Happy Anniversary

Seasonal Sprint

“Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my Sacred Space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in Balance with the passing of each glorious Sun.”  ~Lakota Prayer

The Juncos have arrived and that means winter is not far behind them. The feathered ones are nature's weather app. There is a feeding frenzy in the feeder as they plump up for the coming season. I think of them as I peck at the keyboard, designing our family calendars for 2016. My goal is always to have our cards and calendars to the printer before Thanksgiving, so this mama bear can saunter through the holiday season without being swept up in the bustle. Even so, 2015 seems to be in a sprint toward the finish.

Last night, the cracking of tree limbs and wind gusts woke me from sleep. I sat up in bed and watched the naked trees dance in the moonlight.

Our gratitude cards to slip into the palms of all those who help make our life a life...

Samhain : Honoring

Happy Anniversary to my mother's mother...lover of birds, poetry, magic and mischief.
And to my mother's father...the hellraiser who called her, "Bunny"....

Samhain by Annie Finch
(The Celtic Halloween)

In the season leaves should love,
since it gives them leave to move
through the wind, towards the ground
they were watching while they hung,
legend says there is a seam
stitching darkness like a name.

Now when dying grasses veil
earth from the sky in one last pale
wave, as autumn dies to bring
winter back, and then the spring,
we who die ourselves can peel
back another kind of veil
that hangs among us like thick smoke.
Tonight at last I feel it shake.
I feel the nights stretching away
thousands long behind the days
till they reach the darkness where
all of me is ancestor.
I move my hand and feel a touch
move with me, and when I brush
my own mind across another,
I am with my mother's mother.
Sure as footsteps in my waiting
self, I find her, and she brings
arms that carry answers for me,
intimate, a waiting bounty.
"Carry me." She leaves this trail
through a shudder of the veil,
and leaves, like amber where she stays,
a gift for her perpetual gaze.

Winter Solstice

You are the fearless guardian 
of Divine Light. 
So come, return to the root of the root 
of your own soul.  - Rumi

Friends & neighbors arrived in waves, filling the little home with their warmth.  To have so many treasured souls under one roof is a blessing beyond measure.  As Whitman wrote,“ to be with those I like is enough”.

I made this rack because our coat closet is so tiny.

favors: paperwhite bulbs & seed for the winged

Snowflake straw toppers for the solstice sippers

Friends old & new arrived in waves

Mini mingling on the swinging daybed

Keeping the solstice fire burning.

There was a paper flurry snipped in the studio.

Earth Day : Blessing the Water

Let us bless the humility of water,
Always willing to take the shape
Of whatever otherness holds it.

Water: vehicle and idiom
Of all the inner voyaging
That keeps us alive.

Blessed be water,
Our first mother.

- John O'Donohue (To Bless the Space Between Us)
























Water Wheel Ceremonies:
Golden Eagle
Spreecast


"Let the river run
let all the dreamers
wake the nation..."

- Carly Simon

A Very Full Day

As short as the time
From Spark to Flame,
So brief may the distance be
Between heart and being.
In the name of the fire
And the flame
And the light - John O'Donohue

There was our friend's Imbolc gathering to bless the seeds, a labyrinth painted in the meadow with bird seed then lit with candles at night.   I can imagine how happy the birds were this morning to see the ginormous feast.  The uneaten seeds will sprout roots into the earth and grow.
















 

Rewind to...

earlier that afternoon there was a scout bowling banquet.



 



















Rewind to...

earlier that morning at the district derby.  A boy waiting in line to check in his car sees the medals on Satchel's shirt and exclaims, "FOUR medals...I'm toast"!  It was a good race, though he did not take the win.

 




















Rewind to...

the previous night at BINGO night at his school...where he got sugared up AND won a prize!

Summer Celebration

A most MARVELous post solstice summer celebration with puppetry and water balloons by my talented friend, Melissa.


Melissa's Summer Celebration from wendy cook on Vimeo.

Astonishing Light of Your Being

A celebration with dear friends.  Homemade pizza in a clay oven.  Conversation and laughter 'round the bonfire.  Squealing kids zooming overhead upon a zipline.   Sun setting on the bay.

Mother's Day

"That you live a goddess, but mortal..." - Marge Piercy

And there were gifts...Poetry and an EarthBox from my loves!

Lets scream for joy, altogether now!

Meaningful Mother's Day Gifts (& Giveaway)

I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart.

~ Mary Oliver


It's been a while since I've given my two cents about gift picks. Please indulge me for a moment, then indulge your mother, indulge yourself...

These two books, "Momma Zen" and "Hand Wash Cold" by Karen Maezen Miller have changed my life in that they didn't change my life, but rather taught me to live the life I already have which, after all, is the greatest gift I've been given.

Buy it, read it, teach it to your heart, then unwrap the gift of your life!

If adornment is what you are seeking, I offer a custom mother's nest necklace to honor your divine nature, mother. Mine has one turquoise egg to represent my son. Please visit my etsy shop for details or try your luck as I'm giving one away. Details at the end of this post.

In honor of Mother's Day, I will be giving away a custom nest necklace to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment here, tell me something good!

Winner will be chosen by random generator on Friday morning, May 6th.

Happy Mother's Day!

Edges of Knowing

Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving - Mary Oliver

There was the community egg hunt in the muddy meadow...

and a bouncy house

and so much blooming...

and the birthday party with much magic

and the witch socks that I donned for his merriment
and the Easter brunch with friends

and a table for two

















and two buds dying eggs

and three boys playing tops

and that magical bunny who made my boy so happy...

and a sweet little wind up chick that tickled his heart...


and all those colorful felty eggs stuffed with treats and hidden about the house.

"Mama", he said, "Easter is all about the egg and the egg is all about birth".





And my heart melted in perfect time with the chocolate on my tongue.