i don’t purport to understand every painting of my visionary husband. if i ask him what a painting is about, he posits a question back to me, “what does it mean to you?” in normal conversation, this kind of question-question response is not troubling, but in husband-wife conversation it is slightly irksome, one of those times where you gently roll your eyes at your partner and sort of hope that coffee grounds find their way into the bottom of their first cup of coffee the next morning. ok, so maybe not, but it is from a little bit of laziness that i sometimes want him to just TELL me. instead, groaning, i take a tiny step back away from the painting and let emotion take over.
the title of this painting THREE GRACES suggests (from research) the goddesses of things such as “charm, beauty and creativity”. a wealth of goodnesses, a wealth of possibility. an appreciation of every little gesture, every honey bee, the creation by others of a world of wonder and challenge.
in our world today, we first cover our disbelieving eyes with hands of despair. we look to the heavens for guidance. we ground ourselves, one hand firmly planted for balance, the other on our foreheads, thinking, thinking. we seek to find answers, ways for charm and beauty and creativity to thrive. and the elusiveness of peace.
saturday august 17 was national honey bee day. a day that recognizes how critical this species is, it also celebrates those people who ensure that honey bees are protected, managed, healthy. it is crucial to ensure the longterm survival of honey bees; among other things, pollinating plants is clearly paramount to our environment. clearly, each day should be national honey bee day.
in a scary report about honey bees in brazil, half a billion bees died in the first few months in southern states of the country, with traces of a pesticide also listed as a human carcinogen. a country with fertile soil, the choice to increase the use of pesticides will take its toll on the food chain and, already AND ultimately, the health of the country’s people.
what about our country? what are the true checks and balances on the responsible use of our land and resources, the overwhelming use of insecticides, the purity or impurity of our food, our health? into what greed-chasm have those in environmental decision-making positions fallen? what really matters?
when is it the time to regard the decisions of conscience-depleted environmental naysayers as imminently deadly? when is it time to listen to those who advocate for the continued responsible honoring and health of our land and resources? when is it time to regard environmental issues as issues that will save lives?
it seems like that would be yesterday, yesterday, yesterday.
the first time that i walked into the bathroom and saw my toothbrush pre-toothpasted for me i was surprised and floored. no one (except my sweet momma) had ever pre-toothpasted my toothbrush for me before. a small gesture, but i was deeply touched by this kindness. i was off-island without d a few days last week and three times (!) i pre-toothpasted his home toothbrush as well as mine, without thinking. small gestures become kind habits.
it’s the little things that count. not the grandiose presents or sweeping plans. it is the kiss on the back of your head, the carrying of your bags, the holding of your hand, the packed lunch, the note on the piano, the bacon on sunday, the coffee while your head is still on your pillow, the opening of a door for you, listening through the umpteenth repetition, the patiently-waiting while you scurry about finishing just-one-more-thing, the tetris-packing of the car, the prepping of dinner ingredients, the hug when you didn’t even know you needed one, the quiet support and noisier praise, the questions you don’t want to answer, the reminder of the breath you need to take…
and the toothpaste pre-pasted on your toothbrush. small gestures. kind habits. love.
from essays in the art of living (wilferd a. peterson, 1961) “no [one] stands alone. through all the centuries of recorded time, [people] have set into motion influences that affect your life today…you are the heir of the ages. [people] reaching for the stars have created for you a world of wonder and challenge…more enduring than skyscrapers, bridges, cathedrals and other material symbols of achievement are the invisible monuments of wisdom, inspiration and example erected in the hearts and minds of [all persons]…a leader glorifies the team spirit.”
it is a mighty mountain to climb without support. it is a mighty chasm to fall into without hands reaching out to form a solidarity, a community. the struggle to retain absolute and autocratic control is the antithesis of the solution, for no one person knows all, no one person can see all, no one person can create all. control will undermine, sabotage, poison the well-spring of possibility. control is not that of wonder. control is not enduring wisdom or inspiration. control is most definitely not example.
“a leader glorifies the team spirit.” “cohesion-the action of forming a united whole.”
moving into the future requires a choice. division and discord? unity and harmony?
my sweet momma would start the day by chirping to me, “good morning merry sunshine!” what a gift to consistently start the day that way.
i wrote this piece at a difficult time in my life. the titles on this album somewhat tell the story: boundaries. scattered. pulling weeds. holding on, letting go. it’s not black and white. figure it out. taking stock. baby steps. each one a descriptor of that time; each title written for the album before the music. i composed to each word.
but the most important title on the album, the arc that reigns over the gut emotion of the rest, i realize now is ‘each new day’. for we are granted yet another chance….to choose to live the day well, to embrace the new, to walk in tomorrow’s grace, to love, to choose kindness, to say we are sorry, to recuperate from something that has hurt us, to work toward balance, to forgive, to model goodness, to help someone else in pain, to learn something new, to listen, to laugh, to hold someone’s hand or share a hug, to do better…
time really does move breathtakingly fast. each new day counts. good morning merry sunshine.
when we were first talking, we discovered we were both artists. he – a painter. me – well, you already know that part. we were far apart in distance so we did not see each other or the work of the other in person. he didn’t come to any of my concerts. i didn’t go to his gallery openings. but….there is this thing called the internet.
it was with much curiosity that i sat down to view his paintings. i wondered about his style, his choice of color, the movement in his paintings, the emotion. our budding friendship would not be dependent upon whether or not i liked them, or even understood them. but i must say – in all honesty – that it was incredibly convenient to find that i LOVE his paintings. i love his style, his choice of color, the movement in his paintings, the emotion.
this painting, ICONIC, was the first large painting in his YOGA SERIES. full of grace and the expression of inner peace, ICONIC is stunningly big (54″ x 54″), a statement piece that i have no doubt will soon grace the wall of the owner who hasn’t found it yet.
anyone who has purchased an actual painting – not a print or facsimile of some sort – knows that it is a relationship that develops, that the owner and the painting find each other, that it is not merely a purchase. it is the bringing home of a piece of someone else’s heart. the hanging-on-the-wall of someone else’s heart. or, in the case of music, as i well know, the listening to of someone else’s heart.
i distinctly remember my sweet momma talking about FERDINAND THE BULL. she would refer to him from time to time, a twang on the third syllable slipping into her new york accent. i am wracking my memory for her other wise words about him. my guess is that, despite not remembering her exact words, her message isn’t lost on me.
FERDINAND is a book published in 1936, the story of a gentle bull who loved to smell flowers (aka “flowuhs”). he spent his time sitting under a tree, daydreaming, sniffing flowers. upon finding himself in the madrid bullfighting ring, he sits calmly in the middle, refusing to take the bait. the grace of a mashup of “i want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.” (oriah mountain dreamer) and “when push comes to shove, don’t.” (unknown) we have much to learn.
FERDINAND was performed by the Washington Island Music Fest this past week and was among my favorite moments of this two week music festival at TPAC. it was sweet on many levels, read aloud, depicted on violin, slides of the original illustrations on screen.
and my momma, in my mind’s eye, reminding me to be like FERDINAND. a bull, by definition fully expected to want to fight, presumed to fight, just like all the other bulls – and yet, brave enough to be different, to sniff the flowers, to turn away from participating in dissension or violence, to be at peace being true to oneself.
on march 19 of this year i wrote about our prayer flags. the ones at our home, i cherish their presence as they flutter in our backyard breezes. the prayer flags in this post are at our littlehouse on island. they stretch between a tree and a covered wooden rocking loveseat that plants itself firmly gazing at the lake. my sweet girl got me these as a gift, from the same little shop in ridgway, colorado that our home-prayer-flags come from.
the lake breeze is stronger than the breezes in our backyard; sometimes the flags are horizontal in its fury. the threads are loosening, loosening; the prayers are flying, flying. these little prayer flags are already more quickly tattered than the ones we have at our home. prayers for peace, compassion, strength and wisdom are perhaps more zealous these days, perhaps more often, perhaps more imploring.
at the end of this season we will gently take our prayer flags down and wrap them in soft cloth or tissue. we will thank them and put them in our special box to bring home with us. perhaps they will then hang with the flags-in-the-backyard. or perhaps, after a time of flying and more reassurance than i can explain, they will rest. we will see.
“we pass under them every time we leave the house and every time we return. our prayer flags fly between the house and the garage…a welcome sight either way. although better given to you as a gift, we purchased our flags in a little shop in ridgway, colorado and i consider it a gift that we were able to spend time in that tiny mountain town in the san juan mountains. these flags represent that place to us, that time, and so much more.
each color is symbolic of an element…white is air and wind, blue is sky and space, green symbolizes water, red is fire and yellow is earth. flying these in a specific order produces a balance of health and harmony. flying these promotes peace, compassion, strength and wisdom; the wind blows the prayers into the universe. i cannot think of more visual evidence of constant prayer. it matters not to me what religious practice is associated with them. the prayers are so much bigger than that. everything is bigger than that.
every time we watch any depiction of an everest story, there are multitudes of these buddhist prayer flags. they grace base camp and the summit and each camp between, the prayers issued by those people seeking to reach the highest place on earth.
we can’t claim trying to reach the highest physical place on earth. but we can claim seeking peace, compassion, strength and wisdom, a balance of health and harmony. for me, for us, those things are the highest place on earth.” (march 19, 2019)
click here to browse or purchase ISLAND PRAYER FLAGS as wall art
click here to browse or purchase ISLAND PRAYER FLAGS – THE FIVE ELEMENTS as wall art
we just chose the august movie for TPAC. WONDER seemed perfect.
“Starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, it is a film with powerful messages about kindness, friendship and the embracing of those who are different. Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of fifth grade student August Pullman and a community struggling to find compassion and acceptance.”
with the climate of our world as it is, we could not think of any family friendly movie that would be more fitting. we re-watched this movie, reviewing it for appropriateness, for its message. it is filled with wisdom, reminders of how to be human, quotes that should be on the bathroom mirrors in everyone’s homes, or better yet, plastered to our foreheads. afterwards, i downloaded the daily wonder app, a source of daily inspirational quotes. even if you have little time to read, you can read a sentence. i designed a gift to give every movie-goer that evening. it’s just a little generosity, but it makes us feel good – and isn’t that what it’s about?
my sweet momma was dedicated to kindness. she would have loved this movie. she would wholeheartedly agree with the words of novelist jack kerouac, “practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you are already in heaven now.” and she would love our in-her-honor ‘be kind’ buttons. always her parting words, “be kind to each other. be kind.” gentle reminders. lead with kindness. filter with kindness. lean on kindness. “when given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind.” (wayne dyer)
there are a plethora of wise, generous, kindness-oriented people in our world, both living and on that other plane of existence we call heaven. perhaps yielding to their exquisitely eloquent words of guidance would join these planes together. and we would, indeed, realize that we are – already – in heaven now.
we were lost when we brought dogdog home from the farm. it had been a long time since either of us had a puppy; our dogs had long lives and after that it had been years. the first few days we literally followed dogga around inside the house, like he was a toddler in search of an electrical outlet or a cabinet without childproof latches. jen and brad brought us pizza and wine and assured our deer-in-the-headlights-look that all would be well. so we read pretty much anything we could get our hands on and discovered (re-discovered?) the fact that puppies really like confined spaces. smaller spaces make them feel safe, secure; they are calming. it worked. dogdog was happy to be in the kitchen-ala-three-gates-in-the-doorways. he seemed to sigh with relief at the end of the day going into his crate for sleepynightnight. he was a happier puppy and we were (legit) back in our bodies. boundaries facilitated maturing (for all of us.)
there is a whole lake out in front of our littlehouse. the yard is big and full of green grass and flowers and grasses and trees. the deck has space and flower boxes. and then there is the rocking chair. in between two closely-placed-spindles, perched on the lower rail, this little tree frog found a place of solace. snugly in this warmed-by-the-sun spot, he lingered for hours, the tight place perhaps restorative for him, perhaps simply a sanctuary, its boundaries affording him the freedom to stay.
boundaries are underrated. we need them. to flourish. the constraints serve us. our clear boundaries for others create balanced lives. drawing boundaries. growth depends on it.
early on, given, say, three chords – and only three chords – to compose with limits the angst of analysis paralysis. it gives a place to start, a direction to go, discipline and yet, boundaries that reach only to the sky. it eases up the balking-at-it of artists. it facilitates the creation of a composition. it facilitates artistry. it facilitates energy. pushing the walls of these boundaries back little by little opens an artist when he/she is ready, when he/she feels safer. one step at a time. one rocking chair spindle at a time. one kitchen-dog-gate at a time. one muse at a time.
reverse threading 