Meri's Musings

In our little dahabeya, we cruised from Aswan to Luxor, mooring alongshore in relative isolation, far from the bigger river boats. We spent a total of eight nights aboard the Afandina so the daylight hours (when we weren't at ancient sites or participating in writing sessions) afforded us a chance to sit and chat and watch Egypt go by. The area alongside the river is verdant. But, as you can see, the desert is never far away.

How do I explain Egypt to you? It's both the expected and the unexpected. I didn't expect, for example, that traffic in Cairo would make Manhattan cabbies look like models of civility. I didn't anticipate that every place I looked I'd find a visual feast. I didn't know that I'd take a whole series of photos of beautiful weathered doors in Esna and Luxor. I expected to find photo ops in abundance and I wasn't disappointed. I didn't expect that when Egyptians asked if we were English or Canadian and found that we were Americans, they'd burst into grins and flash a thumbs up and say "Obama! Good man." But they did. What a trip! I'll be showing you more glimpses of Egypt in days to come. I hope you won't get bored.

Exhausted. In need of sleep. Flying home tomorrow. Talk to you soon. Have I got photos for you! (But not quite yet).

Out of a shattered open heart springs a fountain of fiery sacred passion that will never run dry. - Rumi "Shattered" - copyright 2007 Meri Arnett-Kremian. I have learned not to worry about love but to honor its coming with all my heart. - Alice Walker I'm aiming to be juicy with creative energy, to express that fiery sacred passion, to keep my shattered open heart open. Why worry about finding love? Love for another man who makes my heart sing will come or not, as it chooses. Right now I'm in love with infinite possibilities and manifesting magic. p.s. I leave today for the photography workshop with Jan Phillips in the Adirondacks and then head to Egypt for my writing workshop & Egyptian mysteries tour. I've prepared a few posts to run during my absence because I don't know whether I'll be able to post regularly while I'm gone. Please forgive me if I'm not as chatty as I usually am. I know I'll have a lot of material on my return. Blessing...

As I walked outside in the early morning light, the moon was hanging in the western sky, full and shiny. Ah, I thought. Maybe that's it. I've been feeling particularly open the past few days; feeling tender and raw as if I'm taking on some secret sadness from unknown sources. Sensing that I'm wide open psychic-ly and not particularly well shielded. Feeling mutable and changeable as if the slightest breeze will alter the way things look to me forever. "Mutable" copyright 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. If, as I've been told, this wander I'm going on starting in mid-week will alter me in profound ways I can't anticipate, the cycles of the moon, the wind ruffling the water's surface, the feeling of tenderness for the suffering in the world and a sense of being on the cusp of something too big to grasp with my mind are probably all part of the travel package. A little preview, so to speak. Soul Journey. All aboard. . . . .

Remember my friend Sarah? Sarah was one of the intrepid "girlfriends" in the girlfriends trip to Mexico in September. Sarah is an amazing woman -- a single mom who, at 40 or so, took on the custody of a neglected infant who was failing to thrive in the care of his drug-afflicted mom. He's made amazing progress and is now a robust, verbally adept, intelligent preschooler. Sarah's been granted permanent custody of this little boy who thinks of her as his Mom. Sarah is also a physical therapist of great skill who has developed a sub-speciality in working with post-mastectomy clients who developed lymphodema. And given that physical therapy requires a lot of exertion and being on your feet, (not to mention the stamina required of a 40-something mom of a preschooler) Sarah's body has to be in good working order. Except that a couple of months ago she injured her back and figured she'd grit her teeth and get through it. It didn't work that way. Sarah's havin...

Just thought I'd give you a little preview of the Nile River portion of my trip to Egypt. We'll be sailing aboard the Afandina, a new steel-hulled dahabeya. One of our group found this You-Tube piece that explains about the boat. It was produced by SpiritQuest Tours, the Egyptian partner of my American tour company Shamanic Journeys . So enjoy............... I know I will!

I've got to admit that I'm not a beer drinker. I think it smells and tastes. . . well. . . "nasty" comes to mind. I do, however, brake for art. Usually. Just not in this case. Talk about odd couples. . .

The outward work can never be small if the inward one is great, and the outward work can never be great or good if the inward is small or of little worth. The inward work always includes in itself all size, all breadth and all length. - Meister Eckhart "Time Travel" copyright 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. So much work to be done on every level. Here's a glimpse of my emerging series called Time Within Time. That's one facet of the work calling out to me. Each of the pieces in this new series includes the iconic sunflower, which always seeks to face the light even though it encounters times of darkness and shadow so deep that the light seems extinguished forever. Then the light breaks through again. Pure, clear light. So many layers to be explored. So many poems to find. So many songs to sing. Come dance with me.