love story

detail from silk pouch, 2009
a love story
yesterday
today and tomorrow

mother moon

detail from silk pouch, 2009
mother moon guided
in all her fullness
she welcomed us home

liquid light

detail from silk pouch, 2009
light
liquid light
throughout this journey and beyond

she challenged me

detail from another silk pouch, 2009
she challenged me
and I am stronger

she challenged me
and I am wiser

she challenged me
and I am grateful

simple pleasures

detail from one of my crazy silk pouches, Kwan Yin

value simple pleasures

savor what is naturally good

REUSE and RENEW

cook with humor, eat with meaning

give thanks for farmers and support bountiful oceans

give and give back

share home-cooked favorites

do good and be well

- Whole Foods Market recycled brown paper bag

This Holiday season...let us focus on SIMPLE PLEASURES....

his kiss

ageless souls soar, 2007 greeting card
he kissed me (my first kiss)
15 years ago
today

he married me
7 years ago
today

his kiss still makes me blush...

setting a price

2009 mixed media on wood
how do I set a price on my soul's work?

by size or weight?
by time spent designing, sewing, hammering, painting?
by provenance or preference?

how do I set a price on something I consider priceless?

circling love

2009 photograph
Walk to the well.
Turn as the earth and the moon turn,
circling what they love.
Whatever circles comes from the center.
-RUMI

...are you circling what you love?

dance in joy

another photo taken by baby, un-retouched 2009
dance away
denial

dance away
decay

dance away
grief

dance in
truth

dance in
renewal

dance in
joy

there is an ocean between them
both are drowning and can only save each other

one is dying
another is birthing

be here now
refreshed and ready to sing

today, dance in joy


remembering my Uca who always danced in joy,
happy birthday beloved Grand Mother

thanksgiving recipe

detail from a silk pouch, 2009
5 pounds of gratitude
2 cups of forgiveness
4 cups of laughter
spice with a tablespoon of mischief & a pinch of mystery
add wonder to taste
mix well and serve with dance, joy and light

happy thanksgiving

wake up to life

another un-retouched photograph taken by my one-year-old baby boy
sense energies
perceive fields of light
wake up to life
love in the moment

initiation

me, laughing through life
initiation
towards
sacred joy

living in the moment
forgiving all fools
laughing through life

stop complaining
start appreciating
now

message received during morning meditation

genius of light

2009 photograph from a series taken by my one-year-old
I stretch and I breathe
I forgive and I forget
he hands me a card that reads:

QUALITY rather than appearance...
ETHICS rather than rules....
INTEGRITY rather than domination...
KNOWLEDGE rather than achievement...
SERENITY rather than acquisitions.
- Dr. Wayne Dyer

the genius of the innocent
the genius of the pure of heart
the genius of light

happy birthday

my beautiful mother & my beautiful baby
a mother's birthday
is a special day, indeed
happy birthday mammi

lineas azules

my blue lips
I dreamed with blue oceans and lions
I heard his voice calling to me
I wrote to him in blue spanish

lineas azules
besos celestes
abrazos morados risas rosadas
y luz infinita

excerpt from a letter written this morning

almost believed

piece recently donated for a raffle benefitting Dress for Success
what does it mean? she wondered aloud.

what does what mean? he asked with curiosity.

life...she responded.

there are many interpretations of reality, but one universal truth, he answered with utmost security.

she almost believed him.

closed eyes, opened soul

2009 self-portrait from a series
Paul Gauguin said he closed his eyes in order to see.
I close my eyes to go deep inside where I gain wisdom and strength.
I close my eyes and quiet my mind.
I close my eyes and breathe.
I close my eyes to open my soul.

timelessness

one of my altars
With the recent and most unexpected passing of a friend, I have been questioning time....and Kahlil Gibran answers me:

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, through boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

And time even as love is, undivided and spaceless?

But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

- Kahlil Gibran

one night, all night

2009 self-portrait from a series
he slept with the ebony queen

she dreamed with the ancient pharaoh of peace

the young prince prayed all night

goldfish, yoga & buddha

one of my beloved Buddhas
Last night, I dreamed I attended a yoga retreat.
The instructor was Buddha.
I remember lovely goldfish swimming next to me.