the altar of the present moment

henry, gretta and i drove to VT yesterday,

we  picked hannah up in burlington.

 batman cruised in late at night, amid the first few flakes of snow.

we woke up to beautiful, freshly falling snow.

hannah and i attended a most amazing memorial service (the brother of one of her colleagues).

the sadness was deep and profound, 

but i felt privileged to sit in the midst of that outpouring of  love and affirmation.

later, back at our "bit of earth" as the sun set, 

we went out into our 6 acres of balsams and found  just the right one.

the intermingling of love and hope and grief and celebration and tragedy remains 

one of life's deepest mysteries for me.

that intermingling helps me worship at the altar of the present moment.