Villa Fermata-- My home

To Love where you Live....

It's night's like tonight that I am reminded--clearly... that I love where I live. It's not JUST my house, my Fermata, that I love, although living in such a wonderful house, and being aware of the struggle, the sacrifice and the love that made my house possible is AMAZING, but, it's living in Downtown Fresno that I love. It was in the hight 90's today, but, tonight was in the 80's and had a wonderful warm breeze--a perfect warm summer wind. I rode my bike downt 2 blocks to the Arte Americas plaza, and heard Patrick Contreras and American Gypsy, with an amazing mandolin player, Emma Scow, and 2 little boys who played flamenco guitar, and flamenco dancers-- then, a great cuban pianist played salsa music, and people danced. The beutiful latin women with the long skirts and bare feet--twirling and gliding--is there anything more beautiful than a woman in a skirt and bare feet-- with glistening smiles and hair blowing in the wind?? and the handsome young me, in their shorts and flipflops, dancing with the white girls--then, the fathers dancing with their little daughters and granddaughters--the music was gentle and playful and full of life and love--- and I sat on my bike, just outside the fence, and "stole" the music---along with many of my neighbors and their children--and I LOVE where I live! The ride to the plaza draws me by houses built in the 10's and 20's and are stately and proud, and some are begging for someone to rescue them, to care for them--to restore them to their intented beauty--I heard laughter, and saw my neighbors sittin on their porches, and in their yards--also stealing the night and the music and the warm summer breeze. Dogs barking, train whistles crying, stars dazzling above--this is mine. HOME.

The Best we can Hope for...

I like these words-- he states what I believe in a way that I often cannot "
"...religion tells us to accept God's will, to trust in Divine providence. This advice does not mean to give up and succumb to mediocrity or to get puffed up and lord it over others; it means to realistically face the facts and to do whatever we can to make the best of them. When we cultivate such a positive attitude, sometimes surprisingly good and totally unexpected outcomes result. Grappling with reality forces us to come up with creative alternatives. I find no other way to understand things. Life must be lived as it comes. There is no privileged way out. Belief in God does not take the challenge of living away. Religion and spirituality do not provide an inside track on life. Prayer to God does not merit miracles that remove life's difficulties. On the contrary, authentic religion and mature spirituality lead us to look life in the eye, to embrace it for what it is, and, with our best wits, our best intentions, and what like-minded companionship we can find, to make the most of it for ourselves and for everyone else.
from The Transcended Christian: Spiritual Lessons for the Twenty-first Century, Daniel Helminiak, 2007, Alyson Books.

I have been blessed to find those like-minded companions along the way-- I try to embrace life for what it is--wonderful, frightening, beautiful, tedious, breath-taking, in all it's everydayness of every day-- yes, this IS the best I can HOPE for--