[Dialogue] Witness

[Richard via Dialogue]

The Magical Garden

The last few months have been full and want to share some of these experiences. Is this not what a witness is about? So first, one of my neighbors was reading the book titled: ‘ The Secret Garden’. She said it was an amazing book about a garden that healed the sick around us.  It talked about how the garden turned people from being spoiled and mean spirited, even cripples to walkers. The garden, working in the garden, hanging out with people and birds and animals nurtured the spirit, makes one healthy and invigorated. This was almost a Jesus story ‘ get up and walk’… the amazing power of being part of creation.

So I am noticing how nature cares for the soul. Secondly, We went to visit my daughter, Kay, and her partner Scott to see their new location in the state of Washington, near the town of White Salmon on the Columbia River. They live in a commune called Atlan (remember CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- He believed that every square inch of the uni-verse, every millisecond of time, is a battleground over which the forces of light and the forces of darkness contend). . First, Kay and Scott live in a teepee and have an out door kitchen and a compostable toilet that has a sign on it, ’if you need to pee, find a bush”. Actually, the most amazing thing about the visit was that Kay announced that she was 8 weeks pregnant. They are planning to upscale to a tiny house that Scott is to build. Kay is currently the bread winner in the family as she teaches Yoga in a prison and works as a counselor with families in trouble while Scott stays home working with the community on property development and trades his handy man skills for help from others. Just wanted you to see an example of what the next generation is looking like and how nature is getting bigger.

After visiting Scott and Kay, Sally Stovall (my partners) and I headed off to Breitenbush, a very isolated retreat center (no internet or phone service) that is run by another commune. We were there for three days for ‘a re-connecting with nature’ workshop. We climbed trees, star gazed and walked in the woods and used all of our senses to experience the out of doors. It’s amazing the stars you can see when you have no outside lights- I saw two shooting starts. Can’t get closer to nature. Even had hot springs that were, “clothing optional”.

These two examples illustrate what we are trying to grasp in our lives. But even more remarkable was the experience with our local Methodist congregation’s elementary age Sunday school. In our September lessons, inspired by our summer nature adventure we decided to move the kids outside. We started by taking walks around the block looking for animals, smelling the flowers, listening to the insects, hugging trees, etc. This past Sunday we brought a blanket and put it in front off our Butterfly Garden. While we were getting settled we noticed a Monarch caterpillar on our milkweed. The amazing thing about the caterpillar was that it was just eating away like mad on the milkweed. It did not seem to matter that there were a bunch of kids watching her eat. It was awesome to have our garden provide us with a magic moment for our kids, but it has happened before.
Two years ago when we started the native garden which our kids helped plant. We asked them to bring their parents to observe the workings of the garden. Lilly brought her father (a lawyer) after worship and just as they arrived at the garden a Monarch butterfly appeared and started flying around the garden, landing here and there. Brian was pointing his finger at the butterfly for Lilly to help her follow it when the butterfly landed on Brian’s outstretched finger. We were all stunned! First, that it landed on his finger and second that it just sat there on Brian’s finger. We joked that the Butterfly would never haved landed there if it had know Brian was a lawyer.

Yes, a Magical Garden….  you just have to get out there with your finger out.

Dick Alton, ICA colleague, 1968-2016. Still volunteer with ICA USA, ICA International, help with Africa ICA’s work with HIV/AIDS.  Now Chair local Methodist Green Action Team, Co-chair Interfaith Green Network, core team One Earth Film Fest and work on Green Community Connections. Just accepted co-chairing the Northern Illinois Conference of the UMC’s Episcopal Task Force on Sustainability. Oh, yes, coach our local church softball team that made it to the championship game.


Richard H.T. Alton 166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N Oak Park, IL 60302 T:1.773.344.7172 richard.alton at gmail.com Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back Babe Ruth
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