Ok I'm feeling better now.

So, the whole not being a Christian thing has blown over for me. (Emotionally, that is.) I think deciding to describe myself as a Culdee until I'm christinated into being a proper orthodox made me feel better. I was told the Culdean church had died out and was very very mysterious. Nobody in Scotland really knoew anything about them.

mind, they were just the Orthodox that Rome supressed in the 11th century.

Anyway.... thanks for your sympathy.... I really needed it. It's good to have a place to have a quiet shout now and again.

Jocey- See you Thursday!!!!

So Where Were We?

Oh yes, having a crisis.

Really personal stuff isn't a topic for the online world, in my opinion, but lets just say that re-entry is difficult after having a major mystical, cultural, and physical experience like I had on my Eastern European adventure. I've been making some small but huge changes over the last few weeks and therefore avoiding the internet for anything except shop promotion. Now I'm able to come back to Tribe in a more measured way.

So, now what's up?

The etsy shop www.SilverSunbeam.etsy.com is getting more stock every few days and I'm having a Christmas In July Sale. I signed up for buying ads with Project Wonderful, which works on an infinite bid system, where I can buy ads by the minuet. I've also started another blog about crafting, animals and spirituality.... three things very close to my heart. Take a look.... www.craftingwithcats.blogspot.com

Tomorrow I go to the International Folk Art Market here in Santa Fe.... major inspiration and hopefully fewer people with the lousy tourist season.

Recomposition

How does one integrate an experience like the whirlwind that was Georgia? A fortnight of learning some amazing music with some righteous feasting would be enough for one trip. Six monasteries, four relics (including a whole foot,) the Patriarch and a feast thrown by an Abbess would be another whole adventure. A personal tour led by the governor of nearly a third of the country who is a living link to a revered saint and last in his royal line with two feasts involving fatted calf and Caspian Sea sturgeon would surely count as an adventure of its own too. Yet, all these things and more happened in the space of fourteen days, along with simpler pleasures like blooming pomegranates, rose petal jelly, and some really nice animals.

How can I make comprehensible a culture where miracles are as common as dirt? Where saints walk among the people and where the religious head is not merely respected but loved with open arms? How can I possibly describe living for even a few hours amongst Christians who think not of sin and denial but of perfection and pleasure? Of a place where one can go from dour to childlike in a moment, then back to respectability just as fast... an no-one thinks of you as inconsistent? A place where wholeness is the goal?

I can't. I can only bring you a summation of the lesson: Abandon your apathy! Forget your lukewarm feelings and make a decision! Stand for something even if it isn't a big thing. State your opinion and don't be afraid to be in disagreement. Smile after you've blown up. And don't be afraid to believe in the possibility of God. It believes in you, after all.

Adventures in Mshketa

I'm not certain how I should go about telling the world of my days in the ancient capital of Mshketa. Let us begin with feeling ill and dehydrated from first a two hour drive on lumpy roads with only a suggestion of "lanes" and then two glorious hours in the 1700 year old sulphur baths in Tiblisi. Go. Pay the extra 20 lari for the exfoliating massage. You'll know that bliss is possible. But, I didn't feel well... couldn't fathom lunch beyond a plate of potatoes and if I drank much water my intestines turned in on themselves. Ouch. At least it wasn't the runs. At Supra that night I had to be driven back to the hotel early before I truly lost it. Next morning I awoke repaired but too late to go up the mountain... so I went on an excursion with four other ladies and our host, the Governor.

We visited two monesteries founded by the Syrian fathers where I had some unusual-for-us-foreigners experiences. The Georgians thought hearing the saints was normal and were happy I had the sense to respond. Yes, miracles are considered an everyday experience. I don't mean "the miracle of birth" but things like cure by prayer, myrrh gushing and blood gushing icons, telepathy, having animals speak to you in your own language..... that sort of thing.

"Home" in the UK

So, I'm well landed into London and waiting for my flight to Edinburgh. The days after my visit to Bodbe got much more interesting, and when I have time I'll blog some stories.

Our Sighnagi concert went well. We were very nervous and everyone was very tetchy beforehand. The theatre was brand new, wich is to say they took a building and made it habital after years of neglect durring the revolution. the acoustics were perfectly dead. Sound studios spend bukko bucks to get what they have.... but the sound certainly carried by the audience response.

We then had 2 1/2 days of intensive feasting and sight seeing. Many of my fellow Harmonites felt pushed and exhausted by our host's idea of "making sure we're well entertained." It bordered on breakneck. On the evening of that third day.... with only 10 minutes rehearsal in all that time... we put on a great concert with some of the best performers of traditional music in the country. The town has hosted Village Harmony concerts for 9 years and many thought it was the best one yet. Amazing, as we were like herding (Siamese) cats most of the time.

It was an amazing, wild, emotional trip. Once in a lifetime, I am certain. If you want to sing.... get on the mailing list. It'll change your voice and maybe your life. (And you can go all sorts of interesting places.)

TheGeorgian Patriarch and the Second Supra

I wrote to you that today we were going to visit the nearby monestery of Bodbe, which was founded by St Nino in the 4th century (though the oldest building is only 9th cent.) Well, the Patriarch showed up yesterday for the weekend and we went to a special liturgy for the relics he brought with him.... one of which is the foot of St Andrew. I guess Scotland only got the skull and thigh bones. So, it was a spectical and I was eventually pushed up as far as one can go. It ws all very beautiful.... I think I heard God sing. Angels at least.

After the service we watched as they processed around the church with the relics and then we gathered outside the gate between the church and the monestary (it's a nunnery but they don't discriminate here) and we sang for the Patriarch who then taught us an Caribean allelujah. (We'll be opening our concerts with it.) From there we were invited by the Abess and the Patriarch to come to the Supra. There were a LOT of people but everyone was made to wait until tables and everything were brought in for us. Durring the Supra we then sang more songs at the request of our hosts.

I'm still processing it all, as we only arrived back into Sighnagi less than 2 hours ago, but it was much more than "a wonderful experience." Wish I could give you all little pastilles of it's taste.

David-Gareji and the first Supra

Yesterday we went out to the monestary of David-Gareji which is in the desert. We were given an extra special blessing there in that there had been a lot of rain earlier in the month and the whole reagon was a blanket of wildflowers. We passed donkey and horse carts, sheep, cattle in the road (ever seen a brindled cow?) and miles and miles of what looked like open pararie. At the monestary we hiked up past the main house and onto the ridge where we could explore the old caves and their frescoes, some dating to the 12th century or before. This is a hard kike in parts as it is sometimes very steep and most of it has a 400+ foot drop off. We were surrounded by not only the flowers but yellow bodied starlings, eagles, and hawks. We even saw a lizard or two. At the end we visited the grve of David Gareji which is in the main "house" and saw the caves where he and his first deciple lived. Everyone felt great for having managed the hike and several of us women doubly so for having done it in a long skirt!

We then drove to a restraunt in the nearest village (an hour away) and had a mini Supra... much more wine and food than we could have hoped to eat over about a three hour period. Our hosts called it a practice run so that we would have a little idea of what to expect.

Iberia the Beautiful

Well, the flight into Tiblisi was uneventful and the Georgians gently friendly on the plane. Several Americans arrived on the same flight, so I had someone to go through immigration (such as it is) with me It's a small but modern airport in the European mode. In fact, everything here is very European. It's very comfortable in that sense.

The area where I am staying is what the ancients called Iberia and it is beautiful!!! Fron the town of Sighnaghi we have the most awesome view of the snow-capped Causcus range. It's only 12000 feet at the highest but it rises out a plane so flat it would make Kansas jealous.

The town is small but not a village by any stretch of the immagination and it is exceptionally safe. There is virtually no crime. There is a Mexican restraunt on our street run by one of the Zedashe singers. Yes, you read that right. A mexican restraunt. It's called Pancho Villa's and they play cumbia music when they're open. I made a little video.

Yesterday was independence day so we broke from practice a little early to hear the president speak at "3 o'clock Georgian time." He arrived at 6.30 and went straight into the reception without making a speech. I did manage to get a picture of him, though!

The internet office is a pretty good connection and VERY CHEAP... 2 lari an hour... about $1.20. No idea about internet in other towns. Signagi is the first town to be modernised after Tiblisi, so it's "light years" ahead of most places. This is to say that there is good electricity and water most of the time. We even have flush toilets!

The music part is very hard, but I think we'll do well enough with the Georgian music. The teachers (all locals) have picked a variety that are beautiful and mostly pertty funny. We have 2 practices of three hours each day and then a shape note session in the evening. That's giving me more trouble than the Georgian. Georgian is just complex but these shape hymns make me want to slit my wrists. It's an unusually viceral response.... will try again to do tonight's practice, but if I feel ill again I'll just skip them.

Food here is good, if a lot too few calories in a day. I'm getting maybe 800 cal. Produce is amazing and the yoghurt is equally good but I'm not particulary wowed by the food our cook has made. One of our hosts owns a traditional winery where they make the wine in amphorae.... he hopes to be selling it in America this autumn. The white looks like whiskey and is OK but the red us like syrup in texture and will hit every button in your head. It's wonderful!

Waiting for Tiblisi

My excitement & trepidation increases as the minuets & hours until my arrival into Tiblisi become fewer. This trip remained a fantasty until just 2 days ago. I truly didn't feel like it was happening. It felt unreal. Then last night, about 6 o'clock it hit me. All of a sudden I ciuld feel the impending joy and excitement. It was as though the Helping Ones gave me a sneak preview to let me know that this will be one of the most wonderful experiences of my jaunt upon the earth. Channeling that energy...unable to sleep... I didwhat I often do... ...I sewed a little coat. I'm wearing it now and it's as if a thousnd little arms are hugging me with all the joy they can possess.

Having these thousand viceral love atoms surround me is a good thing as I'm waiting out an 11 hour layover, mostly at the check-in coounter. Heathrow's terminal 1 is a lousey airport. Retro might be the spin.... no natural light and half under reconstruction. At 6.30 'll be able to go thru security... only 4.5 hours to go.

ps... amercans.... petrol is 9.60 a gallon here.

Hello all my Brittish friends... I'm waving at you.