...happiness song

Friend and fabulous artist Teri @ Teri's Artery sent the video for her 'happy song' favorite, so I thought I'd pass it along... If you decide to visit her blog (and you should) make sure to check out her painting of the poppy field, so beautiful....but all her art is grand.

.....good morning, let's reach for the sun!

....a happy little ditty...always makes me smile!
Hope it does you too....

.....ladies in waiting and Sacred Sunday

I’m feeling extraordinarily blessed today….

It might have something to do with spending most of my Sunday in my studio…
Some thing I haven’t done in a week....ever since company.

My studio is my sacred space.
It is a gift to me from my bear of a husband
….it’s not fancy
...and it so suits me
It is the place I can hang out and create or not….
I set the vibe.
I have music, a DVD player, telephone, windows, a bathroom, a little refrigerator,
I don’t have a microwave but I do have a tiny coffee pot that I use to make hot water for tea….

There is enough room so I can have a bed for Maia
(my most constant companion),
there is a futon, a desk and bookcases & my favorite thing,
a woodburning stove!!!
And of course my stuff….
books, cd’s, dvd’s, apron’s, jackets, slippers, coffee mugs, incense, tea, crackers, notebooks and journals, alters (2), cocoa bars
AND
my figures in every available space…
waiting to find their person…

And the art stuff
everything from bones & pods to elegant lace & fur…..
Lot’s of art stuff
much of it gifted to me.
I get the most amazing bundles of things from people….
gifts with the words,
“you might be able to use these in one of your figures….”.

Yesterday I cast a mask of my #1daughters face (oldest of two, thus #1, married to Wonderful-Son-In-Law and mother of Beloved Grandson).
I’m making her a Spirit Mask….
That meant we spent time together…
always a gift.

Today I woke up to a warm house and fresh coffee.
I took the dogs for a walk…
did a little meditating
what a gorgeous day it is!!!

Came back and turned on the news to see what I might be missing out in the world.
Seems we are having a Swine Flu outbreak...
sounds scary
…this ought to take our minds off of the financial mess,
the wars,
and the torture tapes
….everyone is being asked to go to the dr. if they think they might be infected
…I’m wondering if that includes the uninsured???

Turned off the news and put on some music…

Got a little laundry done and a little housework…
had a banana & strawberry smoothy with toast and strawberry jam….
and now I’m here with you, soon off to my studio…
Life doesn’t get much better. ….


And even though I'm blessed big time,
a few weeks ago I let my self get caught up in some fear…
bad thing
It seemed the more I carried it around with me,
the more less than desirable stuff started showing up…
It is so important for me to stay grounded and focused on what I want…
not what I don’t want.

Today is a full blown day of gratitude….
And you are included in my thoughts….
Big Hugs and Loads of Light….

......the world around me part 2

Last evening my wonderful son-in-law got on his tractor/mower and mowed a path through the tall grasses on the back of the hill where my house nestles.
It‘s my walking place and the place where I ponder and dream……
bless him…
Everything was just tooo tall all of a sudden for me to want to take the dogs & cats out into it…
fox tails, ticks, snakes among the green grass and wild flowers….

He didn’t have time to do the whole hill but when I went out last evening to walk I was surprised ,and touched, to see that he had made little pathways for me to follow around little islands of wild flowers ….he‘s a good guy….and because I could walk I feel much better about the world today.

We have a lot of spots in this glen where the sprites, fairies and Pillywiggins reside……
I was pointing out some secret little places to my grandson one day when the toad stools were just out and he informed me that there were no such things as fairies and such…
His dad said so…(not the same man as Wonderful Son-in-Law)…
He went on to tell me that his dad prays for me (which is nice) because I believe in fairies and other ungodly things…
like torture is bad…
oops!!
I guess a little of that worldly stuff is hanging on from the other day when I didn‘t walk.
I know that I need to experience magic in my life, and Mother almost always provides places where magic happens….it is one of my missions in life to help my grandson see and believe…..

This it the same grandson who asked me, "Grandma, do you know you talk to yourself?" and of course I said I did, because I do...and I asked him if it troubled him...and he said, "ya, a little bit Grandma."...
Poor boy...he has a grandmother who talks to the fairies and to herself...I wonder how he will remember me when I'm no longer in this realm?

....the world around me

I’ve had a lot of company over the past few days…
family…
people I miss when they leave. I was kept very busy though, so no time to post here until now…and no time to catch up on reading other blogs til now.
I’ve pretty much stopped watching television news…once in a while I watch Democracy Now…and I listen to FSR and read a few blog sites online to keep me aware of what is going on in the world.

Seems today the great debate is rather or not we were all manipulated into feeling joy at Susan Boyle’s moment on Britain’s Got Talent????
And rather or not the USA’s use of torture is a an understandable and forgivable offense.

Many cultural pundits say those who welled up while watching Susan were somehow weak for feeling emotion and shedding tears,...we should know it was a set-up, nothing that good happens in 'real' life......
and political pundits are saying that torture, if done at the right time for the right reason might be ok. Even if it’s not ok there should be no prosecution of the people who set the practice in motion....
that indeed we should look forward, forgive and forget.

For some reason these two topics of the day leave me wondering if indeed we are a culture who look upon people who feel touched by someone living their dream as silly and weak....
but those who torture are doing good for all humanity…
or at least should be forgiven for bad judgment.

I’m sure there are a whole bunch of folks sitting in our prisons who are hoping the being forgiven and moving forward view catches on….but I’m thinking that will only apply if you’re in a position of power and can plead that your crimes are for the good of your nation.

I think we are a nation of people who do follow the law of the land and expect the same from the people who write them,....and I do think we care about one an another and feel fine about expressing our humanity,,,,,but for some reason we aren't loud enough or maybe no one is listening.

If an innocent father of a family is delivered into the hands of error, of passion, or of fanaticism; if the accused has no defense except his own virtue; if the arbiters of his life run no other risk in killing him, than that of making a mistake; if they can kill with impunity by a simple decree; then the public outcry is raised, every man feels he is in danger, one can see that no one's life is in safety in the face of a tribunal set up for watching over the life of the citizens, and all voices in unison demand vengeance.

Voltaire

......sisters

I want to share a quote I read yesterday...

The greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention to one another's existence.

author unknown

...awesome

If you haven't already seen this do watch...it will make your heart happy!!! ...

Susan Boyle ~I Dreamed a Dream

.....Homage to Sergey Smirnov & Sacred Sunday

I spent almost 4 hours today just chatting with a woman who has lived a long life and is facing the end of this part of her journey.
I sat at the side of her bed and we sipped green tea and ate chocolate truffles.

She told me time really goes very fast...each day whizzes by...
She told me how she isn't able to do some of the things she loved so much doing...but that there are some new things she still wants to learn...like how to paint the ocean waves..
Her hands are swollen and giving her grief...Its hard to grip things but her hands still move so gracefully as she speaks and her nails are beautifully manicured.

She said she has few regrets about how she has lived her life

She told me that there are times in life when you just need a good laugh
....and that life often dishes you up stuff that leaves you no choice but to laugh....she told me she did cry when the dr. told her to get her affairs in order....but she is not afraid of death.

She is grateful for each day but does not want to live too much longer because her body is failing her...
she said she cry's sometimes because of the pain but doesn't like the pain meds because they make her loopy
She had me feel her biceps...to prove she exercises her upper body
...big guns! really...and her so tiny

She told me not to let mean people into my life and to cherish my friends..
She told me not to work very late in my studio..that it is important to spend evenings with my husband...

She said that all her life she was a horrible speller but all of a sudden she can spell all kinds of words....she thinks it's because she fell recently and hit her head.

She shared with me that to her,
gossip is one of the worst offenders when it comes to hurting people...
She said she stopped listening to it years ago...
she went on to tell me she tells people off now who start to gossip and that she would really like to hit the gossiper with her cane!

She said she still loves her husband after being married for 64 years!
She said she feels better when he climbs into bed with her on bad nights

She said the hardest thing is losing a child and she wishes people were kinder to children.

She can't wait to see her garden when all the flowers start to bloom...

She showed me photos of when she was a teenager and first in love with the man she married...I noticed how beautiful she still is...

She told me what a nice family she has, of which I am part of...
She told me she loves me and that she is proud of me
..and I told her the same.

We agreed that we should never kiss good bye on the lips because of germs,
and then we did.

.......and on a lighter, brighter note

During art hop at the Mind Shop last month someone asked me when I was going to do another Shaman...

This is what I got when I asked if one was ready to come forward.
The mask still needs work and I'm adding to the coils, but I think he is coming along...the body is almost ready to receive it's head. So depending on what else life serves up this piece should be done in a few days...

...The end of the story

Ok, there is no good way to write this post and if I hadn’t taken you along on my Deer journey I would not post at all…

The other morning I got up and noticed a coyote going down the road and a lot of vulture activity up in the brush close to the road…
So I decided I should go see what was up…
It crossed my mind that it might be one of our cats…
It wasn’t, it was Miss Deer…
Even now, writing this, tears come.
So this will be brief.

My husband believes that she was hit by one of the many drivers who travel this old dirt road much too fast. He thinks he could see evidence of her being dragged to the spot she was in and it was right on a corner. She wasn’t as afraid of cars as she needed to be...
She didn't fear much I don't think.

I feel that she wasn’t meant to be in this realm for long…the neighbors who took her in as fawn lengthened her lifetime here a bit, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Lesson for me….I don’t know.
I miss her...I had come to lover her even though I knew it wasn't wise to let my heart attach to hers....but did I have a choice?

I wish I hadn’t seen her as she was with the vultures.
I did dream of her the other night….
She was chasing a car down the road.

...a good day

It is soooo beautiful in the Sierra Foothills today! Blue sky, nice little gusts of a windy day, sun out, a few white clouds, wildflowers, and the grasses are really spring green...
so I made a little alter
and thanked Gaia, Mother, God, Goddess for giving me this moment in time.
I've only been back in the house for a few minutes and it has turned
dark outside.and the wind chimes are really chiming...
a little storm maybe.
We REALLY need the rain here in California...My mother and my two daughters, and me, used to go up on the hill and do a rain dance when the girls where little and my mother was living here..
.cool memory..
I love it here this time of year.
I love to lay down in the grass and just be still...daydream.
I try to do it often because summer here turns
hot and brown.
While I was watching the clouds go by just a bit ago, I wished that we all had mental telepathy...
so the people I care about would know how often I think of them..
I'm really bad about keeping in touch.
Especially if I'm in the creative flow
or
have a looming deadline
or
like today when I just want to do nothing but hang out
or
if I'm being forced to deal with the
TAX MAN
But I love my friends and family and think of them often.
I haven't forgotten about Sacred Sunday posts...
and I have something I want to share, just not right now.
enjoy this day
hug, hug

...Walk Softly

Here is my "Being Green" piece for the Timberline Gallery show which opens tomorrow. We were given the freedom to work in any medium we wanted to....so this is kind of a play piece for me since I most always work in fiber.
She is called, "Walk Softly in Spring"
I like her.