Art Links

Find artist and works here.
Love these sleepers by Takamori....
akio Takamori at Frank Lloyd Gallery

Springs, sprung!

It is sooo beautiful here now, days are either crisp and cool, or sunny and warm, unusual combination for us here in early March. I am hoping for a mild summer, not warmer than 80 degrees! I have put my order in! These are apple trees in bloom at the farm where I used to live and where I visit freinds often. I found this in A Course in Miracles, today, I love it, it is divine."There is a light in you that cannot die: whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground so that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks deep to a whisper round your holy head. The light in you is what the universe longs to behold.All living things are still before you, for they recognize who walks with you. The light you carry is their own. And thus they see in you their holiness Itself, saluting you as savior and as God. Accept their reverence because it is due to holiness itself, which walks with you, transforming in It's gentle Light all things unto it's Likeness, and it's purity.
From, A Course in Miracles..... lesson # 156

My chart, my life is an open book!

I have never been one to put much into astrology,,,but, I have a friend who did a chart out of curiosity ( am I that ambigious?) for me, I am amazed! I mean really amazed! I feel suddenly validated! It is as if all the questions I have had so long about myself, have suddenly beeen clarified! I understand myself now! Wow, what a cool thing, a chart is!

Fed up with no fashion fun

I have to have Yamamoto's shirtdress. The man that brings this to me will own my heart, at least until I get another present I love.....
I love it when kimfinds real fashion for me, we are equally fed up with no fashion fun! This is one designer we can enjoy. Look out world, fun is on the rise!

book crossing

I found this link to Book crossing
on a friends blog. I am hastening to my local library tomorrow to pick up a traveling book, and perhaps leave one to travel. It is a great idea, take a look! A wonderful way to loose or find a book.

Kisses into white

This morning is one of those lovely mornings that I have named my life after.It is a beautiful nimbostratus morning. Just out my window I see the boughs of rhododendrons hanging low, and a cedar with leaves that look black instead of green. Across the road, the neighbors fence becomes faint in the white that moves out beyond it into a land of sheer mystery, where only sound can reach ones senses, that of an occasional ferry sounding the fog horn. Senses deprived of stimuli; imagination becomes rich with feeling, sensual delight. Like a lover with cool lips who has been out all night in the cold and has come to visit and kiss me all over my face with his affection, and warm his lips upon me.

Highly Suggested

To read this entire introduction from the Course, or buy the Intro for $3.00.

Either print out and read from online, The A Course In  Introduction Miracles

It is in Forgiveness that we are forgiven. In truth, there is nothing to forgive.

Design Addicts ....

You ,”must,” go here for fun.

Potters and gardens

Last summer I visited the studio home of Robin Hopper and Judi Dylle, both well known potters, who make their home near Victoria BC. I enjoyed walking through their gardens and spending time in the studio then gallery deciding on a pot or 2 to buy. It was a tough decision, but I decided to buy one of each including a few small pieces made by their charming and talented young Granddaughter. I found this articel about their garden in a publication, and now online. Take a peek at what they have to offer, and if you are over that way, take a look.

If you take a look at their pottery, you will see why it was so hard deciding what to purchase.

Fudge Cupcakes AKA Gut Rocks

My kids named these fudge cupcakes," gut rocks," because as far as a cupcake goes, these are really heavy. They are actually a brownie of the very best variety made in a cup cake paper and tin.

1C flour
1 3/4 C surar
4 eggs Mix together with a spoon, do NOT beat!

Melt 2 sticks margarine
2/3 C chocolate chips,
add: 1 C chopped pecans
1t vanilla

Mix together, and fill cup cake pans lined with papers 1/2 full. Bake at 350 until done.
Warning!!!!!!~These will not last long~

Curly leafy dichondra seed for a fun house plant

I came home last night from my visit to see Kimmy, with this small growing art work, grass planted in those glass rectangular dishes restaurants use for packages of sugar, and a rectangular glass plate to set them in. I was thinking how nice dichondra would look planted in some of Kim's glass gardens, so I made a search for Dichondra, and it's seed

Carbon Tested Friend!

SOMETHING TO SAY Art for Tsumani relief by Kim Carney, one of my very best friends! Carbon testing reveals we go way back! I have red, pink with cream peonies like Kim's.

Heart throb!

Mini mac computer $500.00, Totally affordable, and kewl, Mac you make my heart skip a beat, just in time for V day. Won't some one buy you and give you away, to me! Or an ipod is good, too. Oh my my, need a few extra bucks, and a source for a small mini screen.

Apple of my eye, and a great stock too. Selling a million songs a day at 99 cents each, you are," my precious!"

John, ( my stockbroker) eat your heart out!

Informative chat link, politics, economics

http://www.prudentbear.com/bearschat/bbs_list.asp?fid=1
Also rumor has it that Bill Moyers is challenging Americans to not spend one dime on Inaugration day in protest of the war, boycotting all spending on that day. It would be a good meter to see if we the people have any power at all, if we have any, it would be economic! Try it! While this may be only an urban legend, what if we learn something from it, like we do have some power? Wouldn't it be worth the experiment? I think so! If we learned that by eating beans for a month of Sundays, or not buying any new clothes for a month would get the attention of an inattentive government, wouldn't it be well worth the try? No protests with police shooting college kids, just stop spending a bit, who couldn't manage that? Opinions anyone?

Never too late?

One short note before bed. This is about my beginnings, and I hope it rings a bell with somebody. Back in PA when I was a little little girl playing cowboys and Indians, I remember now, that I was prone to faint, ( as cowgirls on tv did) and fall to the ground, hand over my head, palm up. I remember kids standing over me, girls that knew about this fainting, and boys who said,” What happened?” The girls replying, “Oh, she fainted.”

My my, the joys of childhood, any other fainters out there? I was also responsible for butter and brown sugar sandwiches for all the kids. And... I made maple leaf and lilac corsages and sold them door to door for a nickel when I was 5. MY first great idea. It all began then...or maybe that is when it all ended? Maybe, just maybe, unlike Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda, who apparently continued with their cowboy playing, as actors, I failed to acknowledge my budding talents as a drama queen..or else, maybe it was moving to Texas that was responsible...learning too soon there weren't really any cowboys and Indians fighting it out in the wild west. Yes, I think that was what stunted my acting career! They say it is never too late!

Leaving Jake Part 3

Our relationship had been adventurous. Hiking and backpack trips were full of laughter, teasing, frequent stops along the trail to embrace. He was a witty and charming man, that Jake! On one particular hike I was trudging up a steep trail, pack on my back, panting ( and I was in shape). He made his way effortlessly, almost machine like. I stopped, breathless, and he came to stand beside me, and mostly to hide my embarrassment I said,” bet you don’t even have a pulse? (huff huff)” I slipped my fingers over his wrist, “see, you don’t have a pulse,” I announced.

With that he said, “hug me!” I wrapped my arms around his tall slender body and squeezed him. “Now take my pulse,” he said.

I laughed. He was occasionally able to shine like a star, but I was,” the older, more experienced woman.” I wrote.

“ Ha!,” He laughs, reading over my shoulder, arms folded, feet spread apart in the sand, striking his favorite “King and I pose.” It was part of our ritual folklore.

Fate plays a hand in my life. I make plans, and watch as they crumble, not passively either. I run to the disaster, as if it were a wall under construction, built by some impatient person who caused this defect. The plaster is sliding. I run to hold it in place, it shifts, and slides to the floor anyway.

Looking out towards the ocean and sky and night sky I see the rich white milky way, and silently remember how we are but a small part of that galaxy. The water is deep, mysterious before me, powerful. I look back at myself, I am a speck of sand on a beach. I wonder why I even try to make plans sometimes. As I plan an ending, Jake plans a different one.
“ I am buying a small condo in San Miguel and moving,” I say. "I have signed the papers, the offer has been accepted, I am remodeling, I am eager to go on.”

“ I will help you remodel,” he says, “ I am moving to San Miguel.”

“ You are not moving to San Miguel, but I will invite you to a farewell dinner.”

“The beginning of many,” he says.

“”yes, I will have many dinners, many friends over, male friends,” I say, smiling demurely, picking the feathers from my teeth.

“ I ‘ll get rid of them all,” he says, feel apart, arms folded, eyes sparkling, a smile spreading across his face.

As I type in these lines, the realtor calls, “The owner of the condo who accepted your offer has a problem, she has declared bankruptcy.”

I am mystified, rattled, “What are you saying?”

“She won’t be selling her condo after all.”

Where do I go from here, I wonder? I run to the wall, the plaster is sliding; I reach to hold it in place. I am chicken little, The sky is falling, the big dipper tilts, a crack appears in the night sky, a strange light appears, as though someone is cutting and pasting the pieces of my life into an indistinguishable form. Nothing is familiar anymore, except the unfamiliar. I go through the motions of living, trying to rebuild, yet like Pinocchio jerked around by strings, the messsages I get are mixed just enough to keep me interested, confused, and more and more sad all the time.



copyright 1999 Sherry M Stewart

Looks like sex to me!

There are days in this spot when you can't tell the Sound from the land surrounding it, it is thick like that, the fog, as it heaves itself up and down above the water,out there, like a lover, moving in time. Relieved, it finally disappates, and begins it's groping towards," my," home.... where moisture is everywhere, dripping from branches, and covering the lawn. It looks like sex to me!

Trees penetrating into the sky look like sex to me...and jets as they buzz by remind me of old lovers, too fast to have left a memory of anything substantial, just a memory of haste, and no taste.

Ferns drip their spored leaves earthward, to consummate, reproduce, to leave their mark upon the world.

The moon caresses the water at night, about 3 AM, it might be brightest then. I may be there to see the loving.

The mountains in the distance seep; plung, get into the water any way that they can, watering their rocky bones.

Have you noticed... it everywhere? Sex is; moisture, touching, caressing, penetrating, everywhere! What about a rating here guys! These photos are all over magazines, National Geographic, Kids Day...."raw" sex! All of nature is copulating,but no one is offended, maybe they are too insensitive to see it for what it is. And Dear God, if they did, it would all be banned! The fundamentalists from every culture would do it. The f word! Spare us all the F word, all the fundalis...spare us God, they are the demise, of all that is holy, and sexy, of all that is poetic, and real, all that is truth, they bury it in their fears. Well, truth is, we all live in fear, but some of us don't try to control," everyone else," just our partners, and neighbors, families, only not the, "whole," world, making it fundamentally unfit for love, freedom, and not to mention.....us...

I was at a monastery once at a retreat, we were asked to go outside and write about what we saw. OOPS! They won't make that mistake again! We had to read what we wrote! The funny thing was, the nun was the least shocked of all the people there. I would say she was not shocked at all, but liked my vision. Well, it was undeniable! Truth is undeniable, but you cannot say what it is, because you limit it if you do, and truth cannot be limited. So you can only say what it is not, you can only talk around it, because it is beyond words, it is all, after..all.

No, I wasn't kicked out, they let me stay for the whole retreat, and unlike Vipassana,I didn't bail out several days before it ended because it was so damn weird! Meditation isn't about sitting in the same place, not making eyes contact, or speaking with people days on end. Meditation, real meditation is not going blank, because when you stop, all the stuff just comes back anyway. Real meditation is in living, consciously, being aware of who you really are, beyond all the thinking, as much as posssible, in everyday actions.

Meditation is the grace of sex, of letting go, of seeing with clear eyes. The love in eyes, the beauty of dirt, sweat, and, yes, drool. Passion is all there is! Ascension is our hearts desire, and we don't dissappear to others when we ascend, we just can't find the self we thought we were! Ha! It is banished, because it wasn't real, the misconception. In reality, only truth lives, breathes, has life, is light, kisses our brow, takes us away, to where we have always been, above this into the sublime.

Wouldn't you say?

Part 2, I am Leaving You Jake, Goodbye!

I read these words to him as we sat on the log by the fire eating our brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal from paper picnic cups with fold out handles, the waves of the Pacific Ocean breaking on the shore just steps from our shelter,.a massive 12x12 ft. root ball of a giant tree that had been blown down by some strong and terrible storm, and washed ashore. It lay there helpless on its side. I, too, had been toppled, my roots exposed, family of origin gone, a marriage of 28 years destroyed, and left to raise Alki, my Granddaughter alone.

His response to my writing was a simple raised eyebrow as he left to take his coffee to the beach as I wrote. That was the kind of response I had been getting now for some time, well, as long as I can remember. Since his divorce, he couldn't talk about marriage, could hardly say the word. He had been smitten by me, he said, and while his proposals of marriage were sincere, he couldn't take a first step.

He needed time to struggle with himself, he said. I wondered why he didn't just take it, if that was what he needed.

I had experienced too much loss already, and that with this seeming no concern for future or my desires was writing on the wall that I couldn't ignore. No longer willing to access my feelings, and no evidence that Jake was a prince coming with the promise of warmth to rescue my feelings from their deep slumber, I planned to leave and begin a new life, AGAIN!

I took a break from my writing to scoop the oatmeal into my mouth with the plastic picnic knife he had provided. He came back to sit beside me and read the new entries I had made. He watched as I wrote, and then he said,” he lifted me and carried me to the tent where my warmth and passion were rekindled.” These were his words of choice.

“Ha! You wish!” I said, and we laughed, but the passion was gone for me. I was going through the motions, my responses were as dull as the picnic knife, and as plastic! Any joy I had felt languished now, like the froth left on the sand, remnants of a great wave.

I am Leaving You Jake, Goodbye!

Part 1

The conversation had taken a comic turn towards what our relationship would be like after the split. The jokes were full of sexual innuendo on his part, and on mine, the multitude of male friends I would have to take his place.

He took it better than I, but things were the way he wanted, with no compromise on his part. I was dissatisfied. I had plans to leave. I had an offer accepted on a condo, a plan. I was on my way out.

We had been what seemed like best friends, loving partners, with wits and humors, and dispositions well matched, but the relationship was stagnant. After being together for three years, the time for commitment had come and gone, Jake asserted he was committed, but my question would be, to whom was he committed, because it didn’t seem there was any commitment to me, only a carrot stick leading the way.

Commitment was not a word he understood, my commitment, yes, but not his. I hated his resistance, it was stifling, it was beginning to make me feel the same kind of fear he lived with everyday. His fear that another woman would leave him, “women always leave, he said” A self fulfilling prophesy,” not to mention he was running me off with his lack of courage, and covertly controlling all elements of our lives. He wrote the book on denial, and I spent too much time reading it. When it came to marriage he firmly planted his feet into the path of least resistance, now, he only wanted to live together.

“What as? What as?” I asked, quoting some favorite lines from Reds. “ Your mistress, your paramour, your concubine?” My humor weakened my position, but defended my dignity. “This is serious,” I crossed my arms to emphasize my position. My impish stance invited humor, and a smile began spreading across his face. I furrowed my brow. “ Remember all the times when I was certain your feelings and mine were mutual, my head in the clouds, silly in love, waiting to hear those three little words, “ lets get married? Well, I don’t want that anymore!”

Having experienced disappointment too many times before, I found it harder to allow my feelings to resurface. Just before the last straw, I had felt like a Christmas tree trimmed out in garlands and ribbons, ornaments that sparkled, a gold star on top. I brightened the room with my warmth, dazzling smile, bright eyes and festive spirit.

“Jerez , he said, I am not emotionally ready to marry.”

I felt as though he had thrown a bucket or two of ice cold water over my head. My star pitched, garlands slid, lights crackled, popped and sizzled, blinked one last time. The room turned dark. The papers from the presents dissolved, the boxes collapsed revealing emptiness. I ran down the basement stairs, opened the freezer door, climbed in, dug like a clam to the bottom beneath the frozen vegetables, and hid my feelings there, closed the freezer, locked the door, and evidently have lost the key. Probably buried in the pocket of some parka at the local Salvation Army. The new owner would never guess it was the key to someone’s heart.

Private 1st class Sarah

……Counter Intelligence Agent

Today I received a phone call from a very excited 19 year old, (and Mother of 1 ½ year old baby, and unmarried.)

“ Guess what”, She said? I am now private 1st class Sarah____, and I am a counter intelligence agent! ( see my jaw drop?..see my mind flooded with questions, concerns?)

“ I go to boot camp in February. I scored really high on my ..”and she rattled of the name of the tests she had taken and told me about all her high scores.

“ Well, Sarah, what about the baby?” I found myself saying, not so much asking but more like trying to get through without bursting her bubble.,” I will just have to sign him away while I am in boot camp, then I get him back, my Mom will take care of him,” she said.

So they allow single parents in to the military, I said, still hoping to ring a bell.

“Oh yes, I get him back , then I will have him and my work will be just be sitting beside a general in a rocking chair, she said.

I hope she didn’t hear my almost audible gasp.” Private Benjamin I said?” It went over her head.

Now my mind is just pumping out thoughts, and I am trying to focused on our conversation, all the while I am thinking, about how this war, is not my war! And how in joining, you agree with the war, and I am thinking they really took her on this one. Ego appeals always do us in.

I wish she had spoken with someone about this decision, and I am glad Daisy is not a member of the military and going into any part of this war.

I still hope that she will back out before she signs papers to leave her child.

I am amazed, as you may well be, that our country is taking young people who are starry eyed, and who are lured on by the promise of a $9000.00 enlistment bonus, Does anyone wonder why? “We’ll give you this up front for participating in our war, for being willing to lose your life.” $9,000. 00 doesn’t go far when you are in a coffin draped with a flag.Peace goes further than 9,000.00 does!

Sarah, you've been conned by a Uncle Sam, who wants ,,"YOU," and makes you believe you want this war.

One size Doesn't Fit All!

Signals make life easier...

How far would you get going to work everyday, or for one day, if you didn’t stop at red lights, stopped at green ones, never slowed for a yield sign, or for that matter, went to work when you wanted to rather than when the the appointed was, and revealed by,,,the clock you watch?

How many wool sweaters would be too small, and have very long skinny sleeves if you didn’t read the tag, and do what it says.
Machine wash cold, lay flat to dry. Or this one, dry clean only, or wash in cold water, do not dry.

When you have tyour lawn seeded and your lawn turns brown, you run to the store to see what is wrong with it, to save that yard! We take care for what we care about, learn it, grow it, read it mind it.

But when it comes to relationships ever notice how people push someone’s buttons that make them react in a way that is undesirable?

Why is that I wonder?
Can anyone please tell me that?

I don’t know about you folks, but here with me, one size doesn’t fit all. I have my needs, and my rules and my rathers, and rathers not. Don’t fence me in to someone else’s size, please! Be cool, love me, learn me, love me, and learn me again.

Two books to get....

The Disapperance of the Universe ......... Gary Renard, Refers to a Course in Miracles Abe books around 14.00 and up, new.

I AM ........... Jean Klein ( out of print) Available from The Jean Klein Foundation for 12.95. Also there are tapes, videos, and other books by Klein that would be of interest.

Only 95% Weird Today

Today I dressed up in a real skirt and blouse with jacket, wrapped myself in my new big warm turquoise coat, almost looked like a big blanket wrapped round me, ( stylish, huh?) and headed for an interview. Between here and my destination, there were icy snowflakes falling, and it was very cold, has been for a few nights. I can only imagine that this weekend it will be might chilly, and maybe frozen round these parts.

It was fun being out and around, and I always enjoy a good interview, it is just nice to be with people, and I think interviewing is fun. This interview was with a down to earth man, he was not pretentious, didn’t ask a lot of those juvenile and ridiculous questions often asked in interviews, ones that there is only one real answer to, like,” is this what you wanted to be when you were growing up? To which one in all honesty can only reply, “well, is this what you wanted to be while growing up.” But then you make them realize they are asking foolish questions, but what can one say, “ Yes, I always wanted to be a Burger queen.” Or, “ Yes, I wanted more than anything all my life to sit in front of a computer typing, it is just a slice of heaven, I am dying to experience.”

Or what about this one, “ Tell me your weak points. To which you are obviously supposed to make sound like a weak point, but it really emphasizes your strength. Really! Who ever was stupid enough to make these up, didn’t deserve to have any position of any kind of authority, because they obviously lack an element necessary to think, ..a brain!

Or what about, “ Tell me a long term goal and a short term goal. ( Obviously they aren't paying attention, because the goal is obvious, it is to get a job, and money, to eat and survive, or better a lot of money to be wasteful and decadent.

Have you heard this one, “with all the interesting things you have done with your life, why would you want to do something as boring as this? ( Maybe the same reason you do it?)

There is no end to the stupid questions stupid people ask you at an interview, is there, I mean , what can you expect from stupidity, except stupidity?

A novel approach might be to get to know the person, maybe talk about, heaven forbid, their personal life! Who they really are, what they love, what they need, what kind of ideas they have, what they like doing, what they loved doing as a kid, what motivates them, the kinds of things that will actually tell an employer where to put someone, or how to use their talents. Too practical I guess? Must be similiar to most psycho therapist who are afraid to speak about their own lives, to their clients, or remove that separateness, and let real love and compassion through. Heaven must forbid this love, but you know some really successful therapists have actually gone out on a limb and done this. Shock me!

It happens to be a weird world, but today, my life was only 95% weird, because I had a completely real interview!

A cozy connection with a far away friend

It’s been a while since I snuggled up by the fire with a half bottle of my favorite vino, Muscato Di Asti, a rare lightly sweet, clean dessert wine, along with my unused mintues on Verizon to catch up with one of my very best friends, Kathy.

Kathy and I go way way back, back about 30 years, I guess, at least. We met at Olives, where I was hired to make bows for Crissmiss, and was making centerpieces, wreaths, decorating trees, selling ornaments, plants, working the gift shop and eventually was also running the greenhouse, and keeping the books, selling trees, shrubs, and so forth. All I didn’t do was the pet shop. Kathy, and Peggy ( rest her soul) both worked in the pet shop, Peggy almost exclusively, and Kathy did all kinds of other jobs like I did.

We had some great times together back in those days, and after we both divorced, Kathy became like a sister to me, How many friends would fly out to where you have moved, and drive with you and your child in a 27 ft U-haul, with transported car on the back to move again, and offer you living with them in a tiny apartment because you were really just lost and ungrounded, alone, adrift without a family to help you feel rooted in something, belonging to some one group, again?

Kathy and I had our differences at one time, I think that is what makes a real relationship, tried and true. I always knew we had a bond, and bonds like that never break, they might be tested, but not broken.

When Kathy and I chat for a few to three hours, catching up, as I sit back in my siesta chair feet up, and sipping my favorite wine, it is almost as good as a real visit. We go through all the drama’s, and the tragedies, and then always end up telling stories about friends, men, etc that are just too funny. We share news about movies, books, and travels. We catch up with the goings on of each others lives, and it is truly a reunion that leaves me feeling happy, connected and satisfied. Maybe Saturday I will ring her up, and she’ll be in that place of needing a visit too, although of late we talk while she is traveling, from Alabama to visit her family in Texas.

Kathy lost her Mother this last year just before Christmas. She made many trips back to see her in hospitals, and at home, and now she visits her Dad. Kathy has two sons that take very good care of her, calling and visiting. Dan is the younger, and Matt, my Godson, the oldest. I have always appreciated the boys involvement in her life, the way they won’t leave her alone holidays, and how they travel to places with her. They talk often on the phone.

Talking to Kathy while she travels is nice too, Those long stretches can be so lonely, I know, as one who has traveled across country alone. It makes me feel an important part of her travels, and I am needed, and I hope it makes her feel that she is cared for.

It’s time soon for another long talk, catching up, reminiscing, laughing, crying, all those things you do with girlfriends that make that friendship rich and rewarding, and that keeps you tied to places, time and people that are no longer visibly in your life.

In a marriage, ended, in anyway, it feels you are just a domino that fell of the end of the world, went suddenly from having a family you belong to, to being forgotten, shut off, a denial of reality, a hurtful experience, a death, that has no reason for being… after the time it takes to heal, learn, grow. But mine hasn’t changed much, still denial of connection. My friends, any friend isn’t like that, they love me, and I love them, and we support one another with loving calls, e-mails, and whatever visits we can create to strengthen our bonds, and the world in this wholeness ( love) that supports all of life.

My word!!!

( An Aside, artwork by Daisy...
...when the tough go shopping?)

I am a Mac User! I have worked with PC’s, a few years ago now, didn’t care for them at all. I was the one who had to get the computers up and running, fix problems, etc. Not to mention use the programs. So 3 years ago when I got a new computer, this G4, I didn’t get any msft. programs! None! I have been using Apple works for processing, and didn’t care what else there was, because I had experienced msft. Programs as being unfriendly, and not designed for creative people.

A dear friend gave me a copy of Word recently, and guess what? I love it! Microsoft is coming along. I like being able to mail a document directly from word to my apple mail program that I also love. I am grateful for this gift, and for the new challenges in learning that I have now… along with my new Adobe software for writing. I think I will just keep my word!

Warming up to create...

This is a Turkoman felted wool rug I won on E-bay. It is one of many Persian rugs I have collected in the past 3 years. Others include Gabbehs, Shiraz, Turkoman, Gashgai, Kilims, ( Afghan), Kurdish, & Mahal, Chobi, and more. I really love these rugs made by hand, can you imagine making rugs that require tying 100 to 130 knots per sq.inch, living in the desert as a nomad? What wonderfully creative and lively folks these are.

This Crissmiss I was really excited about sharing a few of my favorite things. I made satin printed pillowcases, with French seams, that opened in the back, and bought some down and feather mix pillows, too, for Daph and family. I made about 20 pillow cases, and I gave chamomile spray for pillows and lettuce soap for bathing,( my favorite soap in the world, it's clean, has a light scent), made by Roger and Gallet. I order it from Canada @feelbest.com, look under soap. (So far it is still cheaper than here even with shipping, but it appears that the Canadian dollar is gaining fast.) I am hoping every one loves these gifts as much as I do, and as much as my Reiki clients do.

Since my trip I have become more interested in my snow globes, and lanterns made with those great french burners. I was re- inspired when I noticed that an idea I had 8 years ago was being produced by a potter in the Methow Valley.
( That is met how?)
I moved my wheel into the kitchen tonight, the studio is not warming up very fast, and I figured I might be more apt to work in clay if I had my wheel in the house. We' ll see!

I have a lot of ideas for things to make, (felt rugs).Like the one from from E-bay (above) and am hoping to buy a sack of wool, maybe three bags full...

I have also been crocheting a bit. The past few years I have done some hats and I am trying to ref-configure the hat I wore back in the 70's that I pulled my hair through. It has been so long since I have crocheted.

Just seems that I have to be creating something all the time, if not, I make trouble. It works!


This is a shrine I made for Daisy this year, it was full of treasures I made, found, or treasures that were hers as a child. I loved having it here, and miss it a lot. I added Japanese paper on the wood at top, stained the rest of the wood and glued golden angels on the four top corners. Each floor has some theme, the middle one has a cat watching a mouse on his TV. His feet rest on a silver ,”ottoman/jewelry box.

I hope to make more of these shrines, they are really art with a presence.

I bought silk paper in Leavenworth yesterday, and I may make some lined with this paper, which is white and has small blue flake pattern. You will notice my photo is on the, "main," floor of Daisy's , "condo!" The floors have Mexican and Japanese dolls, stacking cats, rugs, toys, tiny books, jewelry boxes, jewelry, Daisy's art work, photos, paper art. The heart shaped box contains a stamp that has her initial, D, on it, and there is a candle for sealing letters on that floor as well. A hint to write?

(This early photo was incomplete, in that I added so much more stuff every day it was here, and the finishing touches on the exterior, too. Well, I finally had to mail it, or I wouldn't have been able to afford sending it.) It has everything you need to make a small home!

The Undressing...

The Undressing...

Today has been spent....

as all days, every year, when you have to put the ornaments away into their boxes where they live all year until Christmas comes again. It is the saddest day of the year, this day of the undressing of the trees.

Almost in tears when I dress the trees, revisiting all the ornaments that are reminders of years and people gone by, and making a celebration of the decorating and the reminiscing, I am happy.

Unlike the dressing, the undressing is impossible to reconcile with a positive note. While the same reminders are there of folks you love, and memories that may just crush your heart, putting them all away, is like saying goodbye again to those memories and people who mean so much and live, still, inside you. Crushed and broken memories spring to mind while remnants of thin glass shards of German or Russian ornaments found in the bottom of the boxes remind me, too, of people come and gone as well.

The missing ornaments have a voice, "where did you put me? Find me! Why was I over looked?"

"OH I am so sorry, I miss you, too , and I miss the memory of the one who gifted you to me, and I hope I still have you...somewhere!"

When I was married, my husband did something very special for me every year. He took down the tree, and put all the ornaments away, so I didn't have to ( or was it because I wouldn't? ) Oh well, I think he did it because it broke my heart to do so.

I recall now how we decorated the tree together." I," held the ornament out, and said, "here," and he took it from my hand and placed it where I said it should go on the tree.

I was soooo good at that!

It may have been the one of the most, "together," things we ever accomplished, and I remember it now, and sigh.
I still have some of the same boxes we used then that he brought home from work, that were sturdy electronics boxes, to secure the ornaments for storage.

This year, I broke almost all the German ornaments; squirrels, hearts, houses, Mary praying. I had three trees this year; my flocked oriental tree with those paper wheels and umbrellas, and pink gifted ornaments.

The second I had waited many years to do, with real red roses, and red and blue birds, a partridge, and live baby's breathe, even some dried hydrangeas from Kims house..and a few chrystal ornaments and a few new purple ones. We bought blue and white lights for this tree! such a delightful tree! Oh Deck The Halls! I am ready once again for Christmas!

Finally, there was the one that fell over! Let me tell you about that: This year I didn't use a stand, rather, I used this green florist Styrofoam looking material and stuffed the tree into a small 6" ceramic pot. Stunning! They looked so good this way, in small decorative pots, with swirls in relief. Late one night, the tree fell over and busted many of my ornaments, even some that were Grandma's. I will cry over these henceforth.


I still have the reindeers that were Grandma's, and one metal bell, they don't break, so are minimally safe. I have the angels from years ago, and a new one, too, and I have ribbons and garlands of ribbons; crystal icicles, and wooden painted Scandinavian ornaments that are fairly safe from destruction., and the pink ornaments from Charlotte that appeared like a miracle to finish off my oriental tree one year, ( the oriental tree is one of my favorite designs, I did it years ago for a Chinese restaurant that was a client of mine back then).

I Still have my origami cranes that Iichiro made and sent with each letter he wrote me, and one origami crane from Kim, and all my little paper umbrellas and fans that are cheap, but precious. And where is that pearled ornament from that Sylvia I worked with Christmas one year long ago? Sylvia, I may be missing your ornament, but I will always remember you, and your sweet gift!

My precious ornaments from Doris, too, who died this year in March, I just now packed away. I miss you so much Doris, you were as much a Mother as I ever had. I still think of you every day, and love you. Hopefully there will be a reunion someday, but who really knows, maybe all we ever really get is right here, right now, with whomever, in this flash of time.

I think maybe I will just bonsai a tree and leave it up all year to remind me of this bittersweet love and loss that I feel now; as haunting as it is, it may well keep a perspective that is worth carrying on my shoulder all year long with all my loves right here in my heart, everyday.

Some of the best of days.....

It appears to be a clear day, the sun's shining, and the water's blue. Looking cold… but no snow here. (Missing it already.)

There is something very cozy about snow, gives you every good reason to cuddle up by a fire, sip hot apple cider,..and just be lazy! Getting out, or not getting out, same same! No big deal if you just vegetate, like you are waiting for spring to come. But the snow calls you outdoors, better than anything else does. It has a way of perking you up, and making you bubble with enthusiasm.

Since being away in the snow, I am finding my Sound View, a little boring! It changes very little from season to season, day to day.

One good thing about being back is taking KIM, her gift I found for her in Chelan! It is no big deal gift, just a small one, but it will be meaningful to her. I saw all kinds of gifts I could have gotten for her while I was away, every time I turned around there was some cool item, card, or craft I knew she'd appreciate. It's the thought that counts KIM!

Not much in this world is as sweet as finding presents for friends you love and have a long going, tried and true relationship with. There is not much as special as an intelligent, warm, witty woman friend. Men, sorry, but in comparison, you just don't rate!

Kim and I go back to college," just the other day," in fact!
( you don't say?) Well, sometimes it seems like just the other day.
We met in Vinklarek's sculpting class, we were the last 2 to arrive that first day, and we were the only 2 that never showed for class. We did burn the midnight oil, tho, sculpting most nights, and enjoyed being there in the art dept., alone, having managed to con the guards to let us stay late, just locking the door behind us.

Kim and I spent most of our days working on something, art projects, or my papers. She was ahead of me in school, and she had a word processor. I studied at her home a lot, and we would stay up late nights with a bottle of wine, editing my papers, printing them out, and editing them more, until we had a ream of paper we could have wrapped the school with and my A turned to a B, as we got became very creative enhanced with wine.

Every semester at finals, we went to a bar to celebrate another semester under the old belt, and we danced with cowboys and gathered with others like us, and in the wee hours we'd go to Kim's to make a breakfast, and just fizzle out, almost disappearing into the night, an experience maybe you can relate to? Oh, those were the days, my friend! The days of cheap tuition, when you could have stayed in school forever, because they were, "some of the best of days."

Maybe a baby bald eagle, not golden...? Anyone know?

Maybe a baby bald eagle, not golden...? Anyone know?
Originally uploaded by nimbostratusdweller.

Ok, someone said it was not capable of flying that way, so I thought it was taken that way, but I ...could..be wrong. It happened." once," before!

Go ahead......Have A Nice Day....

If you can relate to this, you are on the computer too much!



Hope your New Year gets much better!

Just stopping in to say, hi!, and tell you to check out the new photos I added to recent posts...