On the Road from Panama 6/30/2015, a conversation with BBC07

Dear Friends ´´in the rabbit hole,"

From a Spirit House in Alaska, my last posting, to Panama -- as Alaska goes up in smoke.   

I arrived here in mid-May without a bicycle.  I’m staying in the guest house of an old friend away at the moment.   The local library in Boquete is where this originates.   It has a small café inside, a very nice feature.   I´ve been hanging out here most days except Sunday when it´s closed.  

It´s about a six km hike downhill through town to get here.  On rainy days I take a taxi part way.   All around an exuberance of life - flowers in bloom, birds singing, roosters crowing, dogs barking, at me sometimes and greeting locals on the way are why I enjoy walking and riding less.  It satisfies and feeds the spirit in ways other things cannot.

Betty called me from London awhile back. She is the daughter of another friend. Her ¨handle¨ she told me is BBC 07.  As it happened, an ongoing conversation of the moment, to be reported on here as opportunity allows.  We agreed I could share it.  It went something like this:

Hi Betty!  Hi Peas Rider

It´s nice to hear your voice.  

Nice to hear you too. 

I’m so happy you called.  

What would you like to talk about?   

What is a peas rider?  

Well,  I work for peace on Earth and peace with the Earth.  

I like to eat peas.  

Me too.  This is different you can´t eat peace.  

What kind of peas is it. 

It’s a feeling you have inside.  

We are happy when we feel peaceful. 

That’s nice.  I feel that way when I’m playing with my friends.  

Where do you live?.  

In a big house near the James River.  Mum says I’m very bright for my age.  

That's nice to hear. How did you find me?  

My daddy reads your blog sometimes.  Our house was not peasful last night.  

Mum and dad were making happy talk.  

Oh!  

They woke me up.  

They woke you up?  Yes.  

Mum was saying oh, oh, oh a lot.  

They were having fun I guess.   

I wanted to play too.  

I see.  

I knocked on the door but mum said go back to bed.  

Did you?  

Nooo! 

I listened for awhile.  

Mum asked daddy to kiss Virginia.  

She must be a nice person.  

I heard mum say oh! oh! oh! again. 

They were happy sounds. I got sleepy. 

You went to bed ?  

Yes. I asked Mum in the morning who is Virginia?  Can I meet her.  

Where did you hear that?  

Last night.  She just laughed.  When you´re older she said .    

When you called I thought it is was someone else.  

That’s alright.  

You have an unusual address.  What does BBC07 mean.   

Oh, that.  It means Betty Boobs Cramdon. I'm seven years old. I watch TV with my daddy.  He calls it the boob tube.  

Did you ask him what that means?  

Yes!   He said I should ask mum first.  

What did she say?  

She said there are different kinds of boobs.  She showed me her boobs.  She said I will have boobs like hers when I grow up.   They were soft and warm and nice.   I can feed babies like me when I was littler.  I like boobs!  

I see!  Would it be okay to just call you BeeBee.  

Okay.   Wee - I´m  Bee,Bee,Cee 07.  

Sometimes daddy gets angry watching the boob tube  

What were you watching.  

POX news.  He calls them boobs and pickleheads.  

Why did he say that? 

They don't believe in appliance.  My daddy is very smart.  He knows a lot about appliance. 

I like sweet pickles!   

Me too BB.. 

Are boobs and pickleheads  nice people Peas Rider. 

Yes, most  are.  

I like everyone!  

That´s a good way to be.          

It’s getting late BB, is there anything else you want to ask me.   

My daddy calls Peelament and Wronggas boobs and pickleheads,  pause,  Who is Omama?   Is everyone a boob and picklehead  Peas Rider?  

Yes, and no and it depends.  

I don´t understand. 

Can you call me again?  We'll talk some more about boobs and pickleheads 

I´ll try. 

I love you BB, good night, sweet dreams.  

I love you too Peas Rider, good night.  

malkolmblog

Hey all Malkolm-knowers . . . this is actually Ken, borrowing Wendy's email. I'm sending the link to the blog that tells about Malkolm's adventures. There are some great photos that have Malkolm"s stamp on them, as well as adventures with Polar Bears (scroll down to the Polar Bear photos). Enjoy the warmth - judging by M's self-portrait INSIDE his sumptuous lodging, summer hasn't reached northern Hudson's Bay yet.

love, Ken

Shorebird Science | In the Field

				Shorebird Science | In the Field A good snowstorm can be a beautiful thing. Somewhat less so when it happens in mid-June and shuts down your field work. A female Red Phalarope stoically waits out...
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Wendy Boothroyd

www.birdyear.blogspot.com - a relic 

 

Peace Riders Spirit House

In every walk in nature one receives far more than he seeks.  John Muir

Creativity takes courage.  Henri Matisse

 It didn’t start out that way but as the various pieces were built and assembled I began thinking of the design that came to me and the space I was creating as a spirit house.

I was moved to try and create a super insulated round house that retains some of the desirable features of a yurt.  The yurts available for interior Alaska are under insulated for the climate.   One of the features is an open circular inside space. A circle is a symbol of unity.  Window placement will be in the north, south, east and west directions to honor what is called the World Tree, Tree of Life or the four stations of the Christian cross.  An east window may be in the door.  An eight sided pyramid shaped skylight will sit atop the upper compression ring to allow light into the center of the structure.  Outer coverings of roof and wall will be of durable UV resistant material.

Skylight without double walled acrylic panes.

A principal difference of this design is use of a light weight truss with an overhang.  It will shed water away from what is called a remote wall; six inches of foam board in one inch layers, screwed through a 6 mil vapor barrier on the outside of  plywood sheathing.  

  

The basic framing was completed by the middle of May when I interrupted construction for a trip to visit friends in Panama.   All the supporting scaffolding erected to hold the compression rings in place during installation of the trusses was removed.

My intention in moving ahead with this project was to create an affordable space that required minimal site preparation, was relatively easy to build (emphasis on the relative since some specialized tools were used like a band saw) and is still portable up to the point I halted construction.  Beyond this stage disassembly becomes less practical.  And of course, it is not yak portable or even as portable as more conventional yurt construction but nonetheless could be done with some effort.  And I may just move it to another site but have made no decision in that regard at this point.

Some of the construction details follow for those of you interested in that sort of thing.   It is 24’ in diameter or roughly 452 square feet inside.  The  platform is supported on 13 concrete piers holding 4x8” horizontal cross beams on 5’ centers ( doing it again I would space them on 4’ centers so I would not have to cut 2”x4’x8’ sheets of foam boards I fastened to the bottom of 2x10” floor joists to stop air circulation through batts of fiberglass above).  The walls are 2x4’s on roughly 2’centers prefabbed in eight foot sections, 6 1/2’ to the outside of the top and bottom plates.    Top and bottom plates were cut on a 24 foot arc from 3/4 inch plywood using a circular saw.   The top plate was doubled and overlapped to join each wall section around the perimeter.  Horizontal 1x4” nailers of green spruce were bent and screwed to the stud walls, on roughly 2’ centers.  Three eighths inch plywood sheathing was screwed to the nailers.  Plywood bent around the perimeter of the platform extended 1 1/2” above the base of platform.  The bottom horizontal nailer was screwed to this which in turn held each wall section in place.  Thirty-eight trusses, 26” deep were built on a form.  The top and bottom pieces are 1 1/2”x 2 5/8 ripped from spruce 2x6’s.  Later 2x4’s of selected local dry spruce were used and ripped because they were dimensionally more stable.  The unplanned bonus was a left over strip I can use to hold the interior ceiling fabric in place against the bottom of each truss.  Interior reinforcing webbing was of 2x2’s gusseted on both sides at the joints.  Gussets were 1/4” OSB glued and screwed in place. 

Each truss is bottom notched centered over a supporting stud and held in place by a slightly elevated 5/16” galvanized steel cable around the perimeter similar to yurt construction.  Two 5 1/2’ OD, compression rings were made and routed to hold each end of the truss.  A 1/8 inch layer of birch plywood was bent and screwed to the outside of each ring, then edge sealed with silicone to form a vapor barrier between the two rings.  It will also hold in place fiberglass insulation to be added during a later phase of construction. 

Looking through covered skylight opening.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it; more to follow from on the “way” in Panama.  

Art is not what you see but what you make others see.  Edgar Degas

Where words fail music speaks.  Hans Christian Andersen

Peace Rider

Peace Rider Writes Again After a Long Absence

Dear Friends,

Peace Rider lives to blog another day!   The eloquent words that follow came to me recently from a dear friend in Hawaii - minus the art work.  I found that one day this spring in the University of Alaska Fairbanks library.  It seemed a worthy embellishment. 

More on yurt building and a few photos in another post.  That kept me "off the streets and out of the bars" this winter.  

Doing something meaningful about climate change awaits.

The Invitation

(To Awaken)

IT DOESN’T INTEREST ME WHAT YOU DO FOR A LIVING. I want to know what you ache for

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are, I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,

for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon, I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it of fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic or to remember the limitations of being a human.

If doesn’t interest if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon. “YES”.

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.  I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

“The invitation” is a declaration of intent, a map into the longing of the soul.. Movement forward, is not the same thing as actually making the journey.

I want to live with deep intimacy every day of my life.

  
When I am able to live with real intimacy… I experience a presence... This presence, this Great Mystery known by so many different names –God, Spirit, Allah, the Great mother ( Madre Tierra, Pachamama) lifts me, fills me with a vast silence and a sharp taste of the interconnectedness of all life.  I have faith in this Mystery and the many ways in which it sustains us.

My invitation, my challenge to you here, is to journey into a deeper intimacy with the world and your life without any promise of safety or guarantee of reward beyond the intrinsic value of full participation.

 Life lived intimately may not be easier.  But it is fuller, richer, and more open to everything...

When I imagine myself as an old woman at the end of my life... there is only one question that concerns me:  Did I love well? 

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer Indian Elder

Please know that all roles are important no matter how seemingly insignificant,  none are more or less so than another.  All threads woven into the tapestry for creating a  New Earth make a valuable contribution.  Each adds in some immeasurable way to the beauty of the whole through interconnectedness.   A single "thread"standing alone is easily broken but many woven together motivated by LOVE create and unbreakable unity.  It is why we need one another in the work that lies ahead. 

For those not able to work directly on the "front lines" your focused intention of love and compassion is enough.  

In the end the responsibility and initiative for your self-development and growth rests with YOU.

Peace Rider
Art work from William D. Barry papers University of Alaska, Fairbanks Archives
 

Dear Friends,

It's been awhile since you've heard anything from me but I remain engaged.  One of the reasons for my prolonged silence. has been work on a yurt I'm building from scratch keeping me busy and in Fairbanks through most of the winter.  I also joined a group of Quakers (Friends) who are in the process of discerning what steps to take next to address this issue more actively as a community.

The following is what came to me as a result of questions raised in early meetings of our group.  Please circulate it as you may feel called to do so.

The Moral Imperative of Climate Change

The sea level is slowly rising.  Some island peoples have already being displaced from their homes.   We are locked into some unavoidable changes from climate disruption  It is imperative to act now if we are to avoid the worst consequences of a warming atmosphere driven by the accumulation of greenhouse gases.  Those among us who did not cause the problem are or will by among the first to be severely affected.  We share a common humanity regardless of ethnicity or any other consideration.  We are our brothers and sisters keepers in ways we do not yet fully appreciate. 

Climate change or disruption, if you prefer, is being driven by the accumulation of greenhouses gases from the burning of fossil fuels.   Some remain in denial over the science.  There is, however, a higher moral imperative that cannot be denied.  We are all in this "lifeboat" together.  What we do or do not do about it now and not decades hence will have consequences that will determine the future outcome and viability for all of life on planet Earth. This is no trifling matter.  We ignore it at our peril.   Some of us will not live into all the consequences of climate change.  We come to this moment with more years behind us than ahead..   But it is we of an older generation, especially Americans, who bear a disproportionate responsibility for creating the problem in the first place.  It is also this "we" who must now rise to correct the mistakes of the past.  Many already are.  It is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced and the defining issue of our time.

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it,” according to Albert Einstein.   To understand the level of consciousness driving not only climate change but the human tragedies of wars, injustice and deprivation is to look at cause.   Human consciousness has evolved and is in the process of evolving.   Yet one aspect of this consciousness nearly as old as our time on the planet has not changed much.   It is the misunderstanding that we are fundamentally (from an energetic standpoint) separated except in a physical sense from one another, from any other living thing, or from the Creative Energy of the universe, known by many names, worshiped by many faith traditions.

We know from the quantum physics law known as Bell’s Theorem that objects once connected affect one another forever no matter where they are.  Put another way an invisible stream of energy will always connect any two objects that have been connected in any way in the past.  Far enough back in time everything was connected.  We are all part of the same eternal stream of energy and always have been.  Our inherent interconnectedness was intuitively understood by some before this,  until more recently affirmed by quantum mechanics.   The grand illusion which will kill us if we persist in it is that we are somehow separate from it except by choice. The good news is that many people now understand that all things are connected energetically and are working to bring change from a higher level of consciousness.  

From our limited perspective the nearest we can come to describing this energy is Love as demonstrated in the lives and teachings of spiritual masters through the ages.  It is our true essence and basic goodness.  And it is that which comes to the fore in times of natural calamities and other occasions when we give selflessly to help others in need without thought of risk or reward.   It is only this energy that has the power to transform and drive out negative energies of fear, anger, hatred and the like.  We are fundamentally all One (of the same energy)  From this reality it is understood that what we give to another we give to ourselves individually and collectively.    Our true role in the grand scheme of things is tenders of the “Garden” part of the web of life that enriches and makes ours possible.   All of life from this perspective is appreciated as sacred none more or less important than another, all with a vital function to perform beyond what profit can be accrued to human kind from their domination and exploitation. 

It would be a mistake to conclude that in our hour of great need that we are adrift on a storm tossed sea without a "pilot" to guide us to a safe harbor.  Our inherent interconnectedness fully appreciated and understood means that thought forms such as prayer especially when magnified by many work because energy flows where attention goes.  This we know from our individual and collective experience of it.   It is no less so now.  To overlook or ignore our inherent connectedness to the Creative Energy of the universe and to not ask for help would be to continue more of the human hubris and lack of humility that has brought us to this imperiled moment in the first place. We are called to embrace a new paradigm. 

We are at the moment of a great “turning” in human history.   We will overcome but not alone and not without a transformation of consciousness that ends the separation of humanity from not only itself but from God, the Creative Energy of the universe.  Love embraced will see us through.  And in that there is hope for the dawn of a New Day and the creation of a New Earth.  

Peace Rider     

 

May love, joy and peace be yours this Christmas       

 

"Matter is spirit moving slowly enough to be seen."

Peirre Teilhard de Chardin