truly spacious

with one simple touch

"May your spirit feel

The surge of true delight

When the veil of the visible

Is raised, and you glimpse again

The living faces

Of departed family and friends.

May there be some beautiful surprise

Waiting for you inside death,

Something you never knew or felt,

Which with one simple touch

Absolves you of all loneliness and loss,

As you quicken within the embrace

For which your soul was eternally made."

 ~ from 'For The Dying' by John O'Donohue, in 'Benedictus, A Book of Blessings'.

And. An exquisite programme to glimpse: The Ghostman of Skye. Handkerchiefs will surely be necessary...

xxx

El Espiritu de Hallowe'en

How I love the cover of this book;  El Corazon de la Muerte, Altars and Offerings for Days of the Dead.

 

(click pics for more juicyness)

Hallowe'en, Dia de los Muertos..... I'm a Big Fan. Here are more books to Love.

These 3 kids books are wonder-full:

The Spirit of Tio Fernando

Day of the Dead

a different Day of the Dead.

The Skeleton at the Feast is deeply delicious. It's the one topright of second pic.

And 'Pagan Mysteries of Halloween, celebrating the dark half of the year' looks good, tho I never yet got to reading it thoroughly...

I'm sending Thanks to Rhomany, and to Mary Ann, for bothering and corazon-ing like they do. Inspiratrices, both. Dunno where I'd be without you both...

Here's an Eerie Doilie for today from Basic Grey:

And finally, for now;

May I and all my Ancestors wish You and all your Ancestors, Very Well Indeed.

xxx

glint

I forgot. I forgot this thing I have that lets me put something from inside onto the page. Deep, strong. Made visible, palpable, with a few simple gestures and pure focused intent.

I remember. I got a little scared. But it's time for courage again. Time to bring it on thru. "Something Is Being Learned."  

 

 

The lighting is a bit late-night in these pics - but I am impatient to post. I'll post more daylit versions too...Rekindled enthusiasm is such a sweet delicious thing.

 

And further sweet deliciousness ~ scone-making is being learned, too.

Is it just me or is this scone also smiling?

xxx

True Diamonds

A few hours in the cyber-company of Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes last night,

thanks to Sounds True and the Mother Night (Learning to See in The Dark) course,

has brought me greatly renewed Heartyness. 

Diamonds In The Dark is a free podcast of a chat between CPE and Sounds True's Tami Simon.

                                      * * *    * * *    *   * * *    * * *

And these wonderful illustrations come via the kindness of Liam Quin at fromoldbooks.org

xxx

gettin a wiggle on

Suddenly seeing echoes, between my new Proper on-Canvas Painting, and this pic of my splendid black hose.

The latter I just posted in a Medley over at My Lovely Garden, with some other lovely wiggles.

It's spiral-Love time again. Once previously, I posted about my SpiralLove, in 'flourishing'.

I have a bunch of new swirling stamps winging their way to me too. 

Creativities brew, as the chill Autumnal winds come twisting on thru...

xxx

Just Put

Once again, dear Mary Ann catalysed some creativity overhere.

Her links today gave me that gottogettoit artistic jealousy that is the only good kind of jealousy I know. The one that wishes it was doing it's own thing too. So I got to it, and did my own thing too, and here are some views of what the product of that process looks like.

With warm Thanks to the Divine Ms Moss for keeping on keeping on so very bright heartedly; keeping me keepin on too. 

 

 

 

 

There are Archetypal Autumnal pics galore, and some Proper Painting beginning to happen, overhere. More of all that andandand as and when...

(all pics click clearer)

xxx

Germination Anniversary Whoop

Happy LovelyNewHomeBirthday to me!

One Year here already. September 19, 2008, to September 19, 2009.

And what a Lot of changes overhere, these past few months, too. So much newness, so much Beauty and expansion and settling now after the slow storms of workmen. Germination, indeed, alongside the evenings drawing in, and the leaves beginning to leave, again.

The quote above is from Wayne Dyer, whose wise words often help me towards comfier alignments.

I had that quote printed out and constantly around in the times leading up to having this new Home manifest, and while the World in general wasn't sure it could happen... I remained utterly convinced throughout. And here we are now.

And as I looked around me the other evening, I saw a new wheelchair which came to me since I got here, and a completely renovated wetroom, and a whole new accessible zone in My Lovely Garden.

It is all quite astonishing. Really.

My big Thanks to Life for giving me all this loveliness in which to play.

And here's to the next phase of My New Life.

The one in which I intend to go adventuring further into my surroundings.

In this reality.

xxx

synergy swoon

1. enchanted forest, 2. Pecos Ruins 3, 3. Cabin Corner,
4. Castelluccio 1, 5. Castelluccio 2, 6. white door; old adobe,
7. Canyon Road Door, 8. _DSC5052, 9. Undry The Sky

Oooh my big thanks to today's mosaic's generous flickrphotographers.
These images are each so lovely. And together, the colours, textures and shapes make me swoon.

This last fortnight I've had building renovations going on overhere in my sweet Cabin; my nearly-a-year-here-already New Home, and the sight of dugup floors and drying plaster has me adobe-dreaming again. 
I'd like to leave my new wetroom so much rougher round the edges than the building regulations allow. I may get away with bare copper pipes left as-is... that's something... Builders are generally flummoxed by my taste for the 'unfinished'.  WhatcanIdo? I like it like that! But rules is rules, and things have to be 'finished properly'...

As always, click pic for larger mosaic, and click the links above to visit the individual pics,
and the worlds, sets, pools and streams beyond.

New Groups discovered along this morning's trail: Doors and Windows in Decay, and Trees & Tree Bark - from around the world. 

How I love flickr.

xxx

Like Stars

It seems the Summer Break is upon me, in terms of not posting much overhere....

So for now, here are details from a card which I made for a Star-like friend recently, 

and a stitching, finished in new-departure style onto canvas, for a recently-met Stellar pal.  

Who was kind enough to fall in Love at first sight (of said stitching) and ask to purchase it. 

Flattered and delighted, I rustled up a way of making it hangable for her, 

which may prove to be a fine way to finish some of the stockpile of stitchings-in-waiting....

Some stitching-and-stencilling speriments will be happening soon - with some happy encouragement from The Divine Miss Moss.  

Hallo to my new playclassmates peeping on thru from there!

I'll be twinkling around not very far away, and will shine on through here again, 

flapping stencilry and allwhatnot around, some clear night afore very long....

And, Yes. That is indeed a Broomstick. And a Drumstick. Andandand.

Click pic to see clearer.

XXX

Disintegration Collaboration

(All pics click larger + clearer.)

Wayback in February 2009, the bundle was bundled.

I'd found Seth's invitation to disintegrate and document, and o it seemed like a fine thing to do.

bundle love was my first post of it, Feb 11; followed by this one on Feb 23rd.

On May 1st, the bundle came inside again.

Not hugely disintegrated, but thoroughly imbued with the experience. 
Time passing.    Weather happening.   Buds and warmth coming, after coldcoldcold days and nights.

And today, August 1st, 2009, is the Disintegration Collaboration final reveal day.

Sitting in the Sunshine, on July 31st, with a Blackbird eating the already-ripe Rowan berries overhead,
I made a little Something from some of the weathered treasure:

Thank you for visiting. Thank you, Seth, for the sweet Inspiration you bring.
Thanks to all the Elements who contributed so Grace-fully to the making of this, along the way.

It's been a joy, indeed.

xxx

mmmmmmosaic

1. Kofukuji Temple - Tsukubai, 2. how hill 2, 3. rope 2,
4. norwich cathedral 19, 5. Taitoloma, Finland, 6. this japanese silence,
7. woven, 8. as found composition, 9. Untitled

Ooooh I found some good ones today on my flickrfaves rounds.
Aren't these a lovely synthesis? And each pic (naturally) a rich treasure in itself. 

My big thanks as always to the generous flickrartists.
Click pic for larger clearer mosaic, and click the links to go to each pic, and the sets and pools they connect to.

I was delighted to find tim caynes' fine work - via a post on my googlereader from Flatlanders.
Now that I am mended enough again to begin to explore the bigger pictures around my lovely new home, I get excited about all the Beauty and Things awaiting me out there.
Good Dreams come to me via pics and posts of Norwich and Norfolk. O how I enjoy those names. The sweet sounds of Where I Live Now.

Also happy to find ailatan, and her rich sets, including the mysterious 'letters from japan'.

New Pools found along today's trail: Temple & Shrine Fountains of Japan, Japanese Gardens, and Japanese and Chinese Gardens. 

All roads lead me back to My Lovely Garden just now... weaving all manner of Beauty together.

xxx

3 boats in a post

1. Boats, 2. Blue boat, 3. Grass Boat

"A propos de rien du tout" is a phrase my friend E and I use. For when the thing comes from nowhere, but seems worth mentioning.
For artistry that just wants doing, without it being obvious where it joins up.

These sweet pics are in the "A propos" folder. Pics I found while looking for other things over at flickr.
I find boats such deeply Beauty-Full Things. And Canoes? Oh I can swoon over a Good Canoe.

My thanks to the boatphotographers here. Click pic for larger boats, and links to visit originals.

xxx

Buried Treasure - sing it again

Thanks to Lani for alerting me to Seth's Buried Treasure project. And thanks to Seth for being a fine creative connective catalyst.

"digging deep to uncover some hidden gems....re-post one (or more) of their favorite posts..." - you get his idea.

On 3.3.2007, I posted:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Traditional + Melodius"

Two lovely clips of

Scottish women-singing-beautifully-together-while-they-work:

'Eriskay - A Poem of Remote Lives',1935 (with film notes), and
'Western Isles',1942 (with film notes).

xxx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those two exquisite short vids still make my heart sing (with an ancestral yearning bass note too),
and I'm glad of an invitation to flap them around again.

There are more of my hidden gems easily-clickable in my select posts archive.

I haven't updated it for a while - so if you've arrived here via the project and are in the mood to dig; the traditional, if not quite so melodius, "Next' link at the foot of the page may bring some more gems to surface...

Thanks for your visit!

Other folks' repostings links to be found over at the altered page.

xxx

treasure mosaic

Saturday morning Inspiration Synergy.                 I just love how they dance together.

It started with seeing this post at the wonder-filled Studio g.
Rochelle shares so many joys and inspiring Things overthere; one of my current feasting grounds.

I mentioned studio g over at My Lovely Garden, my new blog,
but it since it's still in the budding stage overthere,(ie, not many visitors yet),
a repeat mention here seems a good idea.

My hearty thanks to all the generous flickrfaves artists for sharing these treasures.
Click links below to go to their pics directly, and to the worlds beyond.
Click pic for an altogether juicier large view.

1. fond de pot, 2. Rusty Stuff, 3. Edi's Chair, 4. Patina, 5. window, 6. Looking Up,
7. astrantiasq, 8. Is this really gonna keep people out?, 9. Celtic Symbol

New pool finds while hunting these down:
The Rust Bucket and Unintended Jewellery.

Mmmmmmm!

xxx

PS  -  I just put a new 'mosaic' category, so it's now possible to bring all the flickrfave mosaics which I've created onscreen together. 
Click the word 'mosaic' below the post, or in the categories cloud in the sidebar. Sorted.

Creative triumphs come in many guises... that task has been on my 'list' for A Long Time. And now, it's done. Whoooop.

xxx

such delicacy

"We say, "While I am alive, I can love."
We say,"While I am alive. I can learn a few things."
We say,"While I am alive. I can help in some ways."
We say,"While I am alive. I can create"
We live because we can and because, unromantically but utterly sincerely, we must."

from the Van Gogh Blues ~ (The Creative Person's Path through Depression - 'Successfully Manage the Anxieties of the Creative Process'), by Eric Maisel, PhD.

These exquisitely delicate visitors photographed in My Lovely Garden yesterday.
Click pics for larger + clearer views.

Happy Creative weekend wishes to us all.

xxx

Mmmmmmmmmmm:

Welcome, July 2009.

xxx

Loveliness

2 x glimpses of my Lovely Garden, in brightness. Such pleasures, in so many details.

Happy Creative Weekend wishes to us all; waving fond goodbye (already) to Geminitimes,
and welcoming the Cancerian 2009 department on in, on Sunday overhere...

xxx

The Thrill of the Storrum

Ohhhhhhh we had the Best Storrum here this evening.
The first Real Storrum since I've been here. I've been waiting.....

My Silver Birch turned Eagle for a moment, while in the Symphony Department, the new Beaky Boys - Baby Blackbirds - hidden in the dark leaves of the Cherry Trees over the fence, sang their exquisite bell-like hungry newsongs, and the Mighty ThunderBeings belted it out in rumbling crashing glory over all our heads.  The delicious contrast was such marvellous music to my fine-tuned ears.

Later there was Proper Fork Lightning, way too fast to snap, as my GoodPalNeighbour and I Ooohed and Ahhhed over the phone, wondering if we were to be flooded in the torrents.  We were not.

Ohhhhh I do Love a Good Storrum.

There are other recently snapped Sunny pics of the Glorious Garden to show, but for now these darker documents of Wildness shall suffice....

xxx

7th June 2009 style

Low key, big Gemininity fun, Birthday celebratory recipe:

First, find a good friend to blow bubbles with.
(Gasp when she admits to not having done so for years.)

Then, fall over giggling as you both blow up balloons, (literally, in one shockingly loud case), together.

Continue blowing bubbles all the while.

Have aforementioned good friend present you with a candle-laden cake.

Continue blowing bubbles all the while.

Have aforementioned good friend hang big bunch of balloons at the window.

Open a fine selection of lovely gifts, eat some delicious food,
admire beauty-full cards, specially chosen or made, sent and delivered, all in perfect time,
yabber a lot, enjoy,
marvel at the rain outside and be glad not to have planned big garden party after all,
sigh contentedly,
with heart-fed gratitude for the many simple-yet-deep-sweetnesses of the day.

xxx

revised synergy

1. 注連縄(Shime-nawa), 2. Kitakyushu City Manhole Cover, 3. Ceramic Donuts,
4. Kyoto026, 5. Korin-in, dry garden.jpg, 6. Ammonite revealed,
7. Int'l Community House, Kyoto.jpg, 8. Untitled, 9. Shosei-in2 (Kikoku-tei), Kyoto.jpg

An altered version of yesterday's (now-deleted) delicious synergy. (I'll spare you the details...)

Keeping it sweet here at truly spacious.

Thank you to the generous flickr artists for these and many other images in their sets and pools.

Click pic for bigger clearer synergy.

Happy New Gemini Moon to us all. 
Two weeks till the Big Bright Fullness; my 2009 BirthDay gift.

This time last year I was preparing to recce my possible new homeground.
This time this year, I am home, on new ground,
singing the praises of My Beauty-Full New Garden, every day, and many nights too.

xxx

patio pleasures

Lani asked me, earlier: "where are you?".  
Here I am!

Often to be found on my newly created patio, enjoying being in ways entirely new to me.
Creating a garden is feeding me deepdeepdeepdeeply. 
So much enoughness, just sitting with it all, sometimes. And in pottering.

This swoonably lovely Spring evening, after Watering, after some sweet planting with my goodneighbourfriend, brought Stars and Bats.
After days of unsettling winds, the air is stiller, calmer, warmer, altogether delicious, this first Gemini 2009 evening. 
Welcome Gemini Time! Whoooooooop.
And we have a few more Mercury Retro dances to go, too. My kinda back to front strange flittery times.

Words fail me, sometimes. While othertimes, they serve me rather well...

In other news, I am spending a lot of time lying on my sides while I heal some more tricky skin probs.
And my legsore continues healing well, too.

It's all rather simple overhere. I like it like that, for now.
xxx

naturally

The light round here some days is utterly astonishing.

There are many, many,
lovely recent Garden pics,
to be posted, in time.

But for now, these.

Fresh Rowan-ness,
lit only by Sunshine,
against a battleshipgreysky.

Click pics for greater depths.

xxx

weathered bundle love

Y'see that dancing heart there? It's lived through all kinds of weathers. xxx

This is the disintegration project bundle.... and for a few days it seemed as if I would be posting about a disappearing bundle.... the ultimate form change!

The bundle vanished from the Tree, and was nowhere to be seen.

Happy to say, a neighbour went hunting for me and found it again. So here we are now.

Not quite as much disintegration visible as I antici...pated.

I love that the papers and things are now imbued with all that they have lived through.

And that I went through the letgo, and then got them back, after all.

I'll unbundle the bundle later on, and then, we'll see some more...

(meanwhile you can see some more by clicking these pics.)

Happy May First to You.

xxx

 

 

la la, fa la la ~ But But!

xxx

stencilry andandand

 

 

 

 

This was/is week 3 of Pure Experimentation, and O I am pleased with my splashings this weekend.

I made two 12x12 Things.

I just Like how these details all look. Little worlds within the bigger Thing.

Collage from magazines, hand-cut stencilry (the starburst-flower and petals), Proper stencils, and inks, paint, pens, stamps ~ whatever was handy....

Good to be making pics I'm proper proud of!

xxx

Beautiful Things

"A beautiful thing, though simple in its immediate presence, always gives us a sense of depth below depth, almost an innocent wild vertigo as one falls through its levels."

~ Frederick Turner, quoted by John O'Donohue, in 'Divine Beauty'.

SpringProfusion, 2009.
These are mostly in my Beauty-Full Garden,
and the Nettle Tribe and Big Grasses are in the Enchanted Woodland,
on the 5 minute path between My House and The Nurses, and The Shops.
It's a simple Life overhere at the moment,
with So Much Things To See. And levels Galore.
Taurus 2009, trumpeting forth, in grand style.
xxx

stencilry speriments

 

(Wrestling a little with Typepad today, but apart from strange unbudgeable underlines, I think I've cracked it now...)

Here are some of my this-week's-productions, inspired by the continuingly fine Pure Experimentation class.

Week 2, and feeling free-er overhere.

Having procured Exacto blades, and stencil film, and then glass via my local charity shop, off I went on another adventure. Cutting my very own stencils for The First Time Ever. 

Wee small hours last night, and glorious sunshine Sunday afternoon hours today.

As I sat and painted in my garden, I thought; "this is it, this is what I was dreaming of last year".

So grateful for such fine moments. And grateful to have been reminded that stapling is allowed, too.

I've realised that watching vids of M.A. doing what she loves to do has given me more permission to play than any number of written encouragements might have.

Seeing someone relish making her Beautiful Mess has been such a sweet catalyst for me.

All pics here click much clearer, as ever. 

And in other news - my leg continues to heal, tho you'd still swoon if you saw it for the first time...thanks for continuing prayers/well-wishing support with that. 

And in yet other news, I took a bunch of lovely pics of the garden booming forth this week, and will post those as and when. And my seedlings are peeping through too!

Here's a final pic from today. My Tree reflected in my new stencil.

No, wait. That one's a Mask.

xxx

pure folio

This week's Pure Experimentation class direction was to create a portfolio to contain the products of the stencilry fun which we'll be having in the forthcoming weeks.

Seeing the richly inspiring vids had me rummaging yesterday in stash bought long, long ago.
And today I set to.
Enjoying the shadowplays that come with synthesising multiple patterns.
And being quite Happy with what I've put together. Inner and outer, both with their own flavours.
It's about 13 inches square: I intend to work on some of the 12x12 card stash I amassed years ago...

Good to work loosely, tho I didn't get quite as splashy with it as I think I will.
MA's freedom with paint and stencil and overpaint and wipe andandand, made me realise I'd like to play more easily with it all, too.

Still, it's a fine start, eh. Good to be in Beginner mode again.

Here are some detail pics. All pics click much clearer. 

xxx

comin on in

 

Some Garden Joys from this week.

Tho HedgeWildness was trimmed (not by me),
Many Other Little Leaves Mysteriously Appeared.
The CityKid potTrees clearly enjoy Birdsong and Fresh Air.
Rowan, SilverBirch, Lilac, Lovely.

And I planted Seeds. 14 little pots of potential.

"Act As If
Act as if what you intend to manifest in life is already a reality.
Eliminate thoughts of conditions, limitations, or the possibility of it not manifesting.
If left undisturbed in your mind and in the mind of intention simultaneously,
it will germinate into reality in the physical world."

~ Words from Wayne Dyer, which I used overandoverandover, last year,
to help to bring my current habitat on in.

And Here I Am, Now. Planting Seeds, for Real.

ThankUThankUThankU.

Happy EasterNess to You,
xxx

a new album

A little inter-continental e-chat today motivated me to create a new gallery album.

'6 months in My New Garden'.

New link in sidebar to that gallery of albums too.

There are all sorts of viewing options once you get there... slideshows, carousels and all...

I lost the original pics of the first three albums in the laptop crashes last year...happy that the online copies survive.

And yes, I do back up quite regularly these days.

xxx

stencil newness

 
Warm Hallo to my new cyberclassmates, coming in from Pure Experimentation!
(via Dispatch from LA, for noncyberclassmates, who will remain passwordless.)
Looking forward to sperimenting with y'all.

Here is my very first spraypaint speriment, done last week, sitting in the sunshine in My New Garden.
I was dismayed at the toxicity of the sprays.  I felt rather a clumsy human as the birds looked down from the trees at the clouds I created, and the new buds sneezed.
I do like the product tho.

Second pic is a detail from a recent birthday collage for my dear pal Kathryn.
Maybe more pics of that, asandwhen.  Both these pics click to juicier.

Going out into the sunnyness again now. Sigh. Feeling blessed, this first Spring, in my sweet new Home.

xxx