Sh'mal Ellenberg's Blog (34)

CRISS CROSSED CIRCUITS





My brain. My poor brain. Why is it suffering so? What’s been going on inside of it now that they have opened it up and done something to it to keep it working? Damn, how am I supposed to keep going when they do all these weird things to it? It’s keeping me alive; but what’s the point? I have to go anyway, but they felt they had to do what they were trained to do; cutting into it and then cutting again into it. I know I’m fading, fading away, deeper and… Continue

'I found it synchronistic or apropos, that the same week there was publicity about bacon becoming the new food ingredient in many foods. there is an alert for swine flu. Pigs, maybe we kill to many pigs, eat to many pigs; If anyone visits a pig farm, they would never ear pig again. It's totally inhumane treatment. Now what, a potential pandemic of swine flu. Seems like a karmic payback to humanity for mistreating what many say is a smart animal. Maybe they are and we aren't. Sh'mal

Bob Sh’mal Ellenberg

11329 8th Ave. NE Apt 106

Seattle, Wa 98125

Sh’mal@zoobird



















HESTER’S LAST SMILE



AND CAN OF ROLLING TOBACCO























In the nursing home where I work people dying is going on regularly; it’s nothing new to me, but now people are being admitted, in their forties and fifties, who are terminally ill with one critical illnesses or… Continue

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH CHARLIE MANSON



While my 12 year-old son and I were waiting for our flight from Miami to Los Angeles I was browsing a magazine rack and came across a article about Charlie Manson and his perennial parole problems. My mind immediately flew to that ominous afternoon I spent at his Topanga Canyon commune outside of Los Angeles. The picture, indelibly imprinted on my consciousness, of Manson jumping back into an attack mode crouch, his fists clenched, wanting to… Continue

THE LEGACY OF ROSE PEARL







I’m always amazed, how after committing to an action out of love, we never know how the re-actions will reverberate through our life. This story is an instance of that reverberation.









Rose Pearl called me, reaching out by telephone, making a connection to tell me she was dying. She made it clear it wouldn’t be that very moment, but in the near future. Rose said she was calling because she needed some one to take care of… Continue

Bob Sh’mal Ellenberg

725 NE 3rd St.

Gainesville, Fl. 32601

352-378-8735

cityofpeace@citizencircle.com





















BEING ONE WITH THE OTHER



STORIES OF BEING WITH THE HOMELESS











Harry was on the ground half conscious with about 15 people, mostly men, uncomfortably standing around looking down at him; the Listerine bottle knocked over on the stone table, its distinct odor wafted… Continue

A MEETING ON THE TRAIN





There is always a potential romantic adventure, however slight and passing, when one is open and allowing life to unfold for us.

I watched attentively as a woman, one among many, but a particular woman, walked down the isle of the train I was on. I casually watched as she put her baggage on the overhead rack, with a sigh, signifying, “well, this is it, it’s all okay,” then sat across from where I was sitting on the Amtrak train from Buffalo to NYC.… Continue

In thinking about all the different areas that are being covered in Zoobird it came to mind that this web site, it is a web site? is adding a very important communication vehicle to our community. We have in Gainesville about as creative and aware group of interactors, motivators, and shakers, healers, hmm, what to call us? as any place on the planet. Now, that's a pretty outrageous statement, but after living here for the past 23 years, I can attest to what I know. Not trying to be cocky ego,… Continue

Michael: Well, that's not entirely true. The man who I modeled Pepe on was a real live guy, who wasn't Native American, who was dying of a tumor and who I did bring out a six pack so we could know each other better. Eventually, Arupa and I brought him to the er where he was admitted, told in the er "you have cancer and it'll probably kill you." Nice huh. Anyway, a longer drama till he died in a nursing home where I used to work. I'll take a look, maybe I wrote his true story and will post it.… Continue

A PATH IN THE WOODS















Pepe was almost always with a smile, a friendly hello, an ever present cigarette between his dirty and stained fingers with a beer in an insulated styrofoam jacket in his other hand, sitting on his swinging chaise lounge near his tents. Sitting firmly on his head was his felt western style hat, the brim curved above his ears with Spanish moss running around the raised brim, a small stuffed snoopy dog sitting on top with an… Continue

Michael: I read the piece about reading spiritual books. I spent most of my reading life as an adult reading just that kind of book. All traditions. I joke to myself and others, that even though I've read and studied scores of these kind of books, I can't really give satisfactory explanations of much of what I've read. I had to conclude that it wasn't important to me to retain most of what I've read, but that something of the essence of what I read has become part of my being, consciousness, on… Continue

Hey all: Well, here I am in Seattle and what do you know it's raining. Been that way most of the day, but I'm loving it. This is as much a consciousness shift in moving here as anything I've done in my life, but at 69, it does feel different. Oh, maybe not, well, yeah, especially leaving behind so many friends and a garden that became part of my body and essence; and the weather here is a big change as well as being in a big city. I promised myself almost 40 years ago I'd never live in a big… Continue

Hey all Zoobirders and McRorieites: Sh'mal sending a bit from the road.I made it to west coast, Washington anyway, having done more camping than I may have done in all my years. I've done a lot of journaling since leaving Gainesville. Don't want to bore anybody, but if anyone is interested in reading some of my rambling journaling I post excerpts. Is that the right spelling? I also, maybe especially, made this a bit of vision quest, without of course knowing for sure what I was wanting to… Continue

Having grown and eaten vegetables from our community garden for the past few years, that part of our earth has become part of me. It dawned on me one day a few years ago, that all the attention and love I put into the garden comes back into me. Not just me but everyone who tends to the crops we grow. I lean a bit towards the mystical so I enjoyed the realization of the earth there becoming me, me becoimng the earth as I tended to the crops. It is all pretty amazing that life happens this way:… Continue