NOVEMBER 14, 2024 Full MOON ZOOM
Present tonight: Jo, Sarah S, Peggy, Marie from MFS, Doug R, Pat from Detroit. Deanne host. ( Jacks birthday, he was at his party )
Doug helped by playing the Strawbale Studio Vimeo, and some other techie issues.
EMERGENT THEMES
Overlap of ideas & histories:
- We go to nature for calm and grounding.
- Katherine Ferguson Academy. Pat & Doug volunteered there during the same time. I visited a few times (Once with Debbie Brawer from Green Mapping)
- Book: What the Robin Knows. Marie and Deanne have that book.
- The Music Festival Land. Sooz and Deanne have attended. The land is now part of the Western Michigan Land Conservency.
- Thunder Mountain Natural Building Colloquium: Sarah, Jo and Deanne met there.
- Pat & Sarahs husband both have CLL – a blood cancer.
- Pat, Doug and Deanne have studied NonViolent Communication for years.
“WHAT’S ALIVE IN ME?”
Jo. My Broken arm is healed. I raked the yard, good exercise for my arm. I’m having a cataract removed at the end of December. Miss Hit Market. Organic produce, overstocked, misshapen, whatever…making available to people. They started carrying non-organic. Company: odds and ends. Broken ends of pretzels value added dipped in dark chocolate. I couldn’t resist opening them. I moved my baby chicks to their outdoor pen, as they are growing. I ordered a mixture of egg laying breeds…all colors and breeds. One small white . Soon she’s going to be too big to go in and out.
Sooz: I’ve been diagnosed with AFIB. My healers don’t do that and sent me to another doctor. They debunk each other. I don’t want to be naughty mouth with the doctor. I don’t want to take blood thinners. Im trying to simplify, doing breathing exercises. The music festival land, they are trying to sell. I just read a book about that 40 year movement that was great! My son and I are doing ok. We’re going to see the 10 year old granddaughter, and will be taking some organic meat, and my son & I ordered a little freezer for them which will be there when we arrive. I am enjoying life, and the possum …I put out leftovers for him. He gets along with cats and dogs. As long as we get something to eat and no one is threatening us….we’re pretty good….that’s how things go in life. I have to admit, I am worried about the End of Life things. We are losing more women in our singing group, dying. My life has been so wonderful. Gratitude.
Pat. Detroiters’ have chicken, ducks and bees…here in the city. I worked with the goats and rabbits at Katherine Ferguson Academy. I fantasize that I could open up the garage to a chicken coop. I planted some spinach in the raised bed. I had it all winter because it was mild. I also have a diagnosis of A Fib. Since 2011 I had CLL a blood cancer. It’s slow moving, and in the middle of September that condition needs to be addressed. So I have completed 4 sessions of chemo. Intravenous injections and pills I take at home. A whole new place of being in the world. I didn’t even have tylenol…and its like OK, I get to experience the humanity of pharmacists who can be compassionate and warm. Things can go smoothly, and go wrong. My Therapist is starting a CLL support group. Who knew I would be here. A whole different reality. I have a 21 month old granddaughter…and last year I was caring for her 5 days a week. And this year I am not. They live close. I am learning ways of interacting and learning to ask for help. That can be a gift to others.
When I asked a nurse friend for help she was delighted. I’m appreciating being able to see the beauty in the flowers…lavender, mint, (many more) making bouquets and taking them to my daughters. I’m enjoying making connections with people I wouldn’t otherwise.
Marie, Like Jo I had an injury in July – my ankle, and am getting my balance back. That was tough. My husband has CLL too, like Pat, and is taking Calquence, a pill with very little side effects. Rain barrels, I could be using the water before the winter. Underground. Not to worry. 1000 gallons under the ground where I took out the pool. I want to finish things in the garden, separate the pond lilies. I’ve been collecting some nature plant seeds to collect with people .
Doug The reason I ended up on this zoom we had an all staff meeting…Washtenau Conservation District. I was seeking some different community by coming to the zoom tonight. Nostalgia and love for the Strawbale Studio and community that has come from that. 2016, I was at the Winternship and it has had a profound influence for me in my life. Tapping into folks with like minds. I was a volunteer at Katherine Ferguson academy and met Pat there. That was another impactful experience…milking the goats twice a week. And I was around when it closed. This is what I needed tonight.
I just got a award. …its reminding me how far I’ve come…and craving community. I’m grateful for friends and family. I’m connecting with your talk about “health and heart”. I have Congenital Heart disorder and am doing EKG’s and navigating that. Lately more palpitations, while working full time and being a dad and everything else.
Another things, I feel overwhelm and fearful about the election and politics. Grappling about the economy being valued over people. It’s been heavy. Like a thick fog in the air. I’m looking to find where we can impact, have contribution, and safely in the world.
The Native plant Expo and Market Place I’ve been running in Ann Arbor. A Joy and Challenge. Being at the helm…it has been good for people, even through things that aren’t always going well. I can get burnt out. I’m appreciating being here tonight, Feeling heard and listening. .
Sarah, In Pennsylvania where I live it is now a law for the highways to be wildflowers…a wild flower meadow and no mowing! It was heavenly music and the clouds parted. My 82nd birthday My 82 birthday, random gifts. I’m over the hill, I’m old and its FINE. I go out everyday and eat a whole bunch of the foraged things. I have a city lot and planted the turn-around driveway in wild flowers and herbs and I browse my way through.
“WHAT’S INSPIRING ME?”
Pat. I am studying & reading parenting books now that I am a grandparent. Parenting from the Inside Out. My daughter is in her 40’s. Raising my children I found myself saying a thing that I’d said I’d never say. Thomas Hubel. Collective trauma summits. I want to be a good ancestor for other generations. I connected with my grandmother Rose, who has a farm in Michigan. I want to deepen my relationship with her…and make connections with others. I want the trama to not be passed on. The Evolved Nest. Natures way of raising children and creating communities. Narvaez, Bradshaw. The Myth of Normal.
Hospicing Modernity. Vanessa, I listened to a video, just hearing her was amazing. Thomas Hubal Collective Trauma . Anscestral Healing Code. I”m in a 10 month global NVC (NonViolent Communication) program . That has been very connecting, And many international relationships have continued for me.
21:46:18 From Deanne Bednar to Everyone:
Sooz. I’m inspired by a reciprocal relationship with Earth. Feel supported, not a victim of it. I learned a lot when we worked on racism, and wanting to make it better. I have a published chapter in a book by the Women and Religion Team. I submitted a writing about what it meant to be on the team. The book brings back all those those feelings from a very meaningful time. I’m inspired by it… and maybe more so because of the worries and tensions, that are real,. I believe there are other voices that are present. I think it’s meant to be that we are here for a reason. I want to try to live for another 10 years. Borage is a great blue plant for the highway.
Sarah, I wolk up after being a poll worker. I started to make brooms. I’m making turkey wings. Turkey Wings, Fox Tails. I love to make brooms. It lifts the grayness. I’ve been listening to some wise political people talking on the internet, but it doesn’t ease my pain. Working with my hands, with materials that are natural. It helps! It changes my world. There is a real need and purpose for creating with nature and making beautiful angels, like you did at Thunder Mountain Natural Building Colloquium. That’s how I meet you, Deanne on Thunder Mountain.
Deanne: We can do an online zoom with crafting.
Deanne I went with Michael Mallon to a Braver Angels event on “Families & Politics”. How do we Communicate profoundly. Township issue Went as I hoped, Flexibility. Doing something good, not bothering any neighbors. I am inspired by the Modern and natural world. All the VAST coordination. In our bodies, in the natural world, in our human ways of coordinating our activities…now that we are not in an evolved village or tribe with common history and values…knowing each other. Now we really need to coordinate on all levels, and also have flexibility, responsiveness, change. (Static & Dynamic – Robert Persig)
Marie: When Im feeling anxious and negative vibs.. I tend to go out in my garden and that gives me the calm Culvers root, great blue Lobelia. Backyard. with paths. It helps me ground myself, taking a walk through, looking, weeding. Book What the Robin Knows. John Young. This book talks about birds, and by listening and watching you can tell a lot about whats happening in nature. I’ve been replacing some plants with others, repairing paths. That’s how I ground myself when overwhelmed by work or world. In the winter I have to get into planning.
Doug, What’s inspiring me. 3 year old Phoebe. Always creative, challenging. I get excited to work on things because of my job, such as the native wild flowers along the highway. I could help promote that. Last year I hosted the event “A Read In” for my birthday, after my favorite activity in elementary school. We dressed up in pajamas and got to read and craft. I organized that for my last birthday! A great success! In Detroit we had CrAfternoons! Where we got together and crafted for the afternoon.
Ah, again… this Full MOON ZOOM is a rich time of sharing, our deep challenges, or hopes, inspirations, joys.
