Making All Things New

Behold, I am doing a new thing!
 I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43

Greetings my friends!

This morning, looking out my window, all is enveloped in fog, a mystical hue. I last blogged in winter,  a bitterly cold and windy one, worsened by uncertainty and chaos in the world.  Ongoing personal changes and losses recall Wordsworth’s poem: “The world is too much with us…”

And yet and yet…one keeps on keeping on or as my mother would say at age 100 “I am grateful for everyday I can get out of bed and put my feet on the floor.”  So I sent little boats out in winter in a spirit of  possibility.  Surprised by my abundant return I am happy to share some good news and invite you all to live a creative soulful life.

Gemini – The Summer Solstice

It is Gemini season, coming of the Summer Solstice. As I write this on Sunday June 8 I remember my oldest brother Johnny, whose birthday is today.  He  died in 2005 half a year after he walked me down the aisle on my wedding day.  I dedicate this blog to him.

John followed his dream to Hollywood in the late sixties to work for United Artists.  He loved music, movies, people, parties, weekends at the beach.  His home welcomed many gay friends who came searching for a new life in Los Angeles. I met many colorful generous women and men from the acting and musical world over many years from Boston to California.

The Evolving Astrologer

This spring my art work was featured on the cover of “The Evolving Astrologer.” The editor made a collage of “Stars” and “Bird of the Morning” paintings from my “Walking with Grief” book. A brilliant idea!

OPA (Organization for Professional Astrology) is based on the west coast with programs accessible on Zoom. I continue teaching astrology while taking courses with Frank Clifford at the London School of Astrology.

Gay Pride in Orleans, Cape Cod 

On Saturday, June 14, I will be at Sea Howl Bookstore in Orleans, 46 Main St. signing my books in celebration of Gay Pride. I created a new series of “Pride paintings.” If you are in the area do stop by.  A wonderful place to browse!

 Join us as we celebrate Lower Cape Pride! After the parade we’ll have a mini “book fair” in front of our shop featuring books from LGBTQ+ authors.

We’ll also have local author, painter and ordained minister Anne Ierardi signing copies of her memoir Coming Alive, about her coming-out journey and her faith, and Anne will have original artwork and notecards for sale (https://www.seahowlbookshop.com/).

 Summer Worship at Craigville Retreat Center

As the new Worship Director I will be kicking off the summer season.

All are invited to the serene and historic village of Craigville on June 22nd at 9:45 am. I will be preaching at their historic Tabernacle joined by our  extraodinary vocalist John Murelle and organist Rev. Dianne Carpenter. 

The worship season continues through August 24th with nine preachers Rev. Eric Henderson, Rev. Bill McKinney,  Rev. Susan Eenigenburg, Rev. Pam Wannie, Pastor Chontelle Washington, Rev. Ed Deyton, Rev. Sally Norris, Rev. Andrew Armstrong, Rev. Nancy Strickland. Pavia fans will appreicate her moving “spirituals” as she accompanies herself on piano July 13 and 20th.

Summer Travel Plans

Judy and I will be cruising on the Danube in August. Uniworld is sponsoring a “Music Cruise” with live music on the boat, including a Yodeling lesson, and in venues in Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, and Slovakia. We also plan to spend a few days in Prague.

During the last weekend of August we will again travel to England. I have been invited to present in Nottingham at the Astrological Association. The theme of the conference is  ‘Myth and Modernity: The Robin Hood Legacy in Aquarian Time’.  Nottingham is a UNESCO city of literature with homes there of DH Lawrence and Lord Byron. I will explore the birth charts of British authors: Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Anne Lister whose houses I visited last year. They carry the Aquarius theme of freedom including women, LGBTQ,  justice for the poor and oppressed. Dickens and Woolf were born with the Sun in Aquarius. Anne Lister “Gentleman Jack,” the first lesbian diarist, was born when Pluto was last transiting the sign of Aquarius in the late 1700’s, during the American and French Revolutionary Wars, a tumultous time like our own.

Following the conference Judy and I will be on a  7 day tour “Iconic British TV Classics” sponsored by Transcendent Travel. Sights include Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey), Devon estate of Agatha Christie, and the seaside village in Cornwall (Doc Martin). 

Happy Anniversay June 12, 2005                                

Happy Anniversary Judy.

25 years of legal matrimony, 45 years of coupledom – in spite of good years and not so good ones, we’ve laughed a lot…here is a favorite song in our early days of erratic courtship when we discovered a cafe hidden behind the Boston Public Library.