MAINE MORNING DUCK REPORT: WINTER SOLSTICE

On this shortest light day of the year, with a blizzard roaring, life crawls to a snails pace. Is this what it was like a hundred years ago? Life as nature intended.

IMAGINE. It is December 21, 1908.

A perfect day for a sleigh ride on Baxter Boulevard which borders The Back Cove. Wrap me in ermine, bundle me in the sleigh led by a perfectly matched pair of mares, snap the whip....let's go!

"Sleigh bells ring are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland." (Bernard & Smith)

Was it better a century ago or is it just the romantic view of days gone ? I believe that the images create an illusion which is always seen through tinted lenses. But I have found a way to make peace with today's 24/7 hectic life, while embracing the shortened hours of day light. I have become attuned to the ebb and flow of nature.

Nature has a way of jolting us to a pace that is more human. Two storms back to back provide that very dose of "natural" sedative. Gray skies have been looming since the 18th. The first blizzard arrived on the 19th just in time for the evening drive. The 20th remained a "day with no time." That is my description of when morning light is the same as afternoon. No visible sunrise or sunset. Just flat, gray skies. Such was nature's forecast of an ensuing storm. No weatherman mistakes here. Mother nature being 100% accurate. The ever so light snow began at 9:30 am on the 21st and in one hour gained to blizzard force. White was the predominate color and would remain so, even after the 4 pm sun down. Dense snow riding thirty mph winds blanketed the air as well as the ground. It's called a white-out.

And so the winter solstice came and went in a natural furry. All we could do was stay put, light candles and celebrate a cozy home.

Our friends the ducks were visibly absent for two days. I think they were riding out the storms tucked under the twin bridges a few fathoms down the foot path. But this morning they returned, with the tide ebbing into the "duck channel." Marching before the rising tide, ducks and geese together returned to the neighborhood. They announced, "We survived the blow!" CeCe and Daisy were as excited as I was to see our feathered friends. You see, they have become our "natural" gage of life's true rhythms.

Today the sun shines once again. It's journey north has begun. The season of rebirth is upon us.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet drink and botanical medicines.

Henry Daivd Thoreau

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HANUKKAH

A MID-COAST THANKSGIVING GATHERING

All stoves were fired! The old cast iron with recycled paper, the newer range with electricity. Oven roasting a twenty pound bird and four burners cooking the root vegetables to be served. By the time of my mid-day arrival, all preparations were well underway. Pies were positioned on the dining room sideboard, the table prepared and serving silver placed for the feasting hour. Only the cornucopia needed filling and that was my job. Fresh fruit, nuts and chocolate coated almonds spilled forth. It is Thanksgiving Day and I am spending this Holiday of Gratitude with a very special family that has embraced me.

For sixty years June has been preparing the main course. So it was done this year, exactly like the past. I believe the recipes probably came from her very first cookbook, BETTY CROCKER, or were passed down through the family. Why change a good thing? Besides, the immediate family wouldn't hear of it! So it was a twenty pound roasted turkey, not the "new" deep fried preparation. Real pearl onions in cream sauce, nothing from the frozen food shelves. Fresh squash, rutabaga, mashed potatoes, celery-onion stuffing and homemade cranberry-orange relish completed the fare.

Four adults, the brother-sister Siamese cats and a hound dog took their places. Some at the table, two on a window sill and one on the floor at the feet of his master. It was a peaceable kingdom as Thomas took position to carve the bird. His skill is evidence of the fine lesson learned at the side of his father many years ago. Call me old fashioned, but I love the passing of these fine traditions passed from parent to child.

It was a feast that lasted three hours...honoring the chef and partaking of animated conversation. What a fine gathering; putting any differences aside and praising the goodness of the individual spirit.

In keeping with the hearth being the heart of the home, the day after Thanksgiving, June shared with me an ancestral grape leaves recipe ( perfected by she and her brother.) This was an entirely new culinary delight for me. June prepared the lamb based filling as I prepared the grape leaves. When the prep was complete, she demonstrated how to fill and roll. Thirty six rolled leaves later, we had a kettle full. Broth was poured over and the pot was placed on a low heat burner for long, slow cooking. Now for the waiting. Would they be as tasty as we imagined? As with most foods, patience is one of the main ingredients. I wanted to taste one of our creations when they were finally cooked....and plenty hot. Too hot to savor the subtle flavors of mint, lemon and garlic. Full appreciation of the bouquet was to be realized the next day. And so I was reminded of a lesson that presents itself to me on a daily basis: everything in its own time.

At the end of each joyful day celebrating friendship, family, good food and conversation, I tucked myself into the eave where a bed toasty with an electric blanket awaited. I in my flannel pajamas and polar fleece cap slept like a baby.

MAY YOU FIND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS TO CELEBRATE.

THE LABYRINTH

Like so many things in my life lately, it just happens. Usually happening for the good, I might add. And so it is that I ended up in a labyrinth.

It began with a call to friend. I was suggesting that she light a couple of candles at dusk, (4:00 pm here in Portland) as it provides a nice glow and segue into the hours of dark. No sooner had I offered my suggestion and she asked if I wanted to do "the labyrinth."


"The labyrinth?" I asked.

"Yes, it's down the street at Trinity."


"What does it do? How do I do it?"


" It clears your head. You follow a path, like a maze, but it doesn't trick you."


Sounded good to me. Follow a path, clear my head. I'm all for exercise and an uncluttered mind!


Thus began the journey to the labyrinth...and a journey it became. Needless to say, her information wasn't entirely correct. There was a labyrinth, but it was in Brunswick. I was up for it and off we went.


Forty five minutes later we were at the First Parish Church. Now to find the labyrinth! Not your everyday occurrence. But I was committed. Finally we found the door that opened to THE LABYRINTH.Candles flickered at the edges of the large white canvas floor mat containing the path. Shoes removed, I entered the walk. Carrying a stone in one hand and a small box containing notes in the other, I was focused on staying in the lines. Quite quickly I began to feel a peace. Everything that I brought with me in my mind was dissipated. I felt a sense of lightness...almost giddy. Upon reaching the center, I set the box and stone on the floor and sat for a while. When I felt ready and only then, I re-entered the pathway and began my exit journey.


Upon completion I felt a total lightness of being. It was a feeling I had never experienced before. Could this be what Eckhart Tolle describes as achieving "BEING" in his book, "The New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose?" I know that I am closer to "BEING" after having done the labyrinth than I was before.

As my LA friend asked, "How do you end up in a labyrinth?" Well as I said in the beginning, "life happens."

I eagerly await my next journey.

To find a labyrinth in your area check with a store specializing in New Age and/or mediatation information. Also check http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/.



Maybe I'll see you on the path.