My first walk about Philadelphia

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking the regional train from the Wallingford station (only a short 10 minute walk from Pendle Hill) into Center City Philadelphia.


Wallingford Station

I had never been to Philadelphia, except maybe passing through on I-95 on my way elsewhere. I arrived at Suburban station near 16th Street and Archer about 10:45am and had the whole day to explore the city. I found a visitor center near LOVE park and acquired maps and directions to various sites.

I first located the Friends Center, as I have a meeting there one week from Friday for work, so I wanted to be able to get there without pause when needed.

After walking about 10 blocks I arrived in the historical district. I took the guided tour of Independence Hall ...



and stopped by the Free Quaker Meetinghouse (those Quakers that supported the Revolutionary War) and split from the Religious Society of Friends that was pacifists, ... and then stopped by and visited the Arch Street Quaker Meetinghouse,



where I explored the Windows and Mirrors, a traveling exhibit about the Afghanistan War hosted by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

More info at: http://afsc.org/project/windows-and-mirrors

I wandered through the Asian (Chinatown) area of downtown and stopped for a bowl of Pho at a Vietnamese restaurant and then had a Macadamia Nut-Chocolate Chip cookie from a cookie vendor at the Reading Terminal Market ... an amazing indoor farmer's market and more. A place that I definitely plan to return to on my next visit ... and with an appetite ...
http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/

I arrived back at Pendle Hill after the 30 minute return train as the sun was getting low on the horizon with time for a short rest before the dinner bell rang. I hope to continue my exploration of Philadelphia another day, as there was so much I did not have time to see.

Pumpkin carving and a Bonfire ...

Another special day at Pendle Hill ... each with its own "treats".

After dinner this evening the children and a few adults gathered in the dining area to carve pumpkins ...



Afterwards community members wandered down near the organic gardens to a fire pit where we ended the evening with a bonfire, Smores, scary stories and haunting jokes ...


I've been here now for one full week and I am feeling quite at home.
Thanks Pendle Hill community for a wonderful first week!

__________________________________

A Sarasota Friend was expecting to see my poetry in the last blog post, in addition to the John O'Donohue pieces that I shared ... so ... as requested ... here is a poem I wrote during my AEI graduate program during the third semester in the Gulf of Maine Bioregion in the fall of 1994 while on the eastern shore of Grand Manan Island, six miles out into the Altantic ocean. We spent a week hiking the eastern shoreline camping on bluffs overlooking the beaches and watching as Minke whales were sighted during their annual migrations ...

An Island

An Island, Is Land
Separate, cast loose, detached
Rocky cliffs, ever so slowly crumble to the sea.

Yet the sea helps define this place
The sea is its connection with other places
An island needs space apart,
to stretch, to breath, to grow

I feel like an island at times,
Separate, cast loose, detached.
A time to move inward,
for reflection, for silence.

The sea of creation is my connection.
The sea breeze against my face,
Fresh blueberries from a northern meadow,
Sighting hawks on their migration south,
Feeling the ache of tired muscles from a long day's hike.

I often seek this island within,
A comfort, refuge,
shelter from a storm.

My tent calls for me,
It is also an island.
Among the tarps and pines,
and other dwellings of our camp.

A distant light shines out over the sea.
Wind, like an etch-a-sketch draws dark patterns.
And as quickly erases them, moves them,
and works the surface surrounding our world.

We are an island
moving through the thick pines, across fields,
along rocky shores laden with drift wood, netting,
and the cast-off artifacts from other beaches.

Islands help me see connections,
With other island souls,
With my family far away,
With my home, my spouse, and our child to be.

I look down from this island, Grand Manan,
And my thoughts move out across the rolling sea ...

Poetry Night and Epilogue ...

This evening was the first night of a loosely organized poetry sharing. From 7:30-9:00 pm at which any of the community members could come and go, listening and/or sharing poetry. I shared the only poem I knowingly ever wrote, along with a collective poem that I had written one line of. It was a wonderful way to spend my evening, so different from a familiar routine I had of clicking on the TV and sitting mindlessly staring at the electrons beaming my way.

Engaging our hearts, our minds, and our spirits ... thinking deeply ... wondering, pondering, exploring new and old words and ideas.

We ended the evening with Epilogue lead by Friends sojourning from the Portland, OR area who will be leaving us in the morning after the rise of our morning Meeting for Worship. They sharied two piece of writing from the author John O'Donohue and his book "To Bless the Space Between Us". Below are both of the pieces they shared ... the first captured in words many of my thoughts and feelings as I travel thru this threshold into a new beginning ... its entitled,

For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

The second is entitled,

For Presence

Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to
follow its path.

Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.

May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.

May anxiety never linger about you.

May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of
soul.

Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek
no attention.

Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.

May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven
around the heart of wonder.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)

Thanks to David and Kate for leading our Epilogue this evening ...

Transitions ... My first week at Pendle Hill

Family and Friends,

Many of you have ask that I update you all and share a bit about my my adventure and life in Pennsylvania. So ... here is a recounting of my first week living at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Spiritual Study, Retreat and Conference Center outside of Philadelphia.

It is a sunny, warm Thursday and with a slight wind, it is "raining" colorful yellow, red and orange leaves outside, as I sit in the living room of MainHouse writing this blog entry and looking out of the window. My first week living in community at Pendle Hill has been all I had hoped for and much, much more.

I arrived here on Friday October 23rd after checking out of my hotel outside of Harrisburg, PA and taking the "roads less traveled", wandering through the Amish countryside of Lancaster County along rural roads and through towns such as, "Bird In Hand", "Intercourse", and "Whitehorse".
I completed my 2200+ mile journey from Florida to Pennsylvania via Chicago and the corn fields of Illinois where I attended an 8-day intensive Permaculture Design Certification course with Midwest Permaculture, arriving at Pendle Hill late in the afternoon. Many of the staff that I had met during my interviews were away at meetings and conferences, so after a walk about the campus, I found and secured a key to my apartment and began the task of unloading and moving my clothes, boxes and other worldly possessions into my new apartment.

I have a rather large studio apartment on the second floor of Mainhouse. The building includes the welcome and lobby area for guests, students, and sojourners arriving at Pendle Hill, a formal living room, a separate reading room with periodicals and journals, the tray/serving line, kitchen, dish room, dining hall and private dining room all on the first floor and then two apartments on one side of the second story (where my studio is) and then a larger number of guest quarters for rent on the other side of the stairwell.

Living in community is quite a different experience from the life of most. Shared meals, working and living in the same common spaces, daily worship each morning, lots of guests, students and sojourners coming and going ...

Saturday was my day for unpacking and arranging my space. I found that my possessions are now quite minimal, having sold, gifted and pitched almost everything that wouldn't fit into or on top of my Honda Civic. Maintenance staff had provided me with a small twin bed, sofa, desk and chair, sitting chair, and a couple of bookshelves. Simple, but adequate. I stored my kayak in an area near the maintenance building on racks and placed my mountain bike on the back porch under my lanai and porch.

Routines are a part of living in community and I am adjusting nicely to these common daily rhythms ... a morning "wake-up" bell sounds at 7:00am followed my a 7:20am bell to announce that breakfast will be served in 10 minutes at 7:30am ... We then meet in The Barn for a daily 30 minute Meeting for Worship followed by community announcements. The lunch bell sounds at 12:10 prior to lunch at 12:20 and the evening bell at 5:50pm announcing the 6:00pm dinner meal. There is an evening 15 minutes Epilogue a time for silent reflection, prayer, poetry and sharing ... a beautiful way to wind down another full day of living in community.

Daily community chores are also part of everyone's routine. I have yet to be assigned a regular task, but have volunteered on Sunday morning to work in the dish room washing dishes after the breakfast meal and also another day helping with setup for our lunch meal. I also just took over a task for a family of a staff member who would be out of town for the next week. I will be breaking down and sorting/recycling boxes in the kitchen area during his absence.

I have spent my evenings catching up with email and chatting with family and friends via Skype from a WiFi access point in the Library. Both the library and the art studio are open 24/7 and available for anyone in the community.

I had ordered 20 lbs of ripe organic green olives from a farm on the West coast and they arrived over the weekend. I spent most of Sunday evening preparing the olives (cutting the skin slightly of each olive) to begin a 30-day water curing to remove the bitterness, prior to placing them into a vinegar/salt/herb brine for final curing. They should be ready to eat by Christmas time. In case you are wondering, 20 lbs of Olives just about fills a 5 gallon bucket! Also every Sunday evening there is always a special Meeting for Prayers and Healing service in The Barn.

The beginning days of this week I spent shopping for a few items for my apartment, finding a bank and setting up an account, and learning my way around the nearby towns of Media and Swarthmore. I was able to find the public safety office at Swarthmore College and get my college ID, allowing me access and free use of the gym, pool and library as well as the ability to audit college courses when it may fit my schedule and interest. I also located a small yarn shop in Swarthmore and purchased enough wool yarn to start knitting two pairs of socks.

Monday evenings the Pendle Hill choir practices and a performance is scheduled for sometime during the holiday season.

Tuesday I was able to get setup and access to my Pendle Hill email account and also setup a online training account to start learning various software programs that I will need to be familiar with.

Every Wednesday also includes a morning community work session (9:15am-noon) where everyone is encouraged to join a work group and help with a task around campus. I worked in the morning session helping to add a connector section to the perimeter trail and laying wood-chipped mulch in preparation for Pendle Hill's 80th anniversary celebration scheduled for Nov 12-14th. At 10:30am the bell is rung and everyone gathers at Mainhouse for a popcorn snack break, lemonade and fellowship. After the break I worked the remainder of the morning in the kitchen area peeling garlic and prepping turnips and radishes for upcoming meals. Wednesday afternoons there is a yoga class for anyone in the community that would like to attend.

Today at the rise of our morning Meeting for Worship, we had a "stand up" staff meeting with discussion and announcements about the week ahead. I have spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon organizing photos to include on the slideshow on this blog and in writing this post. You can view photos of Pendle Hill, my apartment, various building and the grounds and trail around campus here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ksrsrq/PendleHill02# This evening is an informal poetry session prior to Epilogue ...

Living in community is a very full and exciting way ... I hope some of you will consider taking time out of your busy lives and coming to Pendle Hill to sojourn for a weekend or longer and experience the calm, relaxing, peaceful surroundings. More information about sojourning at Pendle Hill can be found here: http://www.pendlehill.org/bandb

I will continue adding my thoughts and other ramblings from time to time as I continue my transition and learning a new way of living at Pendle Hill. I feel very blessed to be a part of this wonderful community. I'll look forward to sharing more about my adventures with you in the future.

In Peace,
Kurt