Thursday, January 8, 2009

almost missed it!

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during the winter holidays, you know the ones...all sorts of fun plans are made, delicious smells waft from kitchens from tampa bay to northern idaho and on down to eastern oregon...gifts are chosen with affectionate hope that the receiver of such generosity will smile with delight exclaiming from the depth of their being how this is JUST what I NEEDED...
plans to go spend these days with the kids and what? SNOW? Imagine my distress at having such important festivities halted due to natural causes? NOT QUITE...really! So. Feet and fete of snow...delightful sparkly cold and snowy kisses pattered down in mischievous abandonment...
so here i am weeks later waiting for the birth of grand-daughter number four and have i LEARNED the lesson that indeed it is not I in charge of the universe and axis of this orb? Please! Such impertinence!
Yet pause for a moment and drink in the deep beauty of such humility...snowy art, windy refreshment, beauty abounds and again i am in awe.
thank you

Monday, January 5, 2009

2009

sigh...

if you looked at my "work area" at work right now you'd see papers strewn about as though in disorderly chaos but know this: I know what paper is about what issue and how long it can lie in such state before I can either send it along to that special place where unnecessary papers go:-) OR place it carefully in the RIGHT color folder to be taken out and re-read from time to time. check my desk out, you'll see a grey "stress ball" (funny thing is, I've never used the silly thing), a large cobalt blue bottle of water, water which, by the way, was purchased for the sole glory of the deeply rich color of blue and not for any other reason...a bottle of tea, still warm from the early morning brew, a purple cup for where there is me...there is purple, a handwoven purple basket made lovingly for me by my niece who allows me the pleasure of having named her "pooka moo." Pictures of my brothers and cousins and children and a few pow wow posters of course with the underlying importance of having "stickgame" at the bottom...

do you see the necessary moments of what in some circles are called "pissing matches?" do you see laughter at the latest and greatest "wizard of oz" that tiny man behind the curtain who doesn't realize everyone sees him? can you see the hours of thought that went into that last grant package submitted or the twisted nerve endings that went into finally learning that confrontation is not a bad thing?

and what about my work area at home? ahhhhhh that one! i hope you see the scraps from the quilt made for my newest grand-daughter...and the ribbons trimmed from the shirt i just finished for my oldest son, do you see the jute from the bag i'm weaving for my brother's new laptop? or the medicine bag beaded so carefully by my nephew? look at my work area you should see color thrown about with wild abandon and lovingly chosen for just the right moment; i hope you see stories and songs that make you laugh and stretch the depths of your heart beyond what you knew you could hold...

"Happy New Year" is a phrase bandied about as carelessly as the "God bless you" spoken upon the sudden sneezes of our neighbors...my friend sent me the following quote and upon reflection of the PAST year, I find this is what I hope for you...

“We are strung through our hearts on a wire called time. Nothing can slow or speed our journey from birth to death.

We can kick and scream as the wire of time moves us along, or we can go dancing with joy and gratitude.

In either case, the journey is the same. We choose the quality of our experience on our journey through life.”

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

haha silly ME


's been one of THOSE days - you know...feelin' like you're thinkin' wrong, acting wrong, making people mad without trying...the whole nine yards and here I was getting ready to do a SAD blog

but get this...once I sat down at THIS COMPUTER in my WARM HOUSE smellin' like woodsy homsey...lookin' at my sewing machine and listening to the dog barking I realized...

dang this life is good...

THANK YOU FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME!!!!!!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

white knuckles notwithstanding

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white knuckles notwithstanding
turbulence shaken
and firm in belief
strength found unseen
sheepish chuckles
remain
adventure?
yes and no
discovery
oh so definite the thunderous
response
futile the grasping
at airy stability
rewards are many
and i am at home
Umitilla: Grain fields at sunset nr Pendleton Pictures, Images and Photos

The Euphorbia Family (Tricker Flowers)


tricker flowers in phoenix

Poinsettias are a part of the Euphorbia Family...the large red leaves that look like flowers? Aren't. I couldn't think what they were called when I saw these, I was showing them to my brother while in Phoenix so I called them "Tricker Flowers" because the red leaves (more fuschia than red by the way) are actually LEAVES and not flowers...the flower is the tiny white blooms you see in the center...

Why is this blogworthy? (Pause for chuckle - amused memory of that Seinfeld episode about being "spongeworthy") I pondered on the plane ride home (another blog altogether believe me!) about these flowers. How symbolic of our times.

Gaudy red leaves pretending to be flowers - luring busy bees and other pollen gatherers away from the delicate white center bloom - wisdom sings from these leaves. Beauty being the functional and not the fruitful? I'm both astounded and awed by the wisdom and creativity that went into the gentle forming of this genus. Imagine, the One who threw the lacy sky of stars in twinkling splendor took time to also form this wonder.

So I think to myself this must surely be in some joyous stickgame song or longhouse song or big drum song, it surely must have been told from the time of our grandmas and grandpas, not mine, but yours as well. If you listen closely you can hear it.

These are tumultous times - I am thankful for the pause of Tricker Flowers to remind me that this chaotic world and my search for the perfect Dolce and Gabbana bag are not all that important:-)