Thursday, June 25, 2009

Relaxing


I have only recently discovered how relaxing sketching with a charcoal pencil can be. Most of my efforts have been truly awful, and this one needs some work, but all in all I am celebrating great progress. The vine running up the right side and the Imagine that shows faintly on the bottom were a surprise. They are the imprint left from the scratch work I did on the previous page. I wish they were not there, but they are.

I love faces, to draw and to photograph. I'm just learning to ask people if I can take their picture but I was raised in a house where it was very impolite to stare and you did not want to get caught looking at anyone. I probably passed that on to my kiddos, so here is the public apology, "I'm sorry", and the admission, "I was wrong", and the therapy, "go out there and look at some faces!"

Here's to paying attention, living deliberately, fully conscious and seeing spirit everywhere we look.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Everybody sing...

"Life's been good to me so far..."



I seem to be the Occasional Blogger in spite of all of my intentions. So here I am to catch up on all of the tender and good things that have found me.

Remember Nancy? Friends when we were 2? I found her, after 30 lost years on FaceBook, which I'd just like to say I was "forced" onto. Clucking and sighing at the silliness of it, I was. But the gods smiled and smiled again when Nancy came to spend 10 wonderful days here at Trails End. I'm still sorting it out, still trying to find words to describe more than the day trips we took, the things we laughed at, the things we discovered and rediscovered about each other, the meals we ate, the fun-fun-fun we had. I'm looking for the words to describe the amazing thing that happened in my heart the moment I saw her get off of the plane. Something so warm and loving, so soothing and enlivening that is with me still, all growing and glowing. Something that is whispering to me of itself. Possibly, this feeling is preverbal. Going back to days when we experience without having to name it. Back in the days when we were closer to heaven and still spoke and thought in the language of the angels.

OK, out of my heart and into my head! Here is a journal page I did recently that is all ready and waiting for me to write about the success I am about to step into.



My wise and talented daughter recently held a seminar at the ranch on Multiple Streams of Income. What an experience. Laura helped us discover so many ways to get paid doing what we love and her gifted co-presenter, Susan helped us discover what holds us back from accomplishing what we desire. A very powerful day. I had a major "ah-ha!" moment that I am quite excited about bringing to fruition. Besides the priceless information, Laura provided a delicious pasta salad lunch with cupcake desserts. You must watch for these smarties to put this on again and sign up!!!

These past weeks have filled my head and my heart and I find myself in a sort of perpetual state of contemplation. I am having the most wonderful dreams at night and am experiencing synchronicity nearly everyday. Here's one example; tonight the husband and I ate at a restaurant that we'd taken Nancy to and I wished she was with us again. Suddenly, I overheard the woman in the booth in front of us talking about someone named...Nancy! A few minutes later, the woman in the booth behind us asks her dinner partner if he's heard from...Nancy yet! The magazine image in the next piece looks like I felt. The addition of the leafless trees and the lack of a horizon all fit my current state of mind. The sticker told me it belonged on the page. I wonder what the H stands for. Any suggestions?

Oh, I have sooooo much more to show and tell. But lest I wear out my welcome on your computer screen, I'll go, leaving you with a final piece that I am a bit proud of. It is the first piece I have completed using a set of oil pastels that I have struggled with for years.

It was one of those projects that seem to put themselves on the page and only when I looked at it the next day did I "get" it. Odd, isn't it?

Wishing for you the time and inclination for contemplation.