DEAR NEIGHBORCARE FRIENDS: We are being drafted to take care of ourselves, and to take care of each other, and more than that—to see each other as ourselves so that our choices are keener and more in line with who we are as human beings. No longer can we depend on what we’ve depended on before. We are being called to seriously consider GROWING UP. If we don’t think so, if we do not sign up to be our truest selves, we must not bemoan what events it will take to do that for us. (What I write here, I will read again and again to remind myself.) Our world is a reflection of who we are—our most beautiful, clear and mighty spirits, but also that of us which is most fearful, most closed, most unforgiving.
If we skim through life, we must not. If we blind ourselves, we must not. If we contract in the face of fear, we must not. And we must not sabotage ourselves and our activist efforts, by ignoring the simplest routes in favor of the most complex ones. When pedestals fall, we must not fall, except to our knees, seeing deeply then the depth of our own guidance and the height of our loving power. Yes, we muddle and flub, and MERCY ON US. May we lift each other up with our broken angels’ wings. No more circles of friends, circles of neighbors—NO CLOSED CIRCLE AT ALL—but semicircles, beautiful as smiles, which we shape, holding hands, and look out from to see where we can be of service. We are called to find beauty and joy wherever we can, in the midst of noise and brashness and disrespect of life. This is our job. It is our response-ability as human beings of the highest order. The bugle is blaring! We’ve got to wake up, we’ve got to wake up, we’ve got to wake up, this morning!

"Now," a poem written three days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center/Pentagon, Sept. 11th 2001 by Daphne Slocombe

God grinds us with his teeth/ because our hearts are hard/ God grinds us with his teeth/ Because we closed our eyes/ to our own darkness/ God swallows us/ in the darkness of her belly we lie/ with our eyes shut, tight shut/ Behind them the tears/ fall into our hearts/ Because we have held ourselves separate/ God smashes us into one/ Now we are one people/ as the wheat becomes one/ beneath the millstone./ Slowly the stone mill turns/ and our hulls are cracked and ground/ our eyes are unsealed/ our bones are ground together with our hearts/ till from our sorrow and from our thankfulness/ we can make bread/ to feed the children/ of our enemies.

NEIGHBORCARE NEWS A local non-profit has blessed us with a grant-in-kind so that from a local business we can draw against our neighborcare account and receive lumber and other supplies. In turn, we serve those reaching out to us for ramps and other small projects. You know who you are. Thank you so much.
—A call to those who would be willing to attend our address-our-newsletter potlucks on a regular (or not-regular) basis. (Ask anyone who’s been to one of our potlucks what a heartlifting time s/he’s experienced.) We hold the potlucks Dec, March, June and Sept. at various homes on the peninsula. Time: 10:15 am until approximately 2:30 pm. The first part of our time together is our "worktime." We are focused on addressing, all the while embraced by camaraderie! (The newsletter goes out to nearly 900 people. We will continue to address newsletters, by hand, for as long as we can find folks who are willing to help out. Receiving mail with a handwritten address and beautiful stamp adorning it is rare these days and can be a heartwarmer providing service of its own.) Before sharing what is always a fine meal, we stand in circle sending healing thoughts to those we know who would welcome them. Please email me, while you’re thinking of it, if at least once in a while you would like to make every effort to be with us.
—Please note the change to the WHY I DO THIS and picture format. More and more I know that those offering their comments and photo are finding their service thank you enough (without a thank you from me).

FROM THE VOICELESS This story both lifts and breaks the heart. Having read it, it is a permanent picture in my mind.
An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of GOD'S WINGS:

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live. "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4) ~Author Unknown~

"Don’t worry about what you ought to do. Worry about loving. Don’t interrogate heaven repeatedly and uselessly saying, ‘What course of action should I pursue?’ Concentrate on loving, instead. And by loving you will find out what is for you. Loving, you will listen to the Voice. Loving you will find peace. Love is the fulfillment of the law and should be everyone’s rule of life; in the end it’s the solution to every problem, the motive for all good." Carlo Carretto/Letters from the Desert

TIP I have found a mix of (a generous amount) of white vinegar, a squirt of laundry detergent and a cup or so of water is invaluable for removing pet stains from carpet due to most any pet "accident." Blot, spray, scrub lightly, and blot again.

FOR PONDERING Offering up our sorrows and loneliness and fears as compost for the good of others transforms them—this, WHERE OUR OWN SOLACE LIES. Think of polluted rivers made nourishing and cow dung recycled to make electrical power.

FROM THE KITCHEN An amazing oatmeal pudding recipe, passed to me by my lovely daughter Jenny:
One cup rolled oats to three cups water. When the oats are done cooking, add nutmeg and cinnamon to taste, plus 2T pure maple syrup. Next, beat in two eggs, add chopped walnuts and chopped apple and blueberries, frozen or fresh. Bake at 350 till done. I eat this pudding hot or cold with Pacific original low fat almond milk (once, three days in a row, I confess, and one night for dessert). You can replace maple syrup with three packets of oh-so-good-for-you Stevia (herbal sweetener) but, if you’re not sugar restricted, do use the syrup!

OUR EVERPRESENT POWER FOR GOOD "Our consciousness has definite influences upon water. Especially when we concentrate our consciousness with the same intention, it will have a tremendous power. It is like a laser beam that can reach the surface of the moon. In the summer of 1999, hundreds of people gathered along the lakeshore of the Lake Biwa, located at the central part of Japan, and prayed for the peace and harmony of the universe. After one month, a local newspaper reported that only that summer, there were no complaints from local residents about the foul odor resulting from extraordinary growth of a foreign alga, which they had been experiencing every summer for years."

Do see What the Bleep Do We Know? an inspiring, revelatory movie (for these times)with many facets. One segment features Masaru Emoto/President of the LOVE AND THANKS TO WATER PROJECT. Emoto’s intention is to purify all the water on earth. If you go to his site and click on the before and after photos revealing the effects of prayers of love and thanks on water crystals, your heart will sing!
"The best thing for being sad...is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting...'"
— Merlyn, in The Once and Future King by T.H. White

FROM THE NOT-A-DOCTOR I rarely experience bronchitis but two months or so ago I was hit hard. Here’s what I used to help myself heal. (Being with caring family in Vermont didn’t hurt!)
1) Coltsfoots Compound from Avena Botanicals in Rockport, Me, 3-4 times a day. The bottle contains fresh thyme, mullein leaves and flowers, elecampane root, coltsfoot leaves, and skunk cabbage root in tincture form.
2) New Chapter support for the immune system Supercritical Cold n’ Flu, one gel cap a day of powerful herbs (not usually seen in combination) minus licorice root (which those tending toward high blood pressure/any kind of bodily swelling might best not take).
3) Naturade Herbal Expec—again with a combination of herbs (without licorice root) that reminded me of the Robitussin I used to give my children in the late sixties and early seventies.
4) chicken soup (first with no rice, later with some) skimmed of fat, and including kale as well as celery, carrots, onions and garlic
5) many glasses of water
6) the oatmeal pudding listed in the From the Kitchen section (this, a blessed comfort food)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED The Sanctuary: A Center for Prayer and Spiritual Nurture
This is a true sanctuary. Making Haggodesh is The Sanctuary newsletter I’ve been receiving for years. It is as inspirational and nourishing as whole food. The spirit of Sanctuary founder Loretta Ross-Gotta shines throughout. For those experiencing a dark night of the soul, run—do not walk—to the website, click on publications and then on the sample newsletter that addresses this issue.

Blessings all around you—this winter and in every season,
maggie davis, for NEIGHBORCARE

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maggie davis
207.266.7673
PO Box 370, Blue Hill, ME 04614-0370
e-mail: maggiesdavis@gmail.com



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