Celebrating Community, welcome The Year of the Green Goat/Ram/Sheep

Here are our friends gathered at the tray of tiny rocks used for the kani the noise making, inside segments of 'ohe (bamboo). JC has chosen the embroider floss to wrap a simple and appealing length of color to embellish his rattle.

I'm tucked under that hoodie, having fun with string, rocks and green bamboo.

Here are our friends gathered at the tray of tiny rocks used for the kani the noise making, inside segments of 'ohe (bamboo). JC has chosen the embroider floss to wrap a simple and appealing length of color to embellish his rattle.

We moved in picnic benches, covered them with lovely cloth, set out the bowls filled with Lai See (Chinese red envelopes) and plugged in the crockpot of "Joy Luck Soup". Preparing to bless the space and the time, this is what it looked like before our friends arrived.

We had an extra special occasion to celebrate -- a birthday for Prescott there in the middle with the hat. She was born in the year of the Pig (Golden). She is truly a golden friend!

There's Pete (with the baseball hat) helping friends to use the rasp to file the puka (hole) that will hold the button cap in place.

Story telling is so much more fun to share with all those who come. The tale of Rooster's Antlers was the book, and story about the Chinese Zodiac we read aloud. What fun, what beautiful drawings to share, and many different voices to hear!

The final event in the ritual of welcoming the new and clearing out the old was a Blessing Dance around the grounds of the South Whidbey Tilth. We danced and walked in a counter-clock-wise direction up and around the Pavilion, into the market stalls used during the Sunday Farmers' Market, and concluded with the banging pan lids and shaking of the newly made bamboo rattles all around the Pea Patches and Lesedi Gardens.

Here's Pete and our friend Peter banging the pan lids and spreading great energy!

It was a blessed day, filled with brilliant sunshine and the spirit of the Green Goat/Ram/Sheep ... courage, strength, resilience. Pete and I are blessed with the space and the place where The Safety Pin Cafe can open its (fragrance free environment) to the community we love. We fed the hungry ghosts (our ancestors and ancestors of this Salish Island) spreading aloha and Hawaii where we live now. My Chinese great-grand father was named and folded into this ritual ... Chong Amona, it was such an honor to recognize you, and the place of Waipi'o Valley where you first arrived from the Canton region of China.

We continue your legacy, fold in the experiences of our combined Ukrainian, Polish, Irish, Hawaiian, Filipino and Chinese journeys. All that has been led us here, to Whidbey Island. Mahalo ke akua e na aumakua!



Gung Hee Fat Choy.


P.S. I'm at the library making changes to the post. I hope the changes have helped you see the photos.