Welcome, Baby Butta!

Meet the newest member of the Butta family, Michael Richard Butta, born Thursday April 5, 2012.

 We are so glad you're here...welcome to our family!

Yogurt Article

Read Philip's newest article in Fast Company Magazine!

Christmas 2011

We had an beautiful, joyous, and special Christmas with a visit from Alek and Jen.

Here is our beautiful christmas Tree, which hardly dropped any needles (unlike the one last year)

...and here we all are on Christmas Day:

4th Week of Advent

Today we reach the level of Air.  The symbol is the Angel.

The angel Gabriel brought Good News.  He teaches us to not over-intellectualize, and to appreciate the things of Air.

Merry Christmas! Happy Yule!  and many Winter Solstice blessings!

wishing you a wonderful 2012.

Autumn Garden 2011

Thanks to our dear friend Beth of Dogwould Landscaping for this beautiful garden!





White Squirrel

The first time I saw this critter in my back yard, I thought it was a white lab rat.  I could not believe my eyes.  On Friday, December 16th, Ray saw it as he was going out the door, and I was able to photograph it.  He thought there might be 2 of them.  Hope it works out that we might have more white squirrels on Eastwood Ave. next spring.



First snowfall!

This was the first snowfall of the 2011-2012 winter season: Friday, December 09, 2011, 8:17:12 AM

My Christmsas Spirit is beginning to stir!



Advent, 3rd Sunday: Fire

 This week we lit the 3rd candle, for the element of Fire.  



Fire is about going on a Quest.  Fire is about doing what you need to do.  Fire is not letting thoughts or feelings or anything else interfere with wht your heart tells you to do.


We brought out the figure of the Wise Man. 

He represents Fire because he followed the Star, which is a hot bright fireball; and it was not logical or sensible, but he followed his heart and found a way to accomplish this quest through passion and courage.

Here is a prayer honoring Fire:

"Ancient sun, eternally young, 

 giver of life and source of energy, 

 In coal and oil, in plant and wind and tide,

 in spiritual light and human embrace

You kindle the heavens, you shine within us
(for we are suns with hearts afire—
we light the world as you light the sky

 and find clouds within whose shadows are dark);

We give thanks for your rays. . . ."

Yokuts Indian prayer 

Congregation of Abraxas

The Third Sunday of Advent is called "Gaudete Sunday."  Gaudete means Rejoice! because Christmas is almost here.

Wedding! Alex and Jennifer

See all our wonderful pictures!

September 2, 2011...Wedding Day in North Carolina! so beautiful...so amazing...so very special.

September 3, 2011...we spent most of the day traveling to western North Carolina for a day in Asheville to see the Biltmore Mansion 


September 4, 2011...a day at the Biltmore Mansion

September 5, 2011...on our way home from North Carolina

Maris's Birthday 2011

We were grateful to receive visits from Maris's friends in honor of his birthday.


Every year, there was a sleepover for Maris's friends.  They did wild and crazy things all night, and it was always a lot of fun.

Friends from Gordon Tech visited on Saturday, November 12--Lukasz, Brian, and Jeff:

 and Peter and Elizabeth, friends from Newberry visited on his actual birthday, November 16

  Thank you so much for being the most special friends in the world.

Advent 2011, Second Sunday

On Sunday December 4 we lit the second candle on our Advent Wreath.  It represents the element of Water.  

The flowing world of psyche, soul, and emotions is where we are now.  Raising our vibratory level a bit has made us aware of our own feelings, and those of other people.  Sometimes we receive sensations and impressions from the astral sea.

Sometimes our psyches feel as if we are caught in the undertow.  We feel at the mercy of a storm at sea.  We feel pain and bliss of every conceivable kind.

Yet we are aware of another side to Water....its ebb and flow, its ability to refresh and renew, its ability to cleanse and heal.

 Its positive expressions are dreams, visions, and intuitions.  We learn to go with the flow, to rejoice in the gentle rain that brings new life.  The purpose of emotions is to move us.

The psyche is a source of light as well as darkness, of wisdom and empathy. It takes us on a journey through the Underworld, and back again.  We may drink deeply of the cup of life.

To the creche, we added the figure of Mother Mary, who represents Water:

Mary is like the goddess Isis, who represents the River Nile, which retrieves the scattered dark earth of Egypt, and carries it to the land so that life may continue for another year. In this way she brings fertility to the earth.  She represents the waters of life.

Mary received a special message from Gabriel, the Angel of Water.  He told he she would give birth to someone very special.  Fertility is the gift of Water.


May we receive awakening.  May we ascend. May we receive that which has been scattered, feelings of light and the dark in balance.  May we receive the waters of life.

Here is a Hindu prayer, which is a Water contemplation:

"Waters, you are the ones who brinng us the life force.

Help us to find nourishment so that we may look upon great joy.

Let us share in the most delicious sap that you have, as if you were loving mothers.

 Let us go straight to the house of the one for whom your waters give us life and give us birth.

For our well-being let the goddesses be an aid to us, the waters be for us to drink.  Let them cause well-being and health to flow over us.

Mistresses of all the things that are chosen, rulers over all peoples, the waters are the ones I beg for a cure.

Soma has told me that within the waters are all cures and Agni who is salutary to all.

Waters, yield your cure as an armour for my body, so that I may see the sun for a long time.

Waters, carry far away all of this that has gone bad in me, either what I have dome in malicious deceit or whatever lie I have sworn to.

I have sought the waters today, we have joined with their sap.  O Agni full of moisture, come and flood me with splendour."

Halloween 2011

Thanks to our friends who helped us carve pumpkins for our halloween celebration!  Our back yard was beautiful.

November 1 With Olivia

Millennium Park excursion with Lady Olivia Rpobertson, November 1, 2011.