Happy Imbolc! Imbolc (pronounced em-bolk) is a pagan holiday associated with the goddess Brigit and marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Yay, we are half way there! Buds have formed on the clematis bush outside my kitchen window and it looks to be a bumper crop year for its fragrant white blossoms. Meanwhile, […]
Happy New Year! In preparing to write this year-end note to you, I looked back over 2022 at everything we created together – all the beauty we added to the world over this past year. And I was surprised to learn that we gathered for twenty-one workshops, seventeen here in The Down to Earth Studio, […]
Lately I’ve been thinking about a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), spiritual leader and peace activitist: “It is possible the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living.” Thay’s quote seems […]
Have you met the Hindu Goddess, Akhilandeshvari? Akhilandeshvari (Ahh-kee-lawn-dish-vari…fun to say, once you get the hang of it) is a goddess who embodies the ability to come together and fall apart, again and again. “Ishvari” in Sanskrit means “goddess” or “female power,” and the “Akhilanda” means essentially “never not broken.” In other words, The Always Broken […]
I have a fear of visibility . . . of being seen. I mean really being seen—for the flawed human that I am. When I think of my book being published, an iceberg of terror forms in the middle of my chest. Bearing all my deepest faults and fears in writing for everyone to see—it’s […]
I found a dead patch-nosed snake last fall while hiking near Cochiti Lake, New Mexico, and created an art piece with it. I know snakes are creepy to some people, but I love them; I always have. Here is an excerpt about snakes from my memoir titled, Solitude in Wild Nature: My Journey to Wholeness Through […]
This summer I am feeling so grateful for the beauty that helps distract me from all the heartbreaking social, political and environmental news. I just completed my annual wilderness quest in the Inyo National Forest with the hundreds of years old junipers, pines, and aspen groves. I named my questing place at Johnny Meadows “The […]
One of my sisters called me the other day and asked, “What have you been doing up there in Oregon besides breaking dishes?” It took me a moment to realize she was talking about the Kintsugi breaking and mending ceremony photos I’ve been posting on Facebook and Instagram. I laughed and said, “Well, not much; […]
I hope this email finds you catching the wind of creativity and letting it carry you. It’s not always in the direction that you thought you’d be going, right? One thing aging is teaching me is that I can plan all I want (and heaven knows I’m a great planner!), but the key to happiness […]
The art piece above is my version of the Pedernal Mountain near Taos, New Mexico. The Pedernal is the mountain that moved and inspired one of my favorite painters, Georgia O’Keeffe, as she studied and painted it from her studio at Ghost Ranch. After her death, her ashes were scattered there as a testament to […]