Like a Mama bear who goes into the Cave
for a long winters nap,
I am weary.
It is time for me to take another respite
from the words here
upon the page.
I am not deleting, just going to make this private,
and close the doors for a while.
To my wonderful friends in The blog world,
I wish you a new year
full of blessings
love and laughter.
I shall not be around to comment with any regularity
but there will be a candle that burns for you
in the window.
You can still reach me at my email
if you need me.
The studio will still be open
and from time to time a photo
or thought may alight there.
thank you
for sharing this journey with me..
Peace to you
Farewell My friends
Spreading the love…….
We were waiting on the teen to finish his wrestling tournament, so this is a bit late in the day,
but
we sat and pulled names out of the bowl and laughed!
carried on and had a wonderful time!
I can not begin to express our heart felt gratitude to all of you .
This has been a fun and magical time for all of us.
So with out to much adieu,
I am going to share the list,
The spiral mug~ terri from Bonesigh
The candle holder~ green woman
The handmade wooden spoon~ Wildlife gardener
The blanket~ Nytebird
The message board~ Firebyrd
The collection of bonesigh books~ Bimbimbie
The mentoring sessions~ square peg Karen
Deb’s dvd~ Georg
Deb’s book~ Robyn Rice
The honey~ simply Cara
Carols weaving a story~ Cordie B
The bird boot feeder~ Leanne
The book Whispers of the heart~Anne
The hand knit scarf, your choice,from Miss harleyquinn ~Kim & Ron
Deb’s incredible peacock photo~ Gypsy heart
The tarot reading from FireByrd~ Darren daz cox
A poem from FireByrd~Coral
Brandi’s wonderful affirmation cards~ surface earth
“the Pig of happieness” from Mary~ Windexx
The Masia bracelet, your choice of color, from kim ~ Miss R*
The lovely holiday pins from Mel~ Simone
Your choice from Surface earths store~ laughing wolf
The stunning photo by Mig~ Amanda
The print from cordie B~ Rebecca @ a difference a year makes
The poem from Cordie B~ Kaye Bartolotti
The Calendar from Cordie B~ Kay
Karen’s Mp3 ” choosing me!” ~ Char
Karen’s Mp3 ” Chosing me!”~ Gracie
A wonderful set of cards from Leanne~ Tiggs
The thought provoking and incredible statue from bellpine~ Irish
The deeply moving inner sigh sculpture~ laura
The Angel from I Still Like the view~ Grace
The rainbow bird from bimbimbie~ Lisa Reed
I can not find the words to express how much this has meant to so many people.
Me and mine wish all of you who have stopped or stumbled here, a most joyful holiday season, and a new year rich in blessings, love and laughter.
* please email me adress for where to ship!
and for those who are giving, I will let you know where to ship as soon as I hear from the recipient!
Thanks!!!!
Bones
I didn’t sleep to well last night.
It’s not an unusual occurrence,
but it makes me slow and sluggish
all day.
It was the dreams,
or nightmares if you prefer.
I remember how he looked the summer before last.
Walking up to me smiling, his arms spread wide for a hug.
His hair was two tone, and he was sporting a bandana and a cap on backwards.
His t-shirt had a skull on it, and his skin tight jeans had a pair of boots I would have drooled over back in my Sid and Jello days.
He was 13, with a worldly view of at least 20.
and anger…
So much Anger.
I remember the anger, and the really hard questions.
The ones I didn’t feel qualified to answer, but I tried.
I remember the heart to.
The gentleness and the patience he had with my little one.
The time he took in the store trying to find stuff for his sisters.
The talk about choices, and living with the consequences of those decisions.
He ran away from home this past September.
No,
I don’t know where he is.
He hasn’t shown up here. Although I did tell him
before he left, if he needed something he could always call.
He is living on the streets somewhere in Milwaukee or there bouts.
I spoke with his mom, and she tells me when ever you think a heart can’t break
any more…
it does.
The sister who has nightmares that he’s dead.
The one who misses him, and doesn’t understand why he’s gone.
The littlest one, at 2, who picks up a calculator thinking it’s a phone
and calls him and says” Hey! what doin?You comin home?”
Mom sits on the steps when the police come to the door, to afraid to answer it, to afraid of what they
might say.
I dream of him…
I know what the streets are like.
I lived there when I was a kid, and I know, they are no better now.
There are candles in my window, and I light them…
for those near and those far, for those in need, and one for Bones.
I am shamelessly asking, today is my birthday, and for my Birthday
I would like Bones to let someone know he’s okay.
Thats all.
For YOU, with gratitude…
I was 16 when I was given my first camera, it was a Nikon FE.
One of the first things I did with it was to try and capture a drop of water
hitting a puddle.
The puddle was left over from a rain, but the drop was all mine.
I had an eye dropper, a release cord , a tripod and about 6 rolls of film.
( does anybody remember film?)
I spent an afternoon, with ferocious intensity, trying at first to get the drop
right before it hit the water, suspended in air.
Then I was focused on the moment it connected with the water,
that indented dimple, that moment of impact.
At 16 it was all about that single drop of water, and capturing it.
I never paid attention to what else was going on, just reseting for the next effort.
Now, here I am some 30 odd years later , camera/computer in hand
focusing all my intensity , not on the drop, but on the ripple.
I suppose that a great many of us reach a point in our lives where we sit back and look at the evolution of our lives.
The shifting focus and the way somethings change so much, and yet still stay the same.
The great connectedness of our thoughts actions and emotions.
My 16 year old is right now focused on the drops, he sees all these incredible gifts,
all this generosity, but he doesn’t see the ripples.
He can’t trace it back to the drop hitting the water.
Can I hope that some day he does? I want to lecture him so badly, and say “SEE?!! all your actions, all your thoughts, all your deeds have far reaching effects. Some you will see, and some you will never know. Choose wisely!” but I resist. I know that glazed over look he gets when I soap box.
lol
So instead I will soap box to you, dear soul that has stumbled here, to my little corner of the uniVerse.
I can not begin to tell you, the effects of your kindness, your generosity, your just being there, and being real.
These are things, simply things made with love and the best of intentions.
What you do, by giving and receiving and sharing, are the real gifts.
The actions that ripple outward and encompass the world in care. The spiral that circles inward and outward, that connects us
and gives us Hope.
Thank you….
from all of us here in the shack in the woods.
A most heartfelt Thank YOU.
The spiral starts with these:
from our home.
Then these from those bright and loving souls who are making even more ripples in life’s pond.
From the enormous heart of terri St. cloud over at Bonesigh arts
http://www.bonesigharts.com/
A collection of her books.
which you can read all about here.
From Robin Rice,
Three 50-minute sessions with Robin Rice, internationally published author and mentor to women leaders around the globe. Robin mentors in authentic living, no matter what your career, passion, or lifepath. We will meet the first three weeks (one session per week) in February. Intend to bring a longstanding dream or issue–something that, if met, would change not only yourself, but trickle down to the people your life touches.
From Deb Booth at http://www.differentlightstudio.com/
this DVD
and this book
From polar
http://2polar.wordpress.com/
something sweet
from Carol
A personnel fairy tale that weaves a story for someone who wants to look at their life in a whole new way.
http://www.storyweaving.com/
From Camille Olivia at
http://www.joyzachoice.com/
a wickedly clever boot bird feeder and
this wonderful book:
The radiant and talented Miss Harlequinn
http://missharleyquinn.wordpress.com/
has so generously offered to knit a scarf for your pleasure! Your choice of color!
Deb Durant at http://unrelentingambiguity.wordpress.com/
who is an avid cyclist , and dedicated heart of gold has offered this incredible photo:
with links to the significance of peacocks here.
Miss FireByrd has so generously donated a poem, written especially for that person
and a tarot reading
The very talented artist Brandi
at http://www.dandelion-studios.com/
has offered these wonderful affirmation cards:
Mary at http://mellington.blogspot.com/
has given us her take on wisdom and donated this gem of a book:
Kim,a generous friend at http://midwestmusings-kim.blogspot.com/ , has donated a Masai bracelet , your choice of one of the colors here.
Darling Mel at http://melsdream.blogspot.com/
has put her art/heart into these lovely holiday pins!
Surface Earth, the heart and soul has offered up your choice , either cards or a t-shirt from her shop here:
http://www.cafepress.com/surfaceearth
so go and check out her whimsical designs.
Mig, the fairy tale photographer , has offered one of her photo’s ( you know I asked her not to donate one I wanted..and then I realized I will always want them all …sigh) http://letouttoplay.wordpress.com
The multifaceted and many talented Ms. Cordie B, has so generously offered
a personnel print
a personnel poem
and a calendar for 2009, her own awe inspiring creation I might add!
from Karen at http://www.square-peg-people.com/BodyImageHelps.html
(2) copies of “Choosing Me! Finding Comfort, Joy and Beauty in the Me I am NOW”
an MP3 audio!
Leanne from http://thestitchingroom.blogspot.com/
Who is a wonderful seamstress and a closet professional photographer,
has offered a set of her photo cards, they have this lovely image on them!
From Deb at http://www.bellpineartfarm.com
this wonderful figurine!!!
From Coral, this inner “sigh” You can find her here at http://standstillandknow.blogspot.com/
or here http://isurvive.org/ that helps adult survivors of abuse…. it is an amazing spot on our web
From Bimbimbie at http://bimbimbie.blogspot.com/
a little rainbow bird! sure to bring smiles and rainbow magic!
From ISLTV a feather from heaven herself,at http://woundupandreadytoplay.blogspot.com/
If there is a gift I missed, or if there is a last minute one, please feel free to drop me a message in the comments.
( or email me at 11sorrow@gmail.com)
So now we come to the last little bit.
These gifts are for you.
There are no strings attached, and everyone who has participated is willing to ship them to where ever you are at.
All you have to do is just leave a comment, it can be a simple as thanks, or wow. If you do not have a blog, you can leave it as an anonymous , but you have to put your email address in, so when you win, I can let you know! and you can tell me where you want it shipped.
Everyone who comments will be eligible to win any of the gifts, your name will go in the bowl for each of them, but you can only win one! ( drats I know)
So here is where I ask YOU for something.
please
pretty please
with sugar on top.
spread the word.
Let everyone you know, not only the blogging community ( which is grand ) but friends and family.
Let’s give everyone we know and opportunity to see what Love can do, to know as I have so humbly found out, that people really do care, and that even the smallest act of kindness, can do great things. Let’s let them all have a chance to be gifted by the kindness of a stranger.
Thanks to you
from my heart, from my families heart,
you have made a difference in our little corner of the Verse.
and we are better for it.
Names for the gifts will be drawn on the 20th. I understand that most will not reach their destinations by the holiday, but they will be like belated blessings ( something my dear neighbor and friend calls them)
Psssst!!!!!
To all the wonderfully generous people who have offered to contribute to the gift give away, I would like to do this
THIS WEEK!
I NEED photo’s of the items that you are donating!
And your web address if I don’t already have it, so everyone can know where these wonderful things are coming from.
The photo’s don’t need to be big, a 72dpi 3X5 image or 250 x350 pixel image should be fine…( DOES NOT HAVE TO BE Exact, and if you don’t know how to scale your image, feel free to send whatever format you have and i will adjust!)
THANK YOU!!!!!
I am getting excited, The teen has been down with the flu, so his is the last gift and it is just about done.
(Please Keep him in your thoughts that he is feeling better soon.)
The song of silence…come on and dance with me!
Shhhhhhhhhh
did you here that?
that lovely sound of silence?
My house is mine again.
It’s quiet.
it’s empty of all the extra bodies that have been here taking up space,
filling it with laughter, shouting
conversation,
thumping feet,
music,
and life.
I have been blessed
to have my family here.
ALL OF THEM.
from the big to the small, filling up the cracks and corners of my tiny shack in the woods.
and it has been good.
In the way that family can be Good…
( but still with that push-pull of dynamics …You know what I mean?)
I have taken the little ones canoeing…
I have cooked
I taught my SIL to sew
and had my Pop try his hand at playing in the mud.
I cooked
I took the whole clan hiking
and I cooked.
I had the little ones make clay bowls and ornaments and frivolities..
and I cooked.
we played board games, and had bonfires
watched the birds at the feeders,
I made bread, and shared stories and recipes.
I laughed
and I cooked.
I am so tired…
all I want to do is sleep.
so today
and probably tomorrow,
I will be “decompressing”.
and then I will return my focus to the circle of giving,
and try and get that all done and together
and posted.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes you need to give your self permission to let things slide a little bit?
So today I gave myself permission,
not to worry about my give away, and to be okay with it being later than I had wanted.
I turned on the ipod and danced in the Kitchen
” My house is mine! My house is mine!”
I wish all of you a decompressing day, and a home full of laughter
and blessings in abundance…
Come on and dance with me!
