recuerda mi corazon

the colour of jOy

what brought me joy today?

 knowing there are kindred spirits in our world

that may never meet

yet love strong enough to warm each others hearts from afar.

thank you jeanine for sending me these promises of spring 

and for feathering the nest of friendship

with your caring heart.

 

there is more JOY waiting for you at

 beautiful

meri's

 

 

tutorial for friendship and cinnamon prayerbeads

 

i wake at four

to the scent of cinnamon.

it is too dark to know more than this all tied up

in the dream of a friend.

someone i have not seen much in this past hurried year.

cinnamon and a promise to emerge from these long winter nights and seek the

side of those who visit me in my dreams.

i lay here in the stone quiet 

a solitary moon lays a faint milky entrance through the quiet windows.

only jackson stirs to purr as he burrows into the curve of my heart.

dreams fade and i must chase them over the 

warmth of my husband's side.

i have to rise and talk to the lightening stars,

throw the covers back and chart a course for the chance of living.

every day a new year just beginning.

one thousand strands of yesterday hang in the balance.

which beads will we lay on our hearts,

whisper their stories and awaken our souls with?

which passion, feast or famine

will we follow into the crashing light?

what heroic poetry will we write on the waiting air?

cinnamon prayer beads

call someone you love and invite her to your kitchen

fill the air with the fragrance of friendship

1 cup powered cinnamon
1 tbsp. allspice
2 tbsp. cloves
1 tbsp. nutmeg
1 c. applesauce

1 tbsp. elmers glue

***

combine the first four ingredients and blend well.

stir in applesauce and mix again.

add more cinnamon until your mixture is easy to handle.

place some powered cinnamon on the palms of your hands and gather the dough into a ball.

as children this is when we would roll out the fragrant dough to shape with old tin cookie cutters.

 this year the dough lingered in my hands warming and stirring my thoughts.

i pinched a small bit off and began rolling a small ginger coloured ball between my open palms.

suddenly it was as round and reminiscent as the old silver mexican beads i have

worn everyday for as long as i remember.

and that's when it happened, the old became new. the cookie cutters sat in a beautiful heap

while i formed ginger coloured beads in the bright morning kitchen.

filled with the simple beauty of making a scented rosary wishing only

that it was not too early to call a friend.

***

forming the rosary beads

sit with a friend and let the stories fill the welcoming air.

roll small amounts into the size beads you desire.

pierce their centers with a 

wooden skewer and turn the skewer round to be sure the opening is well formed.

set your beads down on a flat even surface, perhaps a cookie sheet with edges to contain them,

to dry. reinsert the skewer mid day and again before bed,

(as they dry they tend to heal a bit and the opening must be well established)

it will take a few days for your beads to dry enough for stringing.

make a strand long enough to wear...

hang them close to your bed to pepper your dreams, tuck them in a drawer to scent your stockings,

or upon the bright shoulders of a watchful angel.

share them with your friend.

they are infused with stories shared, the forming of your hands and the 

memories only cinnamon, friendship, and a prayer 

can hold forever.

 

quiet time in the land of lost and found

shrine for the heart of mary

***

tin, glass, paint, flotsam & jetsam

quiet time in the land of

lost and found 

 

the service of light

they lay silent in a brown box,

stacked like cord wood rusted and idle.

all those fragments of what once was...

not even dreaming of what could be.

simply waiting.

 

 

one by one

they shared their stories...

an old candle holder conjured long nights on a silent window sill;

soft licking flames hungry for the reflection of light.

 

 an old rectangular box empty now, remembered hands

that pulled floating white sheets,

to hover like clouds across wet eyes,

always rising up towards open mouths and sounds

of crying,

pondered the colour of caring.

 

 

crystals from an old chandelier.....

lost in the undertow of darkness.

too few now to hang like exotic fruit in giant

clusters dancing in rainbows,

craved only a return to the light.

 

once heard, once truly seen

they gave themselves over to hammers and humming.

they let it all go...beneath the torch,

aching memories, all the longing

set free.

 

the box, the candle holder, the once lost glass marble,

stray crystals, old lamp parts....

gave way to the alchemy of rebirth.

when the humming stopped;

 they were one crowning glory.

***

 

today may you be truly heard, seen, and fully realized.

in being seen and heard may

you find yourself whole, renewed and returned 

 to the service of light.

 

 

heartfelt thanks to my generous neighbor,

photographer extraordinaire

rick underwood

you may visit his beauty forever and a day at

celebrate life

 

dear photograph

Dear Photograph,

I’ll never let go.

Dad

xoxoxoxoxo

 

meet Dear Photograph,

and prepare to hold on to your heart.

i chose this one, because he never did, let go.

i love you dad

xoxoxoxox

love...

 

 

i love dresses.

dresses that lift in blue breezes like

falling white petals.

 or hands that hold promise

warm so warm.

and parents who easily lift their smiling children into the wave of life.

up, up, up....

all their hands folded

like a prayer.

i love whispers from nieces.

voices familiar and welcome as summer.

and days when the sand begs for footprints,

no reason, just walking into the light of day.

i love the clear edge of water that

licks them,

forgiving

surrendering 

to the perfect memory of sky.

i love

spooning my husband, dreams of flying, the tangle of candles

when our growing son blows fiercely; wishes into their flames.

soft dreamy tendrils

curling like curtains

that wave from Springs windows...

open

finally

open

after all that quietening snow.

i love

autumn, so brazen.

so reckless and crimson and how the now towering son

lifts me like a sail, like a kite, wing and hope.

like a white dress,

a prayer.

a

promise

whispered,

hands folded

in

love.

 

********

 the first frost lays like crystal

on all the roof tops...

perfect day to collect the warmth of friendship,

the flames of love.

tell me....

speak to me.....

about all that you love....

getting your shrine on

 

    recuerda-mi-corazon

on line shrine auction

april 17-april 25

6pm PST

( having your shrine, and wearing it too!)