My impressions of the day???....hmmm.......very intense in so many ways!

Perhaps the weather Beautiful Gaia bestowed on us as she howled and

ranted all day long, then softened to gentle rain at day's end,

describes the range of emotions and expressions within us as well. A

very full day, as many women stated. And having Carolyn with us was such

a gift, her gentle loving leadership helping to bring us, with

intention, into a community of caring women. (Pat Loucks)

Impressions of Hope: a paragraph on November 17th

I was asked to write a paragraph that summarizes (attempts to summarize) 

our day with Carolyn and with each other at Oceanstone on November 17th.

These thoughts are mine alone and are closer to impressions than memory.

I remember Gaia's insistent living presence in the wild weather. I

remember Carolyn glowing fierce with hope and also briefly overcome with

grief -- and rage that grief was again, or so constantly, necessary. How our

reactions to war can bring forth our own violence, our own readiness to

intervene violently to stop what hurts us, and the earth, so deeply. I

remember Carolyn talking about how we move from the feeling of love to

acts of love. I remember Clea's moving image of the lone sunflower,

surviving mid-cliff. And Donna blowing in the door halfway through the

day, her determination to be with us equal to the delight in the

gorgeous earrings -- Gaia held gently in a silver spiral -- that she offered to Carolyn as a gift and to all of us as a great fundraising idea. I remember some uneasiness around the "blip" of the CD in the bigger picture. I remember the deep pleasure of singing known music and learning new music. I remember part-swoon during

Beginners: that moment when a tricky harmony part starts to come together and we are singing more from our hearts than from the page. What I remember most clearly, however, is that the word "hope" and the response of hope, came up so often in the circle, as we took our place, among the many. (Julie)