Bella Rose Levua was born about two weeks ago. She lives in Pocatello, Idaho with her mother, her father, two sisters and a brother. I’m on my way to visit my daughter and her beautiful family in the next few days. Then I will meet beautiful Bella Rose in person. Up until now I have only talked with her through her Mommy’s tummy while she carried her.

Ashlyn Brooke Gardner was born about two months ago and lives in Tennesee with her sister Savannah Hannah Gardner, whom I have had the pleasure of visiting twice, though briefly. The wonderful and exciting news is that I am on my way to meet Ashlyn after the trip to Pocatello. I’m traveling with my wonderful husband and partner, Cephas, the Photo Gent. We’re both very excited.

Pictures of our two new grand daughters are available at The Midnight Writer’s Freelance Quest.  New photos will be posted online once I visit with them, and those pictures will have the proud grandparents included in the photo!

When I wrote the post about Rachel I mentioned that she is nine and we have not met yet. Well, that might be changing soon as well. We are taking a trip to Pennsylvania between Halloween and Christmas to visit family including siblings, and our daughter Shannon with her five children. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to visit with Rachel finally.

One more grand daughter to meet is Nevaeh Quentina Gardner. She lives with her Mommy in Florida and we are praying for the day that we can finally meet her.

That’s the latest update on our family. Now for a wonderful holidays journey visiting with as many family members as we can.

The Midnight Writer

It will be exciting to join with some of my old friends at this annual peace and healing circle where thousands of folks come together in peace and harmony to pray to the Great Spirit Creator for peace on earth. When thousands of people stand together in a circle in a vast meadow situated within the mountains of any place, hold hands and OM together, it is a profound experience.

Join us there. For more information, visit www.welcomehome.org or http://wyominggathering.blogspot.com

As we say at rainbow gatherings, WE LOVE YOU!!!

Every Sunday, Mom heads home from work to watch the four to five hours of Nascar racing. It is the highlight of her week, these Nascar races. Being a big fan of Jeff Gordon and Dale Ernhardt, she follows them closely during the 500 mile event.

It amazes me how packed the racetrack in Texas is today. Cars pack the parking lots, the surrounding streets and along the highway sides. Today, it is hot in Texas, so Mom and Cephas are probably very glad to be sitting in the cool of the living room at home in Willits. Folks at the track aren’t so lucky. People pack the racing stadium to full capacity, sitting or  standing elbow to elbow under the blaze of that Texas sun.

While racing is exciting, I still have to wonder, what would make people want to endure such conditions to watch cars race around an oval track at speeds of 175 to 190 miles an hour. The Nascar drivers circle that track over and over at high rates of speed for about three hundred laps. Do they meditate in some racing trance during all this circling? I wonder what the mind of a race car driver experiences.

While I can honestly admit that I know very little about Nascar racing, or any racing for that matter, I am willing to do a little research to share.

What I found for headlines on  a google search was really amusing. I couldn’t resist sharing this one.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/bloggity/2008/apr/05/hillary-clinton-nascar/

“The Hillary Clinton of Nascar”

The punchline comes at the end of the article: “Unfortunately, Michael Waltrip may be developing a credibility problem and if he’s not careful he could end up becoming the Hillary Clinton of NASCAR.”

Now this article is not exactly what I had in mind for Nascar racing information, but it qualifies on the humor scale. Enjoy the read.

Cephas and I left our winter home in Idaho to travel. Our journeys brought us to Mount Shasta yesterday. A warm welcome awaited us with two very good friends with whom we always visit when we pass this way. Sometimes we stay with Mary and Fred for a few days, sometimes a month or two. The times are always exciting, busy, and memorable.

Fred and Mary are Massage Therapists with their own studio on the same property on which they live at the base of Mount Shasta. The Art of Massage is the culmination of over twenty years of Fred’s life.  Mary joined with Fred about two years ago when she came to Mount Shasta to pursue massage and her dream. Together, they live and work their dream in Mount Shasta most of the time. Their studio is for private bookings by appointment. The setting is breathtaking, with Mount Shasta to one direction, Black Butte the opposing direction.

We have yet to do much sightseeing since we have been working so hard at building this new freelance writing, publishing, photography and blogging business. Since we left Pocatello, we have not had our own internet access. Our days are spent at the CSI College, which is very unique in their policy indeed. The public is permitted unlimited access on the computers and to the internet. Imagine finding such a resource! After traveling much of the nation, I personally have only found one university to compare to CSI. It is an all night university computer lab in Kansas, where I spent many a night during my travels preparing for a peace gathering and all the technical as well as legal preparation that required.

Having internet access is a blessing for Cephas and I now, as we strive to gradually build our grassroots organizational company, Mountain Spirit Productions.

Internet access is not the only attraction that keeps us in Twin Falls during this period in our life. Natural attractions like the Snake River Canyon are a spectacle to behold and to enjoy, if you like walking; and the Falls here. There are natural springs where water is bottled.

 The community is filled with resources such as hotels, motels, restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls and of course my personal favorites, Barnes & Noble and Starbucks.

All in all, it is the people and the reception we received here that keep us lingering.

The time frame is often crucial, I learned. If you visit my site at Tumblr  it goes into detail on this topic. So as not to be redundant, let me just say that the opportunity for paid blogging and writing exists. It is a very competitive market, though. Be persisitant and post as often as possible on those blogs.

Today, I joined Moli
which I really enjoyed setting up. It has a very interactive interface with email and provides a blog. See for yourself.

As soon as I am able to catch up with all this setting up initial blogs, I will be posting two to three times a week on all forty blogs. Each one is being created with a different topic, subject matter, which are then divided into sub categories. It is my hope that my blogs will be an informative and/or teaching tool when I perfect my system. In any case, I will post updates of the processs and share my learning experience in this process.

Below is a text link banner for a new program called Smorty. I’m awaiting approval to be paid for blogging.

 This morning I was moved about what I should care about. In that reverie of thought, you came to mind, along with all my family and all 18 grandchildren. I wrote another posts titled “What Matters to Me Most”.  After writing that post, I was greatly inspired to write a series of stories and dedicated articles about my life, my thoughts, my feelings, my beliefs, about people, places and things that I love. For you, Rachel, I dedicate this first article.

 I love you dear grand daughter. My life would not be the same without you. Now you may have trouble believing that, since we have never even met. I want you to know, that if I could, I would be every where all at once, like God who is omnipresent.  But alas, Rachel, I am neither God nor omnipresent. So I have to accept what I am able to do at the moment.

 If every time I wished I could see you or your father or your mother it happened, we’d have spent a lifetime together already.  Not being able to see you or meet you is not my idea. I pray that soon we will meet.

 When your mother was pregnant with you, I remember thinking about what color your hair would be. Both your parents were blond, so that was a great possibility, I knew.  However, your grandfather Harry Colpetzer was a red head, and that hair color can be dominant.  Your Aunt Kelly has the most beautiful red hair. You should see it!

In spite of our son worrying about us because we just lost our home, we are okay. There are no floods or tornadoes or dangerous chemical weapons or bombs blasting near or around us. We are safe and well living in a 1989 Ford Econoline van, working on our internet business to build a client base and searching for free lance writing opportunities.

This morning we had water and coffee to drink, some food to eat. We were warm and safe and had someone who loves us for company. We are more than fine. Our life is great!

So should I be caring about myself or should I worry about my well being?

Should I put my thoughts and energy towards the needs of my immediate family, many who have a great need?

Should I help out in areas stricken with disasters and war or should I work in lobbying to end these tragedies on our planet?

Should I care about the earth? Should I care about the future, for the sake of the children who will inherit this earth once this generation is gone?

The Great Spirit touched me in such a way with an overcoming warmth in my heart, and tugged at it to let me know first that I am greatly blessed. I wanted to share my good blessings with the world and declare that God has indeed greatly provided for my spiritual and emotional and physical well being.

I am grateful for what I have and for who I am.

That is my greatest realization today.

To answer the questions that I posed above, the answer is clear. Care about all those things. First, care for the ones around you, closest in proximity where you can make a difference in their lives if needed by providing comfort, or food, or shelter, or kind words.

Next, pray for all the people in my life. Then extend that prayer out to encompass all the concerns that God laid on my heart this morning. I am grateful that the Holy Spirit prompted be to be grateful and thankful and to care about both the people in my life and the people of the world. For God cares about each one of us. So should I. And so I do.

I dedicate this blog to love for my fellow mankind/womankind. May we all work together to make life better for each one of us.

Peace be with you.

This National Forest site was spared from fire, though areas within fifty miles away burned. Maybe it was the prayers of the twenty thousand souls who gathered in those mountains that summer for a peace and healing gathering. The Rainbow Family of Living Light annual gathering of the tribes came to Montana in the year 2000. It was a summer filled with intensities, and magic, some say.  The people prayed for rain to come in the area, and it came.  For Raven and me, we were spellbound by these mountains and had no desire to venture back into Babylon, or the world, as rainbows called it. 

Once the gathering ended and the last folks left the mountain, we were faced with a dilemma.  Should we go back to the cities where some of our relatives lived and return to a normal life? Or should we continue our spiritual pilgrimage we started that spring when first we ventured out onto Moose Mountain in Montana?

The choice was obviously clear.

 We prayed for guidance on where to go next.  Having driven just about fifty miles from the town of Wisdom, we came upon a turn off that really moved us. It was a box canyon just outside of Anaconda, Montana. Knowing little else about it except that is where the spirit was guiding our footsteps, we traveled onward.

 What wonders of nature and God awaited us here! Not only was this canyon an historic site for mining of different kinds, for pioneers, it was a historic waterfall and moose refuge.  These huge creatures, not often seen by people, abounded in this place. Moose could be seen grazing with their young right within the confines of the designated primitive camping areas.  While driving up the mountain to the canyon, we passed several moose along the roadside. Amazing, I thought!

 Having decided to stay for a while, which turned out to be two weeks, we picked a campsite along the stream. Anxious to explore our surroundings, we followed the trail upstream to an amazing discovery. A beautiful waterfall cascading down from the high ground forest area tantalized our senses. Raven had to scale the side of the rock face cliff along the waterfall when he discovered the cave above. I could see this would be an adventure filled experience, and one I was not anxious to see end.

Little did I know that we would yet discover other amazing secrets hidden in this almost forgotten place. Secrets like a cabin built fifty years ago by a father and son who loved this canyon. Story goes the cabin was raided one year by a black bear who got a little too hungry.

An abandoned decayed vehicle from the 1940′s had a story to tell. I was certain of it. The old mining tales were evident all about the place, from the half buried roads and trails to remnants left behind by the people who once lived and thrived in the mountain refuge.

The most exhilarating experience of all was the close encounter with a moose waiting for Raven. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

One of the first places in nature that I discovered possessed the air of tranquility was water. As a young woman I spent hours walking or sitting by the water, just taking in the sounds of it as water rushes over rocks, or as it babbles along in small streams. Then I discovered the power of rushing large rivers and the energy large bodies of water in movement makes. Now one might think that rushing water is a force that is anything but peaceful or tranquil. The truth is contrary to this belief. I have found some of my most profound moments of inner peace through self realization while sitting in the midst of the sounds of rushing waters.

Waterfalls are particularly powerful tools of meditation. Sit by the side of a stream close to a waterfall and let its energy carry your mind away into a place that reaches beyond this world and its noise. Here lies the key to unlocking your own place of inner peace. Here, all external thoughts coming from outside sources are discarded.

Once this inner mind is opened, the true self can be accessed and seen in a light to the rational mind as never before. It is here, that truths can be realized. It is here, that wisdom will speak to one’s inner soul. Once freed from the chaos of external noise, the inner soul will grasp the understanding necessary to find inner peace. Then this state of being can be established and transform the entire being, from the inner soul to the mind and to the outer thinking body, that is the person who walks in this external physical world of mortality.

At this point of realization, the mortal mind can foster its inner strength. This is the vital force that enables one to deal with all things outside of the self. With that ability, one can maintain inner peace in the face of all external stimulus, regardless of the source. This state of being is the true state of realizing inner peace.

One man who lived in history was the perfect example of such a state of being. Some call this man a prophet, a seer, an extraordinary man. Some called this man the Son of Man and the Son of God. His name is Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s life and teachings can be found the true way of attaining inner peace.

In the opening paragraphs, I started with examples in nature where one can first seek that place where peace can be found. In my experiences, the water provided a conduit for my journey. The practical teachings, however, existed inside my awareness,in the inner mind. This is a place created within each one of us. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ are the roadmap to unlocking that path way already engrained in our physical and spiritual being. I could not improve on the teachings of the master of peace. So I share my experience in finding tthe way to understanding that which was already created within each of us.

On this particular night though, the echo didn’t come. My train
was due to arrive at the Dunsmuir station
at one minute before midnight. By then I was ready to
leave the small one room waiting station, usually void
of life, except for the occasional rat that scurried from
beneath the maintenance closet door. Just so you
understand, I wasn’t really afraid of the little creature,
I just couldn’t bear the thought of a rat running up my
leg. My Dad told me if I didn’t hurry out of its way, that
would be my fate.My childhood was full of such tales.

Stories about the bewitching hour happening at the
stroke of midnight loomed larger than life in my small
awareness. Tonight, those superstitious memories
surfaced as I settled back into my seat, alone with
only the silent eeriness of the night.As the minutes
advanced beyond twelve, I became a little nervous.
Sounds that in daytime would go unnoticed, seemed
to chime like cathedral bells. My nerves became frazzled.
I had to get up and move around.Twenty minutes of
staring at the door hoping to see the giant Amtrak train
fly past with horn blaring and brakes screeching till it
halts, was not bringing the train any sooner. I thought
to myself, “What if I just step outside into the night
and peer off in the distance in the direction of the
tracks, just maybe my gaze would somehow magically
carry the train to Dunsmuir .
It might even happen in seconds!” This seemed a
positive and productive step to take. At least it was
better than continuing to sit there listening to every
minute stroking its way like some kind of ritualistic dance
around the clock and to the eerie sounds of the night.

Donning whatever semblance of courage I had left
within, I walked out into the night. It was especially
cold this night, with the crispness of spring breaking
forth, the temperatures still dipped below freezing. There
were no lights outside, as this train station was being
renovated.
Dunsmuir station
is on the historic register, a note of special interest to train buffs. It lacked lighting and personnel. Only the tracks
and some old outbuildings across the tracks donned the landscape. Their appearance was almost ghost-like.

Inside there was no one to take your ticket, or to
check your baggage. That was handled by the conductor
on the train. Outside, there was no one to announce the
trains arrival or to help you board. There was only the dark. There was only the cold, eerie quiet of the night. And still,
there was no train nor sound of that echoing whistle to be heard.

I shivered with the chill but more so with the thought
of my total aloneness. I waited four hours for the trains
arrival, if it arrived on time. Now my wait had gone into
the wee hours of the morning. Still, no other passengers
arrived. Here I stood, waiting for my Goliath on wheels
to rescue me and carry me to places afar.

Sleep being the furthest thing on my mind, unless
I cherished rolling up on the lone wooden upright bench
built for someone five feet tall, I had time on my hands.
Looking around once again, I realized the beauty of this
lone, eerie train station. It was located in an area just
outside the small California town of Dunsmuir . Just
down the road was a beautiful river that flowed for at
least a hundred miles, as it cascades down the steep
incline of the Mount Shasta Trinity landscape. The train
ride from Dunsmuir carries
its passengers through some of the most pristine and
uninhabited mountains in California. Donned by majestic
trees that spire all the way to eternity, the view is worth
the ride if for no other reason.

The mountains surrounding me reminded me that I
was amidst some of the most majestic scenery in the
country, if not the world. Off in the distance from my
view, I could see the shadow of Mount Shasta looming
above all else. This gave me a comfort that I can not
really explain. I felt as if I was in the watchful eye of
the Mother of mountains. Giving me great peace at that realization, I decided to go back inside and just enjoy
my time in this remote peaceful place.

I was thankful to be taking a journey from this
historic Dunsmuir station.
The experience was like no other. I vowed that I would
travel again this way some day.
]]> http://themidnightwriter.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/the-midnight-train/feed/ 0 themidnightwriter http://themidnightwriter.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/hello-world/ http://themidnightwriter.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/hello-world/#comments Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:57:29 +0000 themidnightwriter ]]> I awoke this morning in the comfort of my 1989 Ford Econoline van to the realization that life is indeed grand.  God created so many fantastic natural wonders and last night, I slept snuggled beside my husband Cephas parked right next to a natural wonder hardly to be rivaled.  The snake river canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho is a breathtaking sight to behold! It is truly a blessing to be alive!

 As I brushed the sleep from my eyes I looked out the window to gaze upon this site, the Snake River Canyon, once again.  It leaves me breathless each time.  My mind wonders how God created such a magnificent yet mysterious place.  I was determined to walk along the several miles of trail at least one more time, so I could take in the essence of the canyon’s magic.

 Just under the highway bridge at the Visitor’s Center parking area, is situated a placque in memory of a jump once attempted by Evil Knievel.  In 1974, he built a dirt ramp from which Evil Knievel launced a bicycle rocket, of sorts, to attempt this jump.  I believe the jump failed according to Evil’s expectations.  However, he succeeded once again in being recorded in the pages of history.  The dirt ramp still stands along the walking trail which skirts the winding canyon walls above the Snake River, about two miles east of the Visitor’s Center.  If only I had taken my camera I would have a picture of the ramp to share.  Maybe I’ll catch it before I leave Twin Falls.