Story filled the air and fed the land

We pitched the tents and hung the banner as the Earth shifted from the season of Ku to the season of Lono, and announced the arrival of The Safety Pin Cafe. The overcast sky cleared, and we were treated to a warm late September Sunday.

 People we had never met before joined in the reading of the original medicine story of The Safety Pin Cafe.

Maria hung out with the humans, listening? hearing what she needed. Only she knows.

 Liz, a dear and long-time friend drove down the island from her island of Fidalgo (Anacortes) to share beautifully smoked salmon, and oranges then joined in the reading of medicine, too.

Adults sitting with their eyes closed, or minds in the story. I saw this often as I looked under the tent.

These were the first folks to arrive for story. We have seen them before here at The Safety Pin Cafe.

There were two canine story fans.

Our friend, Jude, reading the chapter of The Safety Pin Cafe, suitable for a pie maker, which she is in real life.

Liz, and Mark and Sophia a couple who we just met who live on Whidbey, sometimes, and in other places, too. From them we learned of something called 'Couch Surfing' ... we have to investigate. Travelers hook-up with people who have a place, a space to offer to land/spend the night. 

No money is exchanged! 

Have you heard of 'Couch Surfing?"

This young boy came with a snail that he was very, very surprised to discover was still at home. 

Prescott reading a chapter from Feed the Land, about what happens when Hares deal with orange growling machines. 

Angie Hart read from the newly written medicine story Feed the Land, a story written especially for the 'prairie front' the Tilth. 

There was no stage today, it was not a day for stages ... the power of story was in the voice, eye-to-eye. I told one tale of Pele and Lono, to begin the day,  and everyone joined in to make the story live. We heard many voices and it was very good! Thank you, mahalo nui to all the folks who joined Pete and me participating, learning about fire-making, whispering a treasured gift of ho'omana into the ear of a potential 'stranger.' Mahalo Kawika and Puni for sharing that mana'o with me, so I could pass it along to those who came. Story filled the air, soothed the heart and fed the land at the prairie front.

That is all, there is no more. Ho, ha, and so the stories were let go ... Amama.

"I'll be seeing you"

"... I continue to struggle to learn basic web stuff (like backing up the site, cloud storage and other things I pretty much loathe doing or even knowing about). I can’t complain at this point. I’ve crested the top of the learning curve and while there is plenty more that I can and will learn, things are functioning both on the surface and behind the scenes…and it’s no longer on a hope and a prayer! It’s definitely good to push to learn new things when you’re older. On that level, I’m grateful for these problems..."-from my astrologer Elsa Panizzon who created the first astrology blog on the internet 11 years ago

I found ElsaElsa the first year Pete and I returned to the Pacific Northwest after the initial times of homelessness and tail-spinning. Our adventures in my homelands were indeed rendering me "faceless" as well as homeless. I was a writer who could no longer touch ink or paper, but there was an escape hatch and it was called BLOG. Short story: I found Elsa's blog, and wove her stories, her angle on astrology (not a new tool, but certainly I needed to make it more real to be useful). Elsa did that for me in 2008. I sought a tether to ground myself, I found a storyteller with real life astrology and a kind and generous heart. I used one of my safety pins and hooked up with her. The pin still works, holding me efficiently and I have learned to blog and stretch what I know about the cyber-publication game as far as my safety pins can take me. Like Elsa I have so much to learn about basic web stuff. My son comes in and out of my life to teach me or do for me what I cannot, and that gets me a bit further on the learning curve. I let that be enough and that makes it possible to accept the disappointments like having to cancel Tea and Toast at The Safety Pin Cafe. The reality of harsh and chemically toxic environments exists. When winter and cold season move people indoors the heat sources (electricity or wood smoke) do two things that challenge us: first, the heat warms up the cleaning agents used in carpeting and in the scents people use to wash and dry their clothing; and if it's wood used to heat most people don't know how or choose not to burn 'clean'. Both scenarios shut out or shut down people like me and my husband. Location, location, location. Where to go, where to be?

We are old and resilient. That's the combination that allows safety pins to be the efficient and moveable magic that is at the belly and heart of The Safety Pin Cafe. Where is she going with this tale? She's taking you outside where the two old dears spend most of their lives. Out in the woods, out in public places that allow for a safe haven, small, "grounded and sensitive" spaces, a place where mushrooms pop up, and where the big red umbrella and banner of the cafe can appear. I have slowly recovered from the body burden of being maluhiluhi (not well). Impatient to be at full steam my head wished for QUICK, but the organic nature of life is different, and SLOW and LESS is the more usual answer. So, I slog through and weeks later I am excited to find alternatives for The Safety Pin Cafe. That's what this tale, this post is all about ... a New Moon Message to say we'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places, or unexpectedly familiar places. Click on the arrow below and listen to Billie croon "I'll be seeing see," while you take a look at some familiar places in and around our town.

Pete and I went looking at the familiar places outside where The Safety Pin Cafe umbrella, a hand-stitched banner, room for a storyteller's stool and a few silly and artful props can be set up in our version of FLASH performances. We had such fun, playing around and believe we're onto something ...

So, we'll be seeing you in these familiar places soon. Be quick though, we're old but move like the wind, with safety pins. Look for messages posted in those familiar places and shared through the coconut wireless networks here and there (Drewslist and more!) telling you when we'll be popping up the umbrella and stringing up the banner.

A'a i ka wala'au. Let the words fly.

Moki and Pete

Tea and Toast Time at The Safety Pin Cafe

THE SAFETY PIN CAFE  ... the moveable feast of storytelling pops up again!

"Enfin un peu de temps pour vous ecrire! Time flies!" said my dear Laurence. She is so right. We opened the tent space for The Safety Pin Cafe on a Sunday just after the New Moon in October (October 6th by most calendars). A grand and satisfying time it was. We were blessed by the Raven who brought the sun shiny Sun. I kept my promise to give thanks to the place and the space of the South Whidbey Tilth for being a chemical free place to be. But time did fly before we could contain and finish the sweet celebrations of common magic that is the signature of The Safety Pin Cafe.

What? What are the sweet celebrations of common magic of The Safety Pin Cafe? Of course there is the magic of story ... and that was surely shared and spread around. But what was missing because time flew were these promises:

1. Sit and fold an origami paper cup (as a symbol of connectedness)
2. And eat cinnamon toast cut into stars, moons and hearts (because it's fun and fun is THE magic!)

HERE'S YOUR INVITATION*

Join Mokihana Calizar, Pete Little and Pam Winstanley for an afternoon Tea and Toast Time at The Safety Pin Cafe.

Date: Sunday, October 27, 2013
Time: 3 pm until 5 pm in the afternoon
Where: Freeland Library Meeting Room (click for directions)
Freeland, Washington

What to bring? Bring your sweet self and a favorite tea cup or mug to sip hot tea.  If you have an extra tea pot or tea cups you'd like to share for the afternoon come a little early and we'll add them to the party.

Please don't wear fragrances or scents on you or your clothing, Mokihana and Pete are chemical and fragrance sensitive.

* If you were there to help with the magic of making The Safety Pin Cafe a reality on Sunday October 6th, an especially warm welcome back. If you weren't there on October 6th but wish you had been, come for Tea and Toast Time October 27th!

RSVP if at all possible. (leave a comment here, or email me at mokihanacalizarATgmailDOTcom). We'll be setting up tea tables and bringing in toast so let us count you in for Tea and Toast Time.

See you then,
Mokihana, Pam and Pete

Read here ... about THE CANCELLATION.