neighborhood gathering

(a reminder from wild things)

There is a tendency for living things to join up,

establish linkages,

live inside each other,

return to earlier arrangements,

get along, whenever possible.

This is the way of the world.

-Lewis Thomas

more muttons

Us tall girls need the coziness a wrist warmer provides between sleeve and hand!

home

HOME

birch bark, silk, linen, paper, found objects

Does it still need a little something above the nest?  It does not really feel done yet. I have some sunflower seeds with holes drilled for fastening...what do you think?

words

I have been rereading the diary written by Andy Goldsworthy while he worked on Stone River. This sentence captures so much. "My ephemeral work has taught me that all things in life are fashioned and compromised by the trade-off we make between ability, energy, and time."

And I have also been rereading and appreciating anew Elizabeth Alexander's poem, "Praise Song for the Day".  What a snapshot of a day, a time, a hope! Nearly every line she wrote invites a visual image, an inspiration, an invitation. I cannot get "love that casts a widening pool of light" out of my mind.

I love having words and ideas percolating as I move through life.  I think we do a lot of creative thinking as we attend to the chores and work of the day, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes "out loud".

What is percolating for you today?

at last

Spring has returned.

The earth is like a child that knows poems.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

anthology

It is WARM and SUNNY here in CT.  I took Henry, who has been a bit mopey and sad this week, out onto the screened porch for some cheering up. Here he can keep a close watch on the chipmunks who live in the stone wall and the birds, flying on their way around the corner of the house to the feeders.
Gretta has been silk screening today.  Robots, carrots and a peace symbol. On pieces of recycled tee shirts. Using screens made from old pieces of wood. She's a good little steward.

I went to have tea with my dear friend Frances.  Such a good, long conversation.  I brought her a fun giftie, a collaboration between Ben and Jerry's and High Mowing Seeds.
Driving down to Frances' house, I was listening to NPR's Weekend Edition and heard some music that is new to me....Bellx1's, "Blue Lights on the Runway". Way cool.

I'm reading this lately, where I found some very cool challenges to help us live with intention. And this,an especially lovely and simple blog. I follow lots of great blogs, but this one is a bit different and it has been really speaking to me lately.

Birchbark, Duponi silk and linen are sitting on my sewing table.....nesting.

Last weekend we saw MILK. (Please go see it).  And last night we rented My First Mister again.

It's a sweet film.

comfort

In the past, I have been an active participant in our church's Shawl Ministry. Meeting every other week, we are a group of folks who sit in a circle of silence for about twenty minutes. Sometimes we listen to quiet music, the soft clicking of knitting needles adding to the meditation. Then we light a chalice and someone shares a reading. After a good bit of conversation, we close by blessing all the shawls we are working on. We do sort of an old fashioned "laying on of hands" with our palms spread out on the shawls and we recite in unison, 

May divine grace be upon this shawl...

Warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing.

May this mantle be a safe haven...

A sacred place of security and well-being...

Sustaining and embracing...

In good times, as well as difficult ones.

May the one who receives this shawl

Be cradled in hope, kept in joy,

Graced with peace,

And wrapped in love.

-Janet Bristow (adapted)

The shawls we make are given away to mark births, deaths, illnesses, life transitions, in celebration, in recognition...in other words, these shawls spread love out into the world.  Each shawl is documented with a page to describe the yarn used, the pattern, who made it and who it was given to and these pages are collected in loose leaf notebooks. 

I was honored with one of these shawls when I went in for my surgeries two years ago.  I felt the blessings of my women friends, wrapped about my shoulders, especially in the middle of the night, when I felt most challenged in my medical adventure. The doctors and nurses who worked with me were intrigued by my shawl.

I have been away from this circle of women for a while.  I am feeling that I would like to find my way back to them. I finished the two shawls in the photo above within the past few months. They need to be wrapped up and tucked away in the closet at church, awaiting the next person who might appreciate their warmth, both physical and spiritual.

Check here for a lovely book about prayer shawls.

And here to find out more about shawl ministry. 

(I want to remind readers that I don't think spirituality depends on religion and churches, temples or other houses of worship. And I am not married to the word "prayer". All of that stuff is so personal. I just think it's important to live intentionally.)