The Shiny 25cent Piece and Helen Keller

I'm not sure if any living soul knows this about me but Helen Keller is incredibly dear to me. She is one of the people I have felt drawn to since childhood; she inspires me, moves me, ignites me. When the quarter bearing her image was released in '03 I began to keep one of these coins in my art materials box as a token of endurance and persistence and commitment to finding my own way through... (as a side note, when I draw I often "paint myself into a corner" and I'm always looking for the way out of it in my work:))

That being said... I was done working today quite early, it was like having another day off after a wonderful Samhain weekend. It's been a beautiful, sunny and windy day and whoa nelly am I glad I was not buried in the basement of Hell's Kitchen all day! Normally, to get home I catch a bus that drops me off right in front of my house but today I was on another route which meant that I had to walk five blocks to get home... half way there, lying on the sidewalk and glinting in the sunshine was a radiant new quarter; it was heads up! This quarter had my name all over it. (By the way, I love finding pennies that are tails up so that I can flip them over for the next passerby as a way of spreading a little luck and funny joy.) When I flipped it over and saw Ms. Helen Keller flashing in the light I nearly gasped. This was no small treasure for me to find but a token, an omen, a sign and an acknowledgment of the path I'm on right now.

I know it seems like small change but how often do you find a quarter on the pavement? The only other time in my life that I've found anything larger than a dime was when I was about nine years old - I found a twenty dollar bill curled up in the gutter in Chicago after my first ride on a motorcycle with my Aunt Tinkie's boyfriend, Mean Gene. What kind of Jungian metaphor is this? Ha ha ha:)

As of May 30th of this year I made a promise to myself and this coin showing up about six months into my journey seems like an extraordinary and fortuitous affirmation.

Back In The Saddle or Making Out With Santa Claus or Eating Crackers In Bed or Watching Baby Go Boom!

What the hell do you think it means that I dreamed I was mackin' on Santa?? That it's a good thing that I'm a naughty girl and I'm totally gonna get what I want for Christmas? Whatever you do, don't cross your legs 'cuz Santa's got a present for you? (I think if you listen closely you can tell that am giggling like a mad person right now!)

Perhaps you're wondering what the f**k has been happening since I said I'd be "offline for a few weeks?" Me too. You'd think that since I've been walking around in my life I'd be able to tell you a little bit about it but, ney ney Moosebreaths.

For now, I just want to let you know, the few of you who might still be passing through, that I wish you many happy feelings on your bodies! that I am loathe to see my garden dying back, that I have rearranged my living room (again!) 'cuz this time I think I might really have it;) and that I am very much looking forward to having a big ol' party soon!

ps

The photo in the blog title is one that I took on this day; the subject here is lovingly labeled Hell Box. In the printing and letterpress world we set type by hand... very tiny these pieces of type. Sometimes the type is dropped or misplaced. If you are apprenticing in a print shop one of the first tasks set to you is often to sort something like the contents of a Hell Box back into their correct cases; a 'case' is an entire set of type in one font and one size. It's really best never to drop or misplace type. Ha ha ha haa haaa hhaa!

FuhWee a.k.a. F.Y.I.

I will be temporarily offline for a few weeks. Goodbye Qwest. Hello USI!

I Offer You The Song In My Heart: A YogaPrayers Workshop

August 11, 18 & 25, 2009; 7:15 - 8:45 p.m.

Seva Yoga Studio @ Embodied Health, 2500 University Avenue West #F5, St. Paul 55114

I honor the Wheel of Heaven and the Axis of Time;
May I learn to carry what is hidden as a gift to others.
In this workshop we will explore the mystery of creating a personal set of prayer beads. We'll practice gentle yoga, breathwork and mantra as a way to clear ourselves so that we may listen to the still, small voice within us that guides our daily lives.

COST:
$50 ($16.75 per class)
Some materials provided like beading wire, pliers, thread, and some miscellaneous beads. Raid your jewelry boxes, keychains and toolboxes because you just never know what will catch your eye! If it catches your eye it probably has something to tell you, so bring it along:) Also bring a journal or a notebook and pen/pencil to write as we go.

TO REGISTER:
Visit the website and print the registration form to go with your payment, or call 651-235-8254.

www.embodied-health.com

No experience with yoga or beadwork required:)
If you'd like to read the prayer that I wrote in 2007, here it is:
prayer-for-changing-world

Surprising engraving

Recurring Dreams: Wealth, Opportunity, Deep Joy

I am a deep dreamer... I have many kinds of dreams but the recurring ones have been on my mind lately, so I made a list. Some of them are replicas of the same dream over and over, some of them, like the ones below, are the same dream with different elements. I wonder how it can be that I have almost eighteen recurring dreams...

I call these the opportunity dreams.

In this dream I am walking along, sometimes in beautiful weather, sometimes in cloudy weather, and as I walk I look down because something has glinted in the light. To my surprise it's a quarter. Not only that but I notice in the grass a few inches away is a nickel, a spray of dimes and pennies. So I start to pick them up, who wouldn't? Happily, the more coins I gather, the more I find. Some of the coins are clearly old and worth more than their use as currency. Digging, I can smell the grass and feel the dirt. I do this until I have dug a wide hole in the boulevard... It is now that I notice that the coins are layered in the dirt and grassroots like pebbles, an endless supply of them as deep as I want to dig.

The other version of this dream has come in the form of clothing. In this version of the dream I have to find clothing for a job interview, a job that I am badly in need of. I am walking to a nearby second-hand shop: there are no other customers inside, there are lots of great clothes in great shape that cost little to nothing. The shopkeeper tells me I may choose what I like, take as much as I like, which I do until I have piles of clothing, more than I will ever need, each item exactly what I have been looking for. I am so happy I could pee.

I have had these two dreams multiple times over the years. They have never changed. Until recently I have woken from these dreams with a mild sense of disappointment; they seemed so real to me, how could I wake with such empty hands? Then I sigh and relish the joy I felt at having found what I needed. I feel relief from the stress of living poorly in my waking life.

In February of this year I dreamed a true variation, an exploration of this dream... A. and I are on the shores of Lake Superior at our favorite beach, digging for agates. This is a wonderful, relaxing and primary activity that comprises the bulk of our time here. Generally, A. is the one who digs throughout the entire day in search of the prize beauties, large banded agates or eye agates... She is tenacious and perfectly within her element while I have given in to napping after a few bouts of digging. I love the sound of the waves, the wind all over me, the sky...

In this dream I am sort of pushing the beach rocks around, half intent, half wandering in a meditation on the waves when I lay hands on a beautiful, deep red, walnut size eye agate that just takes my breath away (much like the one pictured above). Ha! I shout with glee! Then I see another one shining in the sun. Waves come up and wet the entire area... everything is awash in late afternoon sun and lake water. It's a stunning sight in the dream as well as in waking life to see the stones glistening like this. As with the coin dream, I have dug a large hole and have sighted multiple fistfuls of these amazing agates. Now I am laughing outright, staring at the slowly setting sun. I am aware that I am dreaming, I can feel myself laughing in my bed. I wake up completely fresh and ridiculously happy. Profoundly happy. I am in no way disappointed.

I can clearly see this for what it is: A vision of my own happiness, unending joy in the natural world and a message to myself that I am free to live my life without worry. There is enough.




smugmug.com (david englund, eye agate and large banded agate photos)
wmnh.com (small agate photo with black background)



































rockhounds.com (landscape agates)

Surprising graffiti

Chortle! Chortle! Chortle!

Nattering Gobbledy-Gook

Habberdashery
Supercalafrajalisticexpialadocious
Yippeee!
Whoopeee!

The Scent of Light - Happy Solstice!

Like a great starving beast
My body is quivering

Fixed

On the scent
Of
Light.

-Hafiz

*photo: AFP/Yuri Kadobnov

Deep Dreaming, Day and Night, Twin Stars

One of the most beautiful dreams I've ever had in my life started with the peeling of a sunburn from my shoulder to my chest until I had uncovered my ribcage, looked in at my beating heart and pulled it out.

I looked at it and said to myself,

"...next time be more careful... do not lose track of your dreams. If you think you are lost now, wait 20 years and guess again at a direction you cannot discern. Pay attention to your dreams because they will not go away. They may be hard to see but they will never go away. If you refuse to see, they will gnaw at you like wondrous motions of the body, a mystery that eludes and confounds and inspires. They will foster in you the sense that something isn't right, that something is lost, that something forgotten must be recovered. There will be an aching space, an unnameable space that is ever unfulfilled. They will linger in every moment. Save yourself the heartache and don't lose track of them; once they are deeply buried, they are difficult to unearth."

Now that you are capable of Dreaming...

Striding Deeper Into The World