Building Community - SyracuseCulturalWorkers.com

Thinking about what I would like to write to you today.  And I am feeling a bit at a loss for my own words.  It has been a long week trying to catch up at work from the two days off and today is my sister's memorial service - life celebration.  So...I would like to share something that I am finding really beautiful and really challenging.  I have listed the author's website in my title so as not to infringe on their copyright.  Enjoy.

How to Build Community

Turn off your TV

Leave your house

Know your neighbors * Greet people

Look up when you're walking

Sit on your stoop * Plant Flowers

Use your library * Play together

Buy from local merchants

Share what you have * Help a lost dog

Take children to the park * Honor elders

Support neighborhood schools

Fix it even if you didn't break it

Have pot lucks * Garden together

Pick up litter * Read stories aloud

Dance in the street

Talk to the mail carrier

Listen to the birds * Put up a swing

Help carry something heavy

Barter for your goods

Start a tradition * Ask a question

Hire young people for odd jobs

Organize a block party

Bake extra and share

Ask for help when you need it

Open your shades * Sing together

Share your skills

Take back the night

Turn up the music * Turn down the music

Listen before you react to anger

Mediate a conflict * Seek to understand

Learn from new and uncomfortable angles

Know that no one is silent though many are not heard

Work to change this. 

More on Winter Storms - No power

No power for 34.5 hours.  When I write it down, it doesn't seem so long.  But it felt pretty long.  By the time the power came on, the house was good and cold.  Looking back now, I found that we were pretty well set up.  We had water.  That in itself was a huge blessing.  Where we lived before, if the power was off, the water was off.  And then to find that we has HOT water.  Wow.  We made sure that the dishes were washed as soon as they were used.  That kept our hands warm and it helped the kitchen stay a little warmer too.  And then we had our gas stove to cook on.  Triple blessing.  And then we realized that we could keep our cell phones charged in the car.  That was great too. 

We dug out our camping gear and we set up a lantern for the evenings and we have a little camping heater that helped keep us a bit warm.  And then we all dressed in several layers.  I was very thankful for Tim's big socks.  I think he will be getting a few more of those, as all three of us had to share the ones that he had.  :-)  They were the BEST for keeping feeties warm.

The one thing that I was most surprised about was that nothing dried.  NOTHING.  My coat is still wet from two days ago.  My gloves finally were dry about an hour before the power came back on. 

I am also surprised that I feel like an electricity hog now when I am using a computer, the washer, dryer, the furnace and a light at the same time.  And I mean, who needs to light a whole room when I can get by with a candle?  So that is what I decided to do...write this by candlelight. 

The one thing that we found was that we would have liked to have some way to charge the laptop.  We will be looking into charging it in the car as well.  We had enough power to watch two shows the first night and then we went and charged it up at a coffee shop in Lacey yesterday morning, so we had enough to watch another show last night.  It is funny though that the series of shows we have been watching as a family lately is a BBC series called "Victorian Farm".  This group of people restored and lived on a farm for a year as if they were in that period.  It was a very enjoyable series and we learned a lot from it about how to live without a lot of the things we take for granted. 

I also found that not having a washer and dryer was tough.  I hadn't caught up on my laundry prior to the power outage and there were clothes in the washer...that was a quandary.  But I think it taught us too that we can wear fewer clothes and change them less often.  I mean really, even when we are working hard, it is rare that we should have to change our clothes every day. 

As a rule, we keep our house at an even 55 degrees at night.  It is funny, but I am finding that very comfortable now as I write.  And doing that not only saves electricity, but we were totally set up for our cold nights without power.  We had enough blankets and the animals all just came in to sleep with us in the warmth of our room. 

My guys missed the computer and their time playing games on it.  For me, I found that I missed the connections that I have through email and facebook.  But I also found that I enjoyed the dark.  I enjoyed having my family congregate in one room and chat.  I enjoyed going outside and finding the neighbors who had the scoop on the neighborhood.  I enjoyed the creativity and the pace of it. 

It has warmed up and it is raining now.  With the amount of snow in place, there will be issues in this area with flooding soon.  I don't think that this will affect us, at least at home.  Because of the ice storm after the snow, there is so much tree damage.  We ourselves lost one big tree and at least part of a small tree.  There will be a lot of clean up to do once things all pan out.  But for us, there is no emergency.  The trees fell away from our house and fence, and we are counting our blessings once again.  I will be hoping that I will be able to find someone who can use the wood from our big tree. It will be sad to see it go, but...there is something about new beginnings...the rhythm of life. 

SNOW and lots of it!

Ok, I have to admit that I wasn't that excited about the news of pending snow.  I didn't really believe them.  We haven't seen any snow since...I think since November and that was just a sprinkling.  It didn't stay long.  And that is pretty much the norm here.  Not much snow.  I don't think we had much at all last year, although we had a lot of rain.

SOooo...boy was I surprised when I saw it start snowing.  And then it kept snowing.  I made it to work yesterday.  The roads were clear and it wasn't too bad.  A little slippery around here, but the main roads were clear.  But my office development was pretty snowy and we got stuck on the hill going in.  That was fun.  A couple more tries though and we made it up the hill.

It continued to snow most of yesterday, so I left at about 2:00 PM.  I wondered if I could get my car out if I left it there for the rest of the day.  And I was right in that it was hard to get it out when I left.

But the reason that I am writing this isn't really because of the road conditions...it is because when I woke up this morning...there was A LOT more snow!  I was like a little child!  I couldn't wait to get out in it!!  As soon as it was light out, I got all dressed and got out there.  First I did the things I needed to do...like clearing 9 inches of snow off the top of the chicken coop and making sure that they were fed and watered, and no eggs were freezing.  By the way, the 9 inches was just what accumulated overnight.  I went out and brushed it off before I went to bed last night.

But when I was done working on the chicken coop, my dog and I played and played.  She was shocked when I fell backwards in the snow and just laid there, taking it all in.  :-) Then we took a nice, long walk in the snow. 

I had to work today.  I was thankful that I could work from home.  It was cozy and my husband and son were here because my son's school was closed due to the snow. 

When the snow stopped falling, we had about 18 inches.   That is a lot!  It was hard to work.  I kept watching the snow coming down...my son and husband got out and built a fort...I wanted to join them.

Finally I gave in and asked them to take a walk with me.  We walked to the little store at the end of our road.  In all the time that we lived here, we have never been in that store.  Carl got to ride on the sled the whole way.

On the way home...we realized that there is a sledding hill...a big one...just a couple blocks from our house.  Oh my goodness!  You know, I don't remember ever going sledding before a couple years ago.  And that slope was nothing like this one.  This was the fastest and biggest slope I have ever been on.  I would have gone again and again...but the dudes were pretty frozen by that time.  Thank God for my pink farmer girl outfit that keeps me very warm.  Anyway, I went once by myself.  THAT WAS FUN!

And guess what...school is closed again tomorrow.  I need to work again...but maybe I can find some time to go sledding once or twice.

Hope you are staying safe and warm this Winter. 

Walking in the Dark

Good morning.  How are you doing today? 

My body has been aching to get out and MOVE.  This weather keeps me a bit strangled.  I mean...my yard is only so big.  There is only so much to do with the chickens.  Our garden beds are already taken care of for the winter and really...there is not so much to do in the house that is physically challenging and still makes me feel like I am using my time well.  SO...the other day I got home from work a bit early and it was still light out.  The minute I got home (I had met with an attorney that day and I was in a full pants suit and in my cowboy boots with a long, winter coat.) I hooked the dog up, put a reflective vest on and grabbed my flashlight.  It felt good to walk.  The air was cool and my body felt good to be out.  I got to the place where I was feeling like it was a good walk.  Belle got a lot of sniffing in and I still felt like I was ready to go home and be a normal human being.  And I turned around to go home. 

Now let me paint a picture of our neighborhood.  It is DARK.  There are no sidewalks and there are areas where there is a lot of tree overhang, making things even darker.  I was in one of those areas when I heard someone come running up behind me.  I have been walking in this neighborhood before and have been overtaken by a lot of "runners".  Ummm...but when I turned around to look...this one was fully clothed...and not in running gear.  Hmmmm...

He yelled, "Hey!  Are you Scott?"  Hmmmm..."No."  And then Belle and I came out into the open where the light was better.  It was such a weird experience.  I should have been afraid. I should have felt something.  But I was about three blocks from home...and I recognized the guy.  He is a big man.  But he lives about a block and a half away from me.  But tonight he had really weird energy. As a matter of fact, I have met him three times.  One time he did not have weird energy.  But the other time I had met him on the street (in daylight) he had weird energy then too. 

So here on the street in the dark...hmmm...not that great.  I cannot remember much of what we talked about, but he was shocked that I was a woman and out in the dark.  I was shocked when he asked if he could walk with me.  Ummm...no, I wanted to say.  But did I?  No.  I said ok. 

He eventually introduced himself and I introduced myself.  I shook his hand.  I told him that I know where he lives and that I had met him before.  He responded with, "That must have been when I was on a binge."  And then, "Well then, if anything happens, then you know you can call the police and tell them where I live."  Strange answer for a strange walk.  Luckily I don't live on the same street as he does.  And I was able to take my leave.  He stood and watched me walk away.  And then he yelled, "Hey, have a good evening." 

I am torn.  I should have been afraid.  And honestly, I felt afraid after I got home and told Tim the story.  But I felt a loneliness that I couldn't disregard.  I want to take back the night.  I want my big dog back to help me.  Belle?  She has met him before.  He likes dogs.  She likes people.  He actually helped me catch her when she was being a wild thing right after we moved here.  He wasn't drunk then.  He was tonight.  So I remain torn.  Do I stop walking in the dark?  Do I find a friend?  Do I say hello when I see him?  Is he dangerous?  Should we bring him some eggs?  He is our neighbor.  What good is living in a neighborhood if you can't be neighborly.  I struggle.  I struggle with our society. 

You know, honestly since I moved back here 3.5 months ago...he is the 5th person in our neighborhood who has spoken to me.  And one of them was a very fearful child who tried to smile at me as she ran by to catch the bus.  We all sit in our houses and close our curtains.  I know that the weather isn't really conducive to being outside and saying hello.  But...I get the feeling that there is a problem.  Is it with me?  Or is it with the way we as a society has decided to live?

Love and Gratitude - Action Verbs

I am contemplating Love and Gratitude today, both action verbs.  I am reading a book called "Kisses from Katie."  Wow.  What a book about love and gratitude.  She knows how to LOVE and be GRATEFUL in ways that I have never seen.  She feeds where it is needed, she clothes where it is needed, she gives meaning to the word LOVE.  If you have any interest in feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, this girl does it up right.

My sister Patricia passed on early in December.  It was a sad, sad, and beautiful day.  I wasn't there when she passed, but her loving husband was.  He told her that he loved her three times before she passed.  He said he wasn't sure why he had to say it three times, but he did.  Her loving family members were all camped out in her home and they woke to a new reality.  They were in love and they were so loving to all that came to grieve.  They kept her body there until late in the evening.  It was a true wake.  Not for days, but for a day.  For as long as the government would let them wake her.  Carl and I were there most of the day.  We shared in their love and we gave love where we could.  And then they had a bonfire and lit fireworks to celebrate her life and her death.  My sisters and I sang with her body and rejoiced and cried.  It was beautiful and heart-wrenching. 

This is a link to Patty's favorite song:
Calling All Angels Link

As you see, I haven't been able to write much since then.  I have written in my journal a few times, but not much more.  I see things differently since she passed.  I feel things stronger.  I am more alive because I have been given the gift of life now...if only for a little while. 

My parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last night.  (My sis would have been 64 this month.)  They invited my little family to share a meal with them partly because we had given them a gift card and told them to invite us when they planned to use it.  It was a lovely, peaceful time.  And my other sis and her husband came to have dessert with us too.

I love better.  I love bigger.