Maybe this is the Celebration.  Yes.  it Is.

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ok., Then.  it's tonight that is the Celebration that came of its own accord.  ok.

in Jude's Diaries there are Windows.  and i read, listen, think.  Windows.  hmmmm.  and then, this evening.

i began this day at first light.  soon after i was Out There, at work.  shoveling out the Bedroom side of the Albatros.  a few Wheelbarrows over to the compost hills.  they are Hills now.  i need to think what to do with all this wonderful compost.  more than i need.  FreeCycle it.  yes. and ok, but just continuing on for the moment.  all day.  off and on.  Bill, Alz B's son comes out of the blue with Paul who DOES WORK and they take apart the plumbing under the house and make a plan, with no one actually consulting me, but i am beginning to just accept that as part of the Unforseen.  WHY?  does Bill do these things?????? because i remind him of his father?…we are so similar, his father and me, or , because i am the one who shares his Mother's, Alz B, end time?  Who knows.  a karmic thing, for sure, but who can really know?  and there is just so much to DO that i no longer can spend much time thinking about it.  

so inbetween dealing with them and what they are doing which includes two of Bill's dogs that have come along,  i Just Go with getting everything ready out there for that moment when i hear the

sharp bleat

that means Lucky Star's water is broken.

maybe Tuesday?

she is bagged up.  like really bagged up.  quite impressive.

and today, i began this day so early, shoveling, loading, hauling, moving, wiring, changing, ripping (cloths for the babies nostrils), washing (water bowls, food bowls for the maternity ward),  and it was 99 degrees.  Full Sun.  Where did Wind go????? when we need him??????  sleeping, i guess. and then, after a lot of Stuff, it was dark.  and i was watering the vegetable plants "by heart"  because i couldn't really See them.  it was dark.  but what i could see is the movement of TOADS, many, here and there so to celebrate for the First Toad Night.  i think they have been there for a while, but i was not out there so late.

and i want to say that i am finding the conversation of the last days so good here.  and that i want to say to Susan C and even Cindy and Even Saskia, that what i see glowing now in my womanhood is

Stamina.

Stamina in the form of Just Going and for this, i am beyond grateful to Jude, for wording the Thing of it…Just Going.

Stamina.  i had SO much, all my life that was really quite amazing.  but now, in these days, i have stamina.  i have an understanding of determination.  i have a becoming understanding of Just Going and i am feeling very much like a Celebration tonight.  i am WORN OUT.  but i have accomplished MORE than i ever did before in my life and it will seep in to the birthing of Goats and the growing of food and the blossoming of trees and the making of Cloths and i cannot think of one single thing that could possibly be Better.

so.

HooRay and just LOVE to Just Going.  in all its forms and all its Unforseen.  OH, HOORAY! and

eeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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31 responses to “101 part 2”

  1. handstories Avatar

    i am here, at last, being filled with your last few days, your going & that sky- which holds my very favorite color in the world- twilight. you are a force, a woman i am so proud to know- full of going and doing- of love of it all. it is so good to know you at the edge of this new place I’m in. x

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  2. Mo Crow Avatar

    doing a happy dance here~ beating the drum, heart to heart!

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  3. margaret johnson Avatar
    margaret johnson

    YES!!! HOORAY!!!! What a wonderful celebratory post Grace, of the important things in your life. Guess I have stamina for different things these days, and I’m glad. Hugs from Marg, ooo

    Like

  4. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Speechless (no I’m not) metaphorically speechless. So completely at one with this post, I couldn’t put it down if it was ‘Ulysses” and Joyce commanded me. I mean, whew. The plodding to the building of exuberance to the Stamina poem and the clarity of that with your E finale! Phew!!! Gorgeous. And one more note…that you began with celebration and a ? and ended with celebration flat out made it a circle, a circle cloth. Hey, maybe name that Kantha Koochie “STAMINA’ Grace.

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  5. jude Avatar

    I am worn out too, but not feeling that much of anything at the moment. just trying to just go. for today i will need more than just.
    happy stamina day to you. it’s good

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  6. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    oh grace…mid travel with a brief wifi connection …but sure this needs everything else to wait.
    yoursky is beautiful and surely a celebration..but right now for me..mid ny state on 87 gray gray pouring rain…but what fills my thoughts are your words sure words..huge and rhythmic and compelling and you..the Celebrant….for you do it so well..each and every day….may today be quieter , the rhythms slower and less insistent..
    holding you and lucky star and the newest small goat to come deep in my thoughts …. good morning xox much cynthia

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  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    There is such deep joy here, in these photos, in the celebratory, honest telling of these 101 days: in the sky, the land, the getting things done, the getting things ready for the new goat births, in the cloth, in the stitches, the fringes, in the doing of each day – it is a poem of life.

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  8. Deb G Avatar

    On the other end of the celebration…the sun is rising. I just came in from feeding the chickens, watering a few things and now will get ready to go off to see what adventures await me today… This a beautiful post Grace.

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  9. beth Avatar

    Oh Grace. So full of beauty this is. I feel the raising of power through it. Midwife to goats.

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  10. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    knowing you are there just going and full of determined stamina makes me so happy!!!intensely happy and I’m smiling all through the post and the comments
    question: is your email still grace.porvida@gmail.com, ‘cos that’s where my book report went to….
    btw am honoured to be mentioned in this stamina post, because what I have also come to realise this past year is that we DO keep on going, I keep on going (there are a couple of women-of-my-generation in the office and no matter what we turn up and keep on going, we complain at times but we get the job done!! I even had a customer today saying he preferred working with women because they are so determined to see things through)

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  11. KAMFreeman Avatar

    Beautifully stated, Marti. Stamina, indeed, and strength of going, just being and going and doing and all is so beautiful and amazing and just going..101 days are making their mark one stitch at a time.

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  12. deb Avatar

    She’s proofing the World for the impending new loves/lives

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  13. linda Avatar

    i have to add my thoughts. just going and stamina.. it is our life. women do this always. it is so wonderful that you have the gift of the plumbing. it is great to not have to think of everything all the time.
    i wish i were there to help with the birthing. i have seen so many babies born i could surely help.
    i was at dinner last night and there was a goat cheese from the farmers market that everyone was oohing over. thought of you all night.
    love to you

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  14. Minka Avatar

    Beautiful. Love the first photo and the flow of the writing. Congrats on your day and your night and especially on your stamina. What does it mean “she was bagged up”?

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  15. Dee Avatar

    this weekend I wrote a little thing where I say, “I look done in” and meaning that. Feeling aligned, then, with what I guess you are feeling… and in this context, to me STAMINA seems very worth celebrating. Stamina in goat-birthing, stamina in compost-turning, stamina-confiding your truths to the world, stamina in watching light, stamina in acknowledging your sources of inspiration, stamina in waiting and creating and not-waiting and not creating and looking and waiting for the Thought.

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    Cindy…you are at the exact point i was when i began to
    “form”. before that, i had been collecting uhhh, essence,
    but the real forming began then. i think it’s just
    “developmentally correct”, like i said to Saskia. it’s
    just developmentally TIME for it.
    and i am so PROUD of you, for feeling all of it, and
    just going anyway. i think you will have no regrets.
    love to you

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    that’s a visual…your happy dance….!!!!

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    for each of us, it’s different. what we have walked into
    along the way, different,
    what we bring along, different.
    but the just going is something that WE Share…no matter any of the differences….and what we celebrate….
    THANK YOU for hugs. i have come to love them…

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    Kantha Koochie…., i love that.
    and i love you

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s 2 days since you wrote the above…and your post
    today…the 12th….
    you DID just go. we always now just go. and isn’t that
    just the VERY BEST??????????????????
    yes it is.
    and maybe everyday is stamina day.
    Love,

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  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    you are there now…have passed through the rain of mid ny
    and are in Vermont.
    and for All of us…that some days are quieter, rhythms
    slower. but the insistent, well, i am thinking that is
    just really how it goes, once you choose to notice?
    still waiting. Lucky Star’s eyes get bigger and bigger…
    she extends her neck and the whites of her eyes show….
    an interesting Goat.
    i await word from you…love

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  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    Marti and Kristen…yes…i am being marked upon. and
    it is more than i’d imagined.

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    thank you for saying that Deb and i am caring again for
    the chickens and PeaCock and PeaHen for 2 weeks. i love
    trying to make the same sounds of the chickens and i love
    too how they Notice my sounds…
    sometimes i really want chickens

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  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. midwifery. what a beautiful word.

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  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…and you are in that particular SPACE where so
    SOON your life will be so much more your own. to watch
    for it, to anticipate it, is important. i wish someone
    would have kept nudging me….
    and yes…same email, but by now, you have gotten the
    response
    xoxoxo

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  26. grace Forrest Avatar

    loves/lives
    maybe no difference

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  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh, linda, you would be so very WELCOMED.
    and the cheese…
    there is a woman in NM who sells it in jars, floating in
    olive oil and herbs. it’s magnificant. this is what i
    aspire to. we’ll see.
    LOVE

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  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    her udder is getting very full in anticipation. it really
    is BIG already. it’s going to be really Something, milking
    her.

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  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…even stamina in watching light.
    yes.
    and it’s not something that i always had. the Goats
    have taught me, really. i have become uh, steady.
    and i have discovered that i like that. that it feels
    very very good.
    and too…the thing of this Every Day is teaching me. about
    how each single day has it’s importance to the one before and the one to come. yes.

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  30. handstories Avatar

    well, Ms. Love,
    I do feel like a blob of all kinds of stuff- mostly good, waiting to take shape. & living w/o regrets- that’s a good goal. I’ve got plenty from the early years, but feel grand knowing that I don’t have any from the last three, that I did all that I could & knew how to do & can walk away from it leaving only dust and truth behind. AND i think having this community, with souls like yourself, was a big part of my being able to do just that. xxx

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  31. Dee Avatar

    You have such great energy, that I am surprised to learn that stamina is something new…

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