lovers in each other all along

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They are in each other all along.” – RUMI

he kissed me (my first kiss)
19 years ago
today

he married me
11 years ago
today

his kiss still makes me blush...

a whispery sensation

- do you trust your gut?  I do... -

"Learning to trust your instincts, using your intuitive sense of what's best for you, is paramount for any lasting success. I've trusted the still, small voice of intuition my entire life. And the only time I've made mistakes is when I didn't listen. 

It's really more of a feeling than a voice—a whispery sensation that pulsates just beneath the surface of your being. All animals have it. We're the only creatures that deny and ignore it. 

How many times have you gone against your gut, only to find yourself at odds with the natural flow of things? We all get caught up in the business of doing, and sometimes lose our place in the flow. But the more we can tune in to our intuition, the better off we are. I believe it's how God speaks to us. 

For all the major moves in my life—to Baltimore, to Chicago, to own my show, and to end it—I've trusted my instincts. I take in all the information I can gather. I listen to proposals, ideas, and advice. Then I go with my gut, what my heart feels most strongly. 

And I often tell friends: When you don't know what to do, do nothing. Get quiet so you can hear the still, small voice—your inner GPS guiding you to true North. " - OPRAH

thanksgiving recipe

- my son in the wonderful woods -

5 pounds of gratitude

2 cups of forgiveness

4 cups of laughter

spice with a tablespoon of mischief and a pinch of mystery

add wonder to taste

mix well and serve with dance, joy and light


wishing each of you a blessed holiday


originally posted a couple of years ago

matriarchal muse

- my beloved grandmother -

Madre Mía

Santa María

Luz de Cada Día

Santa Mujer

Madre María

Musa Matriarcal
hoy te sueño
hoy te siento
a mi lado, siempre amando...

celebrating the birth of my Matriarchal Muse

let go and move on

- "Don't Miss Out on the World" - 2013 limited edition mixed media on paper -

"Your past is over!

By bonding to your past, you not only ensure that you'll be immobilized today, but you prevent yourself from healing...

In a universe that's an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents.  As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.  Every spiritual advance that you will make in your life will very likely be preceded by some kind of fall or seeming disaster.  Those dark times, accidents, illnesses, abuses, and broken dreams were ALL IN ORDER...

Practice living in the moment, and REFUSE to allow any thoughts based on your past to define you.  Stop and take notice of all that's in your immediate space - the people, creatures, vegetation, cloud formations, building designs, everything.  Stay in the present by meditating and getting closer to the ultimate now...God.

Your past history and all of your hurts are no longer here in your physical reality.  Don't allow them to be here in your mind, muddying your present moments.  Your life is like a play with several acts.  Some of the characters who enter have short roles to play, others, much larger.  Some are villains and others are good guys.  But all of them are NECESSARY, otherwise they wouldn't be in the play.  Embrace them all, and move on to the next act."
- Dr. Wayne Dyer

from a chapter in a lovely little book that found me this morning after yoga and meditation

Frida as oracle

- signature CASIMIRA mixed media card -

"What secret are you looking for?

Life will soon reveal it to you."

- Frida Kahlo

domingo de poesía desnuda

- mixed media from journals -

" Te doy mi alma desnuda,
como estatua a la cual ningún cendal escuda.

Desnuda con el puro impudor
de un fruto, de una estrella o una flor;
de todas esas cosas que tienen la infinita
serenidad de Eva antes de ser maldita.

De todas esas cosas,
frutos, astros y rosas,
que no sienten vergüenza del sexo sin celajes
y a quienes nadie osara fabricarles ropajes.

Sin velos, como el cuerpo de una diosa serena
¡que tuviera una intensa blancura de azucena!

Desnuda, y toda abierta de par en par
¡por el ansia del amar! "

- Juana de Ibarbourou (1892 – 1929)

feeling blessed, feeling grateful

my son constantly reminds me to play...

to be in the moment...

to taste the sacredness...

to witness the wonder...

to share the laughter...

photographs: circa 2009, Nicaragua

remembering the Kennedy Family

- 2013 mixed media on paper -

"Now, I think that I should have known that he was magic all along. I did know it - but I should have guessed that it would be too much to ask to grow old with and see our children grow up together. So now, he is a legend when he would have preferred to be a man."
- Jacqueline Kennedy


50 years ago today, she became a widow...

A widow at age 34, with two small children...ages 5 and almost 3...

This young mother was still recovering from the loss of her infant son only weeks earlier...

Grieving with dignity and courage in front of the entire world...

el camino del chaman

- mixed media from my journals -

I was in a strangely wonderful land where giant boulders erupted from blue oceans. He appeared wearing a red mantel over his shoulders and carrying an ancient walking stick. The Shaman smiled and asked me to show him the way...to show him "el camino"....

excerpt from a dream, circa 2010

enamorada de arboles

- circa 2010, from a series of tree photographs -

"I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree."

-Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886 - 1918)

live it - feel it - cling to it

- 2007 mixed media detail from my journals -

"Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. 

Live it, feel it, cling to it. 

I want to become acutely aware of all I've taken for granted."

- Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

remembering Doris Lessing

- 2013 mixed media on canvas -

"When I look back I seem to remember singing.
Yet it was always silent in that long warm room.

Impenetrable, those walls, we thought,
Dark with ancient shields.  The light
Shone on the head of a girl or young limbs
Spread carelessly. And the low voices
Rose in the silence and were lost as in water.

Yet, for all it was quiet and warm as a hand,
If one of us drew the curtains
A threaded rain blew carelessly outside.
Sometimes a wind crept, swaying the flames,
And set shadows crouching on the walls,
Or a wolf howled in the wide night outside,
And feeling our flesh chilled we drew together.

But for a while the dance went on -
That is how it seems to me now:
Slow forms moving calm through
Pools of light like gold net on the floor.
It might have gone on, dream-like, for ever.

But between one year and the next – a new wind blew ?
The rain rotted the walls at last ?
Wolves’ snouts came thrusting at the fallen beams ?

It is so long ago.
But sometimes I remember the curtained room
And hear the far-off youthful voices singing." 

- Doris Lessing (1919-2013)

luna llena

another full moon tonight,

the year is quickly coming to a close

...mid-November already...

magnanimity

- 2011 mixed media on paper -

"It may be difficult when someone you are especially fond of, someone beautiful and charming, has been guilty of an indiscretion, but magnanimity produces wonders."
- Lady Murasaki Shikibu (approximately 973 – 1025)

sips of passion

- from my 2007 journals -

"True passion is intoxicating and invigorating, soothing and sensuous, mysterious and magical...a magical blend of hibiscus, lemongrass, rose hips, mango and passion fruit flavors....steep for 5 minutes while contemplating your favorite external mysteries..." from the box of my favorite TAZO herbal infusion, PASSION

originally posted a few years ago, I believe they may have unfortunately changed their packaging since then

stay open to moments of growth

"Moments of guilt, moments of contrition, moments where we are lacking in self-esteem, moments when we are bearing the trial of being displeasing to ourselves, are essential to our growth."

- M. Scott Peck (1936-2005)

do you think you are perfect?

are you always right?

stay open...

butterflies for the goddess

El enano era un galán.

Entró al Salón de Escudos como un sultán.

Dos tigres, una avestruz y seis jabalíes lo escoltaron a los aposentos de la Diosa Blanca.

El enano le traía las mejores Mariposas Maravillas para adornar sus cabellos de plata.


an excerpt from a short story written in 2007

kissing smiling thrills

- 2013 mixed media in a private collection -

“The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.” - Marilyn Monroe

the real lover...

lover of life...

questions

- 2012 mixed media  -

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."
- Mark Twain

Who are you?
Why were you born?
What is your divine destiny?

According to Deepak Chopra, we are our deepest desire.  I began another 21-day meditation series this morning, in addition to my personal, daily mindfulness practices.  When we take a few minutes to center ourselves, we find balance and answers...

keep digging, keep knocking

- 2011 mixed media on paper -

"...So be a ruby at dawn and hold to your practice.  Keep up the work, digging your well until you strike water.  Hang a ruby in your ear and it will be the sun.  Keep knocking at the door and joy will look out the window to let you in." - RUMI

mermaid goddess

- 2007 mixed media from journals -

I dreamed with my ocean once more.

I can still taste the salt waters, feel the warmth of the sun.  

I dressed in shredded, transparent layers...veils of sensuous shipwrecked silks.  

Was I once a mermaid? 

Was I once a goddess of the sea?  

Don't these archetypes still exist in me?

from my dreams last night

un amor

- 2013 mixed media from a series -

"Yo tuve un amor atlantico
y me converti en sirena
y en mi carne morena
sentí el calor
silbando fuerte a mi alrededor
y tuve un amor lunatico
y me converti en planeta
y estuvimos dando vueltas
en un baile silencioso
las estrellas calladas
como nosotros
y ahora tengo un amor
que es un calor
que navega su aire en el viento
que conoce mis buenos momentos, mis males
y el sabor de mis puntos cardinales
yo tuve un amor antártico
y la nieve me esperaba
noche y dia fría, helada
pero a mi no me importaba
porque el hielo conservaba nuestro ardor
y ahora tengo un amor
que es un calor
que navega su aire en el viento
que conoce mis buenos momentos, mis males
y el sabor de mis puntos cardinales..." - Ana Torroja

you'll never know

- mixed media, 2011 -

"The very thought of you
I forget to do
Those little ordinary things
That everyone ought to do
I'm livin' in a kind of a daydream
I'm happy as a queen
And foolish though it may seem
To me that's everything
The mere idea of you
The longing here for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you,
The very thought of you, my love..."

- as sung by Billie Holiday

secrets

- mixed media on paper -

"Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret."
- Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

How many secrets do you keep?

What secrets have you betrayed?

How many secrets have you burdened others with?

strange wonderful dreams

- mixed media -

She dreamed with him again. Why? Who was this stranger invading her dreams? He seemed familiar, but from another time, perhaps another world.

a story in progress

piensa en mi

- she wears feathers she finds -
- she dreams in watercolor blues -
- 2013 mixed media from my journals -

si tienes un hondo penar
piensa en mí,
si tienes ganas de llorar
 piensa en mí,
ya ves que venero
tu imagen divina, 

tu párvula boca,
que siendo tan niña,
me enseñó a pecar.
piensa en mí
cuando beses,
cuando llores,
también piensa en mí.
cuando quieras
quitarme la vida,
no la quiero para nada,
para nada me sirve sin ti.

- Agustin Lara (1900 - 1970)

amantes

- 2013 mixed media on paper -

good morning lovers...

lovers of life

lovers of the dance

lovers of lovers...

did you see the sunrise with me?

dance in

- 2013 mixed media on canvas -

let us DANCE in COLOR today -

let us DANCE in LIGHT -

let us DANCE the DANCE of LIFE -

from my journals

día de los muertos día de todos los santos

- Frida Kahlo mixed media on wood, circa 2009 -

los espíritus me andan siguiendo -

he soñado con muertos -

con lunas llenas -

con playas plenas -

con diamantes y esmeraldas -



hoy -

día de los muertos -

celebro mi vida -

y la tuya también -


hoy -

día de todos los santos -

me visto de luna -

canto diamantes -

bailo esmeraldas -

muertos o vivos - todos somos los mismos

from my journals, originally posted years ago

"What secret are you looking for?

Life will soon reveal it to you."

- Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)