As seen on FaceBook!

Many of you have seen multiple photos of our beloved ranch, but now you have a chance to see it like never before! Some of you know we have it on the market. We have always wanted to live at the beach and we realize we aren't getting any younger. Our realtor has arranged a beautiful web site for us and I would like to share that with you. Trails End Ranch Help us spread the word that our little piece of heaven is for sale.

I have been in Malibu

taking a wonderful class with the very special Judy Wise,

Great teacher, great food, lovely surroundings.

Photos of the many things I learned will be coming soon.

In the mean time, here is some iPhone fun.

Let me leave you with a new poem. I'd be interested to know what it says to you.

The Woman at Land’s End

You will see her at the ocean's edge

catching the lacy tide in her arms, ignoring

the moon as it demands the return of ebb and flow.

She traps stars in the tangle of her hair and when

the diaphanous Milky Way drops it’s net to retrieve

it's sparkle, it is lost to the heavens in her raven waves.

She swallows the wind in a greedy breath, starves the

snake when she steals his fangs, feeds her cats

the birds whose wings she has taken in envy.

Beware the woman at lands end.

She walks the planet trailing foaming white Chantilly,

crowned with heaven's jewels. With poison dripping

from her lips, she casts spells that conjure the whirlwind,

so desperately does she long to fly.

Lm

3/2011

As seen on FaceBook!

Sleeping Goddess

Neither Woman nor Child,
she sleeps in the misty
light of myth, sleeps in-spite
of the din of mayhem, wars
of aggression and coercion
are being waged for her soul.
Awaken, dear goddess, awaken
and proclaim your own myth
and show us how to wage wars
of love and understanding.
Awaken in nubile wisdom,
teach us to value innocent hopes and spirits.
Share the lessons of your green dreams,
tender as the first buds. Can a salted tail
catch a bird? Can a talisman protect
us from our own evil? Can the codex
birth enlightened minds?
Rise goddess, like the butterfly, deceptively
new with the old soul of that which
has crawled upon the earth.
lm/2011

The words below are part of a long piece of writing. I find it interesting how they seem to mean something different taken from their context. The woman in the photos, from which I made the stamp for the mono print, is my grandmother who raised 7 children in the depths of the depression with a hard drinking husband who regularly beat her to unconsciousness. The story does have a happy ending. My grandfather got into one of the first AA programs in the Cleveland area and once he got sober, God love him, he stayed sober. He called my grandmother his Queen and spent the rest of this life making it up to her. So my little verse is fraught with meaning.


This is a photo I took years ago in Monterey. One of those moments when you are sure that the universe put something out there just for you. I could not believe my luck when this image crossed my path. Something like the perfect shot of the three ducks that you will find many posts back. Forgive me if I've posted this before, but you know I'm on a poster kick. I think it makes a great poster and I think I'm going to go have a big one made!

I've been thinking of our Canadian friend, Tony, who passed a while ago. I took this photo while driving through the beautiful Canadian country side that you must pass through to reach their town. We took the trip to visit him, knowing he was very ill, and he died the night of the day we left. Another blessing, he was lucid and in great spirits and we were able to enjoy his company one more time.

I'm thinking of assurance that there is wisdom and love enough among us. Based on personal experience, I am sure that peace, prosperity and justice for all is headed our way. But, also from personal experience, I'm guessing it might not look like I'm expecting it to look. I just need to be open and ready to embrace it. And I need to remember we have to share, to lift each other up. Pay attention to each other, respect each other. In the meantime, I am remembering my grandmother, who not only survived, she thrived.

Camera fun

It never occurred to me that I would enjoy taking photos except for the awful compositions I attempted on family vacations and the kids birthday parties. Now, I am constantly amazed and entertained by the camera on my iPhone. That Steve Jobs is a genius and I consider myself a photographer!




The apps just keep commimg and iPhone Hipstamatic is one of the best.



Then, of course, there is just the old fashioned iPhone camera with a sepia setting and the photo ops that abound on this old ranch.





And then we get around to Photo Booth on the Mac, Magic Trick, and waaaayyy too much time on my hands.




Here's what I'm thinking about today:

"I am interested in how the wild beast lives in the jungle, not in the zoo". Morton Feldman
What's on your mind?

Another trip around the sun

For the first time in months, I took a ranch ramble with my big girl camera. It is such a beautiful day and the light is magical. Here is a bit of what I enjoyed.

This is the first Periwinkle of the season. These are so beautiful and hearty. We have them all over the place.

The neighbors stopped by. I'm pretty sure this is a big and little sister enjoying the tender new grass.





There are certain places that I always get orbs in my photos. Today they came in beautiful colors.









And of course, no ramble is complete without a visit to the horses.

A day is so much more beautiful when you share it with your friends.











Now, for a complete change of pace.

Without realizing it, I'm off on something new.

I'm not usually big on making resolutions or any conscious changes in my life. They just sort of happen. Because I've had more days of feeling a bit off than usual, I've started journaling with a pen in a store bought (gasp!) blank book. Much easier when lying in a recliner than trying to cut and paste and paint. My poems have always had their seed in my journals, so that hasn't changed, but I've tried to discipline myself (OK, stop laughing) to do a sketch a day, (or at least more than I have been) and I see improvement in my infant ability.

This is a sketch of a corner of my den.

This is inspired by an ad I saw in the N.Y. Times.

Doing abstracts is one of the most calming and centering things I have ever experienced. Combine that with the fact that I was obsessed with the recent mass bird deaths in Arkansas and it turned into an afternoon of magic. I am also obsessed with the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Over the years I have used this as a starting point for speeches and several pieces of art.

This was inspired by something the beautiful Judy Wise said in one of her blog posts. I am signed up for her class in SoCal in March and I cannot wait to sit at her knee for two days on the beautiful sands of Malibu.

Can you stand just a bit more? With these two final offerings, I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2011. I'm going to try to remember what is real and what is rhetoric this year, I'm going to look out for wolfs in sheep's clothing, I'm going to run my own mind lest someone else try to run it for me. I'm going to try more new things, as additions not replacements. And I'm going to be thankful for the opportunity to bear my soul here and be grateful for the gems you share with me.

I've been incubating and fermenting quite an array of ideas, beliefs and conundrums of late. Seems I am living more of an internal life the past few weeks.

This is my photo of a mysterious old greenhouse that was on the property when we bought it. Sad to say, we lost it in the fire. I used to wonder about all of the things that came to life inside of it's glass walls. I'm sure many of the plants now growing wild around here took root in tiny pots carefully started and nurtured by someone long gone but still so vitally present every where I look.

Anam Cara

I have been to the place

where you sleep.

I have seen you at rest

in that land. Your bed

a bower amongst the briars.

And I long to lay my simple pallet

beside you and dream your

sweet dreams, breathe your peace.

lm/2010

Invisibility

Invisibility drives the chameleon’s change,

not the need to impress or entertain,

not the need of change for change’s sake.

Invisibility prevents being eaten.

lm/2010

Night Walker

After a restless night

wandering the dark house,

lonely in my wakefulness, I arrive,

shivering in my night clothes,

at the dawn of never.

lm/2010

The Best Defense

Confidence is the best defense

when confronted by a snarling dog.

The maddest beast will respect

a command to sit, to down

if it issues from a tongue that’s sure,

a back that’s straight and an eye

that finds it’s mark and holds it.

lm/2010

I am off to katydiddy's Embroidery Bee for some relaxation and fun. If you live near Orange County California put one of these sessions on your schedule.

I am going to try to remember to take some time for "inside" in the midst of this Holiday Season which seems to be all about "outside". Join me?