One Chateau, Half a Family, and Some Horses

Spent the weekend at the ranchette.  A house-swap with the owners of my Mendocino house.

A lovely chateau complete with stable on some acres in Sebastopol.  

Mary Ann, (sis) joined me there.

Talked for nine hours straight never moving from our spot.  Occasionally a shift of position was required but we chatted up the backside without missing a beat.





Hugh (bro) and Barbara (sis-in-law) joined us the next day.   

We chatted and grazed ... and grazed... and conversed....  and grazed.


  

that is, when we weren't redecorating the chateau...   

If this were mine, I would...  

We laughed, we cried, we bid one another adieu.

I returned home to Mendo House, spit-shined, 

polished and wearing something new.

"To sleep, perchance to dream."

"Unless (new) experience be a jewel."
                                                                                    Shakespeare

Another step forward into the unknown.

Morning Mayhem in Mendocino

It's the crack of dawn.  Breeze... well wind.. bangs the blind back and forth against the open window. It's cold. A foggy mother's day in Mendo. The banging doesn't bother me.  I snuggle deeper into the down comforter. A siren wails.Wow! the first siren I've heard in almost a year. I'm not a fire chaser. I'm content to turn over, wrap the comforter tighter, drift iiiinnn and ooouuut.  Screeching louder ... banging blind... my reverie. Hhmmm. Fire... must be close. Hmmm. Have to be. About eight streets in the Village? Hhmmm. Hhmmm.ScreechCloser.Bang.Closer.Louder.Bang.Closer.Bang.Hmmm.Could be this street.  Sudden Silence in front of my house. Instantly awake. Sniffing.Oh my god! Is MY house on fire? Holy S**t! Sudden silence in front of one's house is louder than the screaming siren and the banging blind. Did you know that?

Jump from bed. Alarms Silent. Good sign. Are they functioning? Run from room. Bang head. Slanted ceiling. Curse. Cross hall. Front window. Decent pajamas.

Outside my house. The one and only Mendocino Firetruck. Fire Fighters in full regalia, yanking the hose, flipping gears, running, wasting not a second. It's not me. Across the street. Stop everything now. Stop and heave a long, deep, relieving sigh all the way from my head down to my toes.Thank you, God! Within a second my blogging instinct, natural to me now, kicks me down the stairs, I grab my camera and begin to record the scene. Maybe I am a firechaser. Maybe it's just been too long since something happened in Mendocino.

The Baptist Church. Relief ... it's not my house!  Sadness ... the young reverend whose name I can never remember and his parishioners. It's Mother's Day! A Sunday! Must be more than the usual steam billowing out the upstairs vent.  

The big guns from Ft. Bragg arrive.
Better get dressed. May have to move my car. I hope there's no one inside the church.  It's so early, probably not.

I've never witnessed firefighters in action from such a close vantage point before.They really do risk life and limb. Especially this one who climbs right up to the smoking vent to survey the situation.Who knows what's going on inside that building? I hope no one's in there.  Eric Sondeen, a firefighter and friend from Boulder, comes to mind.

This brave man stays on his perch quite awhile before reversing his steps. The men below stand at the ready waiting for instructions.

They talk quite awhile after he's down.  When they begin to move, it takes them no time at all to re-roll the fire hose, re-secure the ladder, turn off levers, switches, and gears, remove their hats, open their jackets and leave.  I guess it was just the steam from the boiler.

As they prepare to climb into the firetruck, it seems to me their shoulders are slumped just a bit. Are they dejected?  The adrenaline rush has to be ginormous... receiving the call, leaping into immediate action, completely prepared to risk their life, to do their job.  And it's a false alarm. Has to be a letdown.

Or are they relieved to return to the fire house.  Take up their usual positions and discuss the almost-drama on Mother's Day in Mendocino.  Probably a bit of both.  Maybe Eric will let me know.  Anyway, I'm impressed with the quick response of the men who volunteer their time and are willing to put their lives on the line to fight fires.

As I think of the mothers of these young men who showed up at the crack of dawn on Mother's Day to fight fire, this blogger and this mother is grateful for the gift of almost-drama  to blog about rather than the real thing.

And I've done it without one photo of flowers... well, except for the wild ones in the field next to the church.  I bet you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told you about them.

Pure Joy

Today while walking I can't help but feel pure joy.  

I know ... I know ... a broken record ... is there nothing else to say?  Well I could tell you about the women's concert I went to last night but... then I'd have to tell you I cried when two old couples danced the jitterbug to a swing song and by the time the choir sang Hallelujah I was sobbing.  Or I could tell you about the coast garden workshop I went to this morning where I learned calla lilies are weeds.

So I'd rather tell you that I have never lived nor visited a place that feels like Mendocino. And even though I drag emotions up from the depths from time to time, I have completed writing and recording three sets of online classes and now I'm busy writing and recording guided imageries that will be available on my website as well.

And I get to do all of this while feasting my eyes on the weeds that I've let get out of hand in my garden.

Then when I stretch my legs each day, new discoveries never fail to show me the way.

Whenever I think it just cannot get better than this,

red hot pokers and a worn fence move me to bliss!

Ever changing, ever the same.

Wonder of wonders, the name of this game.









Faced with choice, which way to go?

How 'bout to the wild iris show.

Nearing the end, having made the Headlands circuit.

I am welcomed by a riotous circus.

Looking inward to a perspective that's new













I step through the gate

and spring's first rose graces my view.

PURE JOY!                                                     

Tired Shoes-Happy Heart

Two years and untold miles.  

From Boulder to Kentucky to Geneva to  Lucca to Bagamoyo to Florence to Ohio to Concord to Birch Bay to Vancouver to Mendocino. 

Ordered a new pair of Merrill's today. 

May just have to bronze this pair.  

They have experienced much and served me well.

Mendocino Spring 
not amass with tulips and daffodils,
but red ice plant abounds 

Carpets of blue 













and pink astound

Trails disguise

Divert my eyes

Seagulls befriend

Shoes removed in the end.

Happy Spring !!!!

What May Come!

When I titled this year's blog - 2012 What May Come, I didn't know why.  When I dedicated it to the Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre, I didn't understand what I meant by that.  I still don't!  BUT I have a truer sense that BYAC will change my life.  It already has in a major way.

The work I've done on my inner self over the last 35 years has culminated for me today in rather a jarring fashion.  A slip on the stairs lifted me into the air and plummeted me down again.  I lay splayed on my back sucking for air like a starfish stuck to the glass of an aquarium. I'm draped in seven rolls of MY toilet paper that I was retrieving from Marigold Cottage and I'm being pelted by raindrops.  Oh, god, but laughing hurts.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful condition of my skeletal structure.  Bruised and battered but not broken.  And, yes, there is a metaphor in that event.  One that I'm ready to face. This sudden eruption to a rather uneventful morning took me by the shoulders and shook me violently into recognizing that I've completed a major cycle in my life.  A cycle that I need to let go of so that I can begin the new one. The new one is so unknown that I was afraid to let go of the old and jump in.  I'm still scared, but I'm ready to take the plunge, so I'm closing down the Solar Heart Play blog as a symbolic gesture.


I will continue to blog on my website http://www.magentaharmony.com/blog.html about my newest travel adventure, The Fool's Journey into an Unknown World.  If you wish to follow me there, click the link above, look to the left hand column and subscribe.

I will continue to assist Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre in whatever way I can.  Thank you to those who have contributed.  I'll be wiring $343 to Bagamoyo next week.   The children will eat breakfast for 28.3 days thanks to your contributions.  The BYAC donation button will remain active on my site until there is no longer need for it.

Since I'm closing out the old, I need to let you know that my personal gratitude for your support of BYAC goes way beyond helping them.  I've never been able to ask for help before - in any way, shape, or form.  I always just did it myself, made it work myself because, quite frankly, in most cases I could do it myself.  Or if it was too unmanageable, I tucked it away in a hidden compartment that I didn't have to look at often.  Another skill - denying things that upset my aesthetic love for all things beautiful.  Last week, I swallowed my Leo-nine pride (that's 9x normal pride) and admitted to myself  that in this situation I am helpless to support so great a need as hungry children in Africa without help.  So I reached out to my family and friends.  And I appreciate your contributions from the depths of my soul because I know for sure now that I won't die from asking for help no matter how many times my ego slaps me around.

Same goes for the people who have said they prefer to send a check directly to me rather than use PayPal. Please address the check to:

Margie Boehmer
PO Box 1328
Mendocino, CA  95460.

Your contribution will arrive in the Mendocino Post Office where I will walk the two blocks to retrieve it as soon as I can walk that far again.   Along the way, I will pass the Penny Farthing Building

Organic Foods

 and I may even stop by the organic food store before returning home.

As for the experience of writing the Solar Heart Play blogs, WOW! It has been a Word of Wonder for me (pun intended). I  appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts and musings with you. Some of you have been with me from the beginning and some have recently joined. Thank you! Through the blog, I have effectively straddled walking in two worlds for two years without slicing myself in two. Well, I did slice myself up into tiny pieces but only energetically. But in writing the blog I most often edited the real me out and presented the person I thought you wanted to see.That wasn't because of you. That was because I needed you to like me. I'm ready to let go of that now because what I really need is to like myself.  TUM-TE-TUM (that was a drum roll) TA DA - I am leaping into the world of presenting myself as I really am so that I can learn who my true self is.  I can't love myself if I don't know who I really am and I'm tired of fighting the unconscious me who pretty much believes I'm a screw-up when I know that I'm not!

By the way, the Fool's Journey is Key 0, the first major key of the Tarot.  When one set's off on the Fool's journey, one leaps from portal to portal, moving thoroughly through each opening with mental abandon, forever stepping into the dark circle of the unknown while trusting that he/she will be able to deal with whatever comes along.  The Fool does not journey alone, even though she appears to be alone.  The Fool often appears foolish because of mental abandon that may not fit the status quo but the Fool is not foolish.  She is fully supported by the Breath of Life Itself.

This Fool has her loyal Guide within, my Presence who breathes the Breath of Life through me. This Fool now journeys with a sense of self-confidence that was totally lacking in my past journeying.  This Fool is confident enough to present a more true, and perhaps, foolish version of Margie to the world. This Fool journeys for the experience of the journey.  This fool journeys to see if it's possible to marry the red rose of human desire with the white lily of inner purity, clarity, love, faith, and trust.  This Fool doesn't care if she actually achieves this most sacred of unions.  This Fool journeys because she has no other choice but to move forward.  This Fool also enjoys both writing and sharing her ups and downs, ins and outs, as she journeys through the portals, hence the continued blogging.

And this Fool no longer needs you to like her so she's giving you the opportunity to choose whether or not you wish to read about her antics.  This Fool hopes you'll come along for the ride and that you'll provide comments so she doesn't feel like she's having a one-way conversation, but if you decide our season and reason for knowing each other has passed, I bless and thank you for all that you've taught me during our time together.  C'est la vie!

OOPS!!! Clarity Needed

Obviously, I wasn't clear in my message yesterday since several of you think that I'm physically going to Bagamoyo.  I'm sorry for the confusion but laughing cause y'all are just so used to me pickin' up and headin' out that it's natural to assume I'm packin' my bags.

While another trip to Bagamoyo may be somewhere in my future, for the time being I'm staying right here in Mendocino.  These last seven months have been totally amazing for me.

As for my Africa loves, I have agreed to be a channel through which loving energy can be transported from the world to Bagamoyo whether it be in the form of money or simply loving support during their time of crisis.  I gratefully transfer both money and love from you to them and love and gratitude from them back to you.

A great big thank you  to those who have contributed already.  Donations are not the answer to their plight but your generous support will help Masiga, Tashi, and Irham feed the children during their time of crisis.  We all deserve to have one meal in our bellies everyday.  Don't ya think?

The greater assistance that I can be to the Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre is to research Fair Trade Organizations for them.  Find out how to connect them with organizations who can put their beautiful artwork in the hands of buyers around the world.  If anyone has any ins or information about how to work with these organizations, I'll appreciate the information because I'm starting from ground zero.

Until soon.

From Mendocino (and Bagamoyo) with love.  Maybe this is how one bi-locates!  :-)

Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre

I have been invited by the Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre to sponsor their Daily Breakfast Program and I have decided to accept the invitation.

As you may remember, I was blessed to work with Masiga, Irham, and Tashi, two brothers and a sister, who founded Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre while I was in Bagamoyo, Tanzania in October of 2010.

Masiga, theManaging Director of Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre has worked for two years to receive their licensing and a bank account for their program in Bagamoyo which has finally been achieved.

Bagamoyo is a small village on the east coast of Tanzania in Africa bordering the Indian Ocean.  The population is 34,000 and of that 17,850 are children.  Many of these children live well below the standard poverty line and their acess to food is scarce.









Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre is an organization that provides various activities for the local youth of Bagamoyo, like learning English and traditional art forms.  BYAC's funding source has primarily been the sales of arts pieces.  Due to lack of tourists, their sales have suffered and, in turn, their children's program has suffered as well.

In the past, they ere able to provide breakfast to the 40 children that attended BYAC.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.  They also can no longer afford to stay in the home where they have been providing their service to the children.  $12 US Dollars can feed 40 children a nutritious breakfast in Bagamoyo.

If you can find it in your heart to donate $12 so that the Bagamoyo Young Artist Centre can feed the children whom they service, please visit my website www.magentaharmony.com where you can donate through PayPal.  Thank you.