France

We enjoyed a week with friends Gloria and Claude at their farm in Terrieres. What I appreciate so much in France is the connection you feel with the land, especially through the food. Many people have their own "potager" or vegie garden and of course the markets are positively brimming with beautiful produce. The French know and appreciate good food and understand the connection with quality ingredients. We really got a better feel for the area around Terrieres which is located near the town of Bonne (not too far from Chauvigny in the vicinity of Poitier). The land is rolling and dotted with many fine Medieval villages, perfect for biking! There are fields everywhere, and this year the crop of preference seems to be rape seed. Not as pretty as sunflowers to be sure. We had rather cool weather except the last day and were glad to have brought our single warm piece of clothing each, which we used every day. The drive from Paris took about 5 hours. We stopped a little to get food, gas. The hard part is Paris. The airport is to the North of the city and the A10 highway is in the South so you have to drive halfway around the entire city without making any errors. If you do it could take you into the center and then you will never be seen again. The traffic is imposible, the roads chocked with large trucks driven by truckers from wherever (not France probably) that have no manners whatsoever. There you will not see a placarded truck with the words "How's my driving?" and a phone number. They are really quite terrifying and will follow you with barely a sliver of space and then sit on the horn (LOUDLY) if you go too slow, which of course is what happens when you are looking for exits, etc. Horrible!!! Anyway, in the countryside France is still bucolic and wonderful though being de-peopled at an alarming rate due to lack of work for the young families who are forced into the cities to find it. There are many houses that are basically abandoned or owned by foreigners, typically the English, though they too have their problems now in the economic crisis and many have had to sell.

French style at Hawkscry

After returning from visiting friends in France Jane and I wanted to have a French style picnic at Hawkscry just to savour a bit the slower pace of enjoying a meal around a table for more than the usual 30 minutes. We felt inspired by the many long and leisurly meals we enjoyed in France with Gloria and Claude on their patio. One day we had a lunch at Marylynn's house which lasted 6 hours! Christian prpepared a feast from North Africa including a superb couscous. We arrived at noon and enjoyed the sunset while returning home through the fields. Quite bucolic! Here you can see our friends Ray, Claudette, Cathy, Tom, Renee enjoying a meal beautifully prepared by Jane and served in long slow courses which gave us the time to enjoy the surroundings and the conversation. I couldn't resist taking a nap under the apple tree, my new favorite place to be.

June 2010 Picnic at Hawkscry Retreat

We enjoyed a pleasant day with Chris and Emma at the retreat on Saturday June 12, 2010.

Love Beams

Keep Your Face Towards Me (Stanhope May 31, 2010)
Dedicated to Meher Baba


Turn and face the God Man’s pure love
Keep your heart and eyes on me
Then the endless shadows of Maya
Robbed of power quickly flee
By yourself you have no power
O’re these shadows long and fierce
Only when you turn and face me
Will your heart my love beam pierce



Many seek in vain to find me
Trapped inside this worldly dream
Keep your face turned always towards me
Set me free with your love beam
God can not be found in dark caves
Nor above in heavenly realms
Once your heart is pure and love filled
Sweet grace flowing overwhelms

When you leave this craving darkness
Love will show the way to go
Then my overwhelming brightness
Lifts the veil my love you’ll know
There I wait eternal greeting
Always ready for this vow
Let us then in love united
Be as one eternal now


If you turn your back in blindness
Taking not this wine from me
Shadows long before you linger
Only love can set you free
Take from me this cup of fullness
Lock yourself in my wine shop
Let the sweetness of this vintage
Take you to the mountain top

Bedroom floor at Hawkscry

The new pine floor is now installed in the bedroom. The entire room feels very peaceful and I can't wait until the bed and furniture are installed and the room can be used for sleeping. Last week we bought a new bed at Sears, but it will not be delivered until the 6th of June. It has taken a long time to complete this project, but I learned many things along the way and now I can enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Springtime 2010 at Hawkscry

The last few weeks have been glorious; plenty of rain and mild temperatures have made working on the cabin and in the garden a pure delight. I have brought the cabin project very close to completion. The bathroom needs tile, then try to figure out the on demand hot water system. I will need to tweek it a bit to get the required head of pressure to trip the electronic switch and I do hope I can get 30 pounds pressure at the head. We will see. I should bring my pressure guage out and see what there is for pressure under various conditions (direct take-off from the upper reservoir (1000 feet away up the draw with probably 30 feet of fall) will be the most pressure, but that reservoir is un-relaiable. Pressure from the lower 1500 gallon tank is probably not sufficient; not enough drop. I try various ways to increase pressure, but I hope I do not have to lay new and bigger diameter pipe.

Creation as life source

I have not been too consistent lately with my writing but I do feel a certain absence when I fail to reflect on the passing feast of events, emotions, and thinking in my life. Over the past few months I have dedicated myself to finishing the room addition at Hawkscry which will greatly increase the comfort of spending more time at this blessed retreat in the heart of the Sandy Mush Valley. In the beginning I was greatly assisted both physically and emotionally by my friend Steve who provided both expertice and extra hands for some of the heavy lifting of rafters. Now that the addition is nearly done I can step back and really appreciate how the project has unfolded and how it has enabled me to unfold and stretch out my own creative energy. There is pure joy in the creative process; bringing forth from ideas something concrete and visible. There is great power in trusting your own vision, especially when the going gets tough. Staying true and focused is great practice and puts one in direct contact with the creative universal force. Trusting in the positive force helps to bring the right balance into the world, so important in these confused and unsettled times and it helps to bring the right balance into your personal life. I hope that I will be blessed to continue to bring about my vision for Hawkscry and create an oasis of peace and reflection.

Over the past month I have added a number of fruit trees to the orchard including peach, cherry, and plum. It has been a good year to plant with moderate temperatures and plenty of rain. The gardens are all full of flowers and there promises to be a bumper crop of apples and blueberries. I have removed a black walnut tree on the field which prevented a full view of the Newfound mountains and I believe prevents the trees in the orchard to thrive. There now is more sun, a view, and hopefully less of whatever chemical the tree secretes to prevent other trees from competing. And plenty of fire wood too, though perhaps black walnut is not the best to burn. I am greatful for the open view of the distant mountains and thank the tree for the heat which it will provide this winter.

This spring saw the removal of four 200 year old oaks across the street in town by a developer who is building a house on a partitioned lot sold off by financially distrwessed owners. It was a really sad time for the neighborhood to see these beautiful healthy trees cut down. The sound of chain saws caused us great pain. Each tree came down with a terrible, ground shaking crash and within one day 800 years of collective growth lay inert on the tortured earth. I tried to talk some sense into the developer. He offered to sell the newly acquired lot for double what he paid for it. The real irony is that he is all to proud to announce that the house he will build is a "green" house.