Breathe Deeply

Upon my return, I linger on the path to our home. It's foggy and the air is so heavy with moisture that it holds within it the most beautiful scent. I have no idea where it is coming from. Motionless and with eyes closed, I breathe deeply the gift of it.

In loving memory of Elvis the cat, how I miss you.

Divine Courage

We have come into this exquisite world
to experience ever and ever more deeply
our divine courage, freedom and light! - Hafiz

Come Into the Peace

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. — Wendell Berry

A trip the mountains...

and a hike to the falls where we crossed paths with a black bear.

In Rushing, Rising Riv'lets

And the rain rain rain came down down down
And the flood rose up up upper.
Pooh, too, was caught and so he thought,
"I must rescue my supper!" - Disney

In roughly 3 weeks, we've had an earthquake, a tropical storm, and a flood. On Thursday we were ankle deep in the yard.

There was 6 inches of water in the window wells to the basement...and they have covers. The water had no place to go, but IN. While moving the things in the basement away from the water, S spotted a toad trying to stay afloat in the window well. He ran outside in the deluge, removed the cover and threw the steel grate aside with one hand. He rescued the toad with a net and placed it on higher ground.

On Friday the schools were closed and we spent a good part of the day being sloths in pajams, but managed some creative musings like clouds in my coffee...

S played with window markers (and I played with the droid)...

He traced a soggy Stick Bug clinging to the window, organized his dead insect collection, and sorted his magic rocks...

Then after lunch, after days of rain, like magic the sun came out and his friends came over to make potions with rain water and jump for joy!

Original Spirit

"Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live..." – John Taylor Gatto

S on his first day of school - first grade! His full report:

"It's a little bit fun and a little bit boring. Music class was good. We saw a film, but I wasn't interested in it. If they show a film about dinosaurs or volcanoes I'll be interested. Tomorrow we have art class! They have a library, but they wouldn't let me borrow any books. I don't think they have a science room. I want science. I told the teacher when I felt 'jumpy' and she took me for a walk around the school so I could feel better. There's too much sitting, I need more movement. I think women teachers are gentler than men teachers. I want to invent my own school, a barefoot school, my feet sweat. "

This Sacred Blessing

"The moon has become a dancer at this festival of love. This dance of light, this sacred blessing, this divine ecstasy." - Rumi

My love of the prayer flags goes way, WAY back. When I was pregnant with my son in 2005, I ordered a string of blank Tibetan prayer flags for our Blessingway (Baby Shower). Our friends and family wrote their own wishes and prayers for my son upon the flags. We hung the flags in our room at the birthing center. They now hang in his bedroom.

Prayer flags hang in the tipi where I lead Mighty Girl Art ™ each summer, and it is one of the many projects that we do each year. Prayer flags are a Tibetan tradition used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. It is believed that the wishes, prayers a/o mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion to benefit all living beings.

















Recently I was asked to participate in a round-robin prayer flag project with a group of extraordinary women whom I circle with regularly. How could I resist such a project? For some years now I've been obsessing over circles, an ancient symbol for the feminine, for unity. I am also obsessed with doilies, circular in nature and often made by the hands of women. So, I decided to create my prayer flags using the discharge dye method and a doily to create a mandala of sorts. Even though the same method was employed on each flag, not one of the 16 looks exactly the same, similar yes, but not exact...which to me represents that we are one and yet different. Here's a tutorial...it's super easy, but if you need more info, just google "discharge dye"...everyone's doing it!

1. Blank bandannas from Michaels TORN into 8"x8" squares. The rough, tattered edges are traditional in prayer flags. Place square on thick piece of cardboard.

2. Make a 50/50 mixture of bleach and water

3. Dip the doily in the mixture, squeeze out excess liquid and place on fabric square -wear gloves!

4. Cover with foil or wax paper and top with heavy books

5. Wait approx. 10 minutes.

6. Remove doily, allow to dry.

7. Use a Sharpie Paint Marker to write your blessing on the flag

8. Sew or glue flags onto ribbon and hang in your home or in your garden.

*These flags will be mailed to my womyn roosting far and wide upon the earth, so I rolled each one up and tied them with bit of funky ribbon. In the end we will have an entire string of flags created by each woman in the group.

And the Winners Are...

"Books are companions . . . teachers . . . muses . . .
carriers of dreams, visions, and truth." - Shambhala Publications

(Illustration: Happy Pup by Satch)

It is both my honor and my joy to be a spoke in the wheel of generosity on behalf of Shambhala Publications. Thank you, Shambhala. And thank you to all who have commented here, for blessing me with your favorite childhood memories.

The winners are.... Claudia (for Playful Learning) and Vanessa (for Rhythm of Family), may these books inspire and nurture you in ways you never imagined.