Category Archives: service

The Road to Diamond, Day 360: Love and Mercy

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 22, 2025- His voice cracking, and eyes starting to well, R stopped and recovered himself, then continued on with his account of the past five months, since I saw him last. R is one of the friends I will miss after leaving Prescott. He and his wife were among the first to welcome me, in 2011. Their restaurant is one of the mainstays of my life here, once a week, for breakfast or lunch. The shenanigans of the staff or of the locals that sit at the counter are always a hoot. I listened with rapt attention and reflective comments, as R filled me in on his so far successful fight for life. I want to see people win those kinds of battles.

Getting back to Home Base I, I arranged for the delivery of a piece of furniture that I have had re-upholstered. It had been in almost too sorry a condition to even invite people over. Now, it is in beautiful shape and I will be proud to hand it off to someone who needs a nice piece of furniture for their living room. As it happened, the delivery man’s schedule conflicted with my usual stint at Farmers Market, but as my cosmic advisor said of today-“It is a day to go with the flow, when life interrupts routine.” Delivery man and his helper were meticulous in bringing the piece in and getting it in place. They took their time folding their blankets and putting everything back in place.

I went to Farmers Market, anyway, and finding the crew dealing with a long line of vendors, I took care of cleaning and putting away the folding chairs and tables, then made headway in taking down at least some of the tents. It was then time for Baha’i Feast, so I left the nonetheless grateful crew, who by that time were finished with the vendors.

Feast was a cozy affair. We had our devotions and talked of community matters, then planned next month’s activities and enjoyed refreshments. This little community is also a group of people I will miss, having collaborated with them continuously for fourteen years, and having known many of them from our residence here in 1992 and 2000-01. The Baha’i Faith has only been an impetus for my positive growth as a human being.

Finally, I spent the evening at Raven Cafe, enjoying a light dinner and the music of a favourite local band, The Cheektones. Don and the boys have a knack for getting people up an dancing. I occupied an old wooden chair and had the company of a few friends of the band. After about 1 1/2 hours of bouncing in my seat, I got up and joined the dancing to the last two songs. Before I did so, the guys played a song that summed up today, and many days in my life: “Love and Mercy”, the Brian Wilson song from 1988. Here is an earlier performance by The Cheektones, from Prescott’s Summer Music on the Square series.

This is the last of my “two posts a day”, game of catch-up on this blog site. It has been sometimes a challenge, to find a theme for a given day, but from my readership, it seems there are plenty of you who identified with at least some of what has happened here, since my return from Europe.

Life is sweet.

The Road to Diamond, Day 357: Bright Farewells

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

November 19, 2025- I had my last haircut at Prescott’s Fantastic Sam’s, this afternoon. The mane doesn’t need trimming more than every two months or so, making this the last time I stopped in and visited with Brittany, an effervescent ball of fire who makes every stop at FS a joyful experience. She did her usual magic and smilingly wished me well with the coming adventure in grandparenting. I will miss her, and many others, who have been my support system in this Home Base I, for fourteen years.

There will be more of these bright farewells, over the next month or so. Nobody here in Prescott, or in other parts of Arizona, is being grumpy about the move. People are genuinely happy with what I have done here, and at the same time glad that my little family is growing. I am grateful for that. My beloved K, writing from the Philippines, is also happy for me, and has some dreams of her own that I sincerely hope will see fruition. At this age, one can dearly love another person and not be tethered to a set of schedules and procedures that are more conducive to establishing a marriage and raising a family. K and I can meet the needs of our respective families and not worry about preconceived notions of others. I will make time for a visit over there, provided my little family’s needs are being met, in the meantime.

That leaves the proper distribution of furniture and other items, like books and tools, over the next four or five weeks. Those, too, will be bright farewells. My belongings have served me well, and I am grateful. It’s time to pass much of the materials along.

The Road to Diamond, Day 354: Interspecies

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 16, 2025- The American bison has long been the stuff of both reverence and legend. It was also, following the late Pleistocene die-off of other Megafauna ( Cave bears, American camels, giant ground sloths, American rhinoceroses and giant beavers), the largest source of protein for First Nations people.

It is true that First Nations people offered thanks to each animal they killed for food and sustenance. It is true that many tribes, especially in the Plains region, used as many parts of the animal as they could salvage, for food or for tool-making. It is also true that many tribes employed the technique of the Bison Jump, forcing large numbers of a given herd off fairly shallow cliffs, to their deaths or to severe injury that incapacitated many animals, who then could be slaughtered. This was mainly a late autumn/early winter practice, done for the express purpose of ensuring a food supply in winter. The practice is explained here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDjUHPzLn5E.

I learned these facts from the film “Singing Back the Buffalo”, which was shown this afternoon, at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, in downtown Prescott. The film, by Tasha Hubbard and Jason Ryle, explores efforts by First Nations people, in Canada, Mexico and the United States, to restore healthy bison herds, primarily in plains and prairie regions. Ceremonies are held, often within hearing distance of bison herds. (The name “buffalo” is used by some First Nations groups, interchangeably with the more correct term, bison.) There is much singing and dancing at these ceremonies, which both thank the bison for their sacrifice and appeal to them to gather and procreate. It is said that, when a specific group of five juvenile male bison were the focus of a dance, and were too far away to hear the songs, another group of five juvenile male bison came to the site and presented themselves to the assembled Band. This is documented by the film-makers.

It is gratifying that these efforts to promulgate healthy bison herds are gaining traction. Sustainable hunting is also going on, in areas where the bison herds are large and healthy. There are, however, no more “buffalo jumps”. Discussion afterward extended to efforts at promulgating other species, “rewilding” in both North America and Europe. Indeed, I noticed that efforts at protecting and re-introducing the beaver and the lynx are well underway in Scotland. British wildcats are a focus of re-wilding efforts in England and Wales. The lynx is also a focus of re-introduction in Spain and Portugal.

As we learn how to co-exist with wild animals, there is hope for a mutually beneficial solution to the problems of conflict between species. (Of course, we also need to devote a great deal of energy to solving conflicts between humans!)

The Road to Diamond, Day 352: Choosing Home

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

November 14, 2025- A young friend asked me what the best strategy is for deciding where to live. There are three main factors behind my own choices: Family, good of the community and peace of mind. In 2011, I had to decide where I would live next, as my house was up for sale, and purchasing another one would have been foolhardy. A family home was available, in Prescott, I could serve the community in several ways and it is a very pleasant place in which to live. That made choosing this Home Base very easy.

Being a Sagitarrian, I find wanderlust is a constant refrain, but I am also mindful that there is value in establishing ties to community; thus, the idea of Home Base. I could have stayed with Prescott as Home Base I for several more years. The coming birth of my first grandchild, however, brings on a feeling far stronger than wanderlust, or the desire to be close to someone I also love dearly. So, Home Base I will shift to Plano, Texas, sometime in the middle or latter part of next month. There will always be other Home Bases: HB II, unless I hear differently from my beloved there, is Metro Manila ( or wherever she is); HB III, Prescott; HB IV, Nynashamn, Sweden; HB V, Dinetah/Hopi; HB VI, Exton/Oley, Pennsylvania; HB VII, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; HB VIII, Jeju, Korea; HB IX, northeast Scotland.

I hear you saying, why so many? One can only live in one place at a time and “serve only one master.” I also understand that there are those who turn away from someone who leaves their area. Some, in a few of the places mentioned, already have made their displeasure with me quite clear. I am sorry for any hurt you might feel, but know that family is always a priority for me-as it is for some of those who have expressed annoyance. The shoe fits equally well on both pairs of feet. I will be present for my grandchild as long as needed, especially once parents are both back at work. You will be fine and know that I don’t care for you any less than I ever have.

In Prescott, I (initially) served family, have done right by the community and found peace of mind. The same thing is true of several of the other Home Bases. It will be true of Plano.

The Road to Diamond, Day 322: Still A Fine Metz

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 15, 2025, Metz- Stately Hotel Escurial is probably the easiest to find, of any hotel that hasn’t been right next to the Train Station (only the hotel in Helsingor, Denmark has fit that description). It is bordered by a health food grocer, with bright green lettering and the Hotel Cecil, which once catered to the British upper crust, is prominently to the west of Escurial. Besides, it has a regal Spanish ring to it.

I arrived here in mid-afternoon, the first stop of three, on a Strasbourg-Luxembourg route, which I last took in the opposite direction, in 2014. At that time, Metz was more a place for regrouping my energy, as Strasbourg was this time. Today was more about giving Metz the limelight.

I got my laundry done in Strasbourg, for the most part figuring out the instructions, which were in French, and managing to get the clothes washed and dried within the allotted time and walked back to Hotel Strasbourg, in plenty of time to return to the main train station. I even helped a college student and a disabled woman, just a little.

Once in Metz and settled in at Hotel Escurial, it was off to look at two different areas of the Old City. First, though, I had to get a new mouse for my computer. A shop was located about four blocks from Hotel Escurial, and the task was quickly done.

Hotel Escurial. Metz
Gare Centrale (Main Train Station), Metz
Gare Centrale (Main Train Station), Metz
Colour matters in Metz, the year round.
North Wall of Old City, with Water Tower in background
Old Water Tower, Metz
General Charles De Gaulle, at his square
Interior of Metz Cathedral (Above and below)
Stretching towards the sky, Metz Cathedral exterior (above and below)

Images of saints, Metz Cathedral
Spires on southwest corner of Metz Cathedral
Western side of Metz Cathedral
Abraham de Faubert, Marshal of France under Henry IV and Louis XIII. Marshal De Faubert established new methods of siegecraft, during the constant wars between England and France during the 17th Century. He is considered a key figure in the survival of the French State, in that uncertain period.
Arizona in Alsace-Lorraine
East Gate of Old City, Metz
Michel Ney, Napoleon’s sub-commander, who was from Lorraine. He was executed for treason, after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.

Three corkscrew spirals, Parc de Ney

My exploration of Metz was complete, for now. Dinner followed, being a simple toasted bagel with cream cheese and minced onion-at a small, cozy place named simply “The Coffee Shop”. It was a fitting end to a day devoted to a blend of simplicity and grandeur.

The Road to Diamond, Day 287, Part II: Interposed

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 10,2025, Reykjavik- One one side of Laugarnes Recreation Area, the last remaining natural preserve on the north side of Reykjavik’s bay, there is a large collection of items that would not look out of place in Corner Brook’s Rock Art Wall or any number of back yard “personal treasure” collections around the world, from Spain to Vancouver Island and from Nigeria to the Philippines-or so stories claim. It is the Recycled House.

A scant 100 yards away is the Museum of Soren West and Sigurjon Olafsson, featuring the works of two intrepid artists of the mid-Twentieth Century- workers in stone and metal (West); stone and wood (Olafsson). Olafsson worked for a time with the Danish Resistance to Nazi occupation. Homesick for his wife, he returned to his native south Iceland and was an invaluable source of information to the British and American forces who kept the island safe from the Axis Powers. West has been focused solely on the promulgation of sculpture, having grown up in Denmark, in a relatively more peaceful time. He has been an intensely influential figure in teaching the medium, especially on his home island of Fyn.

The two very different museums co-exist with one another and are careful not to overlap one another’s collections onto the other’s property. Here are a few scenes of each. I first went around the grounds of the Recycled House.

No one gets past him! Note that the lith, overlooking the Bay and this “watchman” are perfectly aligned, as to the western border of the property.
Continued alignments
These “backyard guardians” of the Olafsson Museum show the same sense of order.
We now come to the several decorated rocks and other collected items that dot the landscape of Recycled House.
The demarcation line.
It’s amazing what one can do with cast-off metal.
Nothing gets tossed out here.

Here is the house itself:

There is even an “observation Chair”.
Many are the watchmen!
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson lives in this house. He was the director of “The Raven Flies” and other films about Viking life in his native Iceland.

Now let us turn to the pieces in the more conventional museum.

If this figure looks like he's thinking, it's because Sigurjon Olafsson probably WAS deep in thought, while crafting it.
If this figure looks like he’s thinking, it’s because Sigurjon Olafsson probably WAS deep in thought, while crafting it.
Here’s a piece by Soren West,showing a whale spouting, or at least that’s how I interpret it. Soren West just calls it “Skulptur”.
Here are two wooden pieces, one mahogany and the other, fir. Both represent balance.

By now, I was getting exhausted. I had walked as far as the small ferry terminal, which sends boats to the islet of Videy, across the short channel, while waiting for the Olafsson Museum to open.

Here, then, are a few more scenes of the afternoon.

A view of the “Visitor Center” at Videy, (Vih-DAY), using a Zoom lens from the opposite shore. Even if I had wanted to squeeze in a short ferry ride, the captain was done for the day. This was as close as I was going to get. The mountain in the background is Esja(EsYA), also across a channel from Videy.

I did squeeze in a Volcano Express, virtual reality ride, at Harpa Performance Center. Here is a look at the Center. The ride? Trust me, there was a “whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on”, and we were all strapped in.

Harpa Performance Center, Reykjavik

My overall image of Reykjavik and its residents is summed up by this master work of a graffiti artist who immigrated here about five years ago.

Icelanders, old and new, are thriving by learning to live with the volatile nature of their island home, and putting it to use. (Thermal energy heats homes and purifies water).

The Road to Diamond, Day 278: Tying Loose Strands

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 2, 2025- Coming up to a ledge, on the trail between White Spar Mountain and Goldwater Lake, Hiking Buddy and I spotted nineteen American flags-the sign of a memorial to the 19 Wildland Firefighters, who died in 2013, at Yarnell Hill.

Other forms of death showed themselves nearby.

Beyond, though, are the many signs of life, for which these sacrifices have been made.

We made this short hike, as part of a run-up to my own seven-week absence from Home Base I, and from Arizona. I have had a good summer here, and now it is time to tie up loose ends. Connecting HB with an aficionado of her type of product was another result of today’s efforts. Finally getting through to a critic of local organic farming, earlier this morning, was another.

The rest of the week will see me on a worldwide prayer call, then up at Hopi for a brief visit with new arrivals in the Health Provider community and a Red Cross meeting here, on Thursday. Friday, I will continue my dry run of packing, as the weekend is full of special events, on which more, in a few days.

I have also carefully spoke my peace about other issues, and so far had little push back. Towards that end, I will not elaborate on my thoughts in this forum. We are all entitled to our own opinions, though not to our own facts.

No matter where I go, the sacrifices of those brave men commemorated above, and of others like them, will still figure large in my consciousness. They tied the loose strands of community, by giving their very lives.

The Road to Diamond, Day 277: The Labour of Love, at Quarter Century

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 1, 2025- A friend was clearly shocked, voice breaking, whilst reading the message from a mutual friend, which indicated that here were two people talking past one another, regarding an act of service in which they had spent most of yesterday-and were pondering how to complete the job today.

We “Boomers” are in situations, quite often,in which two or more people get involved in helping a destitute, or infirm, friend-and find selves reaching own physical limits. I am fairly robust, at just shy of 75, but many of my contemporaries are not. I stand up for them, when they have to back off from work they find too onerous, given their physical state. The friend I first mentioned above is one of those who has every right to set limits. So, too, is the second friend, who is, in fairness, selfless to a fault. At some point, very soon, I hope that is realized.

I have to be very transparent, of late, about my own limits, which are more financial (preserving the means to reach my goals and to provide in the event of unforeseen emergencies) and temporal (not being able to spend time with certain folks around Home Base I, as I will be away for a good part of the rest of this year, and next),than physical-for the foreseeable future, anyway.

What my friends and I do is sincerely out of love. Favours, though, cannot be expected. In the past day or so, I have had to let two people, for whom I care deeply, know that they are not entitled to have me at their beck and call. This is as much out of regard for their own dignity and worth as it is for my own. I had to learn this the hard way, several years ago-and am grateful for the lesson, both as giver and as receiver.

We give of ourselves both in gratitude for those who gave to us, back in the day, and out of love for those who are at wit’s end. We offer a hand up, rather than a hand out, as much as our own means allow. Happy Labour Day, all!

The Road to Diamond, Day 267: Needful Things

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 22, 2025- The girls were forthright in asking for help on their writing assignment, asking me to help, instead of one of the regular staff. They were crestfallen, when I told them I had to take care of other business on Monday-but that they would not be left alone. I trust that a caring soul will be on hand, and tend to their needs. I was able to meet those needs today, so it was a good day.

A friend shared memories of childhood; of witnessing lynchings-the sort described by Billie Holliday, in her song, “Strange Fruit”. This is something that no child should ever have to witness. Another friend shared the news that a young man had taken his own life, shattering her immediate community. This is something that no youth should ever need to contemplate. In my own work, keeping children safe from both external and internal trauma was a major focus of time and energy. It had to be done with regularity, and without judgment as to what the urgency level may have been.

I was not able to prevent all suicide. No one can know for certain what the turmoil is. inside another soul. The first friend has never spoken of what was seen, until now. The young man did not share his pain, even with his closest friends.

I am fortunate, in life here in Prescott and in the various places I have been honoured to visit, over the past fifteen years. Rarely has there been a closed door, and then only because of my own shortcomings or faux pas. With that good fortune has come a fair amount of responsibility. So, I don’t think of time spent anywhere as “vacation”, even though to those whose life commitment is to stay put and focus on one community or one neighbourhood, any time spent not working-or not spent “blooming where planted” is a lark.

So be it. I will wake each day, no matter where I find myself and make the same commitment to the well-being of those around me, as I did in schools and communities, across Arizona and in South Korea, for 46 years. Some of that will be in schools; other will be on the road or in communities where I might be expected to relax. It will be what appears to be needed.

The Road to Diamond, Day 264: A Primavera Day in Mid-Summer

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Hiking and Nature, Personal Values, service, Slow Food Prescott, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 19, 2025- There is no shortage of schools in Prescott that are in salubrious settings. One of these is Primavera School, located on the southwest side of town. It is, being in a forest community, geared towards a holistic education in an ecologically-oriented setting. The basics are well-taught, in small groups, and with room made for serendipitous moments. If a “book” lesson is underway, and one of the kindergartners, or third graders, happens to focus on a hummingbird feeding nearby, the class takes time to observe the animal and later discuss the scene-What was in the liquid that the hummingbird was drinking? Are there times of day that the birds prefer to feed? What other foods do hummingbirds take? There is realization that a book lesson is not sacrificed by a 30-minute observational activity.

“Primavera”, of course, is Spanish for “Spring”. Here were a group of us, at this school, in mid-Summer, helping to focus a new year for school gardens. The school’s name hints at an orientation towards every day being a new beginning, in some sense. With the daily awakening and enkindling of knowledge, children-any of us, actually- feel this new beginning. This afternoon, we did a poetic exercise, called “I Am From”, which looks at some of the many factors, past and present, which shape who each of us is.
Like anyone else, I could fill in the blanks in a number of ways, and shared one set of answers in the session. I will share a similar, and equally genuine, rendition of this poem below:

I am from

I am from corn on the cob

From 6 a.m. and cool, crisp air

I am from the cabin, cozy, warm, sweet-scented

I am from oak and bear,

tall and stout, strong and gentle

I am from family reunions and walks in the woods

from the beach and caves

From Kauai and wind-swept, craggy coastal bluffs

I am from Granite Mountain and holding my grandchild

and from “The Earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens”.

This poem is taken and slightly adapted from the website: http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html

It is used at Primavera, in teaching middle school students. Its efficacy with adults is equally apparent.