Tag Archives: Europe

November frost

13 Nov

A frosty day in Wettenbostel!  I woke up this morning to find a thick coat of frost covering the grounds and cars of the Seminar Haus.  Almost looking like snow.  It reminds me of Christmas.   Having lived in New Orleans for the past 13 years, cold weather and frost is new and old to me….  new as it has been a while and old as it is reminiscent for me of growing up in St. Louis, Missouri with the cold and the frost.

I greeted the day to begin preparing breakfast for our seminar guests… this being Sunday, the last day of their visit and seminar with us.  Sunday is also waffle day.  A happy day for most.  My host and cook extraordinaire makes a healthy but delicious waffle batter and the waffle maker shapes them in a circling connection of six hearts, like a flower.  Served on top of the waffles… fresh fruit… this morning pineapples, bananas and oranges… Then fresh whipped whipping cream.  My host was “sweet” enough today to make a little whipping cream and waffles with no sugar…for me and his wife… The whipping cream instead of sugar had a little of vanilla in it.  Yummy and tasty!  And good for the heart… we all need a little something sweet every once in a while!  Food for the soul!…

I am still new to preparing breakfast on my own… as my former porch companion, Dan, currently in Switzerland, was the previous master of breakfast.  But I am under development.. in the process of mastering the art of breakfast.  Today was my first breakfast with waffles… a little more complex than the typical breakfast.  My timing was  a little slow and our hungry guests were chanting for us to bring out the fruit to go on top of the waffles… delayed a few minutes.  But still good spirits and good food all the same!

As I am out of practice with the cold, I have been “caught” a few times heating my room beyond the desired heating capacity…. heating it to a cozy womb-like temperature.  My host walked by the other day and asked if there was a fire in the fireplace… “no”  I say sheepishly… ” it’s just my room….” “What!” he says with a spark in his eye.  He jokes and says that the climate in my room would be good for his orchids.  In the meantime I am … adjusting and practicing… turning the nob down a notch or two on the heater in my room.

Wool is becoming my new companion.  A few new wool sweaters from the thrift store in Hamburg, wool hat, wool socks, and the latest addition… wool long underwear!  Apparently a fashion must in the cold country.  My hosts have been very loving about supporting me with wool… the other day I arrived at my room to find a pretty pair of new wool socks left at my door like the tooth fairy.

I took some pictures today.  What a treat to take a moment to do so.  There are still some flowers and hints of color “hanging in there” in the garden… newly decorated with icy crystals.  My host is a photographer and has a wonderful camera.  He is very friendly about sharing his toys and I happily used his camera to capture some of the last glimpses of color of the season.  He also pointed out today that one of the trees in the oriental garden is blossoming… among a few other trees scattering throughout the garden… the sweet simplicity of unexpected and unexplained blossoming in the midst of the oncoming winter.  A little odd in truth… but sweet just the same.

And now, just listening to a little Jack Johnson on my computer.  Such simple melodies pulling me into the coolness and softness of the night.  Most of the business of the day has drifted away, although there is still some shuffling about… beginning preparations for a unusually large group this coming weekend.  Just another night in Wettenbostel!

Photo by me… Nancie Teresa… from the frosty gardens of Wettenbostel

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I Hang My Clothes to Dry

10 Nov

One of the many little changes in my life here in Germany.  It is a Thursday night and Jörn graciously just dropped off my wet clothes from out of the washing machine.  I just took a few moments to hang them on the drying rack set up in my room… what seems to be a standard item in the German homes I have been in so far.  Not quite the norm in my American dryer loving life… one of the many simple little shifts in my Wettenbostel world.

There is a little Reiki going on at the Seminar Haus right now… our host is teaching first degree Reiki to a friend here at the Seminar Haus.  They are completing the class in four evenings.  Tonight is the third night.  In first degree Reiki you receive a series of initiations that open you up to the Reiki energy and seal that connection open so that you will have access to it for the rest of your life.  Last night I was fortunate enough to receive a Reiki treatment from our host and student as a part of the class, the comfort of two sets of warm healing hands.  While our host had his hands on my head showing the proper positions of the hands, I layed there deeply relaxing as things were explained in German.  Not my typical Reiki experience!  But deeply healing!

Reiki finds its way in an out of our lives here at the Seminar Haus in a fairly regular way.  Sometimes we will use Reiki in the kitchen.. putting our hands over the food to add the energy to what we are preparing.  The other morning during a seminar I was preparing some green tea for some of our more particular customers.  I am not great at tea just yet and I thought I had better give it some Reiki just to be sure it tasted okay.  As it turns out, I actually used the wrong kind of tea to make it… but when our host was drinking it he kept saying… “ya know… this tea is really good!”  I laughed and told him that I Reikied it… I figured I could use all the help I could as I did not know what I was doing!… He then shared the story of when he and his former wife were at a restaurant and couldn’t get over how delicious the food was.  They talked to the chef and and it turned out the chef had second degree Reiki… The next day they went again since they enjoyed it so much… but this night the food was not good.  They were surprised, but then learned that there was another chef cooking that night… who did not have Reiki!….  Not long ago my host and I were Reikiing some chicken we were preparing for our guests… I was using the Reiki symbols I learned from second degree Reiki… my host in his typical fashion got inspired in a rush of energy and announced…”I just initiated all of my chickens!”… essentially, they all received first degree Reiki!  We joked how they were then giving each other Reiki in the oven! Life can be a little more fun with a some Reiki to see you through!

Tonight is a simple night on my own.  I cooked a little meal for everyone tonight and am now just relaxing.  I have found lately that I must be adapting to the cooler weather as I no longer walk around bent over shivering.  There has been a cooler bite in the air these past few days and tonight I actually walked out and thought… wow, feels good and fresh!  Hmmmm… that is something new… after thirteen years living in the humidity and heat of the bayou. A new group for a seminar is arriving tomorrow afternoon.  All the rooms are clean and ready to go.  The pace will pick up a bit tomorrow as they arrive and we begin preparing meals for them.

And that is the latest from Wettenbostel.  Clothes drying, Reiki in the air and chilling out listening to a little Nora Jones on the computer.

Photo from the Seminar Haus gardens by Michael Hartley

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Little by little

9 Nov

Well, it is November 9th already.  Time has slipped away a little bit since I last wrote.  I spent another weekend in Hamburg attending a healing workshop facilitated by my friend Olaf Cobus.  Then made my way back to the world of Wettenbostel.  A distinct contrast between the two.

It was great to be at the healing workshop again…the second in a series of five… nudging myself out of my comfort zone and back into my body.  The theme for the day was perception… at first mistranslated for me as reception… but then easily cleared up!…We spent time and energy exploring how we perceive… in our bodies and other ways.  We did movement work paying special attention to little things that make a difference… like putting out energy in the back of our legs when we walk rather than the front or out hips.  Just that little change in attention made a difference for me in feeling balanced in my body.  And we did rattle work with each other… we picked a partner and one partner would lie down and the other would use a rattle to shift and move energy.  My partner was a woman named Silke.  She is an artist in Hamburg and is receiving some attention for her unique subject… she paints the night…  Her spirit to me seems to have found a place for being at ease with the darkness of the night.  I could feel the energy move and shift through me as she spun around me with her rattle like a bat.

At one point in the day we got in a circle with one person in the middle practicing standing their ground and saying “no”… or “nicht” for the German speakers which was… ya know… everyone but me…  Olaf asked me to go first and my first response was… “no”… not surrendering to my joke he coaxed me into the middle and eventually I found a way to be in my center and say no in a way that was convincing to the group.

At the end of the day we all came together, taking turns with one person in the middle and collectively gave the person in the middle a treatment.  Within the group we had a variety of experience in different healing modalities… Reiki, massage, and other methods of energy work.  One person described the experience of receiving the treatment like many little elf hands coming out of the forest….doing their beautiful work.  It felt so nice to be attended to and cared for in that way… collectively by the many hands of the group.

I found my way to a thrift shop in Hamburg the following day… newly negotiating the bus system in Hamburg like a freshly hatched chick.  A nice man on the bus who did not speak English helped me to find my stop with basic hand signals… a little nodding and coaxing.  I bought a few wool sweaters for the cold coming in and then happily made my way back to the main train station to return to Wettenbostel.

Since the workshop, I noticed in my being and my body little differences and subtleties.  Feeling a little more grounded in my body.  Feeling a little bit more in my personal strength and power.  Noticing places where just a few days ago I would have wanted to react and finding that I just did not have a need or strong tug to go there… so it is the little things.  Little by little.  Bit by bit.

Yesterday I was going to go down the street to the forester’s home to buy some of their honey for myself.  I was a little nervous about going as I did not think they spoke English… and I have a tendency to be nervous and shy.  So I thought I would reach out to my friend Jörn for a some assistance.  And I asked him and his German speaking self to come with me.  And his answer was “no”…and he didn’t even attend the workshop!  He said that he thought it would be good for me to go on my own.  To reach out a little bit.  The little kid in me reacted…but he did not budge and simply went back to work… So I collected myself and went… to buy some honey.. or “honig” in German.  My host had coached me that if nothing else I could arrive at the door saying “honig, bitte” which is “honey, please”… I laughed as the thought.  As I walked down the street I felt ghosts of the shy child I was as a kid… often uncomfortable to go out and reach out on my own.  But I went…. and they spoke a little English.  And they were friendly and kind… and it was all okay.  And I got some honey!

Little by little.  That is my way in this “Grosse Lebenscchule“… “big school of life” here in Germany.  And then of course… what is the next step.  And for this morning, the next step is breakfast.  It is early on Wednesday morning and I don’t yet hear the rattle of life in the Big House where I stay.  A little time to carve out some quiet in the morning before the day begins.  A day of little lessons, gratitude, and staying open to what is next.

Photo from the gardens of Wettenbostel by Michael Hartley

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One day at a time

1 Nov

Here I am.  In the now.  In the kitchen in the now.  In Wettenbostel.  I have a little tickle in my stomach as if something exciting is going to happen… like a child waiting for Santa… but what the excitement is… I do not know.  There is a wintry chill in the air which makes me feel a little like Christmas and I am cooking some food for myself which makes me feel homey and content.  I can not believe that I have a little time one my own in the quietness of the kitchen.  Like all of the “little ones” are all snug, tucked in their beds… my hosts down the street at their home and Jörn asleep.

So what to talk about today as I am preparing my meal.  I remind myself of when I was little and would concoct a delicacy from vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, stirring it and explaining it to… I don’t know… the audience… as if I was Julia Child.  My story to tell.  That is how I feel now.  Cooking my simple meal feeling extravagant about it as if I was a chef.  Brown rice.  Zucchini with some leeks, onions flavored with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and oregano.  Bon Appetite!

Today I cleaned rooms.  Yes you have heard me say this before…. but sometimes, cleaning rooms can be a  delight… yes and some distraction and time for a break or two… but definitely room for delight.  The beds are covered with big fluffy comforters and pillows.  Preparing the beds, cleaning and tidying up has room for some fun.  Time for warmth as if guests will be arriving soon.  And they will… a new seminar this weekend… in a few days.

Jörn is the most recent addition here at Wettenbostel.  My fellow traveler of sorts, as noted in recent posts.  Living in the town about 30 kilometers away, he arrived here on bicycle intending to begin an extended tour.  In his spirit of go with the flow, what he found instead was a whole world at the Seminar Haus inviting him in for a spell.  So he parked his bicycle and for now… he is here.  Jörn is German, as is not unheard of living here in Germany.  And his German is very good.  His English is… growing.  And in all fairness… my German is… well as Jörn said today “Genau, genau, genau”… that is practically the only word I can regularly recall.  Under most circumstances Jörn and I can communicate fairly well, him bravely speaking and expanding his English and me speaking slowly and finding simple and alternate ways of saying what I am trying to say.  But the other day after working, working working, I went to ask him a question and he ran away from me with the laundry basket on top of his head screaming, “I don’t speak English!”  I guess it was enough.

Returning again to the kitchen, enjoying my lovely meal, still appreciating the tickling coolness of the air… I will see what is next that calls me in the quietness of my evening.  A little painting.  Perhaps some Buddhist chanting. Some writing or reading.  All in this day.  And tomorrow can wait until… well tomorrow!

Photo from the Seminar Haus gardens by Michael Hartley

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Being in Balance

31 Oct

Balance.  Ah… that elusive pendulum… moving from side to side.  I think at some point, afraid of losing my balance…I just stopped moving at all… tried to stay very still.  Frozen.  This is not a good strategy for balance.  It promotes something that is a little more like… I don’t know… a rock…  Unmoving.   Unmoving rock=no balance.  I don’t recommend it.

So here I am starting to move and sway just a little bit in the locomotion of the balance of me… in Europe… in Wettenbostel.  For me, part of being in balance was just taking the leap and buying a ticket to come here over five months ago.  The beginning of motion…. of moving the rock.   A much-needed shift that was somehow essential for me.  I can remember not too long ago in New Orleans sitting at a Tom McDermott concert in City Park listening to his smooth sounds on the piano partnered with clarinetist Evan Christopher… and although I was enjoying the music… I also felt a creative yearning in me… that was somehow denied.  Not just denied, but that I felt like I had lost access to.  I asked myself, my greater wisdom… I know I am creative, but right now I don’t feel anything like creative.  What can I do to access my creativity again?  The answer I got was… leave the United States.  A little more fertilizer for the seed that was already planted.

I have learned that balance for me starts with simple thing… like getting a good night sleep, walks outside and being connected to nature, doing my regular healing practices like yoga and Reiki.  Drinking plenty of water, not eating sugar and eating healthy and balanced (not always easy for me here at the Seminar Haus!…) And remembering simple things like just listening to music makes me feel great… Some areas of balance for me are still being revealed.  When to go out and play.  Learning to set good boundaries with people.  Connecting to and listening to my heart.  Staying grounded.  Learning to work again… with persistence, fun and quality… and learning when, if no-one else will, to give myself a break.  Ah, there is a way.

My bicycling traveling German friend here in Wettenbostel, Jörn… who for the time being is not traveling and really not bicycling either… but still German, has been a good example for me about work and quality.  Somewhere programmed in his German being he has an immaculate work ethic, working thoroughly and diligently on every last detail.  It is really quite something to see.  Now don’t get me wrong… I have tried to influence him with some of my Big Easy, Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez attitude… but there is a time and place for everything, for all of it.  Balance.

Back in New Orleans, even before Hurricane Katrina… I took some time to make a big change in my life.  A move toward balance.  I took myself off of anti-depressant medication after being on them for ten years.  Paxil.  And in that experience, that rebirthing into me… I found there were many things that were no longer that easy for me anymore.  It was hard to concentrate.  Challenging to work.  Challenging to think clearly.  I got overwhelmed and anxious easily and found people and crowds sometimes too much to take.  I was moody.  Emotionally volitile.  At that time I found comfort in a friends who somehow understood or could relate to the intensity of the experience and transformation… one was a recovering alcoholic who had nearly killed himself drinking and the other had a stroke.  With them I shared an unexpected but shared experience of relearning some basic things and getting a new understanding of who I am and how to function in the world.  One day at a time.  One step at a time.

I had a nice conversation with my host while preparing breakfast for the seminar this weekend.  Some of his past experience includes work as a therapist with amazing experience in the healing and therapeutic worlds.  I shared with him my experience with getting off Paxil.  He acknowledged me for getting off of anti-depressents and shared that, in his opinion anti-depressents can really change the chemical balance of your brain and even damage it.  And while I aspire to create healing and wholeness for myself, I do feel impacted by the experience of being on Paxil.  The painful brain synapses that felt like electrical jolts in my brain while going off the drugs were a small indication of that.

So balance.  And learning, exploring and seeing ways of working and living again.  Trusting spirit.  Living today and letting things unfold.  So for today, after a busy weekend of work, I will relax.  Be in nature.  Maybe paint a little.  Just a day in Wettenbostel.  My life for now in Germany, in the flow.  Seeking balance.

Photo by Michael Hartley

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Community

21 Oct

Just another day here in Wettenbostel.  I can feel the rhythms and the flow of all of us here living together as our lives weave through, near and around each other.  The ins and the outs of the day.  The colorful life of living in community.

I woke up this morning to join the lately typical morning crew in kitchen… my friend the bicycling traveling German, Jörn and our host.  They were having a hearty morning conversation… mostly in German.  My host is Canadian but has lived here for about 25 years… so German has become part of his nature.  He can switch from English to German like changing the channel.  Often I have to remind him… as he is speaking to me in German… English please… English… and I push the English button and he speaks English.

I am talking more about learning German… and when people ask me if I have learned any German I now talk more about wanting to, or trying to, or exploring that.  More German has been spoken around here lately with Jörn staying at Seminar Haus… so I find the motivation to learn has increased.  Different people have offered different suggestions.  Learn one word a day… watch movies in German.  So the door to learning is opening… It would be nice to be a part of the secret German world currently such a mystery to me.

It is so wild to be present to a conversation spoken with sounds that I cannot even discern as words.  Language.  Wow.  Really something else. As an American speaking English perpetually and exclusively for so many years in the great big island of America… I came to think, although not consciously, that the language I used to describe things was fixed like truth.  A toothbrush is a toothbrush… right?  But it’s not… In German it is called a zahnbürste… or at least that is what Google Translate says… my trusted translating companion.

Jörn and my hosts have departed briefly for the nearest town, Luneburg.  It is a beautiful city and the place to go often for shopping and other needs.  Jörn who joined us here in Wettenbostel  as a first step in a New Adventure returns now to Luneburg, his home, for a few days… with bicycle in tow.  What is next on his adventure?  It seems it is still unfolding.  I venture to say that he will go will the flow.  I too will do a little flowing… this weekend as I head for a little excursion to Hamburg.  My friend Olaf is leading a healing seminar on Sunday and I will go to attend.

And for now… just a little time on my own… as the ebb and flow of my community in Wettenbostel has shifted on to Lüneburg giving me some time to soak in the silence in the brisk autumn air.  Some time to myself.  Nice and appreciated… but also appreciated is being connected to, among and in… community.

Photo by Michael Hartley

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Warm Season

19 Oct

Well, despite the cold arriving here in Wettenbostel… a warm season has been predicted in my life…. by our bicycling traveling German friend still here in Wettenbostel…  I will accept that prediction.  And look forward to it… with gratitude.

My loyal porch companion and American friend Dan has moved on to new pastures as Sunday he left for Switzerland.  A bittersweet departure seeing a friend move on.  But…  I did move into his room… for now my room.  I can still feel and smell his presence in there.  The ghost of Dan gently guiding me… tapping me in this direction and that on how to be a good caretaker of myself and the Seminar Haus while I am here.  Perhaps some of it will rub off on me.

I am learning how to stay warm in cold Northern Germany… as we have already had our first frost and some of the beautiful flowers and vegetables in the garden are wilting in defeat.  I am heeding well to good intentioned tips like keeping my warm wool socks on the heater to keep them warm and dry and seeking to keep my hands, neck and feet warm.  My scarf is my constant companion.  Learning to make pots of tea to travel with me during the day and basking in the sun whenever possible.  But in addition to learning to keep my body warm and doing so gently and gingerly… I am learning to keep me heart warm.  Just a little.  Beginning to let loose of some of the jagged and prickly edges locked into place like a frozen ghost.  Allowing for a space… if ever so brief… to let go of my thoughts and be in the moment with kindness, good feelings…and warmth.  Ah.  Letting go of the past… the jagged ridged actions of reacting to so much…trying to keep my hand on everything all at once. The forced persistence after hurricane Katrina and other things.  Ah.  A warm season beginning in me as the cool frost sneaks in.

I am feeling so much energy shifting right now.  It seems that so much is changing although as I look around me I cannot say exactly what.  It feels as if I am riding on a rush of energy somehow changing my life… and where it will end I am not sure.  For now I explore keeping my focus is the present although my mind likes to wander and consider what will happen next… like the exciting next episode of a longed for drama series.  Surrender is the call.  I see it sitting next to me… smiling its devilish grin.  Waiting for me to let go and fall to the ways of the unknown.  Intuition seems to be the guide.. finding my way through the dark and unseen.

My beloved computer is now on its way to working again.  New hard drive and system in place I am happily now typing on my own keyboard.  Only one thing is different.  My computer has been through a transformation.  It now speaks German.  German system software, German keyboard… And for now… my computer speaks German better than I do.  My loyal computer repair friends have assured me they will look for system software that speaks English.  But in the meantime I am getting to know my old friend with a foreign twist.

Things are a little quieter again here in Wettenbostel.  With Dan gone and the peak of energy from the weekend party died down… it is now mostly myself and our visiting bicycling friend….fending our way through the cold and warmth of Wettenbostel…. with occasional visits from our hosts and regular electrician, general handyman and friend.  So here I am.  One step at a time.  One day at a time.  Exploring and beginning to find warmth in the cold.

Photo Deep in the Garden by Michael Hartley

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Tender

16 Oct

Sometimes it becomes apparent to me just how important it is to be tender.  Tender to myself and tender to those around me.  I had a little dose of tender yesterday for myself and it went a long way.

It was late in the day and I was at the Seminar Haus.  I called up my hostess whose home is just up the street to see if she would like to take a stroll.  She was just about to head out to walk down the street to buy some honey from the local forester who also keeps bees.  You see, it is my understanding that each village or community has its own forester to look after the woods.  The forester in Wettenbostel lives in a big beautiful home, typical German large brick home.  So she asked me to join her for a stroll there.  I hopped on a bicycle, rode to her house and then we walked down the road to get the honey.  When we arrived we greeted the foresters wife and I said my German… “Hallo” and smiled… after which point I have no idea what is being said in the conversation between her and my hostess.  We retrieved the honey nonetheless.  A beautiful golden Wettenbostel flavor.  Then we went back to her house and made a cake. Poppy seed. Sugar free… sweetened with honey.  A joy for me as I do not eat refined sugar.  And it was just… fun.  To bake a little.  Separate a few egg whites, seeing the butter mixing into the batter.  A little tenderness that I had not treated myself to in a long time.  Companionship in the kitchen and baking.  And some nice tea.  A rooibus tea.  Yum!

After the ingredients for the cake were happily finding their way together, I snuck into the front room and found my way to the grand piano.  Ah!  What a love!  I took piano lessons as a kid and there has always been somethings about connection with the keys of the piano for me.  I can still imagine and feel the grand piano upstairs in my piano teacher`s living room when I was a child.  As I began to play their piano I realized that my fingers were starved… starved for the delicate touch and feeling of connecting with the keys, feeling the weight and the strength as the notes are plucked… and ah the feeling of the pedal on my feet… the damper pedal… connecting the sounds of the notes fluidly together.  Feeling the melody unfold beneath my fingers.  It was like the little child in me who used to love playing the piano was in need of some attention.  So I played for a little bit.  After not playing for so many years, my repertoire is limited… but it was lovely just the same.

In receiving these little bits of tenderness it became apparent just how much I was in need of the them… and that it is essential that I keep my heart open for little ways to delicately tend to that need.  Essentially really.  It’s a need for something… like to be connected to something delicate and sweet… that is almost like the fabric of my being.  As I nurtured that in me I saw the other things that were crying for attention.  Painting.  I have not painted for a long time and have been very hard on myself.  But somewhere, something in me is crying to tend to that need.  It can be quite easy to just go on my day working, doing what I need to do, tending to the basics of this life here Wettenbostel ignoring or denying that which I need or crave.  But it is a survived life rather than a life where I really get to see and be me.  So I see those little things that I need and the quality and beauty connected to them.

Last night we had a party at the Seminar Haus.  It was our hosts 65 birthday.  He jokingly called it his retirement party.  I was curious how it would go as I tend to be prone to panic when groups of people collect.  Surprisingly I felt reasonably…grounded.  Groups of our hosts friends came and along with them musical instruments.  So we had two different bands playing music until deep in the night.  It has been my habit of late to sneak away and hide when social activities come to call… but the excitement of live music set up in the “Little Dojo” called to me much more clearly than any nervousness or anxiety.  Not that I did not have some.  Yes, of course I did!  But I also danced and shook my groove thing and had a pretty good time.

And now it is the day after.  Funny I almost feel like I have a hangover even though I don´t drink anymore.  I woke up feeling a little heavy, reluctant to leave the warmth and comfort of my room uncertain of all the voices and many people joining in the kitchen for the informal day after breakfast.  I took some lovely comfort this morning reading from A Course in Miracles.  Sometimes there is nothing like being connected to the spirit of God and that ultimate feeling of home to find ones way in the day.  And in that way… it is so good to be at home.  Tender.

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Cool autumn night

14 Oct

It is a cool Friday evening in Wettenbostel.  It is after 9pm, that is 21:00 European time.  The bite in the cold air reminds me I am not in New Orleans anymore… but still… being here has its benefits.

The highlight for tonight was catching a good glimpse of the sun setting.  Stripes of purple and gold melting into the evening sky.  And a little good company for the show was appreciated too.  Then, returning to Wettenbostel the nearly full moon was hiding behind a patch of clouds.  All we could see was the glimmer of light giving a hint of  the full story that the moon had to tell.  Then making the way home to the Seminar Haus… meandering in the dark through the potatoes fields… entering through the woods in the back finally giving way to the open space in back by the hot tub.

With  movement and departure surrounding me… Dan my fellow American and porch companion leaving on Sunday for Switzerland and our German traveling bicycling visitor seeking his next destination beyond Wettenbostel, I can feel a little tug of my own wondering if there is any change calling out for me.  My inner voice whispers let go and trust.  And in the quietness of the autumn night it seems quiet possible.  To let go and trust.

For now I will keep things  simple and sweet.  My computer is awaiting a new hard drive and I am typing on a computer in a cold room in the little dojo, a building next door to where I stay.  My comfortable, warm heated room is calling my name.  I must surrender to its call!

Photo of Autumn in Wettenbostel by Michael Hartley

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Moon Over Wettenbostel

12 Oct

I took an evening stroll as the sun was setting.  Fall has found its way to Wettenbostel and as I walk there are gaps in the trees where leaves used to be with sparks of color grabbing my attention.  I looked up at the evening sky and was greeted by the full moon resting on a blanket of clouds lazily making their way over Wettenbostel.  I stepped away from the Seminar Haus through the woods to walk the farm roads outlining the fields surrounded by borders of forest.  A clear sky.  A fullness.  A brightness.  Enjoying the still newness and strangeness of being in Germany tucked amongst the potato fields unburdened by its beauty.

The sun was out today.  A welcome break after two days of rain.  Today we leveled the field  covering up the hole where the sewage pipe was installed for one of the buildings.  The excitement of the chore was our host searching for rocks, digging them up like buried treasure.  We then collected them in piles to be hauled away, happily sitting and kneeling in the dirt enjoying the beauty and phenomenon of “work clothes”… meant to be dirty. What a good time I had today… playing in the dirt with the guys, music blasting in the open field.  I cooked a nice little lunch today with fresh beets and leeks from the garden served with other veggies over brown rice.

I am appreciating tonight the warmth of my jacket purchased at a thrift store in the Netherlands along with my comfy scarf gifted to me by the universe… found on the ground in Amsterdam… now laundered and fresh and ready to wear.  Tonight not much remains but the briskness of the night air… and the optional evening hot tub later.    Our “visiting bicycling traveler”, as I call him,  tells me that you can see your future in the moon… as he considers his own journey and next steps.  It is so bright tonight I will have to take a look and see what it has to say for me.  Then a good night sleep in bedroom of many dreams… I wonder what I will dream tonight…

Photo Autumn in Wettenbostel by Michael Hartley

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