Somewhere Down in Texas

Hey....It's May....

I was sitting here wondering how the heck it got to be May....and what to blog about....and I fell asleep.   The thunder and lightning had that effect on me.  Then it started raining....  It's not a soft, Washington rain that we'd get on the coast.  This is a Texas cloudburst, pounding down, and there's nothing peaceful or soothing about it.  ;~)   It's very welcome, however. 

And falling asleep didn't clear my mind of all the thoughts that have been cluttering it all up, keeping me from knowing what to say here.

Baby Seamus looks great now.  His eye is all healed up and he seems to be as good as new.  It's fun to see him all happy and rompy again, leaping off the kitchen porch without any hesitation and racing over to the fence to peek (and bark) at the neighbor's dog.  I'm so glad that's all over with.  He doesn't seem to mind a bit that he's got such a summer hair cut, lol.   Sebastian is getting slowly trimmed (when I'm not looking), so before too long, they'll both match, I guess.  I'm trying to not be alarmed and actually hesitate to say anything out loud about the fact that these are Havanese "silk" dogs.... ;~)  Actually I'd better not mention that, as I'm the one who's likely going to be expected to keep them well brushed when it does grow back out, and that's nearly a full-time job, lol.

We had the National Day of Prayer here in our town, as usual, at the sweet little park with a wall-of-waterfall...Well, it wasn't actually "as usual," as this year was the first time the interfaith council allowed for pagan participation.  There was one stipulation about that, to which I don't actually agree:  The word "pagan" is to be replaced with the term "earth-based spirituality" in order to be acceptable to the council.  The reason for this, the council claims, is that the term "pagan" will make the townspeople too uncomfortable, and the people aren't ready for it.  Interestingly, the term was used at least twice in the local newspaper (about me having a speaking engagement), and there was no uproar about it.  Oddly enough, the person doing the most complaining about the term, in fact, apparently used the objectionable word "pagan" in a short club notes article preceding my speaking engagement.  What?  LOL

Anyway, I had SGTex (who is SGI Buddhist) offer the prayers I'd selected at the ceremony.  He'd put in all the time and effort and had been faithfully standing up for the disenfranchized, unwelcome outsiders all these years, encouraging the council to try on an attitude of inclusiveness and he kept speaking up, making sure people remembered that there are more Americans of different faith traditions and chosen paths than just those deemed worthy to sit on the council by the few who started it way back in the day.  I'm proud of him for that.  Don't you find it a bit ironic that an "interfaith" council excludes religions or philosophies which don't fit their particular picture?  There's been a lot of discussion behind closed doors and behind our backs (haha) about it.  A few got pretty hot under the collar and a couple were downright unpleasant about it all.  I suppose it's a bit disturbing that we've talked to people who, in the past, were snubbed and shunned by the council members and who were told their beliefs weren't a good fit.  Can you imagine turning somebody away who wants to participate, telling them they just won't do?  What??  Well, things just might start to brighten up around here.  Some light will be shed and some clerical collars will be loosened up a bit, perhaps.  We shall see.... I've been scolded and told I'd better show up and pay up and have something to say, when the time comes.  Okay.  They asked for it.  I'll do my best to accommodate.  ;~) 

So, the rain is letting up now.  I hope the rest of the month brings good things to all who pass by here, and that we will be blest.

Let's see if we can do something good for this planet which has been so good to us.

Namaste....

Shawn
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