Home for a Quick Touchdown

The view above at Crossroads is from the gazebo where our clients start every day with meditation. It's also where a good-bye ceremony is held for each client who successfully completes the program. Although I had no ceremony, I nonetheless went to the gazebo and said good-bye once again to Crossroads as my six week contract ended. I love this spot in this special place of healing and was pleased to be able to help out these clients who want to turn their lives around and are willing to do the hard work to accomplish this. I treasure the opportunity to serve them in this endeavor. How could I not? Hard work so worth doing.

And now I'm home for a brief recharge, a great friend gathering and quick change of clothes before heading out again but this time for FUN! Fun on vacation with my Honey, our daughter and the grands. Fun for almost a month, fun in Disney World, fun at the beach and fun with my sister-in-law and friend and various nieces and great nieces/nephews as well!

A little more about the gathering of friends that my honey had arranged for last evening. Five friends were unavailable but fifteen friends came to share pizza, conversation and comraderie. It was a splendid night and so very wonderful to have all our good friends together meeting one another, some for the first time, and giving me the chance to talk with them all at one time when my time here is limited because of vacation. What a great time I had! How grateful I am for the friends we have made here. I love my life, in part, because of them. Grazie Mille i miei amici!

May Sarton

In our program here at Crossroads we sometimes use poetry to best express a particular topic. My colleague, Greg, uses this poem of May Sarton's to challenge our clients to seize the opportunity given to them in treatment to do just as she describes- become themselves. First published in 1948, it's a favorite of mine and I was startled and pleased to see it on the clients' counter. Sarton was an amazingly prolific writer, please enjoy.

Now I Become Myself

Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before--"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun! 

   May Sarton

Nelson's Dockyard

Nelson's Dockyard National Park is a cultural heritage site in English Harbour, Antigua. I was there a couple of days ago and enjoyed the combination of old buildings (built in the 1870's) and nature, including a lovely, twice- sheltered harbour. Such a pretty spot and largely deserted this time of year.  It recently hosted the Antigua Sailing Week, a bustling international event attracting boats from all over the world, but those folks are long gone. Some of the races coursed by Crossroads and awed our clients. There's something ancient and classic in crisp, white sails rounded with wind against the blue of sea and sky.

This is where the naval boats of another day came for repairs.

I could hear the echoes of workers' voices as they repaired and refinished the ships. I wonder if they have work songs to accompany them?

Beach Day

We've had a lot of rain lately but yesterday was sunny and warm so I hit the beach with my friend, Annee.

Coming around the western , Caribbean Sea side of the Island, we breathed deeper:

We swam, walked and lounged at Turner's Beach with its incredible turquoise water:

We plunked our lounge chairs in the dual shade of palm tree and wood umbrellas:

A house next to the beach with amazing views of  it all:

Sugar used to be king here before it could be made cheaper in another country. They still make rum from the sugar cane, though. We saw this restored sugar mill on our way home:

This is my last week at Crossroads so I'll grab all the Island opportunities I can.

Two Doves

Two doves, mottled brown on the red metal roof next door, sang me awake this morning. Not the furious chorus of birds that greet the dawn. But throaty coos, one magnifying the other, until it reached me and led me out of sleep to their morning song.

"And anon there came in a dove at a window, and in her mouth there seemed a little censer of gold, and therewithal there was such a savour as all the spicery of the world had been there."
(Sir Thomas Mallory)

Happy Mother's Day

I walked out of dinner two nights ago and this was our sunset. 

Happy Mother's Day to all who bravely gave birth to the next generation. Well done!

AA in Antigua

This is where I attended an AA meeting with our clients. Honest.

From My Little Corner of the World

We had rain galore last night and various shades of gray skies today interspersed with showers. The clouds scudding around were the fast moving kind that arrange and rearrange themselves dramatically on their way to dump their rain here or there as they see fit. It is quite a show. 


It forms the back drop as I stay present to the difficult stories of those with whom I work. 

Make it Right

This is my new next door neighbor who has greeted me the last two mornings and started my day with beauty. Flowers of all varieties and colors abound here but she caught my eye and made me grateful for such loveliness.

Perhaps I've been more aware of her because of a wonderful thing that occurred two days ago. My beach bag had been stolen out of my car on the way home from the beach on Sunday when I got out of the car at an overlook to take photos. It held my cell phone, running watch and temporary driver's license along with a small amount of money. I was discouraged, angry and my heart felt heavy. But, on Tuesday I received a call from the local police to come to the station for my bag. They said a mother came into the station and said "I'm returning this." Not "I found this" but "I'm returning this."

I can only imagine the rest of the story and the heartache involved for her but I thank her and bless her and acknowledge how dramatically she changed my experience. My heart felt lighter. I actually skipped to my cottage when I got back. I'm grateful for her compassionate action.

Healing Landscapes

"Tribal people have known this for millennia, sensitive as they are to the healing properties of landscapes- those that teach us our limits. Contemplating the sacred balance of wild terrain of the seas is recognized as therapeutic, restoring the inner geography of the soul."
(The Solace of Fierce Landscape: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality by Belden Lane)



I caught the best part of the day yesterday at the local beach, Half Moon Bay. It's secluded and gorgeous. The water is warm enough to just walk right in, bob around and talk with my friend, Annee, to my heart's content. It was a restorative way to relax after my first full week of work.

Crossroads also recognizes the healing terrain of the sea as therapeutic. This is the view of the bay today  from one of the porches. Just walking onto the campus is soothing.

The sea has always been a healing landscape for me. What about for you?

Update From Antigua

The sun is shining still as it has all day but gray storm clouds fill the sky to the West and block the sun now and again as rain readies to fall. It didn't take long to jump back in the saddle at Crossroads and feel at home, especially with the warm welcome from the staff.

The view from my room:

Saturday at Long Bay Beach with good friends. This is my friend Annee Delaware's photo:

We lounged here, swam, walked the beach and talked the day away:

And admired the local crafts:

I scurry around researching the latest on pertinent topics for our clients and current best clinical practices. But I calm myself with the knowledge that what's most important comes from the heart rather than the head. Have to say I love this work.