Time for change

Creating Clarity in a Chaotic World: Changing with Intent is a breakfast presentation introducing Intentional Transitions Institute. Hosted by DLR Group Minneapolis.

Coexist: A poem, a prayer on Yom Kippur 5773

On this holy of holiest days in the Jewish religion, Yom Kippur 5773, I pray for outstanding human development and evolution, a quantum leap, that puts an end to the madness of war raged in the name of religion. May we each be peacefully free to attend to the matters of our spirit in any way as long as it extends respect and peace to others.

Tradition has it that on this day, Jewish people gather together in the community of their loved ones for a day of fasting, remembrance, and atonement. At sunset we break the fast together in joy and anticipation of new, good year to come. Today I fast alone and instead, put together a community of you who are so dear to my heart. 

You are Jews, Christians, atheists, and others. You live around the globe, but most importantly, in my heart. If I could pluck religion from the equation you are the ones I'd prefer to spend today with, in reflection and conversation. A gathering with you each, with you all would make a fine party indeed. 

So, on this Yom Kippur I pray for our ultimate human enlightenment. For a time when the world is free of the tyranny of oppression. Where each individual is truly free to practice her/his beliefs in peace so long as they do no harm to others. This is how I've decided to spend my holy day. 

This morning, spent in quiet contemplation, I wrote a poem that explains how my soul that has been in mourning is now free as well. I should consider myself blessed to find another soul who wishes to walk along life's path with me in close harmony. 

May your autumn be filled with the fruits of the harvest! 
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A Yom Kippur Prayer

The contours of my heart need paving

A sealant of comfort and care

To line those fine cracks  

And crevices of your love lost

My soul wants mating

Not kinetic sparks but

A solid ray to twine with mine

Forming that better brighter beam

My mind seeks a partner

To match it wit for wit

Not in competition but collaboration

A happy equal who also

Cherishes the rise another provides

Let them blow the ram’s horn in heaven

Where you flew

Signal to the earthly ones

She is healed she is love she awaits

©Susan Schaefer

On Yom Kippur 5773/26 September 2012

Guns Kill: I'm ready for a revolution

I'm ready for a revolution

I want to change the Constitution

Who says guns don't kill

Are you ill?

Guns kill

I'm ready for a revolution

Let's change the Constitution!

©Susan Schaefer 2012

Our constitution was drafted in the 18th century when we were still fighting the British on our own soil. We had standing militias. The Constitution of the United States of American was crafted so that it could and should change with the times. The right to bear arms, the second amendment, now hurts the very citizens it was designed to protect. This is pure insanity. There is no middle ground. There is only one way to end the madness. This is my impassioned poem that says what's needed.

Trip to Italy: Crossing the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France

On July 22nd, Bob Wilkinson and I set off to visit a friend, Bonnie Weinstein in her home high up in the Italian Tuscan hills just two hours outside of Rome. Our weather was perfect. Bob planned the journey so that our first evening landed us in the Black Forrest town of Frieburg im Breisgau where I'd spent three carefree weeks as a new graduate in 1971. We stayed at the charming Hotel Minerva.

Frieburg Cathedral

Cathedral Gargoyle

Susan and Bob atop the Furka Pass, Rhone Glacier, Swiss Alps second highest pass

At the top of the Furka Pass, Bob poses in front the hotel where he worked as a college student

We stop at a lovely lakeside cafe for an elegant cheese lunch in Cham, Switzerland on the Zug 

Me at the Rheinfall, Schaffhusen, Switzerland

Porcaracce, Tuscany, Italy

 Bonnie and Piet's Shed

 Under the grape arbor overlooking the stunning hills

 Kitchen Window

 Piet Bongaart and Bonnie Weinstein's Tuscan villa, Porcaracce, Italy

 Hill Side of house

 Front Door detail

 Guest bathroom where you can bathe or relieve yourself wtih an incredible view! 

 An inventive planter

View from the arbor terrace

Tamalone

After a day of sunbathing on a beach near Tamalone, we meet up with friends of Bonnie & Piet, Laura and Piet Severijnen who summer in Italy. L to R: Annelies, Bonnie, Piet S., Bob, Laura

After the terrace, we sit at the summer home of Piet and Laura and are serenaded!

Rome

The next day Bonnie asked if we'd transport her friend, Annelies to Rome for her return flight to Maastricht. It was a perfect occasion to slip in an unplanned visit to the Eternal City where neither Bob nor I had ever been. Though it may have been only one half day, we had a great one seeing highlights, enjoying the sun, and sampling the food.

 The ubiquitous Carabinieri 

 Trivoli Fountain

 Susan and Bonnie at the famous Caffe Greco

 La Luna over Roma

 Inside the Pantheon

 Susan and Bonnie, Piazza Novana

Susan at the Spanish Steps

Pitigliano

An afternoon in the fantastic ancient Etruscan walled city of Pitigl

iano 

 Bonnie takes a rest from the blazing noonday sun

 Pitigliano by day

 Pitigliano by night

 Typical side street

 The facade of the Synagogue

There is a rich Jewish history here

The Return

We bid arrivederci to Bonnie and head back towards Maastricht via the scenic coastal route, stopping the first night in a very posh modern seaside Hotel Mare where because we had no reservations we got the last superior room with a whirlpool!

All glass partitions and a lovely whirlpool at the Hotel Mare which my traveling muscles appreciated.

We crossed the St. Bernard pass this time and stopped at Lake Geneva for lunch.

St. Bernard Pass

Final Day: Troyes

Our last night we stopped in the lush wine country of Burgundy/Champagne France. While discussing where would be good to stop the final day for lunch, I mentioned to Bob the book I've been reading, Rashi's Daughters, which is set in medieval Troyes, France, a stop that was right on our way. We arrived at noon on a sleepy Monday and found ourselves almost alone in this most fascinating city. It will be a place I want to return to.

 Detail of Troyes Cathedral

 Detail of Troyes Cathedral

 Troyes Cathedral

Typical medieval building

Maastricht: Memories, Memorials, Connections

Jazzy First Evening as Hotel Beaumont hosts a New Orleans style jazz festival

 Me with mother-in-law, Geri in her garden

 My favorite father-in-law, Marcel in the garden

 My dear friend and host, Ursula in her sunny office at Maastricht University

A meditative visit to my beloved Martijn's gravesite memorial at Oostermas Cemetery where the plantings, sculptures and frog reflective pool create a zenlike yet cheerful atmosphere, exactly what we wanted for this resting place

My first days back in Maastricht passed in a reflective pace so I could readjust to my former home city, savoring the sights, smells, and many memories. I'm staying with my dear friend, Ursula Glunk at her 'penthouse' dwelling above Maastricht's Wijck neighborhood rooftops. I realized this trip that Ursula's home sits literally in the middle of Martijn and my first house with his mother and Marcel, and our second own place off the Rechtsstraat. There is a symmetry in this that brings me peace. From her window I see the Sint Maartens Kerk, where Martijn was baptized and which we could see from our apartment.

Sint Maarten's Kerk from Ursula's window

I stroll the familiar cobblestoned streets with a sense of tranquility I've not had on past visits. It is four years since Martijn's death. He would be 60 now. I have incorporated the miracle of his life and our relationship and the tragedy of his death and its ripples - my mother-in-law truly never recovered from his passing and now is herself slipping gently, slowly into dementia. Yet, I seem somehow to have come terms with these inevitable life cycles and nowhere on earth feels as gentle and right to me as being in Maastricht, birthplace of the man whose love still lights my soul and where his bones fertilize the loamy, fertile soil.

Friends, Family, Faces

 The talented sculptor, cook and wise friend, Barbara Greenberg, at Selexyz Bookstore

 Geri, brother-in-law, Janus, and my Marcel at Cafe Zondag

 Ed & Swee Janssen steal a kiss at her shop, Beauty Lovers near Onze Lievre Vrouw Plein

 First night Flo dining: l to r: Ursula, Micole, Jessica and Bob W.

 My lovely Ingrid Regout near OLVPlein on Koestraat

 The legendary Jacques Ogg waxes poetic at our favorite Indonesian Restaurant on Rechtsstraat

 Jans Hasse, my dear friend and Maastricht Uni school chum with his Christianne at their home in Aachen, Germany

 New papa, Jerome Spronken with Matteis

 My Ukrainian 'daugther' now a full Dutch citizen, Olena Breyman on Ursula's roof deck 

 My favorite Maastricht pussje, always in the window near the Uni!

 Heart-of-my-heart, my soul friend for life, Pia Brand

 "Little Sister" the energetic, talented and wise, Sueli Brodin together at our favorite Wijck Italian Restaurant, Quarttro Mori

My friend, Aachen architect and gentleman Uli Wildschütz

Spaces and places

 The Tower's Top is where Martijn lived as a small child. It is acroos from the theater known as Acter d'Comedie, where his father, Mathieu was the concierge

 The infamous Dutch Low Skies along the Maas River

 Bonnefanten Blooms as modern museum meets ancient along the Maas

 I call him 'Ciggy Boy' - at the southern entrance to Stoksstraat, the upscale shopping street

 And here is Carnival Man - commemorating the event that is the heart of Maastricht

My dear Centraal Station, the railway to everywhere

 Great graffiti marks the tunnel to Scharnerweg

 Here is Mercury or Hermes, the symbol for Martijn whose last name Hermse evokes the winged messenger

 Again modern meets ancient as this wonderful apartment building faces the original city wall on the Maas

 My place to pray in Maastricht, the Our Beloved Lady Chapel dating from the 900s, Onze Lievre Vrouw

 I came inside often to light a candle for Martijn

 Ahhh, Maastricht's Friday 'Markt' just outside the city hall

Sint Jan's Kerk where we held the moving funeral service for Martijn on July 30, 2008 - four years ago