don't assume I have time

"I may not work outside the home, but I sure as heck work in it.

Be it homeschooling, housework, raising my kids, or working from home, I have stuff to do. I don’t sit around all day, eating cheesecake and napping.

Don’t assume that just because someone doesn’t leave the house for work, they’re just waiting for someone else to come along and give them something to do with their time."

- Melissa Charles

the way he fell in love with her

"...Rumor has it that he was so taken with her beautiful eyes that he went out and bought over a hundred pairs of sunglasses for her to wear to cover her eyes whenever she left her house so no one would fall in love the way he did..."

- S. Daniels 

I want you to levitate

"It's not what you say...it's what you don't say...

There's not an ounce of excitement. 

Not a whisper of a thrill.

This relationship has all the passion of a pair of tit mice.

I want you to get swept away out there. 

I want you to levitate. 

I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a Dervish...

Yeah. Be deliriously happy or at least leave yourself open to be...

I know it's a cornball thing, but love is passion. 

Obsession. 

Someone you can't live without.

I say fall head over heels. 

Find someone you can love like crazy, and who'll love you the same way back. 

How do you you find them?

Well, you forget your head and you listen to your heart. 

I'm not hearing any heart. 

Because the truth is, honey, there's no sense living your life without this.

To make the journey and not fall deeply in love, well, you haven't lived a life at all. But you have to try, because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived."

- William Parrish (Meet Joe Black)

detail from a selfie after a morning workout 

Juan Gabriel

I grew up listening to many of his love songs, full of delicious drama and passion.

"Querida, cada momento de mi vida, yo pienso en ti más cada día. Mira mi soledad...no me sienta nada bien, ven ya.

Querida, no me ha sanado bien la herida.
Te extraño y lloro todavía. Mira mi soledad...

Querida, piensa en mi solo un momento y ven. Date cuenta de que el tiempo es cruel y lo he pasado yo sin ti...

Querida, hazlo por quien más quieras tú. Yo quiero ver de nuevo luz en toda mi casa...

Querida, ven a mi que estoy sufriendo, ven a mi que estoy muriendo en esta soledad...

Querida, dime cuando tú...

Dime cuando tú,

Dime cuando tú,

Dime cuando tú vas a volver..."

- Juan Gabriel

sliced bread

"I guess I was a mom so late in life, my daughter was the greatest thing since sliced bread."

- Candice Bergen

celebrating four wild and majestic months 

strength to evolve

"If we do not believe within ourselves this deeply rooted feeling that there is something higher than ourselves, we shall never find the strength to evolve into something higher.”

- Rudolf Steiner

selfie with baby from a new series

she pet the puma

I am writing a song for Drake...

inspired by an afternoon of art, laughter and wisdom with my children and my beautiful, talented niece...

"She pet the puma."

- my 8-year-old

the other woman

What strange dreams I've had lately...

I dreamed with a woman I have never met, the other woman. She was smiling and attempting to appear elegant and demure. I felt sad for her. She was the other woman. She would always be the other woman until he decided otherwise.

He was in control.

"Infidelity stems from low self-esteem. You want to cheat when you don't feel good about yourself."

- Preity Zinta

photograph credits: my latin lover

el sabor de mis puntos cardinales

"Yo tuve un amor atlántico
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

mixed media from a series 

has every saint lost her wildness?

“...in 1450 a beautiful Celtic mermaid named Asenora swam ashore on the coast of Cornwall where a Benedictine monastery had recently been established. After removing her fish tail and hiding it among the rocks, she explored the area on foot and discovered the community of men. She made many clandestine visits – -

....Suspicious that Asenora was no ordinary woman but a mermaid, and greatly alarmed by her presence, the abbot of the monastery hid himself by the water and waited. He witnessed Asenora swim ashore, remove her fish tail and hide it in a niche in the cliff.

When she wandered off in the direction of the abbey, the shrewd abbot retrieved the fish tail, bundling it into his robe. He tucked it inside a secret compartment hidden under the seat of his chair, in the church. Without her tail, the poor mermaid could never go back to the sea, and soon the wildness of it drained out of her. Asenora was converted, and eventually became Saint Senara...”

- Sue Monk Kidd

mixed media from a series 

naked out of the sea

"...mientras que tu sales del mar, desnuda, y regresas al mundo llena de sal y sol, reverberante estatua y espada de la arena." - Pablo Neruda

"...while you come naked out of the sea and return to the world full of salt and sun: reverberating statue, sword in the sand." - Pablo Neruda translated by Stephen Tapscott 

when will you remember what you intended?

on the beach with sunlight shining down on me
blessing me with warmth

"Sir, have you forgotten the promise you made in your mother's womb, to die before you die?

When will you remember what you intended?

Don't let your donkey wander loose! It will stray into your neighbor's saffron garden. Think of the damage it might do, and the punishment!

Who then will carry you naked to your own death?"

- Lalla (1320-1392)

the mythical lover

"My love for you has driven me insane. I wander aimlessly the ruins of my life, my old self a stranger to me. Because of your love, I have broken with my past. My longing for you keeps me in this moment. My passion gives me courage. I look for you in my innermost being. I used to read the myths of love. Now I have become the mythical lover." - RUMI

antique bronze Venus wears one of my pieces created for the mythical lover within each of us

la luna llena

"Both the yogi and the shaman do away with their past and with the ties that keep them bound to their karmic and family histories. They also learn to break free of time to taste infinity; and in doing so, reach an unconditioned, natural state where they recover their original Self."

- Alberto Villoldo

full moon blessings

karma sooner or later

"How people treat you is their karma; 

how you react is yours."

- Wayne Dyer

my mama don't like you

I woke up with a Justin Bieber song on my mind, and I am not really a fan of his music. I googled the lyrics:

"For all the times that you rain on my parade...

Maybe you should know that,

My mama don't like you and she likes everyone.

And I never like to admit that I was wrong.

And I've been so caught up in my job, didn't see what's going on, but now I know, I'm  better sleeping on my own...

And when you told me that you hated my friends, the only problem was with you and not them.

And every time you told me my opinion was wrong, and tried to make me forget where I came from...

...for all the times that you made me feel small...

My mama don't like you and she likes everyone..."

- Justin Bieber & Ed Sheeran

snake medicine

There were a lot of reptiles, some quite beautiful. The snakes revealed messages I have been receiving through dreams.

"You are about to go through some significant personal changes, so intense and dramatic that an old self will metaphorically die as a new self emerges.

You're going to feel a surge of energy that will sharpen your senses, alert your mental faculties, and open up new channels of awareness.

You're about to resolve a long-standing issue, one that has required a great deal of your attention, by seeing things in a new light.

It would be a good time for you to start doing either tantric or kundalini yoga.

You'll experience a dramatic and unexpected physical or emotional healing very soon, coming from an unexpected source.

...There's an area in your life where you're feeling suffocated, and it's up to you to break out of it.

You're going through a major transformative process, one that will result in the next evolution of who you are.

You're about to shed something that has outgrown its usefulness and purpose."

- Dr. Steven Farmer

the sage and saltwater

"I see simplicity in the complicated. 

I do great things while they are small.

I can get anywhere from here.

63rd Verse:

Practice nonaction.

Work without doing.

Taste the tasteless.

Magnify the small, increase the few.

Reward the bitterness with care.

See simplicity in the complicated.

Achieve greatness in little things.

Take on difficulties while the are still easy; do great things while they are still small.

The sage does not attempt anything very big, and thus achieves greatness.

If you agree too easily, you will be little trusted; because the sage always confronts difficulties, s(he) never experiences them."

- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Living Wisdom of the Tao

Original Photo Credits: Catalina Checa

I have enjoyed playing with these images of myself and the ocean...I am craving saltwater once again...

no longer afraid

"Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?"

- Caroline Myss

detail from dyed silk, circa 2003-2005

what my letters meant

"You never liked to get

The letters that I sent.

But now you've got the gist

Of what my letters meant.

You're reading them again,

The ones you didn't burn.

You press them to your lips,

My pages of concern.

I said there'd been a flood.

I said there's nothing left.

I hoped that you would come.

I gave you my address.

Your story was so long,

The plot was so intense,

It took you years to cross

The lines of self-defense.

The wounded forms appear:

the loss, the full extent;

and simple kindness here,

the solitude of strength.

You walk into my room.

You sit there at my desk,

Begin your letter to

The one who's coming next."

-Leonard Cohen

mixed media from a series

unselfishness

"The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children."

- Jessica Lange 

snoop dogg dream

I dreamed I was good friends with Snoop Dogg. He wore two braids, a purple suit, sunglasses and a CASIMIRA necklace.

We spoke about our fears and my ovaries. He showed me enormous paintings he had purchased at my latest exhibit...

Analyze that: Snoop Dogg, fears, my ovaries and enormous paintings...

images found online and saturated in blue hues

audacity and vanity

mixed media on paper

"What I like best about myself...is my audacity, my courage. The ways I have found to be true to myself without causing too much pain or damage. What I hate so much is my vanity, my need to shine, my need of applause and my sentimentality. I would like to be harder. I cannot make a joke, make fun of anyone, without feeling regrets."- Anaïs Nin (1903-1977)

I love the artist in me who dares with such security...

I love the author in me, birthing new worlds out of dreams and hopes...

I don't use the word "hate" - but I do dislike my need to please others...my need to be loved by all...although the older I get, the less I seem to care...

to live my truth

"Keeper of tomorrow's dreams,
Mother of the star-filled night,
Show me how to live my truth
And bring my dreams to light.

Teach me how to use my will,
Living the truth I find within,
Discovering all the parts of me
Where light and shadow blend.

Let me sing the song of future
With concern for what will be,
Upholding all of nature's laws
For creatures, stones, and trees.

Mother, I see you in the sunset
And I hear you in the rain.
You teach me inner knowing
Through your heart's sweet refrain."

Poem © Jamie Sams

the love of thousands

My beloved grandmother, I see you in my newborn daughter's eyes. I sense you in my son's sweet soul...

"Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."

- Linda Hogan

laugh at the sky

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
- Buddha

con tu nombre

- my eye -

- my beach -

Si me quitaran totalmente todo
si, por ejemplo, me quitaran el saludo
de los pájaros, o los buenos días
del sol sobre la tierra,
me quedaría
aún una palabra.
Aún me quedaría una palabra
donde apoyar la voz.
Si me quitaran las palabras,
o la lengua,
hablaría con el corazón
en la mano,
o con las manos en el corazón.
Si me quitaran una pierna-
bailaría en un pie.
Si me quitaran un ojo
lloraría en un ojo.
Si me quitaran un brazo
me quedaría el otro,
para saludar a mis hermanos,
para sembrar los surcos de la tierra,
para escribir todas las playas del mundo, con tu nombre, amor mío.

- Alejandro Romualdo (1926-2008)

if it's love

"All or nothing at all.

Half a love never appealed to me.

If your heart never could yield to me,
Then I'd rather have nothing at all.

All or nothing at all,
If it's love there is no in between.

Why begin, then cry
For something that might have been?

No, I rather have nothing at all.

But please, don't bring your lips so close to my cheek.

Don't smile or I'll be lost beyond recall the kiss in your eyes.

The touch of your hand makes me weak.

And my heart may grow dizzy and fall.

And if I fell under the spell of your call,
I would be caught in the undertow.

So you see, I've got to say no, no
All or nothing at all..."

-Billie Holiday 

mixed media on paper

one day

"I threw my heart to the winds

and followed you.

One day the wind brought me your scent,

my heart swelled in gratitude

and scattered in the wind."

- RUMI

it isn't lust

While doing some research for a series of mixed media, I stumbled upon these inspiring words of wisdom:

"There is something very satisfactory about being in the middle of something."

"...sweetheart, it isn’t lust; it’s all the rest

of what I want with you that scares me..."

"You were the weather in my neighborhood. You were the epic in the episode. You were the year poised on the  equinox."

"There are lines of yours I know by heart. There are scents of yours soaked in my skin."

- Marilyn Hacker

truly great eight

celebrating eight years of blessedly wild and sacred motherhood...

series of silly selfies today