I started to post this on Oct 19th, however, we kept loosing our internet connection so it has taken this long to post. I will now try to catch up on my journaling. I really wanted to keep on this, atleast on a weekly basis. The best intentions, sigh.
Thursday, October 19th, at sunset, Bahá'ís began celebrating the Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb. For me, October is the beginning of the year. From here through May there are holidays to plan, decorate and celebrate.
I love being a Bahá'í for the obvious reasons of recognizing the Blessed Beauty, and also for the lesser things, such as recognition that we all come from divers traditions and, as individuals, we are encouraged by Bahá'u'lláh to remember our traditions, if they are not in conflict with our laws, and to take pride in our homelands.
The way our family is composed and celebrates shows the wisdom in why Bahá'í communities really can’t follow all of the traditions of the world or nothing else would get done. In my family we have Euro-Christian traditions along with Asian and Indigenous tribal recent additions. Our holiday celebrations are endless. If you even tried to include individual birthdays we would be together 24/7 just celebrating! Given what Baha'u'llah says about what we should use the day for we should pretty much have all the problems of the world solved by now!
My year starts in October with the Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb on the 20th and then the US of A custom of Halloween on the 31st.
Anniversary of the Birth of the Bab celebration was so wonderful! We missed Alex (with baby David) and Mom, of course. Julie and Theo came up from Corvallis and Allison, Chris and baby Traven were here. Katrina, Marcus and dear Kaden came and Aimee made it just in time from Japan. Matthew didn't have to work, either, and so with Marshall, Steve, Sandy, David and Phyllis along with Joe, Al and Bryan the house was bursting. Turkey and all of the trimmings. Grandpa Roy's homemade cranberry relish lives on, and we used Grandma Bea's aprons as flour flew, veggies were chopped and dippings whipped. SO much love in the kitchen.
Everyone wants to be in the kitchen. We need to knock out the wall to the green living room and just have a big kitchen! SIGH! I want my outdoor kitchen, too!
After celebrating that night, the next day we went to our orchard and then over to Joyce's orchard and picked apples. After gathering about 50 lbs of them we came home and started peeeling, and peeling, and peeling! Then we made tons of apple butter and jars of apples for pies and we still have bags of nice, sticky Kings for winter eating. Next week we start smoking fish and clam digging starts as well (actually, it started tonight either here or over in Long Beach). Our freezer is already full between two deer and 50 lbs of halibut. Where we will find room for the two elk my hunters are sure (haha) to bring home is something we will have to figure out then.
Julie and Theo had also brought up some berries and so we canned them along with the apples. Now we have rows and rows of preserves. A nice comfy feeling and one I so strongly remember from the days when this was Grandma's kitchen and pantry. Safety, a time away from cares. No worries. I hear Kaden's little voice, "Babika, well hi! Watcha doin?" and I see his momma at his same age standing in the same spot talking to my grandma on the anniversary of the Birth of the Bab! WOW! What a flashback. I hope she is looking at us, now, with a bit of a smile.
Oct 31st post
We didn't get to see Alex and baby David as they stayed in Tualitin, going to the light show and trick or treating there, so it was left to Kaden to entertain us. Poor Bart had to work clear down the coast so I took pics w/the cell phone. So cute as a cowboy with his horse! He loved talking to all the other tricker treaters. I caught up to them in front of Godfather's and then walked (and carried) Kaden back to my car by the Flavel House. Long walk with a horse, too! We took a break on the bench in front of, ummm, McMahons? No, a block further down by the old sandwich shop that had great soup but closed shop. When I sat Kaden down and propped the horse next to him, Kaden reached out and kissed it and people started, "Ooohing" and asked to take his picture. I, being the excellent grandma that I am not, did not have a camera so told them, "Sure, go ahead" belatedly remembering the class I had taken in my Gender Studies class less than four years ago! However, we have already shared his photo on our family site and anyone searching could find that and do what they want with the photos. Soon all of the sites will have the protection over being unable to download pictures, like many artists already have, but how sad that we will have to jump through hoops to get our own or family member's pics.
Thursday, October 19th, at sunset, Bahá'ís began celebrating the Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb. For me, October is the beginning of the year. From here through May there are holidays to plan, decorate and celebrate.
I love being a Bahá'í for the obvious reasons of recognizing the Blessed Beauty, and also for the lesser things, such as recognition that we all come from divers traditions and, as individuals, we are encouraged by Bahá'u'lláh to remember our traditions, if they are not in conflict with our laws, and to take pride in our homelands.
The way our family is composed and celebrates shows the wisdom in why Bahá'í communities really can’t follow all of the traditions of the world or nothing else would get done. In my family we have Euro-Christian traditions along with Asian and Indigenous tribal recent additions. Our holiday celebrations are endless. If you even tried to include individual birthdays we would be together 24/7 just celebrating! Given what Baha'u'llah says about what we should use the day for we should pretty much have all the problems of the world solved by now!
My year starts in October with the Anniversary of the Birth of the Báb on the 20th and then the US of A custom of Halloween on the 31st.
Anniversary of the Birth of the Bab celebration was so wonderful! We missed Alex (with baby David) and Mom, of course. Julie and Theo came up from Corvallis and Allison, Chris and baby Traven were here. Katrina, Marcus and dear Kaden came and Aimee made it just in time from Japan. Matthew didn't have to work, either, and so with Marshall, Steve, Sandy, David and Phyllis along with Joe, Al and Bryan the house was bursting. Turkey and all of the trimmings. Grandpa Roy's homemade cranberry relish lives on, and we used Grandma Bea's aprons as flour flew, veggies were chopped and dippings whipped. SO much love in the kitchen.
Everyone wants to be in the kitchen. We need to knock out the wall to the green living room and just have a big kitchen! SIGH! I want my outdoor kitchen, too!
After celebrating that night, the next day we went to our orchard and then over to Joyce's orchard and picked apples. After gathering about 50 lbs of them we came home and started peeeling, and peeling, and peeling! Then we made tons of apple butter and jars of apples for pies and we still have bags of nice, sticky Kings for winter eating. Next week we start smoking fish and clam digging starts as well (actually, it started tonight either here or over in Long Beach). Our freezer is already full between two deer and 50 lbs of halibut. Where we will find room for the two elk my hunters are sure (haha) to bring home is something we will have to figure out then.
Julie and Theo had also brought up some berries and so we canned them along with the apples. Now we have rows and rows of preserves. A nice comfy feeling and one I so strongly remember from the days when this was Grandma's kitchen and pantry. Safety, a time away from cares. No worries. I hear Kaden's little voice, "Babika, well hi! Watcha doin?" and I see his momma at his same age standing in the same spot talking to my grandma on the anniversary of the Birth of the Bab! WOW! What a flashback. I hope she is looking at us, now, with a bit of a smile.
Oct 31st post
We didn't get to see Alex and baby David as they stayed in Tualitin, going to the light show and trick or treating there, so it was left to Kaden to entertain us. Poor Bart had to work clear down the coast so I took pics w/the cell phone. So cute as a cowboy with his horse! He loved talking to all the other tricker treaters. I caught up to them in front of Godfather's and then walked (and carried) Kaden back to my car by the Flavel House. Long walk with a horse, too! We took a break on the bench in front of, ummm, McMahons? No, a block further down by the old sandwich shop that had great soup but closed shop. When I sat Kaden down and propped the horse next to him, Kaden reached out and kissed it and people started, "Ooohing" and asked to take his picture. I, being the excellent grandma that I am not, did not have a camera so told them, "Sure, go ahead" belatedly remembering the class I had taken in my Gender Studies class less than four years ago! However, we have already shared his photo on our family site and anyone searching could find that and do what they want with the photos. Soon all of the sites will have the protection over being unable to download pictures, like many artists already have, but how sad that we will have to jump through hoops to get our own or family member's pics.
2 comments:
Your life sounds very rich and happy. One thing I have struggled with in our year here is the lack of spiritual community for me. I am also friends with a Jewish woman and there isn't a synagogue for her, either. How have you found it?
Thank-you for the compliment. I will remember it on stress days! I have loved reading your blog for quite a long time.
I have lived here my whole life, 45 years. Our Baha'i community is small but growing. I am a third generation Baha'i living here in Clatsop County and am used to the isolation. Portland has a community of about 300. Locally the Baha'is host a devotional Sunday evenings at 6:30 pm and I host a neighborhood one Thursday afternoons at 1:00 pm in my home. No sermonizing, theology, or so forth. Purely sharing worship/meditation of the divine using scripture/oral traditions of all religions with family, friends and neighbors. Very laid back, relaxing and exhilerating all at once. About a half hour to an hour depending on the topic/prayers that people choose to go with. Music too. The link is to our local website if you might want to drop in sometime.
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