Welcome to the Winter Olympics

Tonight I played with my artist trading cards at the dining room table and watched the opening of the 21st Winter games...I love hearing the French language and the majesty of this global celebration for the youth of our earth. K.D. Lang is singing my favorite song to open the games...Leonard Cohen songwriter and poet and I am in tears once more...tears for joy of being alive. These sacred words fill my soul with a yearning for personal strength to get through my personal chapters in my journey. Hallelujah hallelujah...for all the gifts I have been given in my life. Art truly saves lives...as I witness the aboriginal drums welcome the world to Vancouver with totems that reflect the peoples diverse ideals and beliefs...constellations descend from the Northern Lights and snowflakes float down on the multitudes of peoples...embracements where diversity of humanity explodes before our very eyes...the Olympic flame is arriving ...affirmations for Peace...trees rise up the fragrance of grass and my heart soars. Sarah McLaughlin sings Ordinary Miracle while a ballet of living in the moment ..remarkable energy fills the stadium... indoor snowfall...Orca whales ...salmon swim across the floor..icebergs appear...sparkles of life and light explode ..photons of lights...today rhythms of the duality of this amazing country... canoes descend from the bluest sky with a full moon... legends of the fiddler and his duel with his shadow...threads of music ... cadence of drumming...heartbeats and dance ...a drink called screech...tap dancing and Celtic fiddlers...contemporary interpretations of square dances ...flaming tap shoes and floating orange and gold maple leaves circling ...the wind on the Canadian prairies under a vast Sun reminding us all we are mortal....the LED technical marriage with Joni Mitchell's song "Both Sides Now" flowing in the room as icebergs arise and snowboarders and skiers come down from the dark blue skies inside the stadium...the young athletes are enthralled with this performance dedicated to them and their dedication and perseverance ...welcome to the city of Glass...Vancouver...voices exploring the surprise of lighting the Vancouver flame.... a collaboration of spirits lighting the flame for 2010.


I love this ceremony of Peace affirmations and as you can see I am overwhelmed with the bright future we see opening up right before our eyes. 106 day journey by over 12.000 carriers of the Olympic flame Rick Hanson 25,000 miles for spinal injuries research ...Katrina LaDon...back to back golds...Steve Nash with the Phoenix NBA star...to Nancy Green alpine skier...to Wayne Gretzky the world's greatest hockey players to the Vancouver cauldron emerging from the floor ...slight technical difficulty but brilliant all the same. The next sixteen days will be exciting and I am praying that there will be no more severe accidents and a peaceful celebration of this 21st games. Guard and protect these young people full of promise. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

ice crystals on my back step...