thich nhat hanh

thinking of you

Nicole

dog laughs

Now Adele, I'm really not big on dogs, but someone sent this to me and I thought I'd pass it on to you in the hopes it brings you a smile.
Thinking of you,
Nicole

yellow and blue flight

Thinking of you Adele!

Love from Nicole

Poem for Adele

Adele,

I want to tell you my morning glories

are blooming

in glorious purple

weeks early this summer,

they're barely off the ground

before they flower

and the Roses of Sharon are also

bursting into bloom,

opening their pink and lavender mouths

to drink in the sun,

blowing in the soft July breeze.

I want to tell you life is lovely

even with all the bad news from near

and far, coming across the airwaves.

We need to listen...

but then listen to the waves of the lake,

the cardinal's call, the touch

of a loved one

to create a balance.

Ellen S. Jaffe, July 15, 2016

warmest wishes,

Ellen

Hello Adele,

On Monday

We welcomed into our home

A hooked gigantic beast  

A metal space eater 

No arms

Only solid decisive feet

Offering, tempting

Sweet soft comfort.

A little unsettling  leap 

And

Suspended we twirl and swirl

indulging in the bliss on the swing

This beast is on loan from Nicole

We picked it up from her friend who had it on loan

I suspect it was at another friends before 

it left Nicole's veranda in her last home

That's where my son spotted it and 

Swang the evening away

Ever since, has wanted one 

We resisted.

Now while we while away these summer days 

telling stories of our own days 

I wonder

this hammock chair must have a lot of stories to tell 

So many from so many places and people it has encountered

 not unlike us.

Now stories unfold in our home.

 Shhhh!

Thanks Nicole

Adele please humor me - Imagine me telling this story to wide eyes grade 1 students - Me with all my expressiveness and voice modulation and the students engage and riveted -  It is the way I imagined my first lesson plan unfolding and then reality hit.

Sending hugs with many thinks to Nicole for suggesting that I share this happy encounter.

colour

I have been taking these RAINBOW photos for you.

 Colour in abundance for you today Adele
Hugs from Nicole

Greetings Adele,

Last week I had the privilege and pleasure of visiting Six Nations to guide some LTTA guests from Fort McMurray. The depth of cultural knowledge that was shared with us was incredible. It was a profound and very memorable experience.

An artwork at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, featuring a sentence from the treaty guaranteeing the Six Nations people six miles of land on either shore of the Grand River from Lake Erie to the head waters. The treaty was broken quickly and the people of Six Nations have had their reserve land reduced to a small fraction of what they were promised.

The Two Row Wampum Belt. As I understand it, the two rows represent the two different peoples; those from the Six Nations and the Europeans. One row symbolizes the canoe that the Six Nations people would travel in, the other row symbolizes the boat the Europeans would travel in. They don't cross over, they run side by side. If you choose to travel in the canoe, you must follow the laws of those people. Same for boat. This Wampum Belt makes a statement that is deep and broad and very profound in it's beautiful simplicity.

David General is a sculptor and former Chief of Six Nations. He currently teachers at OCADU. His powerful eagle monuments are at Battlefield Park in Stoney Creek. They represent so much, the Medicine Wheel, the four directions, aspects of Six Nations language and culture. They are designed so that you can sit on their massive bases and look up at them and consider what they represent and what they mean to you. 

I had a fun game of hide and seek around the sculptures with Qila, David's 5 year old grand daughter, She is the daughter of Megan General, one of the artists who was working with us for our projects in Six Nations and Tyendinaga Territory.

I hope that we can have a cup of tea together soon.

Good wishes and hugs,

John