Hi, and welcome KCIW
listeners at one hundred point seven l LPFM
or online at kciw.org,
Brookings, Oregon.
Hi to our syndicated listeners as well at
KZZH
ninety six point seven FM, access Humboldt, Eureka,
California,
and a special, special welcome. Brand new listeners
of k s k q
eighty nine point five FM, Ashland,
and ninety four point one FM, Medford, Oregon.
Welcome new listeners.
So this is Joyously Free Radio with me,
Joni Lindenmayer,
the best selling author of None Better, an
amazing love story and coauthor of Joyously Free
and Healing Religious Hurts. I'm so glad that
you are tuning in today.
So a little bit about me. I'm a
resident of Harbor, Oregon, a retired high school
teacher, a recent author who has published three
books in two years, and just recently, with
my friend and film producer, Mike Gorse, created
a short film called Wowzer.
Mike and I are so excited that it
has been selected to be shown at the
LA Indie Short Film Festival this May. Truly
wowzer.
But most of all, out of all of
this, I love life and love being the
producer and host of this high energy, joyously
free radio,
gay dio show so named by Will and
Viv. This show talks about LGBTQ
plus stories and tips along with religion,
church, faith, spirituality, and joy.
Simply said, the purpose of the show is
to share, radiate, and spread abundant joy and
freedom, hence the title joyously free.
It is also the title of my second
book that I coauthored with Elizabeth Ann Atkins
of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing.
So as in my life, as in this
radio broadcast, there will be no hate speech,
no hate behaviors, and no bullying. It will
be blasted with courage,
confidence, and collaboration,
the three c's.
Today, we're gonna sparkle and seek understanding,
think out of the box or no boxes
at all, and be open minded as an
open parachute.
So let's begin our day with a morning
salutation,
or if it's in the evening, an evening
salutation.
It's a brand new day,
never been lived before. That's gonna be your
response. Let's try it one more time. It's
a brand new day. Never been lived before.
Wow. I love it. My speaker is right
on it. My friend is right on it,
and you're gonna get to meet Guylin in
just a second. But with every radio show
I do, let's start with a prayer.
Let's open our hearts,
asking the Divine to shine light on our
community
and our world.
I excitedly believe in hope,
in the power of the spiritual,
and that Jesus,
God, Spirit, whatever name you put on a
higher being is always with me and always
with you.
So be not afraid
or troubled,
saddened or depressed.
Joy and peace are an internal expression of
love and harmony
that is already within us. We only have
to reach deep within and let it out,
share it with others.
Let's center ourselves.
Take a big deep breath in
with the good
and out with doubt.
Again, breathe in through your nose with hope
and out from your mouth with fears and
anxiety.
Last one, take a big, big deep breath
in with joy
and out with any worry or despair or
anxiousness.
In the name of mother Earth, creator God,
Jesus redeemer, and the blowing winds of the
Holy Spirit, we say, hi, light. Hi, love.
Hi, Jesus. God's spirit.
Thank you for being with us today.
Well, for the reading today, I had this
in my prayer corner this morning, and it
was a quote that that I just picked
up somewhere. I don't even know where I
got it, but here it is. Enjoy the
little things.
I loved reading that this morning, and there's
flowers all around, and it's decorated,
and it's enjoy the little things. And when
I looked at that and read that, I
just put a it put a smile on
my face because how often we can go
through the day being not grateful,
taking things for granted,
and not enjoying the birds in the sky
or the clouds in the
sky or the green grass or the the
beautiful pancake you might have had for breakfast,
but it's the little things that can make
big things happen in your life, and and
it's just an internal feeling of connected with
a connection with a spirit.
So I ask that all of you reflect
on that today. What are some little things
that you enjoy and you can be grateful
for?
Let us end by saying, lifting up our
friends and our family.
Lord, god, whomever you are, please
provide your divine guidance and healing all day
for us.
Thank you, holy one, for hearing and being
with us throughout our entire day.
Bless us to do your will.
Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Enjoying the little things. So we have a
speaker today, a presenter, a friend, a neighbor
of mine I've known for a few years
that is going going to excite us with
more than little things. Let me introduce you
to Ghilan
Lane.
Ghilan Lane. She is an orchidist.
She made that word up just a few
minutes ago, also known as a horticulturist,
but she is the orchid goddess. And that's
our topic today, orchid goddess. And I we
have this beautiful orchid. Oh my goodness. Thank
you for bringing this. Are you gonna be
able to describe this for us today? Yeah.
After she tells me what to say. Okay.
Okay. I love it. I love it. So
first off, how are you today, Gailin? Wonderful.
I'm just thrilled to be here and and
work with you and talk with you
and share
some amazing truths that I've discovered in the
world of orchids.
Awesome. Awesome. And and as we're talking and
we're gonna have a conversation, easygoing conversation,
I picture myself standing in your your your,
greenhouse
Oh, yes. All the orchids around and just
the beauty of each one individually.
So well, tell us a little bit about
you, and then let we'll jump into the
orchid part. Tell us, where are you from?
Well What what have you done in your
life? I have to say I grew up
in the Midwest,
a preacher's daughter. Oh.
And I had such
evangelistic
ideals about
what it was to be a Christian, what
it was to be a member of a
church,
and carrying that into the community.
Mhmm. I had a deep,
dark
secret. Oh.
And I think about the time that I
was 12 years old,
I,
I took my paper route, took a break
at the town park,
sat on a swing,
and prayed to God
to take my life. Oh my golly, Skyland.
I was so afraid that I was
abnormal.
Oh. Not like my girlfriends
and not like my boyfriend
at school and certainly not like anyone in
my family.
And that was an early,
dark secret that followed me right on through
college. All be done. And I started out
in college,
in religious education.
And I went to a a church
school in the Midwest,
and I had a good time because I
was out of my home life
into the
the,
the academic life Mhmm. Where you are actually
taught to question everything.
Mhmm. Well, that's that's fun, and it's liberating.
Mhmm.
But if you have a deep dark secret,
you still have to be careful. Oh my
god. You know, you have to
decide what you can share and what you
absolutely cannot share. Mhmm. And that took me
to a place where I was no longer
an artist.
I was no longer an athlete,
and I became boy crazy. Oh.
And my whole
part among the academics
was to find boyfriends.
The more, the better.
Oh, boy. Oh, boy. And from that point
on, I I went to nursing school to
be a nurse.
And when I was at the University of
Washington, I met my future husband.
And I was married for about three and
a half years,
and I had a daughter,
a wonderful daughter.
And
my husband and I decided to go our
different ways Mhmm. Because I finally told him
why I wasn't really interested in
sex with a man. Uh-huh. And that turned
everything in my life upside down. And was
that the dark secret all throughout? That was
it. And and the other part of it
well, it came true. What came true was
I'm going to die.
Uh-huh. Because in my social life, I could
not be
myself. Mhmm.
So
becoming a nurse
was,
a difficult,
program because my my husband was a med
student. But after that, I I went into
social work and did that for a few
years.
But I did have a a mental and
emotional breakdown
because
what I was considering,
church and Christianity
to be,
I no longer felt that I was a
part of that circle
because I was absolutely positive.
Even though I'm thinking about,
outing myself to certain people,
I was going to
be disqualified
at my job.
So working in for the state of California,
I knew that if that truth came out,
I could say goodbye to my livelihood.
Wow. And I was raising my daughter.
And so it was.
Oh, the fear.
Not only the fear,
but I was always a goody two shoes
growing up. I did all the right things
and didn't do the wrong things,
and it did not pay off. Mhmm. It
did not matter. Mhmm. My result of at
the of the feeling like I was at
the bottom
of the basement of the society.
Uh-huh.
And I didn't
I became
so so on the outside of life,
and I didn't really know how to carry
that Mhmm. Because I was always in the
in the know, in the right place at
the right time.
So I went for a long time
stumbling around trying to find
what was,
worthwhile.
Mhmm.
Mhmm. So,
I got into landscaping
because I didn't have to think.
I just worked.
And that way, I was able to,
raise my family. And I,
actually adopted two other children Wow. A boy
and a girl. And so I had three
children
to raise, and that was that was a
wonderful experience.
So I'm picturing this. Single mom,
three children,
a landscaper
in California,
and you're feeling
what? What are you feeling now? I'm feeling
like maybe I'm in a safe place. Wow.
But what I did was
I decided to take my family
over to the Hawaiian Islands, and I could
do that kind of work
over there. Oh. So we moved to the
Big Island,
and I went to work doing landscaping
there.
And the most poignant thing where you feel
like you're led to a certain part of
your life,
The first time I really felt led
was when I was,
planting a lot of plants and making the
scenery just perfect.
I went to the the local nursery
and was shopping around for different plants to
plant, things that I didn't know too much
about.
Well, the person who was helping me with
that said to me, hey, why don't you
try some of these orchids?
Let me show you these orchids that will
grow
in in your landscape.
And I said, oh, excuse me.
Nothing doing.
And and she was taken back. And she
says, well, why? Why are you so against
that? I said, let me tell you.
These things are so beautiful
that if I start
incorporating
them in my work,
I will eventually
quit my job
to do nothing but growing orchids. I love
it. No wonder you're the orchid goddess. Well
and I like my job. I like being
a
a landscaper and working in Mhmm. In Hawaii.
And I certainly didn't want anything to do
with those seductive flowers.
And they really are because
the way they open up is with their
their center
Mhmm. The most exposed that it can possibly
be. The petals are
just staying flat and letting the center
do the storytelling
of that plant,
and they do tell stories. And if anybody
out there is listening right now, if you
have an orchid, look at your orchid as
you're listening to Gylen here. Sure. Oh my
gosh. Your descriptions are fabulous. Keep on going
here, girl. Okay. Well,
so
it turned out
that I,
I had a an opportunity
to be a a landscaper
at a in a a very expensive estate.
They built me a gardener's house, and they
they, were so
excited about having me just be their their
person.
And I realized that they're
Baptist and very strict.
And as much as I wanted that job
because it was security, you know,
I realized that
if anybody were to find out about my
life and who I am,
then I would lose that job. And I
did not wanna lose any more jobs
because of my secret.
And so, I mean, I was living with
a woman at the time,
but she was my cousin.
Oh. Cousin. You had to put a different
name on that, didn't he? Yes. A different
label. Societies, pressures. Yes. It was okay that
I was raising daughters and a son, but
not
not okay Mhmm. To have a woman partner.
Mhmm. So I turned it down.
My daughters
wanted to live back on the Mainland, and
we moved back. Okay. But, you know, spirit
guides us if we let that be, if
we have even a kernel of faith
that there is power and love
more more
amazing the more you allow yourself to experience
it in any way that you do.
I I allow myself to experience
guidance,
kicking and screaming Mhmm. And saying, oh, no,
no.
But not, you know, I don't
I give in once in a while. Okay.
I was led to another landscape,
job
in, Carmel, California.
And
while I was working on this big project
there, I noticed two
large greenhouses in the back 40.
And I tippy toed over there one time
and looked in.
And the woman of the house of the
ex of the,
estate
greeted me, and I said, oh my god.
Just almost acres of orchids growing side by
side. Only orchids.
Only orchids. Oh my gosh. It took me
back. And before I could even censor my
thoughts and my words, I said
to Kit, what that was her name. I
said, you know, if you would teach me
how to grow these,
I would,
do the landscaping for free.
And I would even pay you to teach
me. And she said, oh, well.
It just seems that I need
extra help. How about if I teach you
and, also,
I'll pay you?
That sounds sweet. So there we were. Oh
my
goodness. Be. And so there I was immersed
in this amazing greenhouses,
two green large greenhouses,
about an acre each,
that I was suddenly surrounded by orchids
in all stages of life.
Little tiny seedlings in a flask
that are sent from the laboratory
and,
orchids that are, like, a year old, and
they're only in two inch sized pots. And
all those things, I saw, and I literally
fell in love. Mhmm. I was goofy. Wow.
There was nothing else I wanted to do.
Wow.
And because of that That's joyously
free. It is. And the the thing about
spirit
leading me to the orchids,
I was led to the best grower
in all of California.
Wow. She had so many awards for her
breeders
and all of these things. And there I
was being taught. Awesome. Awesome guile. And so
what happened from there? Well, from there, I
I worked there in, California,
and
the the owner
offered to sell me the business.
But there was so much competition.
There were so many other places that were
growing orchids, selling them, and the utilities
for growing orchids in those particular greenhouses
was really, really expensive Mhmm. Like 17¢
per kilowatt
hour.
I don't want,
to bore you anymore with this, but I
decided to move to Oregon Okay.
And to buy some land Okay. And then
put up my greenhouses
and then start,
a world
working in them and serving the plants.
And in some many regards, they serve me
too. Oh. So if I were to tell
you the first thing
that I can say about orchids and my
first experience, and you at home
may find this true for you,
orchids are indiscriminate
about love.
You know, if we if we hold on
to the notion that god is love and
that the universe
really
gives us so many opportunities
to experience
love,
I noticed that orchids are indiscriminate.
Well, how about that?
You know, us people are usually pretty selective
about who we love and who we let
love us
because there's a lot of survival or whatever
there is attached to it.
But
I could tell you the way I I
realized this was when I would put my
hand
over a leaf and then my other hand
on the bottom of that leaf Mhmm. And
just feel the energy.
And if I close my eyes,
these auras of color
and beauty
and sustainability
and
endurance is the word I'm thinking of. That's
what I started to experience, and I thought,
there's a reason I'm here
doing this, and there's a reason I was
taught
about God
and Jesus and all of that.
I had to learn to come around
to a new truth.
Oh, wow. Oh, wow. And listeners,
Guylin just now held the leaf of an
orchid plant sitting here on our table, and
you can see in her sparkly eyes
that something was going on in her.
Well, there's something going on with these two
because
the the circle of love goes in and
through us and around us. There's almost no
place or no vibration that doesn't have it.
It's just a willingness to tune in like
we do to our radio.
How about that? That's awesome, Gailin. That's awesome.
Oh my and and the and the orchid
sitting in front of us, would you describe
the colors
and and Well, the flowers are
very
clear
white. The petals and and the outside of
the flowers are clear white, and the center
is a ruby red,
and we call that the lip
or the throat.
And that's
that's the main part. And I call this
particular orchid jingle bells Oh. Because of the
snow and the red,
like Christmas.
And the fun part is orchids,
that we have
in The US
tend to bloom in the wintertime.
Mhmm. How good is that Mhmm. When we
get the winter blues Mhmm. And the orchids
are starting to open up and shine.
So there's a very, very powerful thing about
the the flowers.
And so,
yeah, they're
they're small and they're large.
The flowers grow. As they open up, they
still begin to get bigger and bigger. That's
new. That's something that's unique about orchids.
Right on. Right on. You know? And and
when I think about the orchids I have
at home, Guylin, they have the air roots.
Yeah. Would you talk a little bit about
the air roots? I've always been curious about
that because I never cut them. I just
let them keep growing. Is that the best
way to do that? Well, why not? Right.
One thing that happens when people take their
their orchids home from the store or the
nursery,
the orchid
begins to acclimate
to the way you you keep them, the
way you treat them, the way you water
them, the way
you don't water them. All of the things
that you do with orchids begins to,
show up
in a different and unique way. I've had
people bring their orchids back to me saying,
oh, my orchid's not doing much and because
it's not blooming, would you mind taking this
orchid back, reblooming it, and then I'll come
and pick it up? Oh. I said, sure.
You can pay x 8¢ a day.
And then when it blooms, I'll bring it
back to you. Wow. Wow. Gailin, you're not
gonna believe how fast this time is going.
Okay. Okay. So you've got one minute to
give, like, the best tips in the world
for the orchid world out there. Okay.
Well, there are over 30,000
known species of orchids.
That's what we know about. That does not
even
talk about hybrids.
Because of that, they're in the rainforest,
and so many of the trees have been
cut down.
And there there's species in that area that
we've never discovered. Mhmm. Mhmm. So
I have to say that orchids don't die
easily.
There are orchids in bloom
since 1842.
Wow. Still blooming. Wow. Scientists
have
taken
a a a study that they came out
with the
the conclusions that orchids are in have an
indeterminate
lifespan.
Love it. That's it. So
they don't die. You have to kill them.
Okay. I love it. I love it.
That's pretty darn simple. And they'll give up
their life to anybody, even me. Wow. I
love that. I love that. You know? And
they are just so beautiful.
They're companions
for if if you can't keep a dog
or a cat,
get an orchid. They are a companion. Cat.
That's a good one. They are a companion.
They are. Companion.
Yes. And they respond.
Right on. Right on. I I tell you,
you are a wealth of of knowledge and
spiritual
I hope to be. Guidance and And know
that there's so much I don't know. And
the exciting part is that I get to
keep studying.
I get to keep learning, and they're good
teachers.
Absolutely.
And I tell you, you are as vibrant
and gorgeous as the orchids are. Okay. You
you you just sparkle with your energy in
your life, and I I wanna thank you
immensely for coming on the radio show and
talking about this. I hope that the local
community will get to see and meet more
about you and your work. I'm going to
be teaching workshops as soon as I can
get them scheduled. Awesome. Okay. So stay tuned
for that, everybody.
Thank you, beautiful listeners on this gorgeous coast
of Southern Oregon and Northern California and the
majestic Rogue Valley for being with us today
on the joyously free manner, learning about orchids,
learning about Guylin Lane. She has inspired me.
I hope she's done the same with you,
given you some tips, some joys, some loves,
connecting life with orchid beautifulness.
You know, this this is the way Joyously
Free works with me. Joni Lindenmeier,
always always finding new people and new adventures.
I wanna thank the team. Mike Gorse on
the radio today doing the sound. We have
Tom Bozak, Candice, and Rose for always making
this happen. It's thanks to Steve Van Cleve
and Sally and Todd for sponsoring this radio
show called joyously free. We wanna say thank
you, the listeners, KCIW,
KZZH,
k s k q for tuning in, for
taking the opportunity to learn something new, to
be a part of something that can grow
your life even better and better. We look
forward to a beautiful days, and we wanna
end by saying
smile big and wear bright colors.
Thank you, Gailin.
Thank you. It's been a joy to be
with you. Thank you, Joni. Thank you. Thank
you. Oh,
beautiful.