Audrey Bechler's Paintings: Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014

The Holiday season has begun. Christmas decorations were up before Thanksgiving. It is a time for spending and making money. It is also a time of celebration and thinking and doing for others. Already two storms, the first put out the power for three days and I had no phone for two weeks, the second I lost the internet and TV for a few days. I manage quite well with the wood stove and gas to cook with. When my water ran out I used snow for water. Living in the country the outdoors is a convenient bathroom. One adjusts to the natural timing of nature, going to bed early and getting up early, but as soon as the lights were on it was back to staying up late. There are robins that live here all winter. After the first storm and the snow was melting I looked out the window to see a flock on the front lawn. Apparently the worms were close to the surface and they were hopping around finding the worms and also taking baths in the driveway puddles. I watched them for a long time. Usually I see them doing this is the spring so it was interesting to see this happen this time of year.

Last Christmas the ground was covered with snow and ice. It was a wonderland. The thick ice made it possible to walk on the top of the deep snow and I could walk over the fields to the cove water. The condition lasted for a week and I could walk the dog everywhere.

It was a snowy, cold winter. For the second time since I have lived in Maine the cove froze over and there were huge blocks of ice on the shore. The tides carved these blocks into beautiful sculptures. I made a painting of the piled up ice but couldn’t show how wonderful and strange it really looked. I live in such an amazing place, and it’s beauty gives me much pleasure. I love all the seasons although winter can drag on to long and spring is always cold and muddy.

In the spring I joined a co-op gallery in Pemaquid that I used to be a member of about ten years ago. I had some great paintings there but didn’t sell enough to make it worth while. It is a tourist spot and the people are mostly interested in gifts and souvenirs so I won’t go back there again.

Summer got off to a late start, no hot weather, mostly in the seventies and low eighties, enough rain for the garden. It is nice to be outside, gardening, painting, swimming, walking the dog and mowing the lawn. Fall was great, warm and dry. Nancy came up with Susan in October and we a couple of nice days to be outside sketching and painting. Doug came up and put the new windows in the barn studio. My cousin David who I haven’t seen for fifty years or more, drove up from FL. He has a daughter in Portland area and after visiting her came up to Waldoboro. It was wonderful to see him and his wife Dawn. I also had a visit from Iris and her friend. We went swimming in the cove and had dinner together. The jazz jams moved to Thomaston and I found out a friend from the reading group, Bo, liked jazz so we went together to most of the events.

The twenty minute movie that was started when I turned seventy five was finished and there was a presentation this summer in a new art space in Waldoboro. It was produced in the local cable station by two of my friends. I was impresses how good it turned out. They spent was a lot of time on it. You can watch it by googling Audrey Bechler Reflections. My life is well documented, a movie and three books that I produced on the internet with a lot of my art work in it. I could only afford to produce one printed copy of each book. At least my children and a few others will know I have made a lot of paintings in my lifetime and a few of those paintings are pretty good.

I do not have any animal stories this year. After Doug sealed up the foundation the wild animals can’t get under the house. No I do have one story. I let my chickens roam the yard in the daytime when I am home. They go into the coop at sunset, and I lock them in. In the spring I plant my garden and I put row cover over the beds to keep out bugs, and the chickens. Once the plants are up and growing I take the row cover off and at that point I had to enclose the chickens in a rather flimsy chicken wire pen that went around their coop. This worked for a while, but you know the grass is aways greener on the other side of the fence. One day I saw one in the yard, outside the pen. I caught her and put her back. The next day they were both out. When I weed the garden they come over to find worms that I may have unearthed. I have to push they away. Well after putting them back in the pen I watched to see how they got out. Their coop has a small wire cage so they can be outside. This attached pen is two feet high, four feet long, with wire all around including the top and the one I put around the coop was four feet high. On one side there was a space of about three feet between the coop and the part that was next to my garden. I watched one fly up to the short pen and from the top of that fly over the four foot one into the garden. So on that side I strung some wire to make it higher. The next day they were out again. I should have taken pictures of this construction. I had poles and string and wire and got it up about eight feet and that worked. We call these animals dumb?

Chris was here in Maine from November seventh to the twentieth. Doug and Chris spend all there time working on this old house. It is never ending. Chris cooked wonderful meals which I appreciate. Chris and I had one day to look at art in the galleries in Rockland and his last day here we went back to Rockland to the Farnsworth Museum. We wanted to go to Boston to see the Jamie Wyeth show but not enough time for that. Both sons have been working on there own houses, kitchens and bathrooms which look like what you see in Home and Garden and those fancy magazines. We had a pre Thanksgiving in Amesbury that Charlie’s sisters came up for, eleven people for dinner. It was good to be together. Chris flew back to Eugene on the 24th. He cooked another Thanksgiving dinner that Diane’s family came to their house for. Chris said the turkey he cook for them turned out to be the best tasting, moist turkey he has cooked. It was perfect, and that was good because Chris is a great cook and it is rewarding when it turns out well.

Bo’s mother died suddenly of a heart attack November 24th. Bo had moved from CA to Waldoboro a few years ago to look after her. She was 87 and had an active productive life. Mab was part of our spiritual reading group and was a dear friend. Doug told me Tom Fleming who originally owned the Grog in Newburyport and Richard Simkins who bought it from Tom and owned the Grog up to present both recently died. Charlie played in the Grog in the early years and there is an interesting history of that. Life weaves in and out with a trail of events that are now distant memories.

Saturday December 12

Every Saturday I sit at Tidemark Gallery in Waldoboro. It is snowing lightly outside, the end of a three day northeaster that was rain here and snow in the mountains. Tomorrow is the Christmas party for the reading group. We have been together for about seven or eight years, and I love them all. I am so glad they are apart of my life, especially after Charlie’s death. Yesterday I put up the tree with the help of a friend. I grow my own trees and they are not like the bushy ones for sale at tree farms.This year we tied it to the ceiling because I have a kitten and kittens climb. I got Boo this Halloween when he was eight weeks old, a grey and white coon cat. Whenever I sit down he comes and gets in my lap. Kittens are the most fun to watch when they play. Boo plays with Mira who is very gentle. Boos head fits in Mira’s mouth. It is fun to see them play one big dog and a little kitten. Tippy my older cat is not accepting the kitten. He hisses and chased Boo away

The tree is decorated, no glass balls or anything that can break.One candle in each window, ten windows, this is a small cape. All my Christmas treasures are displayed and my favorite cards stapled to ribbons are taped to doors. There are greens and real candles and the nativity. I love the Christmas music and listen to it while I do other things. Every Christmas is a trip down memory lane. I wish I could experience them over again. I am a visual person and seeing the tree, lights and decorations makes me happy. Some people love to put up thousands of lights outside, and people ride around to see the lights. There are different ways to enjoy the holidays and lights are a big part of it.

There are so many things that bring pleasure to the senses. There was a story written years ago about a little angle. Jesus was about to be born and all the angles in heaven were making gifts for the baby. The little angel had a small rough box that he placed with the other glorious gifts. When his box was opened it contained a dog collar and pebbles from the beach and I can’t remember what else but they were objects from earth that were treasured by the little angel when he was alive as a little boy. His gift was chosen because Jesus would also love these things. Christmas is a religious holiday with a lot of pagan traditions attached to it but it is Christ’s birthday. He chose a terrible time to be born. The time of Roman occupation. Look what they did to him in his physical life. He was a renegade. On the other hand he came at a differ cult time to make change, to show a better way of living, no different then the desires of peace and love that Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela wanted for the people of their time. They endured hardships, but the flame inside them could not be extinguished. Great people come when they are needed, men of renown. There is a rhyme and reason for everything, the cycles move as this earth moves around the sun. In out ignorance we want to know the truth. Our body has a spiritual part, the god in us. We have a soul. We ask Who my I? As physical humans our accomplishments are remarkable, great thinkers, writers, poets, artists, musicians, composers, builders, and scientists.

Being physical is a wonderful experience and we should all remember this. You say that is all good and well but angels don’t have to make money to pay the bills, They don’t know what it is like to starve to death or die in some horrible death. Dying is the last thing we do, It is about living, and how we live, that is why we chose to be born. We have senses, of touch and smell and hearing. We can smell the turkey cooking, taste it when we eat it and look forward to the pumpkin pie and sharing the meal with our friends who we hug as they come and go. Being physical should be appreciated. List your pleasures, a hot shower, a swim on a hot day, sitting by the fire on a cold day, watching a kitten play, hearing a child's first words, listening to a symphony, reading a good book, dancing, walking in a beautiful place. This list can go on for pages. Most pleasures come with being with others and sharing what we have.

Every physical life is a chance to live life in a way that effects others in a positive way that works toward peace and well being for all. I don’t think it matters what we do, what job, be it dishwasher or president of a bank. It is about how we handle the situation we are in, our attitude, our desire to do what is best for ourselves and everyone else. We have this body that may not be in perfect shape, but it allows us to experience the world we live it. WE learn through duality, through our senses, We experience everything, grief and pain, joy and happiness. The thing is we make many mistakes. The road has a lot of bumps and curves and we can’t see

ahead. We do the best we can at the time. We need to keep this in mind so that we don’t judge others for their actions which may be bad but we don’t know the circumstances that caused the actions. Would life be worth living if there were no challenges. The news is full of stories of all the terrible things that are going on in the world. The truth is most people are good, caring and compassionate. The terrible stuff has been going on for centuries. Now we know about it because we have cell phones,computers and global communication. Changes can be made with information and knowledge. We help the world by being who we are, angels in physical form, full of light, the Christ light. the essence of love. It is inside all of us, we are a piece of god. We are his physical part, the individual parts that make up the whole, and the whole knows all it’s parts. At one time or another each of us has had the same experiences. All our desires are the same. Let us rejoice together. We form a circle of love. We are beings of love. Say I am thankful for my life, for my physical and emotional body. Sing, express love, remember Christ’s birth, all births, all the possibilities. Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It is the light in the darkness. The light is growing, expanding, Rejoice, It is the birth of a new age. I love my family and friends. I love this earth and I love humanity. I love being a living human to experience the love of others.

The party on Sunday came and went. It was as wonderful as ever, good food, conversation, stories, fun and laughter and the unconscious or conscious feeling of love we share with each other. May all of you be together with your loved ones this Christmas and may the year bring good health and happiness.

This a Table by Alice Paul

The wind blew the door shut

The screen door slammed.

He had to dance quickly into the house

before the door closed on him.

He put his cap on the table.

His cap was an African print worn at a jaunty angle

He bought it at Black Expo in New York

on one exciting afternoon shared with Black Yankee

Baseball Stars of Yesteryear.

He put his cap and his memories on the table.

He put the junk mail on the table;

magazines offering exotic travel and glamorous cloths.

He put thoughts of visiting his daughter on the table,

looking forward to seeing those he loves and those they love.

He put the events of his life and his mind on the table

the ribbon stretches on unraveling as life unfolds

recording the days endlessly while telling the story.

The table is available near the door allowing him to

put everything on it

on matter what it weighs

because it stands strong

unbending

while the putting continues.

"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive."
~ Albert Einstein.