joyouslybecoming

they heard there was a hole in the sky

                       journal page

                                 detail

we're all connected

This is a piece that i started last weekend in portland and finished up today. it's about our interconnectedness with all beings, here on this beautiful planet we call home...

Burma Cyclone and a way to help

It's hard to know what to do when a disaster of this magnitude strikes such a huge population, especially when food and water are needed immediately, it's heartbreaking. If you interested, here is a link to donating money through Pay Pal to Burmese Monks who are on the front lines of aid efforts in their country right now. I was relieved to find this way to give, albeit the money I'm able to give is just a drop in the bucket as far as need goes.

My calf tear is very slowly healing - this re-tear is worse than the original injury I'm afraid and I must be careful to protect it better in the coming weeks. I had my first physical therapy session today and I think it will aid greatly in the healing process. I'm using a cane now (just for a little while) to keep the weight off that leg in the hopes it will heal more quickly. I feel like a big slow snail; lots just has to be put on hold (again) for awhile. This continues to be a challenging year for me health-wise but my spirits are good and I feel grateful for all that is going well in my life, and there is much. I'm hoping you're all doing well too...

allowing...

Spending time creating with my students at Innerstandings last weekend was powerful and wonderful, and beautiful work was created from the heart. Since I've gotten back, words elude me. I'm filled with so many emotions these past few days - joy, teariness, exhaustion, quiet - and all of it infused with beauty; I'm just taking some time to be with it all. Eventually the words will probably come, and when they do I'll share them here.

this is the song that reaches into my heart right now, and here are some photos taken of the day...xoxo

Innerstandings Workshops this Weekend

This will be my last post till next week sometime - today I'm loading up the car with supplies and arting goodness in preparation for heading to Portland tomorrow for the two classes I'll be teaching at Innerstandings over the weekend; Collaged Faces on Saturday, and Free-Style Raw Journaling on Sunday. There are still a couple openings, so if you're in the mood to stretch your creativity muscles while enjoying the company of other creatives in the intimate class setting that is Diane's beautiful studio, come join us!

my loose pages finally have a home

          inside cover and first page

come take a walk with me

i'm still a few days away from being able to really walk about in the woods and along the river, but i decided to go through some of the photos i took last week and take a virtual walk. join me?

last journal page

today i start binding them all into a book, whoohoo!!

reflections of the weekend

                 deep shadows on the river at twighlight ...

                        and light and colorful ones as well...

I spent most of the weekend playing with and babysitting the grandkids while Heather took the opportunity to get errands done that are so hard to do piling 3 kids in and out of the car. Jeff won't be back till the end of August; she's got her hands full. I got to attend Violet's ballet class...

And then there is darling little LilyAnne...

See that twinkle in her eye? Yes indeed, she is a handful this one. At the stage when she can crawl fast, and have something in her mouth she shouldn't before you can say "jack robinson"...

And those cute little teeth; all the better to bite you with meema:-)

She has got the most comical expressions, this one, and keeps her meema in stitches laughing at her rapid-fire antics. And did I mention she's fast? She got her finger caught in a box and let out a wail which sent her meema leaping up and out to her for a quick rescue. Well, remember that torn calf muscle from 6 weeks ago, that was healing so nicely? Yep. Retore it in that one desperate move. I spent the rest of the evening wheeling after her in the rolling office chair until mommie came back and I could elevate and ice it again.

                                                   Sheesh...

rainbows, an ancient plant, and journal pages

This beautiful rainbow stretched across the entire sky over our wet river valley yesterday - the biggest rainbow I have ever seen. I took photos of each end thinking I could go into photoshop and put them together, but because of the slight angle change I made while taking them, I couldn't ever get the two sections to line up exactly. You can imagine the other half though....

And the horsetails are popping up across the meadow everywhere now, such fascinating plants they are, and I think delightful to look at. They are considered "living fossils",  having inhabited the earth during the Devonian period, some 350 million years ago. They grew in large forests - some of them were as big as trees!

And a couple journal pages I finished...only one more side of a page to do and the pages are complete and ready to put into book form -I'm excited!