Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year, From 2008


A visitor from the Deer Nation to the Cabinette.

It is just another day to me, really. There is no significant reason to celebrate it in my mind. I am so glad that I am much more in tune to Nature and the Universe than I am to the calendar and clock. Yesterday evening, while driving to an event, I watched the sun setting in the Southwest. Up here, way up North in Wisconsin, the sun rises and sets South of the Equator and that means a sunrise and set way down in the Southern sky, hence the longer periods of darkness.

I'll watch, and soon Ole Sol will make its way back and be North and stay out shining and lighting our way until close to 10 p.m. All the daylight savings time discussion means nothing either for that matter. The clock will say 10 p.m., but it will have been light for over 18 hours. Now, we barely get eight hours of sunlight.

I can see the reasons and harbor no malice towards New Year. I just go on living. Many enterprises go into reflection. I'm seeing this on some blogs , on the news, in the paper. "The Year In Review" is the story byline. Review what already happened. Look back and have a reminder of sadness in the world? That's the news.


Gracie and her Papa, having a good time.

A new family member that was born into our family, Gracie Jayne, happened in calendar year 2007. I want to see her walking in 2008. I want to be alive to see it, witness it. I don't need to remember she was born last year even though it was a very happy and miraculous event. I see her, a human being. I know she is here.


Gracie Jayne, soon to be one year, visiting with Onawah at the kitchen window.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a gloom and doom piece here. This is just my take on it. All the dot org's are doing their level best to get me to shell out some moola before the end of the calendar year. I'm fucking broke. The fucking holidays and the fucking pickup truck repairs took all my fucking money. What makes True Majority, Move On and Amnesty International think I need a fucking tax deduction? Don't they know their base is poor people. Why would the rich want any change in the policies of king bush? They are getting richer off of it as the peons suffer and pay higher everything. Gas, food, utilities, the basics, but give them money to combat these things. What a dichotomy.

I had the pleasure and honor of attending a Sweat Lodge last night. It was in honor of the soon to be January Moon. The Moon of Popping Trees. It's so cold the trees seem to "PoP". They do make noises. Ever hear the ice on a lake freeze? It is a sound like no other. No, it is like the cry of a whale, sort of. It is natural. The lake is talking to you like the whale is speaking as well.

The leader told us that the Elders used the Winter and the long nights to tell stories. he said in the Ojibwe culture, their history is oral. The stories were passed down and told, sometimes over and over, and then repeated as the ones who heard the first version grew into eldership. Last night, I was recognized as an Elder and a Warrior and I told my story to the younger people there. I told them about being a Warrior and my journey to South Carolina to return the Spirit of my Brother in Arms to his people. I told them how I truly believed that I was guided on this path to have this happen. I told of the signs, the eagles, the way things dropped into place, the healing that happened, the closure. I was proud to tell this story and was proud to tell it to people who sat and listened, or at least were polite about it all and didn't interrupt me.

This ceremony was held in the woods behind a place called Mishomis House. Mishomis means Grand Father in the Anishanabe language, the voice of the Ojibwe, or Chippewa people. It is a program house for people with alcohol and drug addictions. New years was a usual time to drink maybe a little more than they usually drank. We try to hold a Lodge ceremony around New Years Eve as a motivator and inspiration for those that suffer from these addictions. We hold the ceremony, then go on living. I had my New Years "party" at that Lodge, so to speak.


The Great Lake Superior. A view through the woods at the cabinette.


I’ll fool around here at home today and tomorrow with my new Cassette Tape Archiver. A really neat device that will allow me to make all my old cassettes into CD’s and MP3 files for the iPod. Cool, heh? All that great music has been sitting in a milk crate. Now it will be resurrected and listened to instead of just recalled in conversations.

“I have this great cassette of the Who doing “Tommy” at Radio City Music Hall from 1972” I would say.

“Oh man, that would be awesome to hear that” my friend would respond.

“You got a tape deck?” I’d ask.

“No, mine broke years ago and I never bought another one. Everything went to CD’s” He’d say.

“Damn, too bad” says I.


Maybe I’ll watch Pirates of the Caribbean III again. I like that fantasy stuff if it has pirates in it. Maybe I’ll watch the whole trilogy. Or Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I love that movie too.

What ever you do, do it well. If this is a step for a new beginning for you, this New Year, then do that well too. It's a leap year, so, you'll have an extra day on your calendar in case you make a mistake. A Mulligan on life, cool concept. But there are always thirteen moons in a year.

We’ll be moving back into the Cabinette in a few weeks. I can’t wait. We’re getting ready for that. It will be a change from living in this cozy house in town. But it’s not a resolution or anything like that. It’s just our home, and I’ll be glad to return to it, cold and snow or not. I did get to lay up a lot of fire wood, so I’m ready. I can see myself now, a warm fire. My tape deck belting out the old stuff as I edit and catalogue my “new” CD collection and add it to the rest. I’ll need to buy another case and one of those stacks of CD/RW’s for all the recording. A good vision of how to spend Winter at the Cabinette.

In the meantime. Have a good New Year. This year, every year, every day of every year, for you and all you hold dear.

And Peace to All in the Universe.


Mr. and Mrs. Spadoman.

13 comments:

Anne said...

this post reflects many thoughts i am having. new years eve was always one of my happiest times. this due to the incredible music i got to see, year-after-year. it spoiled me. now it's been many years since a n.y.e. show. we still have the music though. archived forever. things are much more low-key than they were when we danced and laughed and sang and cried all night long, with all our best pals. and that's a bit sad. but o.k.

the year absolutely sucked for so many of us. all over the world. i am thankful for one more year with the family i cherish. my anchor in this life.
one cool thing this year was having a cup of coffee at moody's with my pal joe. thanks for being a bright spot. some day i hope our families will meet. it just seems right. let's make 2008 a year of changes. big, revolutionary changes! toward peace.

fjb said...

Have a good one Joe, and many more to come. To me this night means Spring is truly on it's way, and right now I could use the hope which it brings.

A good dose of Monty Python sounds like a great plan.

DivaJood said...

Happy new year to you, and your family. Gracie looks adorable.

No said...

Happy New Year to All...thanks for all of the the inspiration this last year...I've learned a lot...

D.K. Raed said...

I know I haven't been around in awhile, but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking of you. What a treat to see Gracie growing up!

oooh, I DO like your idea of pirate movies for NYDay. We usually go for something old. Last year was "The Lion in Winter". My favorite Monty Python is still "The Meaning of Life".

Glad you have such wonderful sweat lodge experiences. You know the Celtic culture has those same oral traditions, stories passed down for generations, going back through the mists of time. It led to some phenonmenal memory capacity on the part of the story-tellers, the bards.

You express many of the same thoughts about a day on the calendar as I feel. It's just a day. But it is a point in time to mark the changing of the year. I look fwd to a better 2008 for all, and wish the whole Spado Familia a joyous year ahead!

vietnamvet70 said...

Hi Joe :

Another great blog entry from you. Since I was at all the places in your pictures and stories, it is sort of as if I am there again.... I would like to see all the ice and snow there, for maybe a day...lol Seriously, the time I spent with you and Barb, the gang at the Black Cat, and your other friends, meant a lot to me. Hope to see you again this summer !!

All the best Brother !!

Larry

John Good said...

Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year, my friend! We celebrated the turnover here with friends at home; no better time or place.

Fran said...

Best wishes to you & the Mrs. & all the Spados, including Ms. Gracie. Thank you for the work you do for peace. For your candid posts.
'07 was not a fun year to look back on, so I'm looking foward to the new year.

Unknown said...

I have so many traditions associated with New Years Day, and what you are doing as the New Year roles in. I am beginning to let go of some of them. Because, as you right so eloquently, it is just a day after all.

I love the fact that there are 13 moons in a year. Its like a gift. The pictures are wonderful, the deer breathtaking.

Coffee Messiah said...

My Best to You and the Family, to be sure.

Your outdoor, Native American events are a cohesive part of seeing the positive in life.

Sometimes with lack of real news and creativity, it seems there's nothing else going on, not people attempting to make their world a better place.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

All the same, I hope 2008 will be a wonderful year for you and yours.

Mary said...

Great post and I love the pictures. So much joy in your faces.
I'm feeling a little melancholy this new year. Hopefully it will pass. I wish you and yours good things for the new year.

P.S.- I'm fucking broke too and I share your thoughts on all the requests for donations.

Carol Gee said...

Happy New Year to you Joe. Your post was just wonderful! It was a great piece of multi-dimensional writing. I love going with you to the sweat lodge. I loved seeing smiling faces, and your looking forward to the Cabinette.
Best wishes for you and those you love in 2008. Hope your coffee is perfect most of the time. Warm regards from me, Gee Carol.