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Seven Things About Me Meme

Tess at Anchors andMasts tagged me for this meme.  The rules are:  People who are tagged start by thinking about 7 random facts/habits about themselves. Each player then must write about those seven things on their blog, as well as include these rules. Players then need to choose 7 people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave each person a comment telling them they’ve been tagged. 1.  I am not a big reader of fiction, I much prefer nonfiction.  In the last ten years the only novel I have read that I can think of is The Secret

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Rising From the Stuff of Our Days

Love Poems to God, II, 22 You are the future, the red sky before sunrise over the fields of time. You are the cock’s crow when night is done, you are the dew and the bells of matins, maiden, stranger, mother, death. You create yourself in ever-changing shapes that rise from the stuff of our days— unsung, unmourned, undescribed, like a forest we never knew. You are the deep innerness of all things, the last word that can never be spoken. To each of us you reveal yourself differently: to the ship as coastline, to the shore as a ship.

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Dizzy, Drunk, and Dancing

Summer in the Methow Purged from the hive, she hovers, then dives into the stamen’s glow. Spring gold A whirling dervish on the Nootka rose I want work like that! Work that makes me dizzy Makes me drunk on sweet nectar finds me dancing across the plush, pink petals of all that I love. -Kathy Heffernan I was riding the route 14 bus last Thursday toward downtown and gazed up at the words and images posted overhead.  My eyes were of course drawn to the poem in the midst of all the advertising.  The Methow is a valley in the North

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Photography and Holy Moments

Lately I have been receiving several requests for prints of various photos found on my blog which I am happy to offer, so I am formally adding this option to my Offerings page.  If you are ever interested in receiving a print of any photos I take here please let me know the image and size and I can send you a Paypal invoice for credit card payment. I have been taking a Digital Photography course this spring, learning more about the manual features of my camera, stretching myself with the assignments, and working with Photoshop (I finally broke down and

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Happy Bloggiversary to Me!

  Today is my one-year blogging anniversary!  Hard to believe, it has been a truly wonderful year.  I have met so many amazing people, gifted artists, new friends.  I have received advice and encouragement on the creative journey. I am stealing this idea from Kayce at Diamonds in the Sky With Lucy, who for her 100th post asked readers what their favorite post of hers was.  So please indulge me a little and let me know if there has been a particular reflection or image that stands out for you as a favorite, or you could just let me know what

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Will We Be Awake?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  Sunrise to sunrise, prayerful rhythm of the day. Will we be awake? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ -Haiku by Antony Hanson at Coming to the Quiet / photo is mine taken on Saltspring Island

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Heading Home Again

I have returned home from my time of retreat.  I love Saltspring Island with its miles of farmland and sheep grazing, its community of working artists, its forested coastline.  Last Friday was a brilliant day, sun shining, baby geese everywhere, the world feeling so full of possibility. On the drive up I was listening to David Whyte’s CD set called Clear Mind, Wild Heart which I have borrowed from the library a half dozen times and finally made it through all six of the CD’s.  He talks about how we are both creatures of belonging as well as creatures of exile

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Retreat

I am leaving tomorrow for a few days of retreat on Saltspring Island up in British Columbia.  I am bringing Tune, my camera, my journal, and my art supplies, and I will meet one of my dearest friends up there. I went to Saltspring Island for the first time in January of 2006 and it was a powerful week of retreat for me.  Duke was with me and he kept vigil during that holy time.  I heard the whisper of the sacred presence all around me, calling me to new things that are still unfolding within me.  I spent hours walking

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So Many Gifts

There are so many gifts Still unopened from your birthday, There are so many hand-crafted presents That have been sent to you by God. The Beloved does not mind repeating, “Everything I have is also yours.” Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend If we break into a sweet laughter When your heart complains of being thirsty When ages ago Every cell in your soul Capsized forever Into this infinite golden sea. Indeed, A lover’s pain is like holding one’s breath Too long In the middle of a vital performance, In the middle of one of Creation’s favorite Songs. Indeed, a

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Summer

Tomorrow is the feast of Beltane, the first day of summer according to the Celtic calendar.  Like its sister feast of Samhain on November 1st, it is a time when the boundary between this world and the Other world is believed to be especially thin.  It is also a time of lighting bonfires for rituals of purification and bringing livestock out to summer pastures.  I find the Celtic dates for marking seasons make more sense to me, by the Solstice we have already reached the longest day and then we begin the slow turn back to darkness.  I realize some of you are just

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