Barbara Birch
@barbarabirch.bsky.social
Quaker author of Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy (Quaker Quicks)
The cactus on my window sill usually blooms around Election Day but this year I thought it decided to skip its bloom. Not true. The blooms were facing out. I turned the plant around—lo and behold—there are the buds…
Question: Is this past election week a turn around too?
Question: Is this past election week a turn around too?
November 10, 2025 at 1:58 AM
The cactus on my window sill usually blooms around Election Day but this year I thought it decided to skip its bloom. Not true. The blooms were facing out. I turned the plant around—lo and behold—there are the buds…
Question: Is this past election week a turn around too?
Question: Is this past election week a turn around too?
The Redwood Circle at Ben Lomond Quaker Center.
A place of quiet ceremony & worship.
Forest bathing Quaker style.
The sun dapples the breeze & scents the air
A place of quiet ceremony & worship.
Forest bathing Quaker style.
The sun dapples the breeze & scents the air
October 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Redwood Circle at Ben Lomond Quaker Center.
A place of quiet ceremony & worship.
Forest bathing Quaker style.
The sun dapples the breeze & scents the air
A place of quiet ceremony & worship.
Forest bathing Quaker style.
The sun dapples the breeze & scents the air
The huge redwood trees at Ben Lomond Quaker Center are babies. This hill was clear cut 100 years ago. But the trees came back and will be here after we’ve vanished. I am pleased to think of that in worship there
October 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The huge redwood trees at Ben Lomond Quaker Center are babies. This hill was clear cut 100 years ago. But the trees came back and will be here after we’ve vanished. I am pleased to think of that in worship there
This is the center of the #labyrinth at Ben Lomond #Quaker Center.
Leaves, rocks, pine needles in a circle like a wreath
It’s at the center of the redwood forest.
I leave a leaf & a dead banana slug as my gift
Leaves, rocks, pine needles in a circle like a wreath
It’s at the center of the redwood forest.
I leave a leaf & a dead banana slug as my gift
October 28, 2025 at 1:07 AM
This is the center of the #labyrinth at Ben Lomond #Quaker Center.
Leaves, rocks, pine needles in a circle like a wreath
It’s at the center of the redwood forest.
I leave a leaf & a dead banana slug as my gift
Leaves, rocks, pine needles in a circle like a wreath
It’s at the center of the redwood forest.
I leave a leaf & a dead banana slug as my gift
Resisting #authoritarianism with love and power at Ben Lomond Quaker Center. Eileen Flanagan speaks truth to western #Friends. Oh and a #labyrinth too
October 26, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Resisting #authoritarianism with love and power at Ben Lomond Quaker Center. Eileen Flanagan speaks truth to western #Friends. Oh and a #labyrinth too
West Berkeley CA
October 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM
West Berkeley CA
This quote came up at the Lectio Divina course for @woodbrooke.bsky.social yesterday and it perfectly describes my mindset as I set out for #NoKings rally today. "A fine union of serenity and adventure"
#QuakerActionWorship #QuakerQuote
#QuakerActionWorship #QuakerQuote
October 18, 2025 at 3:12 PM
This quote came up at the Lectio Divina course for @woodbrooke.bsky.social yesterday and it perfectly describes my mindset as I set out for #NoKings rally today. "A fine union of serenity and adventure"
#QuakerActionWorship #QuakerQuote
#QuakerActionWorship #QuakerQuote
Someone on my neighborhood Buy Nothing group is collecting Barbies to make them into zombies for #Halloween. My grandkids have outgrown the ones I had for them to play with so I am regifting them to a new death/life as #zombies. This is a good idea but I am kind of creeped out by it. Are you?
October 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Someone on my neighborhood Buy Nothing group is collecting Barbies to make them into zombies for #Halloween. My grandkids have outgrown the ones I had for them to play with so I am regifting them to a new death/life as #zombies. This is a good idea but I am kind of creeped out by it. Are you?
Genesis 9:16. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
#hope on a hopeless day
A promise
#QuakerEcosprituality
#hope on a hopeless day
A promise
#QuakerEcosprituality
September 30, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Genesis 9:16. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
#hope on a hopeless day
A promise
#QuakerEcosprituality
#hope on a hopeless day
A promise
#QuakerEcosprituality
I am so enjoying facilitating this @woodbrooke.bsky.social course. The participants are engaged & insightful even tho it is late in the evening in the U K & they could be in the local drinking a pint instead. #QuakerSacrifice
#Embodiedspirituality
#Spiritualembodiment
#Embodiedspirituality
#Spiritualembodiment
September 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I am so enjoying facilitating this @woodbrooke.bsky.social course. The participants are engaged & insightful even tho it is late in the evening in the U K & they could be in the local drinking a pint instead. #QuakerSacrifice
#Embodiedspirituality
#Spiritualembodiment
#Embodiedspirituality
#Spiritualembodiment
Feeling panicked this a.m. Too much doomscrolling & news
Fixed my fountain pen
Found a notebook
Wrote the first text
Meditation on passive verbs & counterfactuals
Feeling calmer now
Spirit & Body
Sanity for a second
Fixed my fountain pen
Found a notebook
Wrote the first text
Meditation on passive verbs & counterfactuals
Feeling calmer now
Spirit & Body
Sanity for a second
September 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Feeling panicked this a.m. Too much doomscrolling & news
Fixed my fountain pen
Found a notebook
Wrote the first text
Meditation on passive verbs & counterfactuals
Feeling calmer now
Spirit & Body
Sanity for a second
Fixed my fountain pen
Found a notebook
Wrote the first text
Meditation on passive verbs & counterfactuals
Feeling calmer now
Spirit & Body
Sanity for a second
September 3, 2025 at 10:15 PM
1/ I decided to ask ChatPT to translate a quote from Quaker writer and mystic Thomas Kelly to T-rumpspeak. Here's the original quote & see the comments for the translation. What do you think? I think this is fun. 😀
August 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
1/ I decided to ask ChatPT to translate a quote from Quaker writer and mystic Thomas Kelly to T-rumpspeak. Here's the original quote & see the comments for the translation. What do you think? I think this is fun. 😀
This sign from 2016 used to say “when they go low, we go high” (M Obama, in sharpie) but obviously that didn’t work hence the overpainting (in permanent fabric paint) for 2025.
READY for faith in action
READY for faith in action
August 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This sign from 2016 used to say “when they go low, we go high” (M Obama, in sharpie) but obviously that didn’t work hence the overpainting (in permanent fabric paint) for 2025.
READY for faith in action
READY for faith in action
Howard Thurman “What would a man give in exchange for his soul? This is the great decision. Even death becomes a little thing. To survive with inner cleanness, to compromise where ground can be retrieved, to stand unyielding when the moment comes-- this is the meaning of the word-- the word love.”
August 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Howard Thurman “What would a man give in exchange for his soul? This is the great decision. Even death becomes a little thing. To survive with inner cleanness, to compromise where ground can be retrieved, to stand unyielding when the moment comes-- this is the meaning of the word-- the word love.”
My new volunteer job literacy tutor!
August 1, 2025 at 9:12 PM
My new volunteer job literacy tutor!
NAKED LADY LILY (AMARYLLIS BELLADONNA)
July 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
NAKED LADY LILY (AMARYLLIS BELLADONNA)
Strange growth
Extraterrestrials?
Extraterrestrials?
July 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Strange growth
Extraterrestrials?
Extraterrestrials?
In San Francisco, the pink triangle on Twin Peaks is a powerful symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and resilience, repurposed from its original, discriminatory use during the Holocaust. The pink triangle, originally used by the Nazis to identify gay men in concentration camps, has been reclaimed
June 30, 2025 at 12:52 AM
In San Francisco, the pink triangle on Twin Peaks is a powerful symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and resilience, repurposed from its original, discriminatory use during the Holocaust. The pink triangle, originally used by the Nazis to identify gay men in concentration camps, has been reclaimed
June 30, 2025 at 12:49 AM