That's when I  find myself thinking back to the years my partner and I spent living in the Australian ‘bush’. In those years, the only water we had was the rainwater we caught ourselves. Every drop was precious. And every drop was fully used. We showered outside, using solar-heated water and standing in a large tub with our laundry at the bottom, stomping it around with our feet as we scrubbed and rinsed our bodies. Then we poured the water on the garden.

We designed a simple, effective, composting toilet system, the products of which eventually (after a year’s baking in the sun) finished up as a dry, odourless and pathogen-free powder which we sprinkled under the fruit trees in our orchard. We grew mullein plants by the door of our little toilet hut so that we could use their huge, soft leaves in place of toilet paper. And because of the ingenuity of the system, the little hut smelled of nothing more than a hint of incense. We peed wherever on our thirty acres we happened to be. And at night, stepping outside to pee was a chance to look up at a sky aglow with stars.

 I shall never forget the feeling of showering outdoors in the middle of winter. The amazing sensation of having warm water and snow both falling on my naked body at the same time and then rushing across the cold grass to the cabin to dry myself in the warmth of the woodstove.

All those things made us feel so alive, so fully in our bodies and so connected to the Earth that when we finally built the mud-brick house and installed the septic tank and the indoor bathroom that our local authority  insisted on, we didn’t bother to use them. Instead, we kept on using our composting toilet and showering outside. 

Being able to flush away the waste products of our bodies without even a thought about where they go is just too darned easy. It is just one more of the many, many ways that we humans separate ourselves from the natural world and its processes. Not to mention the fact that it (a) wastes an awful lot of water (b) encourages people to waste paper and (c) ensures that hazardous cocktails of hormone-disrupting and other dangerous chemicals are reaching our groundwater in ever increasing quantities as a result of the pharmaceutical products that people use, ingest and excrete. 

In the 14 years since we left and came back to ‘civilization’ I have gotten used to some of the ‘mod cons’ again. A lot of the time I no longer think about it, so busy is my mind with other things. But there are times, as I gaze out of the window into the hawthorn tree, when I wish that rather than simply gazing at the tree I could hang a shower bag from its branches and stand there naked in the breeze. And I think nostalgically of the days when we didn’t have to have a WC. 

© Marian Van Eyk McCain, 2009

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Click to read a thoughtful article by Gene Sager about the cultivation of peacefulness and non-attachment in our elder years.
Elder Ironies: Cutting through Quandaries with Simplicity

On September 15th 2009, Lani Phillips, co-founder of Wise Women Ink, LLC, will begin a 17 day journey, traveling from Northern California to Chicago and back, visiting and speaking at domestic violence shelters, juvenile halls and women's gatherings to create awareness for the plight of the victims of domestic violence, and the homeless women and children of America.    

Phillips, a professional photographer and artist, along with Melinda Field, is the co-creator of three decks of inspirational wisdom cards created for and honoring women of all ages: The Journey, created to empower and guide young women as they walk the path of self-discovery; Wisdom of the Crone, created to empower and remember the role of elders in our society for "When you seek the truth, ask a wise woman"; and Wonder of the Mother, a deck that honors the mother in all of us.

 Lani herself is a former victim and at the age of 50 has been given the opportunity to speak with young women in juvenile halls and shelters across the country, sharing her own story of tragedy to triumph.  As a recovering alcoholic now in her 16th year of sobriety, Lani has much to communicate of the struggle and blessings that are all part of a journey back to self-esteem and wholeness. “The vision of what is needed in this country is becoming all too clear and the need to give back is even stronger,” stated Phillips. 

 Wise Women Ink will be donating their decks to the shelters and juvenile halls that Lani will be speaking at. “The power of images, and visioning and creating a new myth for yourself, is a powerful tool in stepping out of the cycles of abuse, self-violence and shame that so many women feel trapped in,” Phillips continued.  She will also be documenting the experience in still photos, video, web casts, blogs and articles along with the help of her producer, Beth Black, who will be traveling with her. 

 “When Lani first told me about this project, I was so impressed by the dedication and compassion that she was expressing that I wanted to help in any way that I could," said Black. “The need for communities to support their most vulnerable members is so great. I just returned from 5 weeks in Peru and witnessed violence against women that one would think would never be tolerated in this county, and yet it is. I am so grateful for the opportunity to help Lani on her mission to document and shift our consciousness.”

 After 31 years, Lani will return to The Home  For Battered Women in Ogden Utah, where she was one of the first women to enter the program in 1978. She was a victim of domestic violence and had nowhere to turn.  She was referred by the hospital - where she was treated for a severe beating - to this new shelter in Ogden, and stayed at the shelter for several months, an experience would change the course of her life. Lani was one of only 3% of battered women who never went back to the home and relationship where she was abused. Statics show that a woman will go back to her abuser anywhere from 7 to 10 times before she finally finds the strength and courage to change her life.  On one of the many stops on this multi-state journey, Lani will be speaking to the women who are going through the Transitional Program in Ogden as well as speaking to teenage women in group homes. 

 "The young women of today are in trouble, serious, multi-faceted trouble. The depletion of self esteem, and an inability to care for themselves, create perilous situations that eventually lead them to join the ranks of the American homeless women, or worse lead to their death,” says Phillips. “How many of us take the time to volunteer at our local shelters, juvenile halls or schools? Imagine if just one suggestion from someone who cared, even if that someone is a stranger, changed the course of a young woman's life.”

 This is a large project, which will continue long after Lani has returned home. “This is about huge change within the psyche of the American people. This is about pride, and love and respect. And in the end this is about learning to stand on our own two feet as women and stop the violence and degradation that plagues too many of us. This journey will be one of many on-going conversations about compassion, self-worth and change. It is our goal to help bring to light the damage that needs to be repaired and to foster the realization that we need to be there for women in crisis.”  

 For more information, and the itinerary of cities that Lani will be visiting, if you would like to get involved, please cal Wise Women Ink, LLC at 1-866-641-1451 or visit the website at www.wisewomenink.com.

 “Our trip will be 5,200 miles, and our basic costs will run $1 a mile,” stated Black. We are looking for sponsors for 50-100 mile chunks; women and men who can help us develop this much needed dialogue and witnessing of one painful aspect of our caring nation. We are also looking for a hotel chain to sponsor and help with some of our lodging so please contact us if you can help. And most importantly, if you are in the areas we will be traveling to on this first journey, and know of other women’s groups that may want to be involved, please let us know. This is about community and communication and compassion and we want to involve as many as we can.”

(Note from Marian:
I have these three decks of cards and they are exquisite. Lani is an incredible photographer, with a talent for evoking that "Aaaahh" response. Her pictures of people have sweetness without sentimentality and pathos without mawkishness. They are full of love and the joy of living.)

Set in Italy, England and Australia, it is a ‘love story with a difference’.
Because it is a POD (‘print on demand’) book, the price is slightly higher than that of conventionally published books, but the cost of publishing them is much less and the royalties are a lot higher.

This means that once the first 53 copies of The Bird Menders have been sold, I shall have earned back the publishing costs. From that moment onwards, every penny of the royalties will be going to an organization that is dear to my heart, the Italian League for the Protection of Birds (LIPU).

LIPU’s hundreds of members, mostly volunteers, work tirelessly to foil the trappers and shooters, maintain reserves and rescue centers and improve the welfare of the precious and beautiful wild birds of Italy. And many hundreds of others, both within Italy and beyond, raise money to support these efforts. (To read more about this 

The Optimist     

 
His smile reached me from fifteen feet away.

'Lovely day' he said. 'Nice and bright.

Just right for walking.'

He wore his summer clothes:

flat cap: cream flannels hanging baggy on old bones:

t-shirt with bright stripes: light shoes.

Some small, white, fluffy thing,

a mere dot at the end of a lead,

wagged its agreement. 'A lovely day' its tail seemed to say,

'Just right for walking.'

The sky was overcast.

Just a few patches,  dove's wings of some paler shade

allayed the monochromatic, sky-wide grey.

Wide as the sky, his smile.

I could not bring myself to label it denial,

this rare and special brand

of optimism you might only find

deep in an English lane on a gloomy morning.

'Oh yes', I said. 'Just right for walking.'

And the old man's smile stayed with me all that day.

© Marian Van Eyk McCain, 2007

"Nature abhors uniformity.
Nature not only produces species diversity but also individual diversity.
No two days are the same, no two snowflakes, no two flowers, trees,
or any other of the infinite life-forms."   ~ Thomas Berry

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is
trying to please everybody." ~ Bill Cosby

"People living deeply have no fear of death." ~ Anais Nin