Blankets, coffee, and Mozart

Ah, the soft, warm, coziness of a day off.
A parenthesis that miraculously stops the frenzy.
What to do on this day off? Nothing. Be. Just BE.
Just stay in bed, linger there under the warm blankets,
a bunch of pillows, a hot coffee, and Mozart.
Let your mind drift where it fancies, in that contemplative flotation.
A rare moment of guiltfree let go.
Feel how good it is, to move your toes playfully under the blankets,'like a baby discivering the joy of movement.
Let your fingers explore the warm, comforting roundness of a cup of coffee.
It's as effective as a meditation class to learn how to be in the present moment.

Shine

I woke up at dawn, having been lullabied all night by the wind's Grand Waltz coming back and forth in waves.
It felt pretty much like sleeping in a lighthouse perched on a rocky cliff, with the waves beating its walls relentlessly.
As I opened my eyes I saw the tree branches bending and rebounding like a fan,
the leaves shivering in the blue light of dawn.
I watched the day rise and looked at the condensation glaze on the window,
its patterns of delicate lace strewn with a constellation of tiny crystal droplets,
each one of them competing to attract the morning light,
each one of them a perfect accident, different from its neighbor,
and all of them so beautifully linked to the next one though,,
all working together to form that intricate weaving.
They told me:
"Shine! Greet the light of the morning day!
Shine! connect with your neighbor and work together
Shine! Reach out and together collect the precious light of community and friendship.
Look around you, at the imperfect beauty of your friends, and cherish them..."

401K,403B,a trip into the absurd.

While banks are getting rewarded for their mismanagement with massive injections of bailouts -taxpayer money would be more appropriate a name - , leaving the Jo the plumbers, the Betty the teachers, and the Bob the retirees deal with debts, foreclosures, job losses, and a vertiginous drop of their retirement funds, I recently had the opportunity to dip into the reality of the latter.
As I was trying to figure out a way to finance the purchase of a new used car that I need to go to work, and willing to avoid more credit, I called my retirement fund offices to enquire about the conditions to withdraw some money out of my retirement account, as I had read on their website that you could make a withdrawal under a "hardship" clause without penalty. Yeah, too good to be true.
A very patient lady drove my ignorant Frenchness into the meanders - or should I say the swamp - of my retirement plan.
So my first disappointment was that guess what, that clause didn't apply to my contract. DANG.
But wait, she says, I should call my employer's benefits office, and there I may get a loan against my 401K. Here you go: Reality goes beyond fiction, you'd invent a story like that no one would believe it. What? I was to ask for a loan against some money that I HAVE? Then why couldn't they just give me my freaking money instead?
Kafka himself wouldn't have imagined something like this.
Out of the blue, I asked to check my balance (last time I checked a month ago my savings were intact) . Well I had lost almost 10% of my savings. And, she says bluntly, it's going to go down more!
"What?! It's gonna go down more and you're telling me I can't withdraw my money, and all I can do is watch my savings shrink?!"
But wait, the best is yet to come. So I call my employer's benefits office, and they tell me I had been misinformed, my plan is not a 401K, but a 403B, and therefore there are no loans, and I cannot, EVER, touch any of it unless I retire or terminate employment.
I could have sworn I heard a concrete block fall. My head was spinning. It took me immense efforts to remain civil on the phone - good self control and anger management exercise-
So here we are, guess who's playing with my savings, as we speak, and shrinking them while I am denied access to them?
AAAAaaaaaaaaaargh! My savings are in Wall Street!!!!!!!!!
- Thieves street, they should rename it -

How was Open No Mike

... With a new refreshing wind blowing over our country, veeery nice.

Were present Bob and Cathy, Rick, Gary, Roberto, Marty, Bill and Charity, Mary, and myself. And the 2 resident devils, Toolie and Tug.

We had organic coffee, grapes brought by Mary, and delicious banana bread made by chef Roberto.

Rick, Bob and Gary are starting to shake off the rust and are getting really gooood, and had new songs. Bob had a hilarious new slug song that is gonna become a favorite, and Gary had a newbie too, an edible one that is in the pure tradition of Gary's truculent poetry :)

I read from my blog. There was also some political talk, but in a different mood from the week before, and actually in a very tolerant fashion. Marty was a refreshing additive when it comes to that.

That same day my car had died on me and Gary lent me his car till I find one, bless his heart.

Since then Bill deployed treasures of energy and savoir-faire to help me get the right rig, which we did this weekend. I am blessed to have wonderful friends. It is something we often observe at Open no Mikes, this community network, and what a wide variety of characters, coming together to share.

Yes, last wednesday was one of those special ones.

Conversation with Mr.Fall

So far we’ve been blessed with a pretty good, mild Fall season, and lately Mr. Fall decided it was high time it made a noticeable, if not dramatic, stage entrance:
“What? Still lingering on summer? How could you forget? How could you forget the Pacific Northwest Fall show?
I see, you’ve been betraying me with the summer, that treacherous season with its artifices and delusions, its heady perfumes, its vulgar barbeque smell.
Whereas I, the artist, the great splasher of watercolors that makes you look up as you walk,
I, who provide you with the best sound and light show,
How could you forget me?
That summer lover you have, all he has is blue and green, only primary colors, no nuances.
But look! Look at the different show I put out every day for you to see…
Can’t you just finally welcome me, and all the joys associated with me?
Didn’t I paint a gorgeous canvas today as you were driving back in the valley?
That ethereal white golden light, that cluster of lavender clouds,
shaped as a sea sponge, drinking the moisture, spreading its tentacles above Skagit valley,
then wringing the moisture out and pouring the precious showers,
rinsing the dark sienna plowed fields,
leaving behind those crystal pools looking up to the sky that gave them life,
reflecting the quintessence of light.
And Ah! The smell of rain and dirt!
And what about my turning those trees into incandescent sculptures of gold and copper?
I called my friend, the wind, to bend those hunchback trees, clinging to life.
Just look up, and you’ll see his full, round cheeks, he’s blowing his heart out,
vacuum cleaning the valley, and in a whirling saraband,
scattering a shower of golden nuggets, now carpeting your little town.
Yes, I’m bringing the cool wind, that allows you humans to introspect,
And savor the warmth of your homes, and of your stoves.
Stew season! Ah! The slow cooking of a fall stew, patiently and maliciously purring in a witch’s pot!”