shasta song circle

the song circle at horse camp did not come together anything like i had imagined. nobody came, even the people who i'd met in the park that day. my friend sofia and her daughters got to be like a family, just us, for the trip up. she carried her younger daughter and the 5 and a half year luna hiked the 1.7 miles with us. she complained a lot, but did very well considering it was her first real hike. we got up just after dark and i set up the tent in the moon light. we sang a few bedtime songs around the hoop, with a single altar sofia made of rocks from the ground outside and a rose i had brought from below. we had no candle, so we sang in the dim moonlight coming through the window in the corner of the cabin. the next day we waited around for the time when i had told some others we might sing again, 11-1 before lunch. the kids played, we munched on simple foods, and i worked on a souped spoon. i got to meet the caretaker, who is there on weekends, and got a better sense of how a song circle might be respectfully held in this public cabin. by 11am nobody showed up to sing with us. around noon a bunch of kids arrived with their families though and it brought a new energy of special interest to the girls. while i was taking down the tent i heard singing back by the cabin. it was the Indian children of a large group with parents and grandparents who had come up to pray to the mountain. they were singing gleefully by the spring next to the cabin. when i got back over there the children had started back down the trail, but most of the adults were still there. i approached them, told them i had come up here to sing, and asked if they would teach me a song. they taught me a bajan for their guru sai baba. i grabbed the song book i carried from home of the group 'Bajans and Beyond' on Orcas Island. they recognized some of the bajans and were tickled that i knew of them. when  with their beautiful voices they recited a long prayer in sanskrit to the mountain i joined them in spirit and nearly cried at this unexpected way that my wish was being fulfilled. this is what i had come and waited patiently for. once i had let go of what i had tried to create it was given to me in a different way. these people also told me about their belief that Shiva lives in mt. shasta, and that connected with my feeling that this song circle i'd called was for healing, peace, and protection.

'Lord Shiva is the most respected God in the Divine Trinity as per Hindu Mythology. His abode Kailasha is said to be the most peaceful place in the universe where he meditates for the wellness of the entire universe. Lord Shiva is also known as Mahadev means God of the Gods and hence, worshipping of Lord Shiva bestows a person with good Health, Happiness, Good Fortune, Name & Fame as well peace of mind. He is also the God of Love, Music & Beauty and his blessings are boundless and his forgiveness is endless. Hence, any person who worships Lord Shiva with full faith and dedication is blessed very easily and quickly since Lord Shiva is also known as "Baba Bholenath" means a God who is very innocent at his heart inspite of being the most powerful amongst Gods. '

the mountain Arunchala is in India, and said by some to be related closely to mt. shasta. they are approximately on the other side of the globe from each other! 

i think it would be great to gather some people on Mt. Shasta in the future to sing and pray to shiva, or in the spirit of shiva, for healing, peace, and protection. or maybe we all just go when we can at different times...

Davis Loop Rider

i found out the other day that there is a bicycle loop, or you might say hoop, around the city of Davis. my given name being Davis, i came here for my first time as Hoop Rider. this is a little line i came up with about it:

 Davis the Hoop Rider takes a ride around the Davis Loop with his hula hoop.

it's true. it really happens.

this morning was the morning i was going to depart back up to Mt. Shasta. i noticed before going to bed at 1am that someone on their way from Sacramento to Seattle (my home town) was leaving at 7am, so i got up early to check on that possibility. when i realized i was not ready to leave yet, i decided to take advantage of this relatively early start to my day and ride the Davis Loop while it was still cool. i was SO sleepy though and laid back down to doze for another hour or so.

 the Sunwise Co-op is right on the Loop at it's west end. i started out in the clockwise direction, as i had not ridden that way yet. i took a little detour before leaving Village Homes to one of their orchards, where the previous day i had discovered a mulberry tree with tons of dried berries on the ground beneath. i'd wanted to harvest some to bring with me. it felt good to ride on designated trail with no particular destination. just moving forward and focussing on the mechanics of riding helped ease my mind. i'd been getting anxious about my departure and all the things i had wanted to do before i left. all i had to do as i rode was enjoy the scenery, watch out for other trail users, and look for markings to tell me the way. the trail is mostly well marked, but some places are not so clear and i ended up getting off the loop. somehow i got down to the other side of the loop by crossing through near the center of Davis. the section i came to by the arboretum was nice, being shaded by tall oaks mostly. i went east and around in the other direction than i had started out, then when i got to the top of the loop again the trail was once again lost to me. i made some attempts, getting back on and loosing it again. then i decided to take 5th, a main street with a bike land, through the center of Davis. the changes of route i made led to me riding in more of a twisted hoop, an infinity symbol.

 the part of the loop that passed through the UC Davis campus was swarming with students on bikes! i liked riding through that. sometimes i really like the feeling of heavy traffic, where there is more interaction between us and we have to take more care to flow around each other. i stopped by the domes to get the sunglasses i left the night before. the folks who had gathered for a farewell reunion dinner were setting up the biggest wooden ladder i've ever seen to pick mulberries off the huge tree over the chicken run. i saw one of the firs taking pictures with her phone and asked her if she could get one of me. she was very nice and obliged.

 

Davis in Davis

from an e-mail i wrote to my friend toni:

after several days at Spreadwing, the awesome small farm in the Capay Valley, Jay gave me a ride in to Davis. i was following a desire for getting to know this city of my name better. also i had helped out in the garden of this place called Sunwise Coop in the Village Homes development and wanted to continue with that. this development is a really unique neighborhood where i see people connecting with each other on the walkways and harvesting fruit from the public plantings. it gives a very real example of the world of abundance and kindness that we are working towards. so i've been sleeping at the Sunwise house this past five nights or so. the people here are really great. it is like a more mature, responsible punk house. i finished the hugel bed in their garden with the help of a young guy named will who is also a traveler/helper. the garden coordinator and i started a new compost pile, which i was super excited about. i've been gathering the figs dropping from a huge tree next to their house. some are set out to dry in the sun, some fed to the chickens, and some eaten fresh. 

i met the neighbors across the street a few days ago and have been helping them in their garden a little. they have lemons and plums falling off the trees. i combined fruits from these couple houses, adding nectarines from another neighbor, and made a 'free fruit' stand on the bike path one day. that was really fun and beautiful for me. i loved seeing people stop and their reactions to it. once i found someone had picked more figs from a nearby tree to replenish what had been taken. 

all the synchronicities in my life continue to amaze me. there are so many around this Village Homes community and the Sunwise house. i was introduced to a hula hooper who has a seed of life pendant and also tattoo on her side of this symbol that has been coming up for me as being of utmost importance in my calling to create generative community. i'll tell you more about that later.

last night i went to the monthly community performance night at the community hall of Village Homes. i shared a song that i'd been wanting to sing with a group. the people there gave me the best response i could have asked for and even sang the song in the way i had imagined without me showing them, after just one time through repeating the parts! we overlapped the parts and harmonized in a most beautiful way. so satisfying for my little heart.

superhero ride

so i came down to Northern California for this superhero bicycle ride that was called by SuperStretch.  this trip is about connecting with models of community that might have something to teach me about generative community. the superhero way of community if one of the top three i found while on the Hoop Tour. i called a ride in 2014 where i was living on Lopez Island called the Salish Sea Freedom Ride. it didn't really come together, so when i heard of this one in california i was excited to be part of another ride. more of the story coming soon...