A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE

I found this beautiful poem on Griselda's blog (http://www.awesomepaintings.blogspot.com) this morning. I loved it so much I decided to reprint it here. After researching it a bit, I found that it has often been credited to Maya Angelou, but, in reality was written by Pamela Redmond Satran.

" A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE  enough money within her control to move out 
and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE 
a youth she’s content to leave behind….
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a past juicy enough that she’s looking forward to 
retelling it in her old age….
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE 
one friend who always makes her laugh… and one who lets her cry…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE 
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal, that will make her guests feel honored…
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE a feeling of control over her destiny.
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW 
how to fall in love without losing  herself.
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW 
how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without; ruining the friendship…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW when to try harder… and WHEN TO WALK AWAY…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW that she can’t change the length of her calves,
 the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW that her childhood may not have been perfect…but its over…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW what she would and wouldn’t do for love or more…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW 
how to live alone… even if she doesn’t like it…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW 
whom she can trust,
 whom she can’t 
and why she shouldn’t take it personally…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW where to go…
be it to her best friend’s kitchen table…
or a charming inn in the woods…
when her soul needs soothing…
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW 
what she can and can’t accomplish in a day…
a month…and a year…"

A VALENTINE BLESSING

Anam Cara* Valentine Blessing 

May the light of your soul guide you. 
May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth in your heart. 
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul. 
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work. 
May your work never weary you. 
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement. 
May you be present in what you do. 
May you never become lost in the bland absences. 
May the day never burden. 
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises. 
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled. 
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected. 
May your soul calm, console, and renew you. 

- John O'Donohue 

DREAMING OF SPRING

"Midwinter spring is its own season

Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,

Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.

Whem the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,

The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,

In windless cold that is the heart's heat,

Reflecting in a watery mirror

A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.

And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,

Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire

In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing

The soul's sap quivers. There is no earth smell

Or smell of living thing. This is the spring time

But not in time's covenant. Now the hedgerow

Is blanched for an hour with transitory blossom

Of snow, a bloom more sudden

Than that of summer, neither budding nor fading,

Not in the scheme of generation.

Where is the summer, the unimaginable

Zero summer?"

-T.S. Eliot

YEAR OF THE RABBIT

Tom and I spent the weekend in Las Vegas. Everywhere we went there were fabulously elaborate decorations of dragons and lanterns in celebration of the Chinese New Year (which falls on February 3rd this year) Oh, and rabbits! 2011 is the 'Year of the Rabbit'. I was so intrigued, when I got home last night I decided to do a little research to see what the Chinese New Year is all about.

It seems that the Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-year cycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

THE COLOR OF WINTER

I like to choose one or two colors to focus my work around each season. In winter's past, I have  decorated my home and centered my holiday creations on: icy blues, traditional reds and greens, one year just shades of reds. Several winter's ago I choose a deep, dark, vibrant purple. This winter, I decided to work with a lovely winter white, or, more aptly, 'Champagne White'-an antique-y white with just a hint of pink. It's the color of the faintest layer in the morning haze, puffy winter clouds full of moisture, glistening snowflakes as they fall to the ground. Champagne White is a creamy, soft, sumptuous color. It is soothing and comforting. Clean and fresh.

Now that the holidays are over, I am tempted to jump right into a new spring color, but, here in the midwest we have another couple months of winter left. Sigh. So, for a tidgy bit longer, I will continue to make some dolls decked out in champagne white. I will leave the ivory pillows on my couch. I will wear my beautiful vintage white wool coat.  I will revel in the shimmering, magical white-ness of the world around me.

DOLLS of SPIRIT EMPOWERING WOMEN of EARTH

Kristin and I are making something new: enchanted Gypsy/Spirit Art Dolls! Each is a one-of-a-kind, collectible, made from our stash of scavenged textile scraps, furs, jewels, charms, buttons, beads, feathers, twigs and stones. Kristin sculpts their faces from polymer clay, then paints them with acrylic paints.

Our affinity for the ancient Celts, Faeries, and Gypsies-all who practiced living in harmony with nature- inspired the creation of our fanciful new dolls. They are a glamorously eccentric mesh of colorful Gypsy, eco-Hippie, and mythical Faerie/Goddess.

I am giving our dolls a test run this weekend at the fabulous Holiday WEARABLE ART SHOW in Wisconsin Rapids. The show this year will be held on Friday (9am-6pm) and Saturday (9am-2pm) at The Golden Eagle Log Home Model, 4421 Plover Road (Hwy. 54 East), Wisconsin Rapids.  

TURKEY SERVED WITH A HEAP OF LOVE

I was young when I cooked my first turkey dinner-newly married and just a few months into my first teaching job. I had a class of seven severely mentally and physically handicapped, non-ambulatory, teenaged boys who had lived their entire lives at the residential treatment facility where I was working. I loved those boys. In a very short time, they had become more then my students. They had become my family.

I knew that they had never had a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner, so I decided I would cook my first turkey, complete with all the trimmings, for my boys.

I spent the entire day before Thanksgiving in the center’s kitchen cooking and baking. I had hauled in all my own pots, pans, utensils, foods, and spices with me that morning. Since I was on the clock and couldn’t leave, I had to carry on when I discovered I had forgotten several important ingredients (like eggs for the pumpkin pie, marshmallows for the baked yams, and sage for the stuffing). And, when I went to wash the turkey, I found the neck in its cavity and I had no idea what it was, and I did NOT want to touch it! (Like I said, I was young). SO, I wrapped my hand in a towel and shoved that disgusting body part back into the bird!  I found out later that I had also cooked the bag of giblets inside the turkey!

To make a long story short, the dinner was not very good and I was feeling a bit embarrassed as I served it. I had invited my husband, my sister, several aides and the center’s Director to join us with promises of a gourmet meal.  It is an understatement to say 'gourmet' it was not. But, my boys loved it! They gobbled it down with gusto, grinning all the while. They clapped and they cheered. They ate every last bite.  My boys thought it was the finest meal that they'd ever eaten and that I was the world's greatest chef.

Since that Thanksgiving dinner 38 years ago, I have learned to cook, and, Thanksgiving dinner has become my favorite and finest meal to prepare. My children all come home and we share a royal feast.

And, every year, the day before Thanksgiving as I begin the cooking and baking...I think about my first Thanksgiving at CWC and the lesson I learned that day: When you prepare food with joy for the people you love, LOVE permeates the food. And, in the end.....isn't love really all you need?