Tallahassee Journal by Margaret E. McColley

 Hunkering down with the Ferals, and what They are teaching me. fe·ral /ˈferəl,ˈfirəl/ adjective (especially of an animal) in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication. "a feral cat" I provide some food and shelter for a family of feral kitties living in the cul-de-sac.  This is what I'm observing, and learning: 1. They take turns being sentinals for eachother (protection, sharing). 2. They eat their food delicately, even when they are very hungry (non-dominance, non-greed). 3. They keep eachother warm (sharing heat). 4. They greet eachother by bumping into one another with purpose, shoulder-to-hip, in a side-swipe (recognition, hospitality). 5. The pack is a matriarchy, and she eats first (respect for the mother, for elders). 6. They are more comfortable when I hunker down at their level (equality, meeting them at their level). 7. They have sensitive hearing (vigilance, awareness of surroundings). 8. They like sleeping on leaves (naturally-lea...

  This is where they walked, swam hunted danced and sang, Take a picture here; Take a souvenir. Cuyahoga, R.E.M.   Sometimes words swim around in our minds, sinking into the inner layers until they embed, planting new life in our neurological bedrock.  ~~~S y l a c a u g a~~~ A few days ago, my swimming word was a name-place: a small, hilly town in Alabama, where once tread the Shawnee, until they were forced to move west of the Mississippi through the Indian Removal Act. Sylacauga looped around like a river otter in my ear.  Chalakagay was a Shawnee settlement prior to the expelling of native Americans both more and less itinerant (the Creek were established in this area before the arrival of the Shawnee, who were refugees). The lay of the land is gentle here; one can see why it made such a compelling place to rest, with its hills, forests, and lakes coming together, forging ecosystems. See: https://digitalalabama.com/alabama-cities/sylacauga-alabama/2543...

September 16, 2022  If I had to create a symbol for the last few years, it would be a circle. So many circles have come to mind. At the same time, I've missed circles: the kind created when several people come together, and sit around a fire, for example. A fire circle. The circle I have been thinking a lot about is one created by narrative. We have these family Zooms, you see, and after more than two years listening to people speaking, I have started to recognize circularity. Coming back to a story that has been told before. The way that the brain changes as we age and becomes more circuitous. What if: We were re-telling stories we have already told in order to seal them into others' memories, and our own? What if repetition of the same story were considered a golden gift and never judged as less? Circularity. The embedding of stories.  

                                          A Summer Solstice Ritual One of the byproducts of lockdown in the early 2020s was moving online for connection. So many of us longed for and found online healing practices.  At a time when our repetitive daily habits were weighed down by the new normal, they were mentally cleansing. They helped to lift some of the fear we were living with, and helped us live it alongside others, and feel less alone with those feelings. I attended online workshops with Jen Waine, (see jenwaine.com) and she incorporated  rituals that helped me move through some of them. David Kennet, too, offered (and offers) incredible sound baths via fb live.  (see davidkennet.com) The word "ritual" may bring many things to mind. The word can be associated with habit and routine. For example, making coffee in the morning might be considered a form of ritu...

  One Asana at a Time During the early days of the pandemic, my yoga practice froze. So now, gently, I'm taking it one asana at a time. I can thread them together in time. Every asana we learn gives us a way to nourish our internal organs, muscles, bone, and skin, our largest organ.  They each connect us to the earth, to all of nature, the elements, and the larger planetary system. Learning yoga is similar to learning a new language; it helps to take it one syl-la-ble--one move- ment-- at a time. One asana at a time. How better to take care of self and of the planet but by recognizing the eternal connection between all living things? One asana at a time. Won't you join me? Thanking equally of all my yoga wisdom teachers over time and space: Diane Booth Gilliam, founder of Yogastrology (R) - Claire Saunders (France) Jen Waine- Marni Sclaroff-Joanna Valentine  Leslie Hanks- Mary Ruth Bradford Ellen, Marni and Gretchen of Namaste Yoga Tallahassee Cara Curcio Cyndi Lee- Sarla...

I've been thinking about the nose. (NB: it has been a topic of controversy here in NoFla). (Getty Images) Sensing Scent When I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. in my twenties, I was fresh off of a year of teaching in France. I took a job at a small Provençal restaurant on East Main St., across from the train station, in-between the University of Virginia campus and the downtown area. It was called  Lavande . One diner who frequented the restaurant made a major sensorial impact on me. When I placed her plat principal (main course) before her, she would raise her hands over the dish as if to contain and direct the scent flowing from the steaming repast to her nostrils. She would meditate over the fumes, taking in the subtle smells from the  mélange  of herbs, garlic, olive oil, wine, and other varied ingredients prior to lifting a fork. It was an olfactory meditation, devoted to an engagement with multifarious messages traveling between the diner and her dish. I ...

12-21-21 The Night was Dark The Moon was Bold.  La lune rayonnante,  Luminary. The Lettuce was lifting upwardly. Collecting some green-red petals under the moonlight's parasol, Arc-- then nurturing the Biome, the Cells, a m-i-c-r-o-cosmos. As surely as the night was long the body was resting, absorbing  the nurturing, the nutrients that rose up so greenly and redly, roundly in the darkness. Now with your Light,  Go Gently and Grow, Let us care in this Roundness, this Circle--  for Terra.