Flowers Sprout in Her Footsteps

This piece is made for Cory, who told me that when he thinks of her he pictures flowers sprouting in her footsteps.

In honor of Inspire me Thursday's prompt: Whimsy, a recent favorite word of mine.

Illustration Friday's prompt: worry, which I am interpreting as there are "No Worries" when flowers sprout in footsteps!

Winds of Change, Glory of Perfection

For at least two years I knew the time to leave my wonderful life in Santa Barbara, California was nearing. My heart and body yearned for a new experience of earth, as though I had been in the same energy, one place too long. Still the when and the where were not coming to me. I would chat about this with my dear friends. I knew I had to begin getting rid of possessions. I did nothing more than be aware that the time was nearing. There was a space in my life that arrived, literally a space of freedom. This space had only commitments to myself, my businesses. My son was living on his own, I was single and I awakened to a realization that "this is the time I felt coming, it is here, leave 'now' or maybe never". Still where will I go?

A lady friend and I went backpacking into the Sierra Nevada mountains. The days were warm, the nights were starry. As we climbed up up up through the forest, we did as most ladies do, chatted on and on about what was on our minds and in our hearts. I was trying to feel where to go as I left my life behind. A memory came back to me while hiking, it was of a vision I had while receiving a cranial sacral session. I had not thought of this dream like memory since it happened two years past. In the vision I was a short scruffy looking lady, a medicine woman with huge pain in my heart. I was moving in a circle endlessly, crying out, singing in a language I knew in the vision, but not in this life. Singing to the spirit that animates life "my people are lost, they are sick, I do not know how to show them the way out of pain". I was in a land that was dry and somewhat barren. The bush was brittle and maybe three feet high. As I moved I wore a path in the earth from the shuffle of my feet. Then a large ethereal energy touched my heart, stilled my agony and let me know that all would be fine. I was shown that my people they would find their way inspired by their pain. My journey was to know this and trust this, I was not to be lost in the pain. In holding a solid trusting stance, my energy would calm and make room for vision to show me how to guide them.

Some how I knew that medicine woman was in New Zealand, a long time ago. As I remembered that vision I decided to start my journey with six months in New Zealand. My preparations began. I gave myself two months to shut down a life that had been formed for over twenty years. I wore myself out in the tasks of getting rid of possessions, storing things, drawing up my will and living trust, learning how to pay bills while away and shutting down two businesses. It is a funny thing when folks learn you will no longer be available, they want you! People wanted jewelry they had been putting off buying and folks wanted cranial sacral sessions endlessly. I finally had to hang my sign, business closed.

There was also a magic about those two months. As I wandered through my days, my chores, I would have unexpected meetings with people from my past. I was able to have goodbyes with people I may never see again. Things I needed to say for closure were said, as well as things others needed to say to me. I met new people and had interactions that were full of vitality, inspiring others to live their dreams was common. November 11,2004 I left my life in Santa Barbara for what I thought was a year of wandering, which lasted two years with me settling in a very different land. The night before I left I slept and awoke with the words "winds of change, glory of perfection" being repeated in my mind like a mantra.

The telling of this tale was inspired by Sunday Scribblings prompt: quitting. In quitting one path in life an entirely new one presented itself, one step at a time.

The image: New Zealand, Beach Cave

Morel

Last week I posted this close up image, asking if you knew what the image is of. Most responses were through emails, not in the comment section of this blog. Some folks did guess mushrooms and two actually guessed what kind. Now is the time of year when wild delicious (edible) 'Morel' mushrooms grow. I will show you a few stages of the one I found in the forest.

The first day I found it:

Two days later:

Breakfast:

Fire

I have just discovered Photo Friday

This weeks challenge is: Fire
Not that I am thrilled by having a look into our month long wildfire last summer:

On a lighter note
Solvang, California,
'fire setting'

A meme

Fairy Slipper
A creature I love and smells divine
I found her yesterday

Imelda, Greenish Lady has tagged me for a meme.
Somehow this time it slipped into my day just fine, for usually this would not appeal to me, nice to know that all is unknown.


Rules:
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.Each player answers the questions about himself or herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Ten years ago: May 1998

Well I have no old calendars or journals to remind me what I was up to, they are in storage far away from me. My memory is not something I can rely on. At first I answered this :
*I was studying cranial sacral therapy with Hugh Milne which was a profound experience in so many ways and a great challenge for medical language and memorizing did not come easy.
After some research yesterday, I realized twas 2001 I began my schooling. My memory has it's own ways!
But here are some things that happened that year:
*My son was about to turn 18, graduate from High School and take a trip to Costa Rica with a friend. I was very happy for him!
*My business was making beaded jewelry which I would sell at the Beach Show along the ocean on Sundays (which allowed me to stay home and raise my son as he grew up, instead of day care).
*I lived in the lovely town of Santa Barbara, hiking with friends, buying my food from local organic farmers, working out in a gym.
I think of this time in my life and smile.


Five things on today's "to do" list:

1)Write, whether it be journaling
a conversation with spirit friends
or a post for the blog
2) finish a wee piece of art I began yesterday with Pitt pens, don't have enough colors so will now use paints
3) wander down to look at the story the bear left on the earth, and to visit the wee morel mushroom (unless someone ate it durning the night)
4) hike to Finger Lake, looking for new flowers and mushrooms to take their portraits.
5) Enjoy being alive


Things I'd do if I was a billionaire:
This is not an easy question for me. As it is not something I ponder.
Still I will give it a go;
I would ask how my mother how she would enjoy her life better cared for.
I sense I would feel inspired to find ways to serve humanity, to do this in a way that would be in harmony with living on Earth.
I would find land that felt like home and build a house.
For some reason I don't dream much about what I would do with things I do not have.


Three bad habits:
1) red wine, ah I love it.
2) dragging my feet when time comes to make changes
3) piles, piles, piles of notes, ideas, thoughts, filing, I clean them up and they start all over


Five places I've lived:
1) Southern California - most my life
2) Kauai - 2 months
3) Nelson B.C. - 4 months
4) Boulder, Colorado - 2 months
5) Montana


Five jobs I've had:
1) weaving and making plant hangers for my mother's business
2) making shoes, my own tiny business
3) jewelry business for over twenty years
4) cranial sacral therapist
5) photography

Five people I'm tagging for this meme:
This might be the hardest part of this meme, who would enjoy this look and sharing about their lives. As Greenish Lady said "participation is completely optional"! The wonderful part of asking folks to do this is that I will get to know them better! If you choose to do this, I would love it if you leave a comment and let me know.

Sharon at Norah's Art
Anne at Anno's Place
Gemma Wiseman at Greyscale Territory
Sara Lechner at The Fabric of Meditation
New friend at Murat11

Her smile is as wide as her Heart!

Lady D


prompt:
Illustration Friday ~ Wide
Initial prompt, my love for my long time friend

What goes on in a Meadow!

A few days ago, wandering in the woods I came upon a fresh morel mushroom! Imagine my excitement. It was in the same place as the two I found last year. I visit it once or twice a day, taking pictures, noting it's daily change, which is quite noticeable. It has been a wonderful experience sitting and observing in one spot. This is so different from walking through the woods where all the critters hear me!

Tonight I wandered out, thinking I would see how the morel has changed since last night and maybe take a few pictures, when I noticed something big and dark in the far end of the meadow. I must share that I walk around here, near daily. So when a new shape and color shows up, well I notice it. That is how I discovered the Northern Goshawk eating a duck ( I posted a picture of April 11, 2008 called A Hawks Feast). Well it was down near the same area that I spotted this black spot, big as a huge tree trunk. I pulled out my telephoto lens and sure enough a BIG black bear. It was far so my pictures are not so clear, but hey this is a good thing. It means the bear was far away from me! Sort of. It appeared to be eating, walking and rolling it's nose into the earth. I sat there amazed and thankful to be experiencing this. I often walk the woods and I have come across tracks, big tracks. But to see the bear, wow, this is a first.

Later in the evening, sitting on the porch enjoying the sunset, I heard some gun shots. They sounded like they were in the same meadow. I was drawn to run out there to see what was going on. To my great relief, no hunters, no bear. But down in the far meadow I witnessed a ancient dance, something I have never seen. There were five or more whitetail deer frolicking about, running through water, splashing and jumping, leaping and running off only to return for more and more. I am thrilled to find out what goes on in that meadow!

Is he doing what I think he is?

Soar

I wonder why we were not given wings
Perhaps to inspire our ability to soar
with the wings
that give flight to our heart
and our soul

Can you guess what this is?

The sun is out, the day is warming, I am alive with gratitude,
didn't know how much I missed sunny warm days!
Spring is finally here.
Today I have seen butterflies, a hummingbird, the pond turtle and
wandering in the woods today,
I came upon this little being, can you guess what it is?

Photos fom my wanderings

Late afternoon light is magic
Being as we have been experiencing gray and rainy days, I can feel the warmth in this picture!

Skunk cabbage, yep it does smell odd and strong!

Natural Camouflage

Lovely Hyacinth

Up Close

Young Tamerack Cone
There is great wonder for me in witnessing a tree bare of leaves for six months begin to sprout soft needles and cones.

Nelson B.C.

This post has been inspired by a blog friend in Norway who shares my love of Nelson B.C. In 2005 I had the ultimate delight of living in Nelson for 4 months. I got to experience the end of a very hot summer, a colorful fall and first snow falls of winter. I was in love with the charm and beauty of the area.

So I am posting images for you and for Son.

Downtown store sign:

My walk home:

Some colors of fall:

Canada sky:

Thanksgiving berries, note the purple stems against the red berries:

Sun clock and more, as in Lady D~ :

Looking up lake:

More colors:

From up high, great hike, the Pulpit Trail:

Local art, fence, weather vane, sundial:

Wonderful Oso Negro (wireless) excellent coffee shop, fence:

Cemetery:

Wings in Nelson:

Nelson remains forever fond in my heart.

~

Doors

Enticing
frightening
promises of magic
or a great meal
amazing art
warm conversation
the future
transforming
one place to another
inner sanctum
mystery unfolding
here























Participating with Inspire Me Thursday: Doors
I took these photos in Nelson B.C. They captured my attention, curiosity and love of art.

The Oracle is In

Easy Street has a prompt called: the oracle is in

This triggered a memory: on a lake shore in Brittish Columbia a few years ago I came upon a mandala made of rocks. Who made it, I will never know. What it meant to them, is also not mine. Yet I have experienced that in making a mandala one can become clear about something they are wondering about. It can inspire the steps that need to be taken in ones life. There is power in taking the time to be with a decision or problem. In the artistic creation, loosing oneself in the moment there is space for wisdom to arise.

Seeds and bear tracks

Illustration Friday
prompt this week is seed:

This is a wild flower, well after the flower. I found it along a river near Jasper, Canada. Can anybody tell me what it is? I think it had yellow petals before it went to seed.


Yesterday I went for a bike ride on some back roads where I live. I came across some bear tracks. Even though I sense they are at least a day old, I felt uneasy. so I recited a Mary Oliver poem that I recently put to memory, with the promise that when bears hear you they scatter off. I did not have bear spray.

So these were about 8" heel to toe: