From the Sky

There's a story I can tell you about the young woman who was sinking down.  Surrounded by messages that told her she was not enough, the voice of truth was drowned, and she could not feel the love that she once knew to be true.

As she drove the half hour to the grocery store, husband at home with the kids, she cried out from the inside - from the hollow, deep called to deep. 

Trekking down the road less traveled, mountain rock on the left, leased corn fields on the right, and river beyond it, she looked for a sign.  Somewhere between the expanse of flat road that led from the bottom of the mountain to the bridge that crossed the river into farmland, there was something.  In the middle of the road, in the middle of nowhere.  She had to pull over so her car didn't crush it.

Does love really fall from the sky?  In the form of a wooden coat hook hanger, handmade, with hearts carved into it, price tag still attached?  Off of some vehicle that went ahead and lost part of it's load, not realizing it?  Could it have been placed here just for me?

This is what she chose to believe, this is how she chose to read the sign of love that seemed to have fallen from the sky. 

It hangs now as a reminder in her home, and when she's sinking low, she is reminded that beyond the trap of voices from within or without that drown out the pure, loving voice of truth, love falls from the sky, and love surrounds you.

Sharing with Clytie - for more Random Hearts,

visit her place today.

::Loyalty::

I email my closest friends, telling them about my Wire Word Project, and excitedly await the responses from the ones who are interested in sharing a word for me to sculpt them.

One of my best friends from high school takes her time, thinking long and hard about it.  Once she thinks of her word she writes, "My word would definitely be Loyalty. Loyalty to others, loyalty to my spirit, and loyalty to my Faith. (I think that’s also why I love dogs so much they are the most loyal creatures I think God has ever created that’s including comparison with humans as well )"

I sculpt "loyalty" for her and am there at her home for a barbeque when I present her word to her, and she hangs it on her wall.  The fruit of loyalty is present in her life, in many ways I see.  She is loyal to her friends, like me.  And her loyalty to her faith is unwavering.  She can ask, she can question, she can wonder and think - that's how rock solid she knows it is. 

I am a witness of this, because of the many seeds planted in my life by her and her mother, my hardened heart was softened and faith was able to flourish and grow in me.

Dear friend, your life is full of loyalty and I wait expectantly to see what more your loyalty will bring you!

~Cherish~

It's been enjoyable creating wire words for friends and family who are pursuing or thinking about a certain word this year.  I've added some to the Wire Soul Word Page here on my blog, and here is a post about one of them.

My friend writes, "I've thought about it, and I find myself always telling people to cherish their children, cherish the special moments in life, cherish the little things that we may not realize are important at the time, and I also remind myself to do the same with my family, SO, I'd like my wire word to be: Cherish"

She chose a spot for her word that means a lot to her:  "the bench was from a friend who I don't get to see much, but I cherish our talks together on the phone and have great memories of times we've spent together. And the vase is from our cruise vacation, where I bought it in Puerto Rico, a vacation which every second of was cherished...and a reminder that right after that vacation, we started our family...the connections keep going on from there!"  Each day as she descends her stairs, she catches a glimpse of this spot, to remind her.

This helps me, too, as the days go by so fast sometimes, to remember to CHERISH the moments that fill them.


Sharing with:

The Stitches Speak

I wrote a series here on my blog about the ten short films my sister and I viewed at this year's Black Maria Film Festival.  Many more films where chosen to be featured in the festival during the various showings around the world, and they were described in the program.  One that stuck out to me as a film I would like to see was The Stitches Speak, by Nina Sabnani.

(From the website linked to above):
"Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak) is an animated documentary that traces the journey of four Kutch artisans towards finding themselves and forming the Kala Raksha Trust (a trust formed to preserve traditional art and to generate income for the rural artisans of Sumrasar Sheikh, a village 25 km north of Bhuj). The most amazing part of the film is that it uses the art of appliqué and embroideries as means of expression to narrate the story. Can you imagine that… now that is being creative to the stitch!"


I've written about the infinitesimal, about how the tiny speaks grandeur to me.  I love how valuable the stitches become, especially over time.  I love how each stitch tells a story, carries a culture.

I want to learn how to tell my stories.  I want to learn how to write my story into the stitches of my words, the stitches of my life, the stitches of my art.  I'm getting there.  Perhaps this is why I am so enamored with the stitches and the infinitesimal; perhaps this is why they speak to me. 

In the early fall, I'm taking a Thread Painting Workshop with artist Missy Stevens.  Thanks to Peters Valley I received a scholarship to help cover half of the cost of this. 

"The workshop will introduce participants to the technique of punchneedle embroidery using needles which hold one or two strands of sewing thread and create a delicate, dense and rich loop pile surface. Missy encourages a painterly approach that allows a conversation between the maker and the thread painting as it evolves. You will be instructed in the basics of using a small punchneedle: threading the needle, correct use of the hoop, stitching and materials and will be guided through visualization exercises."

I will go there expectantly.  I will go there listening with open ears and open mind.  I will hear the conversation between the maker and the thread painting.  I will receive messages about my life, and about how the holes that have been poked through have allowed for light, illuminating darkness like the stars at night.

Cafe Hearts

Hearts are special.

 People remember to make others smile

by painting hearts on cafe windows,

and by taking the time to make hearts extra-special

with decorations that take infinitesimal care

to create delicious beauty.

For more hearts from around the world,

visit Clytie's Random Hearts.

Louise Nevelson - Journal Pages

These are pages that appear in my Freedom Journal.

Next to the page with the Freedom Heart and freedom messages, is the page on the right with a picture of a Louise Nevelson sculpture, words cut out from a magazine article about Nevelson's work, and thoughts behind it, and the words to Job 28:5-6.

"They promised that the streets of America

would be paved in gold."

 

The next two pages:

on the left is a picture of an Untitled sculpture

that we saw at the Locks Gallery,

and a list of possible locations for me to see more of Nevelson's work in person.

On the right are found quotes of Louise Nevelson's,

that speak freedom to me.

"Leave your brain outside, sweetie," Nevelson would tell her art students, "so when you see something, you see it totally."

"I take my mind out and put it on the table.  I take silver polish or whatever and rags and sponges and clean it up and clear it up and keep it shiny."

 

"The shadow is as important as the object."

"The wonder of collecting is that you are constantly in trainint to look for that added element that you identify with."

"I have made my world and it is a much better world than I ever saw outside."

"An artist has to live like an artist, and then you are an artist."

Dream Silhouettes

A poem by  my Dad.  

Happy Father's Day.

Love you. 

Dream Silhouettes

when dreams come into play
and dance round the shadows
of yesterday’s nitemares,
all those old fears
now laying buried in the rubble
about out of luck and
already into next weeks trouble
dance ever merrily
sweet dreams of tomorrow
what morals uncovered
from ash ‘neath the rubble

what fires re-kindled

when once thought

dreams dwindled

they’ve re-ignited

and fleshed out the form

opposed to the norm

the crescent moon smiling

and fueled by the serpents

of tides ever wilding

and once

just a thought

i thought long forgotten

spoiled and mildewed

decayed and gone rotten

a lost thought

distraught

now bought a new ticket

not merely an idle idea

gone wicked

oh no,

bare assumptions

now dare to come forward

the movements improvements

now justly rewarded

 

staggered,

as dreams dance silhouettes

the cargo’s been lost

as well as the debt

no payment on pavement

no concrete nor stone

instead just a dream,

full grown and well flown

more banner headlines

more chaos and riots

more slogans on flags

if the banner fits

fly it

soar,

aviate,

go high, then go higher

the truth will now torture

the tongue of the liar

and dream now the dance

enhanced and enthralling

the embers ablaze

to the universe calling

what parts must be played

become ever clear

there was not an instance

when no one was near

the mirror imagines

the image you see

but the dream

gives it credence,

far-flung-fantasy

and back to the dream

to the stage

to the play

a dream with in grasp

gone its own way

it was no more

than a moment in time

a richness so subtle,

oblique and sublime

a moment in time

so close,

within reach

gone as a cloud

like a figure of speech

gone as the night time

blends into dawn

when the thinking man

saps the strength out of brawn

now all that remains

is a puddle of dreams

however bemuddled

however it seems

transfixed now,

translucent

but the stage lights

now dim

be ever thankful

you know how to swim.

-RAK-

Heart in Wilderness

In this land of hidden waterfall wilderness, we walk

enjoying the sights and sounds of this scenery

knowing to keep our eyes open,

to expect the unexpected

discovering a heart carved into the landscape

of mountain waterfall wildnerness,

speaking to us from beyond.

For more hearts found in the world,

visit Clytie's Random Hearts for

my favorite Thursday activity:

hopping around to other blogs

featuring HEARTS. 

You'll be sure to smile, LOTS.

Freedom Quotes

"What you call freedom is still nothing
but choosing how to steer straight into the heart
of what chooses you. "

Kate Gleason

"...because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear)."

Ephesians 3:12, Amplified (AMP) 

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."
2 Corinthians 3:17, (AMP)

 "Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did,
God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!

They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives..."

2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message (MSG)

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 ~ Emma Lazarus

"Reminding one another of the dream

that each of us aspires to

may be enough for us

to set each other free."

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery,

author of The Little Prince

Hiding a Letterbox

Previously, I posted about letterboxing and how to get started. 
This post is about a letterbox that we hid.

Stamps can be expensive, but we found this whole package of stamps at a local craft store and used a 1/2 price coupon to purchase it.  The price came out to be $5.

We made our own booklets using cardboard for the front and back covers and blank paper for the pages.  The kids stamped some designs onto the covers, and chose pictures for collage.

"In wilderness I sense the miracle of life and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia." 

~Charles A. Lindbergh

The tupperware container is the box we use to put everything in, and the felt and stapler are for creating a little pouch to put the box's stamp in.

We secured the cardboard cover and blank pages together with string.  We put the booklet, the stamp (in its pouch), and a printed page about letterboxing into the container.  We also wrote "congratulations, you found a letterbox!" on an index card and secured this to the inside of the lid.  Then we put the letterbox into a large ziploc bag.

We selected a location to hide our letterbox and went for a walk there with friends.  The perfect rock to hide it under was discovered, and the letterbox was placed.

Some large rocks were placed in front of it to camoflauge the box even better.

This is the perfect rock for a letterbox!

The notes I scribbled down while we were walking included clues that my kids pointed out along the way, and guiding points for those who'd seek to find the box we hid.

We've also created a couple "HitchHiker"/"Traveler" stamps.  So far we've hid one in a letterbox we found locally.  Hitchhiker stamps are picked up by whoever finds them next, and travel from box to box by those who discover them.  It is fun to track their travels on the website, which is updated with their new location by those who find and replace them elsewhere.

Another letterbox we created but have not yet placed has this quote on the cover:

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." 

~Rachel Carson

Here is another site that is all about letterboxing, and is set up in a fun, visual way: AtlasQuest.

We hope we've inspired you to enjoy the adventures of letterboxing!