Consecrate, endow, glorify, preserve, approve, praise, protect.....
Blessings from one to another.
(The blessing way is a human strength, it is about calling to another human, through our inner self, our inner sense of life, our connectedness and reaching out as we would in enjoying a sunset and asking that our lost be returned to humanity)

It is heart to heart, from soul to soul, spirit to spirit, person to person, human to human; it is a good way.
The blessing way.
Blessings come from humans. That is to say those of us connected in such a way that it is unthinkable to harm another, to cause pain, suffering or torture to others.
In this holiday time there are many who thrive on the fear they generate, they feed on anxiety they create, they revel in how foolish we human beings are, and how weak and easily deceived we are. How little we mean.
These are the ones who are in most need of the blessing way.

What made us great as a people was our conduct. We would never stoop to the wretched behavior of those we saw as evil. It was what separated us from the wretched.
Now we are being known in the world as the most wretched.
Those who have chosen that path need to be blessed,those corporate states, those nation states, those self appointed leaders, those elitists, they need to be saved, to be understood and gently guided back to being human.
None should be left behind. (No one left behind the wire)

They have lost their humanity and with a blessing way, with guidance, with prayer, with healing circles, with all of us thinking each morning, "Bless you my fellow human, come back to us, be one of us, see what you truly are, feel the pain of your error and the joy of compassion"
What a wonderful holiday gift for us, our land, our people, our world.
bless you all

If your carpet feels like Arctic tundra and your kitchen floor a glacier then it is too cold. If you feel like you are feeding your wood stove every ten minutes, it is too cold.
Note to self...remember kerosene lamps always stink. Coleman lanterns always hiss and candle light is a no-no for trying to read small print.

When it is colder outsside than the inside of your refrigerator you can leave the ice cream in the outside cabinet but bring in the soda or it'll freeze.
These things are good info if your last two living condition have been in Tropical or Sub-tropical locations.

PS. In Northwest woods it is good to come to town once in a while to keep from going NUTS!

A quote used much in the past: "If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem"
The best of this notion is our choice to respond to this as a motivation for self evaluation and thought.
One asks themselves, "If I don't act then am I endorsing the problem by silent complicity?"
For most of us we solve the easy problems like what to wear, what to eat, to the complexity of marriage, Legal action, financial dealing or woes.
Real solid problems that effect us are our family, friends, our neighborhood, our community, our State and our Country. But because it is so big there is the feeling of being only one voice and the accompanying feeling; what could that one voice matter?
So a decision to act, to speak, to exercise a right, a freedom, a responsibility of citizenship is let go..no speech, no exercise of a right.
Tyrants fear free speech and depend on silence.
Silence is affirmation born of fear and shame.
Our silence makes us the problem.
Our Solution is our voice in our home, our work, our neighborhood all the way up to our government.
That is our strength, our history and how we will teach those who will follow us. teach those what it means to be freedom loving people.

The nourishing of Winter is coming and with it the ground work for a new beginning.
New Beginnings.
Each day a new beginning with only memories of previous days. Memories just fallen leaves of the past. These leaves that become the compost that feed the new growth of new beginnings.
Would it be fair to say that without memory each day we awake would be a new life?
Would it be fair to say that with each day as a new life we can really start over?
A new beginning without memory could mean we can live this day with compassion, acceptance, understanding and honesty.
What a truly wonderful beginning.
What a wonderful day we can have.
Have a blessed New Beginning on this new day!

Somehow the notion held by most that it is easier to stay warm in a cold clime than stay cool in a warm clime offers less then adequate solace.
Cold is cold. It drills to the bone. If you walk out of a shower and steam comes off your body: it is cold.
If the carpet crunches like permafrost when you walk on it: it is cold and when linoleum feels like the surface of a glacier...turn up the heat.
And remember if you have a woodstove, it does not have a thermostat and you have to feed it or will make you unhappy.
Cold has it's uses. Cold beer, cold cuts, cold drinks, cold sholders, cold airconditioning, cold showers (well, let's call that more as a counter measure)
But most of all cold makes us appreciate the warmth of summer. It
gives us contrast.
All and all Cold makes me blue.......until I turn up the heat.