An elegiac memory dedicated to our mother Mary

I rest in the swing of the small pergola that overlooks the lake where Gilead exists. This refuge for my little sister Sylvia is filled with beauty as only God can produce! The early evening's light casts images of that beauty onto the lake’s water.  The surrounding trees pulsate across the windswept water. The imperfect reality of nature is camouflaged by the shimmering surface of the lake.

In the quietness of this moment I looked back into time and see our mother. She was a rare adult/child who carried the pain of adulthood covered with the playfulness of a child.  She, like the lake, could pass from the heat of the sweltering day into the shimmer of childhood.  In her dependence on others for help to provide for her children, she performed illusions much like a magician.

She could take the simplest objects and turn them into the wonders of the world. Her magic was as dazzling and elusive as the trees that I now see in Gilead’s reflective surface! Only the bright sun of another day can reveal the reality of those wonders.  Even though the reality of Gilead’s illusions shall pass into the light of day, our Mother’s magic touch, as the reflections on the lake, bring peace to my aging soul! 
David Allan Britt

My beautiful niece Annette wrote this

We are all guilty of getting caught up in the busy demands of life. For me, my Aunt Sylvia's home (Gilead) is a retreat by the water's edge, a place where I love to go and recharge my batteries. Somehow the serene beauty of nature puts everything into perspective. It is a welcomed escape from all that weighs me down. 

Find what makes you happy and what gives you peace. Make the most of every day and take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures that life has to offer. Be blessed!

Dearest Annette, I am so looking forward to your visit and I'm so blessed to have you in my life!

Dear Reader, please visit Annette's website for her husband Kevin:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kevinchandler

Failed Vegan

Didn't want to leave the impression that I had managed to stay on the straight and narrow path.  After being a pretty faithful vegan for two months, I fell back off with a crash.  Which is too bad because I felt so much better while I was eschewing meat (as opposed to chewing meat).  Anyway, I'm a meat eater.  It's what I crave when I'm hungry.  So I guess I'll just have to find a way to eat less of it or eat it in a healthier way.  At least I'm keeping better care of my house than I used to, so I guess I have to forgive myself for the ways in which I fail to be the person I had hoped to be.

Spring is here once more...

The loveliest time of the year in the Columbia area.  What a blessing to see the tender fragile blossoms of spring burst forth.  I was still enjoying winter, but I've never lived anywhere prettier.  I have a new cat, Pepper, but because she has a white stripe down her black back, I also call her Pepe le Pew!   You'll only get that reference if you're old like me.

The struggle continues...

I want to record that on November 9th, 2009, I took my first step on the road to taking charge of my health.  I began reading Dr. Esselstyn's "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and it filled me with hope that with a new style of eating and living, I can at least attempt to avoid ill health as much as possible, especially strokes and heart attacks, which may not lead to death, but often lead to dependency.  In the past 17 days I have been reading and researching books and online information concerning what is, in effect, a low fat vegan diet.  In the process I have given up coffee, soda,  meat (except for Thanksgiving turkey) and a host of other foods.  It would be simpler to say what I am allowed to eat now, which is fruits (two or three a day), vegetables (including starchy ones like potatoes), whole grains (brown rice and steel-cut oats, parimarily).  I feel very good.  I won't be able to record the weight that I started at, since I refuse to weigh myself.  I have found that in the past to be a recipe for failure.  If you diet merely to lose weight and you don't lose weight, you begin to feel that there is no point to the deprivation that you are enduring.  However, if you diet for health, to feel better, to improve your odds in the great gamble of life, then you are far more likely to stick with it, especially if you begin immediately to feel better and lighter and happier, which is what has happened to me so far.  Even more to the point, the "cheating" I did on Thanksgiving and the giant oatmeal cookies I succumbed to at Earth Fare made my gut hurt and was convincing proof that no matter how good things might taste, it's not worth the price.  I'm blogging about this mainly for my own benefit, to try to keep myself honest as I explore this new path.  I hope to inspire others to look into the health benefits of the low-fat vegan diet, but I'm not kidding myself that it's easy, because I've had a few struggles with it myself and I am just about as motivated as I could be, short of having actually had a heart attack!  I wish I'd read this information years ago when it first came out.  Think how much further ahead I would be at this point and how much needless worry I would have avoided.  Ya live, ya learn.  

Gilead Nights, by my beloved brother

Settling deep in an old porch swing

like a bag of dry granular earth.

I feel the cool of the sunless sky.

Aches dissolve in an evening view!

 

Stars twinkle from their lofty perch

with soft enchantment to calm the day.

Now katydids project their chirping songs

which chide the invading worries of day.

 

Look! A shooting star streaks the sky,

A whippoorwill calls out with a mating song.

The splash of a fish bounding for freedom

join songs of nature to heal my thoughts!

 

Evening darkens with the croaking of frogs,

fireflies dart across the panorama of night.

I feel now more human than a bag of dirt.

The panorama of Gilead has given me rest!

 

 

David A. Britt - April 10, 2009

Gilead, a poem by my brother

A call from the pristine waters of Gilead

Haunt my memories of this quiet repose!

A gull’s bill creases the mirror topped lake;

Silver minnows swim gently below.

The only sounds were the soft songs of Nature.

 

A push or two on the paddleboat’s drive

Brings yet another of nature’s delights!

Tall trees cast wiggling shadows across

Waters presenting an inverted coalesce.   

We feel to say nothing but inhale the view!

We sat in the dock’s veranda and talked

Of our loving God and our lives so far.

There were no intrusions to this restful repose

Only our memories and the moment we shared!

The only sounds were the soft songs of Nature.

Too soon my retreat at Gilead was over.

It was back to a world of noise and hustle.

All struggles of the busy world reappeared

Until memories bring again Gilead’s repose,

I hear again her sweet songs of Nature!

David A. Britt - April 4, 2009