Paiute, and Havasupai. Go here for information about them.

Due to the smoky conditions, we decided not to stay late or to come back early in the morning before we drove off to Las Vegas.

Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

I loved visiting the Acoma Pueblo so much with my friend Nancy almost ten years ago that I wanted Chuck to see it, too. He patiently took me there, which goes against his nature for back-tracking on any trip: We had to drive 55 miles west of Albuquerque (that night's destination) to go to Acoma before checking in to our hotel (and then drive back to Albuquerque).

View of Acoma Pueblo with Sky City Visitor's Center below

One must purchase a ticket to visit Acoma Pueblo and access to it is only allowed via their mini-buses. Dark clouds were approaching, and we were glad that we wore our windbreakers and brought an umbrella because rain started after our arrival on top.

From Wikipedia:
"The Pueblo lies on a 365-foot mesa, about 60 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The isolation and location of the Pueblo has sheltered the community for more than 1,200 years, which sought to avoid conflict with neighboring Navajos and Apaches.


"Today, about 300 two- and three-story adobe buildings reside on the mesa, with exterior ladders used to access the upper levels where residents live. Access to the mesa is by a road blasted into the rock face during the 1950s. Approximately 30 or so people live permanently on the mesa, with the population increasing on the weekends as family members come to visit and tourists, some 55,000 annually, visit for the day."

It is a little disappointing to find homes that do not appear to be old still standing there, but the designs are similar to the originals. During the tourist season, more people live there, because tables with Acoma pottery are out for sale with the artists' and their families selling them.  

I found it very interesting that the houses are passed on through mothers and daughters, on and on. That is also how people know which family they belong to--through their mothers.

Only living tree on Acoma Pueblo

We were lucky to arrive at the church, where no picture-taking is allowed with its cemetery in front, before the downpour began.

When the rain had lessened, most of the people went back to the bus. About five ladies, including me, went back to some tables with a guide because we wanted to buy some pottery. I went all out, mostly because this was my second trip there, and bought a large pot from Terrance Chino, Sr. He made the other pots pictured, and the one I got is in the front.

Pots by Terrance M. Chino, Sr.

While it rained, I wrote him a check and we arranged for him to mail it to me. A week had passed after our return home, and it had not come. Last Friday I was surprised by a phone call from Terrance Chino, himself; asking me if the pot had arrived. In fact, it was delivered that very afternoon! I was surprised at how well he had wrapped it--triple wrapped in bubble wrap, taped together, and in two boxes with styrofoam pellets for protection. Plus, I was astounded at how it was more beautiful (and bigger!) than I had remembered. Amazingly, the artist enclosed a piece of notebook paper, with the different symbols drawn and described. I am thrilled with this personal connection with the artist.

 Poor Chuck had a stressful drive back to Albuquerque, because the thunderstorm accompanied us along the way.

Still, we were/are both glad that we visited Acoma (Sky City) Pueblo on May 23, 2014.

Friday Five: Friday the 13th!

RevKarla brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Happy Friday the 13th, Gals and Pals!

SO, let’s get right on it~~

1.  Are you superstitious about anything?  Like, lucky socks for competition, special necklace for preaching, etc.?
 Not really. I think I've tried to be at different times in my life by carrying some special item like a rock or cross, but I always lose track of it sometime.


2.  I’m going on vacation on Tuesday.  I have never been so ready for vacation.  What are you looking forward to?
We already had a wonderful vacation that I am currently blogging about. Husband Chuck wanted to go traveling before all the kids got out of school, so we came home about the time schools were closing.

We always look forward to a brief respite in Washington State, visiting Chuck's parents, dear friends, and our daughters, in July or August.

3.  There is a lot going on in sports right now–World Cup, Basketball finals, and much more.   If your life were a sport, what would it be, and why? 
Probably like the soccer team of young children who huddle around the ball and don't seem to know which way to go, slowly learning the dynamics of the game.

4.  Hey!  Remember orange push-up ice cream treats?  What happened to them?  What is one of your favorite summer treats?  Ice cream sandwich, popsicles, frozen grapes, fruit pizza, DQ Dilly Bar, etc.?
I used to love Dilly Bars and even ordered enough for a bus-load of kids when we took them on a field trip to the Portland Zoo and were returning to Eddyville School way back in 1978.

While my children were young, I always made many, many popsicles from fruit juices for them.  Another good treat is taking pineapple rings and laying two on top of each other on a cookie sheet, then putting an ice cream stick in between each one. Put the entire sheet into the freezer to freeze.

5.  So there is this thing called “Listserve” that picks one random person per day to write an email to like a million people world-wide.  It’s pretty cool. Some people make music suggestions, offer sage advice, or plug their latest interest/project.  If you could write a note to a million people around the world, what would you say?
 Remember what Julian of Norwich said: "All shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well" while keeping in mind that the Torah says "The highest form of wisdom is kindness."

Let This Be Prayer

O God, I do not know how to pray. Because I do not know what it means to pray properly, to pray in 
such a way as to serve or worship, I must offer what I have and can do as my prayer. And here it is.

 Let this posture be the prayer

Let this intention be the prayer

Let this very not-knowing be the prayer

Let this breath be the prayer

Let this resistance and discomfort be the prayer

Let this distraction be the prayer

Let this drinking of tea be the prayer

Let this eating of breakfast be the prayer

Let this hectic schedule be the prayer

Let this attempt at Remembrance be the prayer

Let the steps walked in silence across the parking lot be the prayer

Let the birdsong noted be the prayer

Let this poor journal-writing be the prayer

Let the vastness of the night sky be the prayer

Let worrying, and then dropping the worry be the prayer

Let chanting and dancing and reading be the prayer

Let dressing and undressing be the prayer

Let sleeping and rising and sleeping and rising be the prayer

Let missing someone be the prayer

Let memories and whispered calls for help for others be the prayer

Let opening the door and putting on and taking off shoes be the prayer

Let the keeping simple order be the prayer

Let the celebration of light and darkness be the prayer

Let warmth and cold be the prayer

All of it, not bad, not good, just as it is and wondrous all of it. . . .

          be the prayer

O God, in my helplessness, from nowhere, with nothing, let these poor prayers, as flowers, draw You

to the garden from which their fragrance arises.

                                        ~Regina Sara Ryan

Ryan, Regina Sara. Praying Dangerously: Radical Reliance on God. Prescott, Arizona: Hohm Press, 2011. 19-20.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

On our trip, we followed Marfa and Fort Davis, TX with a stop in Las Cruces, NM to meet Sherry, a long time blogging friend.

Before meeting them at their new home, we walked around old Mesilla, NM, which began around 1848 and was the location for Billie the Kid's trial. It was fun to look in little shops and walk around the plaza. I took some pictures of doorways, reminding me of my friend Nancy doing this when we came to NM to celebrate our 55th birthdays.

It was fun to find a little bookstore packed with books, where I had to purchase a book, of course. I decided that I would purchase a book at every independent bookstore we visited. This time I found one that I probably would never have found anywhere else, entitled The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky by Ellen Maloy, who is an artist/naturalist. Her essays on nature, beauty and color from her travels around the southwest are lovely.

Mesilla Bookstore

I loved the store's decorations and its unique ceiling.

Further along our walk, I found a small church store, the Basilica of San Albino Gift Shop, where I found a unique nativity scene, which remains in the box they put it in when I purchased it. We took pictures of its entryway with the statue of Mary.

If you go to the link for the gift shop, you will see pictures of some of the items they sell, which range from the usual Roman Catholic gift shop products to works of local artists. Quite lovely.

Chuck took a picture of me there, which shows a nice smile but also the bulges that I have gained in the past months, especially on this most recent trip.








Then we had a nice visit with our new friends, followed by dinner they treated us with at a Mexican restaurant. They also took a really nice picture of Chuck and me.

Chuck and Jan

What a good beginning to our vacation!

Recipe for Apple Cake

I took this cake to the Wisdom Class today, and it was delicious!


Double Apple Bundt Cake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

You can really use any kind of apples for this recipe, but the more firm they are, the easier they’ll be to grate. Also, if you opt for a store-bought apple butter, try to find the least sweet of the ones that are available (or, hey, make your own!). My cake came out a little sweeter than I might have liked due to an apple butter that was creeping near cloying, though nobody (but, um, me) complained about the sweetness of the finished cake. 

If you’ve got the time (and the willpower), this Bundt is the sort of fabulous cake that tastes when better when left to stand overnight, wrapped well in plastic wrap, before serving.

Makes 12 servings
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup store-bought (or homemade) apple butter, spiced or plain
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup plump, moist raisins (dark or golden)

Optional glaze:
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
about 2 tablespoons lemon juice, orange juice, (or milk or water, whatever you’ve got)

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan, or if yours is not nonstick, butter and flour it, too.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light, fluffy and pale in color, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.

Beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl again. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the apple butter–don’t worry if the batter looks curdled at this point.

Mix in the grated apples. With the mixer still running on low speed, stir in the dry ingredients gradually. When just a few streaks of flour remain, stir in the nuts and raisins. Stop the mixer and give the batter a few folds by hand just to make sure everything’s incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick comes out clean inserted deeply into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before unmolding it onto the rack to cool completely.

If you want to glaze the cake, stir together the confectioners’ sugar and your liquid of choice, a tiny bit at a time, until the glaze falls easily off the end of a spoon. Place the cake on a serving plate. Drizzle the cake generously with the glaze, letting it drip down the sides of the cake. Alternatively, you can dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar just before serving. This cake keeps beautifully at room temperature for up to 4 days, or up to 2 months in the freezer.

Frustration!!

I am totally frustrated with trying to print an attachment from Oblate School of Theology about the retreat I am attending next week!! It will not print or download on my computer because I do not have the latest Word Perfect and do not want to buy it. That's why I am now using Google Chrome documents, but I couldn't figure out how to transfer it there!!

It only has worked with emailing the document to Chuck, who could open it on his much older computer.

Fort Davis and Marfa, TX

The first two nights of our trip were spent in Fort Davis, TX. There is a triangle in southwest TX (only two hours from El Paso) of Fort Davis, Alpine, and Marfa. Ever since moving here, I have heard friends talk about that area, especially about the Marfa Lights.

The Veranda Inn, Fort Davis, TX

Our room

We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast inn called The Veranda, found through Trip Advisor, which we have come to trust as we travel. Through the recommendations from the owner of The Veranda, we spent one morning at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center.

It was a beautiful place to visit and would be a good place to go on hikes. We spent most of our time in the large greenhouse for cacti, third largest in the nation. So many different varieties of cacti in close proximity!

Jan in cacti greenhouse

 I am not very proficient at positioning pictures, but here are a few I took. Unfortunately, I did not write down the names of the cacti. But these images may give you a small idea of the different varieties growing there.

The morning we went there, we also drove to Marfa for lunch at The Food Shark and then drove up to the McDonald Observatory. We drove around the Fort Davis, Alpine, and Marfa and on roads around there in the Davis Mountains.

Food Shark Marfa, TX

Blogger Meet-Up

I finally had the opportunity to meet Sherry of many blogs! I am used to her Feather Adrift Blog, but am not sure if that is the correct title anymore.

Jan and Sherry in Las Cruces, NM on May 22, 2014

In fact, Chuck and I met Sherry and her husband and Diego, their dog. They generously took us out to dinner where we had some of the best cheese enchiladas we have ever had. This was a wonderful way to start our two-week trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There has been a long absence from blogging: first I got sick with a bad cold, which was further complicated by an infection and the brief cessation of my RA drugs. I was amazed at how quickly the antiobiotics helped improve my health once I got a Z-pack. My rheumatologist told me that often when we get a cold, start to get better and then get sick again, we have caught an infection. So I learned that this time.

Then Chuck and I went on a two-week trip to the west and north, with our final destination being Salt Lake City to visit our youngest daughter MJ. I downloaded 353 pictures from my camera to my computer and so will be posting pictures in the coming weeks about our trip. I would like to record it for myself some way.

I did manage to get a few pics on Facebook about our trip, but these were from my I-phone. Now that Chuck has learned how to download I-pictures to the computer, maybe I'll have some of these here, too.

WE had a wonderful trip, meeting wonderful people and seeing beautiful sites.