ringing in the new

we've been traveling a lot lately. first it was illinois for thanksgiving, then virginia after christmas, to see our son and his family and meet our newest granddaughter, molly. on these trips i find myself looking at the land a lot, especially the trees, trying to imagine what has happened there over the centuries...wondering what it would have been like to live there then..and now. "can i see myself living here," i wonder?

some of the places we travel through feel familiar to me, even though i've never actually been there before. parts of virginia, especially, felt that way. we spent about 11 glorious miles in georgia and i breathed in as deeply as i could, the air of my home state.

with all the traveling, i've had plenty of time to think about things...been entertaining some new ideas...dispensing with some old ones that don't work for me any more...retrieving and dusting off others.

in some ways, i feel like an old oak with new growth. it feels good to be adding new rings.

joy to the world

there's something
deliciously
contagious
about joy
it spreads
so easily
so wonderfully
once it
takes hold
in your heart

winter solstice song

winter sun, you and i

were at our lowest point

both of us battling the darkness

when something shifted

the axis tilted

and we were reborn

a pillow fight in heaven

last week it snowed in mississippi. as you might imagine, that's a pretty rare occurrence, and when it happens, traffic gets scarce, schools let out, businesses close. the world starts moving in slow motion and we all become children. you would have thought it was manna falling the way folks acted...tilting their heads back and sticking out their tongues in hopes of catching a dainty morsel; others scooping up handfulls in ziploc bags to pop into the freezer - an icy souvenir of "the great snowfall of '08." i watched in awe as the big, puffy flakes swirled and danced their way out of the sky. it was as if a million angels were having a pillow fight in heaven...and for a brief, magical time, we experienced life from inside the snow globe.

strength...with thanks to barb

a friend at the mandala oasis shared some wise words with me from healing runes. i have personalized this portion in particular because it spoke to me so deeply:

the cycle of sorrow
and pain
has come to an end
i am at peace
in my healing
i have walked
the path
of true courage
now
it is time
to go out into
the world

and
live the life
i was born to live

awakening

the future sleeps
in the dreams
of the awakened
in whom
the past is safe
to remember
and the present
is alive

advent

this mandala was drawn while listening to ten days in a mad-house, a true story written by investigative reporter nellie bly (1864-1922) about her undercover experience in the deplorable conditions of the women's lunatic asylum on blackwell's island. her expose' led to major reform.

i showed the mandala to a friend of mine, an episcopal priest and mary devotee, who saw in it the colors associated with the virgin and also of advent. i knew immediately advent was to be its name.

most of the time, my mandalas tell me their names...but sometimes i learn their names from the lips of others. in that instant, i also realized that nellie and mary had something in common - a willingness to put themselves at risk, in order to bring help to others.

a native of savannah

over thanksgiving we traveled north to visit my husband's side of the family. it was a memorable and satisfying trip that i will be "processing" for weeks and months, i'm sure.

as we drove through miles and miles of flat illinois farmland, i began to wonder how this landscape has helped to shape the inner landscape of the people who call this part of the country, "home."

i realized that my inner landscape has been shaped by...defined by...one that is vastly different, for i grew up in the coastal city of savannah, georgia. that is the place i call "home."

i realized that i crave the ocean as much as i crave my next breath...i have to be within reach of her.

"a native of savannah, georgia..." is how my artist's bio begins. although i have lived in mississippi for over 20 years now, a "native of savannah" is at the core of my being.

my beloved husband grew from rich, dark, fertile soil...while i sprang from the ocean. we make a good pair.