Honoring our Foremothers with Poetry

Some of us collaborated by each adding a line, in turn, about our family's "foremother." ...

Remembering Bubbie
by Rachel and Jay and Ezra and Darwin

>Her pencils say Lena
> Her black reeboks marched in the Women's March in NYC
> She was Saba's mama and Ellen's and Stephie's and Barbara's
> She was old
> We never run out of blue towels since she died
> I wasn't sure we'd live through the funeral procession
> She's under some books
> She had a lot of sewing stuff
> She knew how to use all that sewing stuff!
> Those cousins of yours called her BubbieLee
> Clinton St. on the lower east side
>We were lucky to know her

Some of us got together and wrote individual Cinquain or five-line poems about women who have had a positive impact on our lives...

Jean wrote about her Aunt Margaret:

Margaret

Hospitable, German

Self-educating, Organizing, Reading

Taught by living gentle family mores.

Aunt

Debra wrote about her former neighbor, Irene:

I-Rut-E-Nut-E

Noisy, Funny

Cooking, Joking, Creating

Artistic mentor of thin/thick lines

Neighbor

Anne wrote about her daughter, Lisa:

Lisa

Idealistic, Persistant

Inspiring, Accepting, Loving

All kids become enthusiastic readers

Educator

Next New Moon, we'll continue with our bookmaking honoring our foremothers... Please feel free to join us by emailing a poem about a woman who's made a positive impact on your life to Debra@Motherhouse.us AND come to the next gathering on April 26!

InTENTionality

We set our tent in the branches of a mother maple at Local Farm... a rosy women's space; fluid and free, like our spirits on this warm and breezy day....  Then we repotted house plants

...giving them fresh soil and more space to grow and thrive...

...adding tokens and trinkets ... and a drink of fresh water.

...We finished our fun with a finale feast of pomegranate pops and blueberry muffins. For some, it was a triple header...

inTENTs Experience!

A complete solar eclipse occurred with this Pisces Super New Moon orbiting especially close to the earth, so that her gravitational pull on our bodies and psyches is especially strong.  According to Simone Butler in Moon Circles, this astrological configuration is the perfect time to say NO to whatever things, relationships, actions, and habits that no longer serve our higher selves in order to make way for new insights, healing, and inspiration. She says, "Sometimes YES begins with NO," and recommends giving our souls space to grow and thrive, much like the plants we repotted!

Swing into Spring Training!

We met at Tal's in Sherman for a scrumptious luncheon...
then played outdoors...

Spring (water)Fall

Hiking Kent Falls in honor of International Water Day

Our gathering suddenly swelled as other moms and daughters flowed into the brook.
We sang as many water songs as we could think of
and designed pocket guides to our desires

Spinning in Place

Rachel hopes to use her sheep's wool to knit or crochet soakers or "butt sweaters" for Darwin, so this New Moon we gathered at Debra's to try our hands at spinning. Janet Lynn of the Wheel Thing Spinning Supply House in Lakeville, CT, generously donated several drop spindles for us to use. Margaret carded wool. Jean read and reread directions; especially the line exhorting us to "Try and try and try." Debra and Rachel tried and tried and tried...
After lunch, we looked at hand-made books and a photobook of Debra and Margaret's trip to San Francisco designed by Margaret's brother Zach. We sang songs, Jean played the piano, and Darwin played with finger puppets.

Then Rachel pulled out the materials for making our own drop spindles out of old CDs, dowels, and plumbing supplies. The directions were also a suggestion from Janet. Debra finished one and found it a REALLY smooth spin. Join with more wool works at this Saturday's Mother/Daughter retreat! Contact Debra@Motherhouse.us to register.

The March 15th new moon began the first day of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year in which they celebrate Passover. As a holiday commemorating freedom, this is an excellent time to reflect on freeing ourselves from rigid habits and harmful thought-patterns. (For a woman-centered version of the thought-provoking 49 day ritual called "counting the Omer" see Ritualwell.org.) In New England this moon will wax into the Sap Moon or Worm Moon. We'll watch for sweet and tasty "sapsicles" made by freezing trickling sap from broken maple twigs. Warming soil will hearken earthworms to the surface and we can expect to observe many worm castings in the coming weeks as well. As the 2nd full moon in March, it will also be the only "Blue Moon" in 2010.