Mother Henna

Surfin' Thursday...and a day or two downtime...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:09:00 +0000

Hey all!
It's Thursday once again, and I've posted a list of surfs that sort of catalog this past week of travel -- see Melba's JustBeConnected blog for today's "Surfin' with Mother Henna"!

And then just a quick note to say I've been on the go 24/7 since last Thursday this time, and now I'm just loopy with exhaustion. I'm gonna take a day or two downtime here. Need to spend some meditation, nap, and just quiet time letting all the experiences integrate!

Promise to return next with some new artwork and Part 3 of Blog Railing Tour to share Noel's visit!

Miracles,
k-

Coffee, war, art...Part 2 continued & concluded...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

To read all of Blog Railing Tour Part 2, see:

1) Out In The World, Part 2.
2) On The Blog Road, Part 2a.
3) Art and Time, Part 2b.
4) Coffee, war, art, Part 2c & 2d.

Below is (#4) a continuation and wrap of this part 2 of the Blog Railing series, so this is Part 2c and Part 2d.

Again, on the second full day of Wallowa stop of the Blog Railing Tour, I woke at the first light. We finally had our luggage bag now, the house was all soundly sleeping, and I felt a luxury of time. Quietly as I could, my fingers found clean clothes, toothpaste, shampoo, and I headed for a long, hot shower. Once I was squeaking clean again, I headed out into morning light to take on the festival of sun and shadow dancing across the mountains. There was a feeling of seeing this for the first time and a feeling of eternity. As if I've seen the Spirits of this land again and again through time.

The morning was still cool, and Drake the Dog came out to hang with me for a bit. I love this dog more than I can say. He isn't just a dog. He's guardian and brother. As much as I miss every member of the Mathias Family, I miss Drake since they left the island. So it was this grand luxury to spend the quiet of the morning with Drake, nose to nose, patting his belly, feeling his warm fur on my cold toes. We were soon joined by Lisa who woke early, too.

You should have seen her face when she realized that we were the only ones awake. She grinned at me, “Hey, wanna go get latte?!” And so we ran away for a few hours over lattes at Mad Mary's.
We chatted endlessly about blogging, ideas for art, plans for next steps. And oddly enough, we weren't the only laptop tapping wifi'ers there on this early, early Saturday morning. Seems Mad Mary's is quite the hot spot in Joseph, so if you find yourself in Wallowa County, craving the creatively wired set, check out MM's for everything fun and fattening!

Lisa and I did eventually decided that maybe we should head back to awaiting gang and treat them with fresh cinnamon rolls! We arrived at the house, greeted by the chorus of life: Drake's bark, Tiger's meow, Sierra's whinny, the excitement of the girls, Jeff's dreamy coffee, and Hawk's atmospherics. We all chowed on the treats and launched right into the day. First thing's first though. Z wanted to properly introduce us to Sierra, so we headed out to the metal gate.

Yes, I had met Sierra at the gate the day before this, but now I was inside the gate, dwarfed by the majestic tower of this Mustang. Sierra and Z so obviously are a match for one another. They just vibe, vibe, vibe. Z looks so grown, just as majestic as Sierra, both graceful and strong beyond what you think you see at first. The sheer size of Mustangs – any horse really – just overwhelms me. I walk the edge of being scared. So Z gently led Sierra over to me and gifted my hand with two sugar cubes. She and Hawk told me to hold my hand out flat with one cube at at time. Put it right under Sierra's mouth. Whoa! That was wild. Fed her the second one. And then stepped in a little closer even and ran my hand down her soft, soft nose and over her beautiful mane. I think R even captured this momentous event on film! I'll have to see if she'll share it with me, so I can share with you, too.

Later in the evening after filling our bellies with ham and beet green sandwiches, we headed out to the Nez Perce Tamkaliks. Hawk had been looking forward to this gathering since Lisa first told him about it last winter. He had his camera in hand and was ready to immerse in the dancing.

Lisa, the girls, Hawk and I all made our way to the Tamkaliks gathering. We circled around at first, just trying see how light was filtering through the tent, where the dancers circles, how the drummers and singers were set for each dance. I was immediately struck by the inter-generational nature of the event. Children of all ages, adults, elders. All participating in the same purpose, ritual. I know we all go to our own family reunions and have our inter-generational moments. But there was something intentional, the beauty of the outfits, handmade or hand-altered at least, the music, dancing in step with one another. Hawk witnessed what he thought was probably an initiation whereby a young man of maybe 12 years of age seemed to be drumming for the first time with the elders. He was beaming with pride, hitting the beat, looking around at all the proud eyes of his family. The whole thing felt intentional and intimate in ways I was not prepared for when we set out that night.

After the friendship dances, they cleared the circle and called for everyone's attention to the honoring of Veterans. At first, as one of the Veterans began to speak, the energy of the circle under the tent was dispersed. People were chatting, many kids had left the circle and gone out to the booths. No one seemed to really be listening. One of the elders stepped up to the microphone. His voice boomed. “This is important. Gather your children and find your seats. It is time to pay attention. This is important.” Everyone, native and white, mothers and warriors, Everyone stopped and the energy re-gathered. People did get their kids and come back. This elder stood and seemed to look us all in the eye. He was in full traditional Nez Perce dress, obviously handmade, beauty of native color and art, but also depicting the U.S. Marine Corps logo. He repeated, “This is important. These men, native and white, have seen the horrors of war. There is healing to be done in this dance. We will all listen.” He gave the microphone back to the first man.

This man called all the Veterans in attendance to please join them on the dance circle. Men and women drifted from the crowds into the circle. Some in native dress, some looking like cowboys, some like biker dudes, some like casual travelers. Native, white, black, multi-racial. And then the man called out, “Mothers. All mothers of Veterans. Please join us.” I began to cry. The silence of the crowd, the witnessing of the grief, the power of each step as mothers – Native, white, black, multi-racial – joined the space of the dance. Many with tears in their eyes already.

The drumming and singing started. The dance began. The honored dancers began to step around the sacred circle. Each step beat a vibration into the land. The grass, the dirt, the sky, the surrounding mountains and hay fields, every element of Mother Nature taking up the vibration, embracing the sorrow, allowing the horrors of war to be spoken, not buried and forgotten, not white washed in the unfulfilled promises of military recruiters or the despicable advertisements that use the sexuality of a breathy young woman saying “I want you” trying to entice mindless “patriotism”. No. This was a far deeper beat that said, “Yes, I am patriotic, yes, I defended this homeland, and that does not justify the horrors of war, the horrors that live in the minds and hearts of walking wounded who return from battle.”

When the drumming stopped, everyone stood still. One by one the microphone was passed around from mother to mother, veteran to veteran. Each one attesting to the grief of war, the dead children, the paraplegic whose body is decimated, the decimated minds and hearts regardless of injury, the fear and terror of each mother who was watching as yet another child goes off to war. The strained speech of the warrior who watched his brothers dying and cannot figure out why he himself lived.

My gawd. What is wrong with us. In the Civil War era, Julia Ward Howe organized bereaved mothers whose sons had been killed in the war, and they protested, demanding peace and healing. In the ancient days, Lysistrata organized the women, and they protested, refusing to ever have sex again until the men stopped fighting. And yet these men – and women, too – continue being sent off to war. Minds maimed, hearts damaged to the point of stigmatization, bodies barely functioning. What the hell is wrong with all of us? When will peace and love become more valuable than money and power? When will our children and our children's children be valued equally with the children and grandchildren of our enemy – so that none of us wants to sacrifice any of them?! It is disgusting that the human race is continually willing to sacrifice children this way. And yes, thank you very much, I know that we are animals and in nature, you see war all the time and it is form of population control, blada blada blada. Human beings have brains and hearts that have the luxury of working together. It is disgusting that we don't use the gifts we have been given.

I could not stay for the full voicing of each of those Moms and Veterans, thru to the closing of the ceremony. I couldn't hold all that grief and horror. The expression was necessarily. There were waves and waves of healing medicine happening. I know that. Honestly I do. But I was overcome with grief. Sobbing. So much so that a complete stranger tapped me on the shoulder to ask if I'd like a kleenex. I did take a kleenex, wiped my eyes, and then walked out of the circle toward the parking lot. I simply could not witness it standing in the circle. I felt eons of complete helplessness.

Don't get me wrong, it was not that I didn't want to hear it because I did. Or at least I wanted every person there to express their experience so that healing might begin. I wanted the medicine to work. BUT I wanted something more also. I wanted people to be saying, “This is what war took from us and I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT EVER AGAIN.” I did not want to hear that these were the horrors of war AND another son is leaving tomorrow for Iraq. Another battle will take place that kills our children, Iraqi children, Jewish children, Palestinian children, African children in Dufar, IT IS NEVER ENDING.

I wanted people to dance this sacred dance to expel the horror, gain healing and the strength to say NEVER AGAIN. But instead, we were all saying, “And oh my God, now my youngest son and her oldest daughter are going there, please spare them.” Knowing full damn well that they will not be spared! They may survive and come back to home ground. But they will not be spared.

I know this because I stood there that night on sacred Nez Perce ground and I saw the wounds of the Natives going back to the treachery of the invading white man, the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and countless other unnamed battles. I SAW IT. I was not spared. You will not be spared. Your children will not be spared.

Until peace and love become more valuable than money and power, none of us will be spared.

Part 2d

It may be needless to say, but after my experience with the Veterans Honoring dance at the Tamkaliks on our second day of the Wallowa trip, I was completely exhausted. And yet I slept in fits and starts under another full, most orange moon. Maybe there was magic in that moon. Something trying to soothe and awaken me at the same time. Something that made the exhaustion and fit-fullness go hand in hand.

I do know that when I woke on Sunday, everyone else was already up and about, coffee brewing, sleepy feet getting a slow start to opening the hoop house, letting the chickens out, giving Drake a bath and good brush to untangle his fur and keep him cool. The girls had been with us the night before at the Nez Perce dances and had their own experience of it, but they had also witnessed my grief. I was so grateful for the spark of life in each of them this new morning. Laughing and sharing ideas, trying to find ways to cheer up the vibe that descended upon me. R suggested a silly movie, and Jeff added that we'd need popcorn for breakfast, too! I don't know about you, but I cannot keep the cork underwater when there is a good film and popcorn for breakfast on a lazy, Sunday morning!

After the movie – which did make me howl with laughter – Lisa and Jeff made sure we all had a more “real” breakfast of blueberry pancakes with rhubarb. Yummy! And we all discussed what we might do with this day that was so, so hot already. For me, I just could not bring myself to go back to the Tamkaliks, so I voted loud and often for going to the glacial lake! Luckily, both R and Z were ga-ga for the idea, too, so we swayed the crowd and headed out the door.

Wallowa Lake is stunningly beautiful and full of activity. We decided that with Drake in tow, we needed to head away from the “designated” areas to something a little off the beaten track. We walked off a thin trail down to the water. When you stood in the water spill ways, the snow melt freshly entering the lake body, OMG it is so cold – your toes ache immediately! The lake body itself was a little warmer. The girls jumped in dunking heads right away, pulling logs off the sand to make surf barges, hoping to get Drake to get up on the barge and float out to the deeper water with them. Drake was having no such thing. Hawk captured some of that as you can see here! Once Jeff, Hawk and I were out of the water, hanging out in the warm shade of the sandy path, Drake was happy to circle around, marking and ever grow piece of land as, “that's mine, and that's mine, and uh, oh, yeah, that's mine, too.” He also kept a sharp eye out – as we all did – on the girls as they waded out to the deeper water and called back to us that they saw Nessy's head under the water.

When we were done, we snagged some cold drinks and drove around a bit. Got to see one of those big hay machines in person, and an old silo, and a wheel line, and some longhorns. I was feeling so exhausted. This whole visit had been just packed full of experience. And the day was still very warm and I felt downright like a wet noodle. Hawk and I suggested we all head out to dinner instead of cooking. We rounded up the troops and headed to chow down. I can't recall the name of the eatery now, darn it, but I had the most yummy salmon burger and salad – that included beet greens! Yummers. We also scooted up to Mad Mary's again for a sweet dessert afterward. Cannot tell you enough about the various dark chocolate truffles from their candy counter!!

At this point, it seemed to me that we had all finally caught up with one another. You know we had spent most of the weekend, just catching up – how are you? What has changed? What is the new space like? Where are your heart and mind and body? It took us all the time so far to really catch up on all that. And here it was, Sunday evening, our last, and we were just now finally finding art space! So that meant getting to see R's photos and films documenting family life, to explore the story making dolls Lisa and the girls make, and to learn a new stitch in time!

I don't have copies to share just yet, but soon hope to have a few of the photos and film files from R. When Z first got Sierra, R got her first digital camera. So it was great fun to see R's documentation of Z and Sierra's developing relationship. And to just see R's eye and love of photography. Plus her short films are done with such a sense of humor, love, and insight. I hope her love of these media continue so we all get to see the life time of art she'll share with the world!

Next up the girls and Lisa brought out various character dolls and showed me all the creations they've been doing. They had found a slice of an agate stone or some stone like that. The girls had wired it with a brassy jewelry wire to set it and make a handle on the back. This handle sets right over the hand of any of the dolls, so they can look like they are carrying a shield or carrying shield when riding on horseback. They have created wonderful stitch enhanced clothes, and Z even had great character with a mohawk! I just cannot wait to be able to share their story blog with you soooon!

Lisa was so patient with me as I bugged her about how she made and decorated the various pieces of clothes. You see, I am lucky enough to have three of her character dolls and want to start playing with story and set and costume. So she taught me a basic stitch that could be used to make a sort of henna style flower. Of course I'll have to actually practice and get it even from petal to petal! More from me on this soon (grin)...

Anyway, all those last hours rushed by so fast. Even the drive back to the train, the stop at a fabulous little Latino bakery where I enjoyed fresh baked, sea salted bread! It was very hard to leave, to see the visit come and go so quickly. As Lisa mentioned, we arrived in the dark of night and left in the dark of the wee morning hours, so it all seemed like a dream. A magic spell that took me out of normal time and space. Next time, I was thinking it might be fun to get a month long rental at the Flying Arrow up at Wallowa Lake! At least musing on this idea keeps me from missing them all so much.

And, hey Jeff, I loooooove the little bottle – that was you who hid it in the bag, right?!

Up next...
HennaRose was here on the island today!! Check in tomorrow for photos and sharing on our visit. I'm counting the day as Part 3 of the Blog Railing Tour even though Noel came here instead of me railing to Atlanta! :)
Miracles,
k-

Art and Time...Part 2 continued....

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:34:00 +0000

To read all of Blog Railing Tour Part 2, see:

1) Out In The World, Part 2.
2) On The Blog Road, Part 2a.
3) Art and Time, Part 2b.
4) Coffee, war, art, Part 2c & 2d.

Below is a continuation of that story (#3 listed above), so this is Part 2b.

I'll spend this week posting all I'm writing about this adventure.
Think of it as serial travel tales :)

Photo left: Hawk snap from Wallowa Lake!

Those of you who have read my musings before may know that I tend to sip tea with dreams, staying up all night long, ushering in the moon rise, following her path, and then sleeping just before the sun comes. But this trip to Wallowa was different for me for some reason.

That first morning, after only maybe 3 hours of sleep, I was wide awake with the light breaking across the sky. I heard the grind of freshly roasted coffee beans – and I do mean fresh because Jeff's got the magic touch with roasting the bean! And as the rest of the house woke, rode out for the fields, or went off to tend the animals, I walked outside into the shade of the back yard, next to the garden. And right there, seeming to rise right out of my feet and up to the sky, Mt. Joseph and all the surrounding peaks. It was breathtaking. I could not stop staring at the landscape. Just lost the altitude, breezy sun of morning, and the residual snows on the mountain tops.

One of the things that Lisa did for me when we first began to farm share with them on the island a couple years ago, was to introduce me to fresh beets and beet greens. I wondered out into the garden – the beginning of the farm, and there next to the hoop house, my cherished beet greeted me with full energy. I plucked a few leaves and stems and chomped away. YUMMY!! I stood there. Hoop house. Beet greens. Mountains jetting. It was heavenly. And then I heard her whiny.

I wandered over past the chickens to the metal gate. There she was. Sierra. A stunning Mustang, huge eyes, questioning me, wondering why I was in her space. I just stood there while she sauntered over to the gate. She sort of huffed at me. Stuck her nose over and sniffed. She demanded, so I gave my hand over to her nose. She is the newest member of the Mathias Family, and this was our first meeting. I thought it went well, and let her go back to her breakfast, knowing I'd get a proper introduction later when Z got home.

By then, everyone else was up and about, too. We decided to get the day started. Hawk and I thought that checking out Joseph would be a good way to start getting to know the area. Jeff dropped us up there with the idea that we'd get a good look at everything in the few hours it would take them to do some irrigation work. There are a few wifi spots, great coffee, a county museum, lots of galleries, and more. So we got a cuppa and then decided to start with the museum.

Wow. We thought we'd just get a little history, you know? But Hawk and I were sunk waist deep in the amazing archives of this little museum. Newspapers and photos going back over 100 years, the actual papers and prints, archived in a lamination – you could actually pick them up and read them page by page, view each photo close up as if you were skimming through your own family album. Almost immediately, I was struck by how the newspapers ran front page headlines when there was a death of a child. Usually accidents, sometimes illness. But the child's life was remembered, the family was honored, there was information about how to support them or come to the memorial or funeral.

One of the museum volunteers offered to make a copy of one of the articles for me. The image right is the one I chose (click to see full size). She asked why I was so interested, and I told her of our outreach work to bereaved families. She shook her head in understanding and asked if the article mentioned where the grave of the child was because they had books indexing the cemeteries. If I was interested in visiting the grave site, maybe we could find the headstone. It turned out that the child was buried in one of the largest cemeteries just outside the range of their index books. So my physical visit there didn't happen. But it was very kind to have this volunteer help me, you know? She didn't shoo shoo me or think I was a quack. She just stayed present to witness this history with me.

And then we discovered this museum had old camera gear, Nez Perce pieces, metal work, lace work, spinning wheels, clothes and uniforms, even the homework of the first graders of the 1905 class of the local school house!! Seriously. The math homework, the cursive practice sheets, the music sheets, and the artwork. There were even the small piece – I think they might have been ATC size – that were stitched. First graders. I know several adult artists who loooong to learn to do this kind of paper sewing art! If you ever get the chance to go to the Wallowa County Museum, do not miss the fancy wall cabinet upstairs near the elevator that showcases the homework of the 1905 first grade class!

It took us hours to get through the museum, see all the pieces, talk with the volunteers who were just fonts of great information by the way!! But so by the time we left the museum, we were able to see one half of one other gallery before Jeff and girls were back :) What a half a gallery they have at Valley Bronze though!! In particular, I want to point out the work of Nano.

Again, wowsers. I don't know if you can really see the level of detail in this piece from just a flat photo. The dynamics, the blend of an ancient medium with innovative ideas blended in there. Once I saw the camel piece, I could not walk any another step. The gallery owner came over, and I asked how the artist got all this great ephemera added into the metalwork. He explained that it was a mixture of things. Sometimes the artist was making impression with the ephemera. Sometimes he was pouring a mould to make a stamp. Sometimes he was casting a copy and welding it right onto the surface of the piece, then heating or coloring or other techniques to blend or sharpen as his vision dictated. Seriously will be trying to find out more about this artist and his methods!

By the time the gallery owner and I stopped chatting, the gang was all here and it was time to head out for a yummy dinner of ham, sweet dark bread, greens, and what else???!! Why of course it was raw beet salad!! In fact, I got to go out into the farm with Lisa and our big silver bowl and harvest our pick of baby beets and greens. All the while we were chatting under the evening sun and blessing of the mountains. Sharing our dreams, fears, bright ideas, and plain old details of the day. I don't think I've every had a better feast. Not just for the tummy, but for my heart and mind and body. And the weekend was just starting!

more to come soon...
miracles,
k-

On the blog road...Part 2 continued

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:15:00 +0000

To read all of Blog Railing Tour Part 2, see:

1) Out In The World, Part 2.
2) On The Blog Road, Part 2a.
3) Art and Time, Part 2b.
4) Coffee, war, art, Part 2c & 2d.

Below is a continuation of that story (#2), so this is Part 2a. I'll spend this week posting all I'm writing about this adventure. Think of it as serial travel tales :)

click photo to see full size...usage permission via wiki

Understand that since the infamous September 11^th, Hawk and I have resided on our little island. One of the reasons we settled there was that no one looked at us funny. Especially at that time, at the height of everyone's paranoia about anyone with brown skin, but also just historically as a mixed race couple, we were used to getting sideways looks or people who don't exactly look you in the eye or, in some cases, downright contempt. There are times when Hawk's radars just go off, and he knows we are in dangerous waters and should not walk holding hands. That sort of thing.

But when we got to the island, as I said, in the height of paranoia, we got nothing but straight on greetings, kindnesses, or at the very least polite consideration. This is not to say there isn't a racist element at all, but it is minimum or so covert that Hawk actually felt comfortable. And we spend large chunks of time on island, so we can really get into the groove of feeling comfortable. When we do venture out to the mainland or further, like for my dreams of the Blog Railing Tour, well, then the comfort is not so constant.

When we arrived that first night for this second stop on the Blog Railing Tour, we knew we walked into the arms of love and care and relationship with our friends, and we were excited to get to see their new life. There were two little energy dips first though:

1) Amtrak lost our checked bag and
2) A late night stop on the road to grab a bite to eat before driving the whole way back to their place.

First, with the lost luggage, it was frustrating, took us two days to resolve, and our bag was returned with a big hole in the side – throughout this, the Amtrak and Greyhound folks were not very helpful at all. But that said, my personal responsibility lesson was: Just carry on everything! We only had our two back packs and a small rolling suitcase. We checked it for convenience, but the rails allow you to carry on that kind of bag. You just stow it wherever you are sitting. Everyone around us was carrying on everything they had. We had wondered, back in Seattle, why people would choose to do that. Now we know. The rail travel is an awesome experience, but you will best enjoy it if you keep your bags to a minimum and carry it all on with you!!

Next up was our late night stop for a bite to eat. While we were thoroughly enjoying each other's company and chattering about life, politics, religion, farming, love, there were also many people eating around us who would not share our sensibilities, let's say. There were sideways looks and a bit of awkwardness from the waitress. At one point in the conversation, Hawk confessed that though things have come very far – especially with the democratic race featuring a woman and a black man – he was also still finding himself in situations where all his radars go up. Sitting there, he was engaged and fully present with us, but he also had an eagle eye view of the whole place, where the pointed energy was coming from, and where the exits were. And he wasn't being paranoid.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. And yet, though this perspective was real enough, we did also sit together, share food, have amazing conversation, and we all got back on the road without any painfully overt expressions of hostility coming our way. No spoken or physical confrontation. So that's something.

And once we were back on the road, especially when we got into Wallowa, the vibes were shifting. We were entering the consciously created and blessed space the Mathias family has created. We were greeted by the most, full, huge moon I've ever seen. The light reflected off the crash and currents of the river were amazing. I knew the morning light would bring wonders of mountain, sun rise, farm, horse, and more. But for tonight, it had been a long day and night of new experiences and visual delights, hugs and reconnections. For now, Jeff just got all of us home safe and sound, and we crashed out for a few hours sleep.

more to come...
miracles!
k-

Out in the world...Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:07:00 +0000

To read all of Blog Railing Tour Part 2, see:

1) Out In The World, Part 2 (see below).
2) On The Blog Road, Part 2a.
3) Art and Time, Part 2b.
4) Coffee, war, art, Part 2c & 2d.

Photo left: property listed on wallowalakeproperty.com

The Blog Railing Tour Continues...
Or begins?

Many of you know I have this dream of doing a Blog Railing Tour full time. Ride the train system as far and wide as possible in the U.S. and Canada to start. Go around meeting up with my favorite blog artist, meet in person, have a cuppa, make some art.

Back in April, I unofficially started the Blog Railing Tour by doing Part 1, an art night with Courtney, but it was "unofficial" because it didn't really involve any rail train trip :) BUT this week, we're on our second stop of the Blog Railing Tour -- the official start because it actually involved riding a train this time! So here is the beginning of Part 2 of the Blog Railing Tour:

July 2008: This time we are actually getting to ride the train! Now understand, I've been on subway trains and trolley cars in various U.S. Cities. But I had never been on a train. Not a real train trip. But our friends the Mathias Family had moved from our island out to a new piece of farm land in Wallowa, OR, and we all missed each other very much.

Of course when they lived here on our island, we were all about connecting in-person as healing artists. We didn't connect as artist bloggers till after they moved, and Lisa asked me to help her set up her new blog (coming soon -- look for announcement here!). More than that, she wanted to know if I'd like to barter – giving her tech/art help in exchange for travel down to Wallowa. Well, hmmm, let me think about that? YES!!! So at OhMyGawdO'clock on Thursday, Hawk and I boarded the ferry, this time headed for our second Blog Railing Tour stop – and our first train trip together!

Seattle King Street Station

What a completely different way to travel. I cannot say enough about the train experience. No crowds, no one nervous or stressed, no mean Homeland Security and their racial profiling of every brown skinned person. Instead, we had a leisurely arrival, a friendly greeting at the ticket desk, no waiting. And we had time in the amazing Seattle Train Station. They are only part way done with the restoration, but the splendor of the hand placed tiles, the glittery mosaics on the walls, the reveal of the 45 foot ceiling (still in process), and being able to see all the old photos of what it used to look like/will look like again soon.

If you have the time, I highly recommend a stop in this station. Stop and look at the tile on the floor. It may not be the most artist thing you've ever seen, but really look at it!! You will notice that the little tile pieces are not entirely straight. Why? They were not machine cut. Someone, an artisan I imagine, hand cut every single one of those pieces, and then one by one, each piece was put into the floor. It is stunning to think about that. Who was that artisan? Was it a team? A lead and apprentices? Did they all work on the floor at the same time? Working from the center of the room out? Or from edges inward? That kind of record is probably lost to us now, but what a feast to sit and imagine.

We also had lots of time at this train travel pace to discuss the golden aging we might do about what it was like “back then.” While it would be interesting to learn from and improve and recreate working systems for sustainable travel and sanity to the traveler, we also realized that if it were “back then,” we could not do this trip. Or at least not together. Because of segregation and racism, we would not have been allowed the same car, we would have been forbidden from sharing the experience. Legally and back by the full brutish force of law enforcement and the justice system, we would have had our experience regulated, prohibited, judged. I am grateful beyond belief that the consciousness of humanity has come as far as it has. Grateful that we are able to feel quite at ease traveling together, sharing meals, enjoying the view and rolling pace of the train.

Portland Union Station

It is a stunning ride along the water ways of Puget Sound and the Columbia River. We've been in cars or bus or even flown over these areas. But there is nothing like peek you get when taking the train from Seattle to Portland and then Portland to Pasco. You are literally right on the water, watching rivers of current shifting constantly within the larger bodies of water, flocks of white pelican and numerous other birds, sweeping landscape of river and mountain, osprey flying along right next to you with dinner in his talons. This just isn't a perspective you get from the roads or air space.

We also witnessed the unfolding of human life along these waters. Wind and kite surfers doing stunts you can't believe. Gentrification or exclusivity that seem unsustainable at best. McMansions, condos, vacation homes all along the waterfront side of the tracks. And of course on the literal and proverbial other side of the tracks, poverty. Houses that seem like they cannot possibly be housing. But having been homeless myself at one time, seeing the look in the eyes of people who are trying to hold onto whatever they have to create some sense of shelter for their families. And maybe the middle ground being the working farmer, irrigation, farm house, orchard, some working sustainable practices, some not.

I think one of the most beautiful sights for me was to see the hills crested with those streamlined, pristine wind mills. Harvesting the power of the river gorge winds. Wondering how much power they are generating, how off the grid can people get, seeing a clean possibility already working right in front of me. Wondering when peace and life will be more valuable than money, power, and being able to measure wattage to keep feeding the corporation. I felt that peace was tangible in the harvesting those winds. But the hope came and went with the rise and fall of the breeze, too.

Pulling into Pasco and connecting with friends, sharing hugs and excitement for seeing each other again extends the feeling of peace. The line of friendship runs deep, maybe over lifetimes if you believe in that sort of thing. And we launch immediately into discussion of the world, our lives, our plans as we road trip along on the way to Wallowa. And then we stop to grab a bite to eat and discover in the culture of small towns on the road, that maybe the consciousness of humanity has been stumped in a few places...

more to come soon....

Surf's up over at Just Be Connected...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

It's Surfin' Thursday with Mother Henna over at justBeConnected...

Not sure what my online access will be like the next few days as we make our way on the first adventure of the Blog Railing Tour :) Will post when I can -- and please forgive any delays on posting of your comments.

Lots of miracles to you!!
k-

Guru mosaic... thanks Hawk & Mekosun!

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Photos by Hawk, Yoga by Mekosun, Flourishes by Mother Henna

Wishing you balance, strength, endurance, freedom, and inspiration!
Miracles,

Shape your life...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:45:00 +0000

click image to zoom...
miracles,
k-

Wowsers Batman, it's summer!

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:49:00 +0000

This has been the most incredible weekend. Insights, inspiration, frustrations.

Let's start with sustainability...

Part of our weekend was spent at Vashon Strawberry Fest. Talk about an activity that is about the least environmentally friendly, most unsustainable invention on the planet. A street festival. Now don't get me wrong, we had fun on Voice of Vashon air and seeing all the awesome music!! Even getting to reconnect with other island artists after the looooong hobbit winter :) is totally worth spending time at Fest. BUT the trash, the waste, the overflowing garbage generated!! Geesh.

Pictured above are these snowcone cups that a couple of vendors used at Fest. Inside the plastic was another styrofoam cup! And a plastic straw in the middle of the snowcone. Okay, now the hundreds and hundreds -- maybe thousands of styrofoam cups and plastic straws being tossed in cans all over the fest is bad enough. BUT then overflowing out of every can were these Flower Cups!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cannot be recycled. Will be in the landfill for 5,000 years or something stupid like that -- not to mention what it took to make all that!! OMG. We can be pretty stupid, I swear.

And then inspiration comes...

Then today, I met the most amazing artist and visionary, Sooze of Laughing Magpies, "lively, innovative, multi-cultural arts for everyone." She had a booth at the Fest. Her business cards show her title as: "artist, educator, cook, craftsperson, and evil genius" -- so you know just from that she totally kicks!!

But so I look over and there is Sooze, digging thru the garbage can, pulling out all the Flower Cups! I was sooo excited and ran over to ask her about it. She said she just couldn't believe people were throwing them away all weekend long. She'd been going around and collecting them up as much as she could. We mused with another island neighbor about what recycled art could be made from them. Hats? Vase? Lamp? Articulated, glowing, garden ornament? Sooze said all weekend, she'd been telling everyone she saw eating snowcone to come back and give her their cup when they were done. She had a nice little stash of them. I was so inspired! There is hope for us afterall maybe. I just wish I had thought of it, too, and would have gladly done the same all weekend, going up and down collecting them out of the garbage for her! Next year, I won't forget this!

I don't see a website for Sooze, but the image here is from one of her shows -- they are garden ornaments she makes. She also has beautiful fabrics, nature influenced, garden hats, and more. She'll be at the following places in 2008 -- you might even see some Flower Cup Recycled Art if you make a point of going to see her at one of these:

July 19, 20 Vashon Lavender Fest
July 19-27 Pratt Garden Art @ Swansons
Sept 5-7 Ocean Shores Arts Fest
Sept 19, 20 Arts Together Snohomish
December Seattle Sampling

and you can reach Sooze via email at sooze [at] forest [dot] net!!

Practice Creating My Own Reality

Cannot tell you what a great weekend this was for practicing my new skills from the Creating Your Own Reality class!

Everywhere I looked there was beauty and abundance. The days all looked like this -- photo from my cell phone :) Hot sun, but cooooool wind breeze. Everything done in good time, our own pace. I even looked down once and at my feet was a $20 bill. Asked those around me, "Is this yours?" But no one claimed it, so okay then. When I wonder in the future, even stress about where the money is going to come from, now I know. It will come from wherever it is and appear at my feet. HA!!

And Then Music Live & In Person!

Women, Women, & Song doing their tune "Island Life" which is this awesomely funny song about island gossip and how Sue is living with Bob and she's Jack's first wife and her sister's cousin is in a band with my brother and "everyone's sister is everyone's wife". Hee hee... Anyway, I'll see if I can get the real lyrics from them and share the full humor with you!

And Kat Eggleston singing "Too Much Shit In my Purse" which is a hilarious ditty about having so much shit in her purse that she knocks a mugger out cold!

And the fantastic Ian Moore -- who kicks as usual!! He sang old favorites and a couple new ones I'd never heard. GREAT SHOW!

FINALLY Got to see the New Seattle Art Museum

Friday we had this full day of art on the mainland. CJ and Clyde shared their fabulous home & a couple great meals with us, took us to all the great little artful spots in the Center of the Universe, and then tooled around SAM downtown with us. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See this photo here?? I got to see it at SAM in person!!!!!!!!!!!

It's one of Lalla Essaydi's pieces from the Converging Territories series. THAT IS HENNA!!! She has painted all that cloth by hand in Islamic Calligraphy using HENNA!! And if you look closely at some of the other pieces, you'll see she has also henna'd every model, head to toe. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Rearranging the Anatomy of Art"

There was a great film playing in the Native Art gallery, and one of the featured artists was Preston Singletary, a glass artist. He was so engaging! He talked about how, though he is Native American, he was raised in the city and didn't have tribal mentors when he started out as an artist. He talked about going to SAM and studying this wood panel piece
and then translating it into a glass panel piece from that inspiration.
He mentioned that his interpretation of the panel was more like "rearranging the anatomy" of the traditional art. It was so interesting. Then I walked through the next gallery room and stopped short. There they were. BOTH PANELS! One across from the other. Beautiful to behold. Just wow.

And Last: Inspiration Comes Home With...

Before I set out for all these adventures, I had decided that I wanted to bring a piece of this creative reality back home with me. Some icon to remind me, a touchstone to the feeling and brilliant visions of what I just knew were coming when we headed out on Friday.

At FrameUp, I stumbled across limited edition prints of Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley's work! Wow, wow, wow.

I snagged #4 in the run of the Princess piece. I loooove it! It's up right next to my desk, and I cannot stop staring at it.

The richness of color, the detail of the feathers, leaves, mushrooms, sea life, water, and the bejeweled princess herself!

Just wow.

One of my own...

Okay, that's that for now. I'm spending the first part of this week working on a few more submissions and then we'll be doing the train travel thang!! And I'm adding a priority to my list: making a few new art pieces, scanning a few of the new sketches, and sharing some of them here!! I feel like it's been a while since I shared my own art here :) Guess it's just been about taking in inspiration from others for a little bit here. But I have my own creations stewing and want to get back to sharing more here. So in that realm, I'll end here with a share!! Enjoy this which is titled "Imagination comes from Chaos" ... mixed media: beet juice, black tea, watercolor, india ink, collage, etc!

Miracles!
k-

Friday Fill In, envelopes, and stuff...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:43:00 +0000

Well Lark rejected my proposal for "The Envelope, Please" book. Bummer. But that means the image is freed up again, so decided to share it here with you :) Also got a "no" from the GAP grant for my henna faces deck of cards, so that is back to the drawing board, too. Ah, well. Have another couple submissions going out this week, so we'll see.

And Friday Fill-Ins
for #80

Oh, I can't wait until I have a hand press and some larger stamp blocks for carving!

The brita water filter dispenser is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator.

I never leave home without some comfie shoes.

If I were a condiment, I would be honey raspberry mustard because it rules!!

Telemarketing calls are really high up on my list of pet peeves.

The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was to ground, clear, shield, bless myself, Hawk, the house, the property, the car, the island -- and then all the people I love -- and anyone who might just need it. I was practicing exercises from my "create your own reality" class.

And as for the weekend, today/tonight I’m looking forward to finally seeing the Sculpture Park and Seattle Art Museum.
Tomorrow my plans include producing Hawk's shift on VOV air and then just wondering around Strawberry Fest.
And Sunday, I want to see the 50+ person gospel choir that is performing at Fest in the park!

Miracles!!
k-

Surf Thursday at JustBeConnected!

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:03:00 +0000

It's Thursday again!

Head on over to JustBeConnected and check out
Another Surf with Mother :)

And don't forget to dance --
even if it's just a quick step today!
hee hee...

Miracles,
k-

Shifting points of view...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:53:00 +0000

So many ups and downs

Finding it a little difficult to get to the heart of my experiences lately. My energy seems to rise and fall like the tides. Sometimes I find myself just sitting in the warm shade of summer, out on the deck, watching a wasp build a hive or the birds go to and fro from their pine tree nest. When the spirit moves me, I take the super soap bubbles out there and watch them float up to their expiration in the sky.

My points of view about everything seem to be shifting these days. I don't feel so inclined to please everyone. My life has its very own rhythm that doesn't really match the pace of most people I know. Many chunks of my life were spent trying to change that or conform to be liked or accepted. Now I realize that those chunks of time are gone forever. I'll never get them back. I squandered them trying to do the impossible. That is *not* something I want to keep repeating.

So much of our life seems to have been built around speed. It all goes so fast that I don't even consciously seem to be present half the time. Lately, I've just made the choice to slow down no matter what. Certainly don't mean alarm anyone by doing that, but it seems impossible to keep up now. Emails pile up, there are stickies all over my desk with reminders of various calls to be returned, and there is never enough time in a day to do all everyone expected of me. So I've just chosen to accept it. Roll with people's reactions. Even my lovely hubby who must, at times, think I've lost my crackers. :)

Part of what that all means for me is a huge shift in my point of view of time. When I do social things with people around, interacting or teaching or just socializing, it takes me a great deal of time alone afterward to come back to balance. I love having time alone anytime, in fact. I require a lot of it in order to activate my imagination and artistic ideas. But my judgments about this used to run along the lines of "what is wrong with me" or "kara, just push yourself and be more normal". I used to try and quell this, force myself to please others by pushing myself. Obviously, that doesn't work in the long run.

So a shift begins to occur, a shift where I begin to honor my heart, the heart of my own time. I begin to see that work appointments have an equal value to an appointment with myself for an entire day that is "unstructured". You know, one of those where you wake up and decided in the moment what you want to do. I begin to see that unstructured time for myself is not the same thing as social time with others. I love having dates with my friends to chat about art or to play in the park, don't get me wrong! But that is not the same as time alone to dream and experiment with new techniques and fuss with the ink and paper and words.

It's been very interesting to get a little clarity on this. And to watch my ever shifting moods as they swirl around all this, making shifts in my day. It can be as simple (and profound) as realizing that I'm grouching and stomping around because I resent having gone directly from a social event into answering work calls without ever allowing myself down time to recover my balance. Or an overwhelming sense of peace and well-being as I consciously say no to an invitation in order to spend time alone playing around with new recipes in the cool of my kitchen with Madonna tunes blasting away.

And I have to say I am looking forward to my first train trip later this month. (See you soon, Lisa!) It will be interesting to see how the pace of train travel might match me more than air travel. We'll see how it goes.

Had hoped to do some train travel later in the fall to AZ and PA, too. But time and money pushed us to fly. Though I admit I've not yet booked our way back home at the end of that trip. I'm holding out to see if maybe, just maybe, we can roomette our way from at least Pittsburgh to Chicago -- stopping to check out the Art Institute Museum for a day. And then flying the rest of the way to Seattle. So so so so wish we could train trip the entire way. Ah, well, it will be great to just get a taste of train travel.

Okay, how about a complete tangent -- well, slow travel made me think of it -- so maybe it isn't a complete tangent? :)

Have you seen the Ken Burns film about Mark Twain? Saw it for the first time last night. What an extraordinary bit of storytelling. Twain's life certainly had its ups and downs, but I have to say I sobbed through most of it. Something about his earnest observations -- and the way people only seemed to see his trickster side -- it just struck something deep in me. You could see the change in his eyes as grief upon grief visited him. You could see his disappointment in the human species for how we continued to commit violence against our brothers and sisters. And yet, people flocked to see him give his "humorous" talks. Anyway, I'm more interested than ever in getting my hands on some of his notebooks to see what he was writing day to day. The published versions are quite expensive from what I can see online. I'm checking the library, but they seem to only have Vol. 2 and possibly it is only reference, not for check out. But I plan to chat with the librarian and see what's possible.

Well, anyhooooo. :) There are my weird meditations for now.
Here's wishing you lots of blessed slooooooooooooooooow moments for enjoying whatever is right in front of you now.

Miracles,
k-

Adventures had, in process, and yet to be...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:56:00 +0000

Lot of fun and adventure

Had the great adventure of hanging out on the deck of our friends' home to see the Tall Ships pull out over the weekend. Hawk and Rick took some great shots like the one here -- don't they look like pirate ships?! :)

A big *Thank You!* to Rick & Sherene.

I left that afternoon feeling so abundant and blessed. We'd had lots of good conversation, great food -- including homemade mundel bread -- wonderful visits with old friends and newly met folks, too. Not only were there great views of the ships, but there were so many beautiful birds, including hummingbirds, coming and going all over Sherene's garden. It was so relaxing! And I came home with an arm full of flowers fresh from her garden, a new NavNeet henna book, and a couple issues of Layers magazine. Such a wealth of inspiration!

Doll's Tea Party

Still working on my idea for a tea themed art piece for the CPS challenge. Not quite sure what I'll end up with for it, but Hawk had the backdrop up in the great room this weekend, so I set up to play.

Took out all the dolls, some set dressing, and some little things that looked sorta like plates and cups and water jug, etc. Played around with various set ups, near window light, with artificial light. Taking photos from high above, down low, straight on. I don't know. They might be good for playing around with transfer ideas, playing on the really thin Japanese paper, maybe with transparency and then words stamped over top? Just don't have the idea nose-on yet :) More later on this...

Vashon Strawberry Fest 2008

Hawk and I will be on VOV air Saturday, July 12th, from 2 to 4pm. If you are around, stop by and chat things up with us! Or just listen in -- we'll be hosting discussions with folks from Sustainable Vashon, VYFS, VYC, the quilt makers, The Worm Guy, and more. We're so sad we're going to miss the reunion performance of Women, Women, & Song, but they have promised to drift on up to the VOV booth and sing on air for us at about 3:45pm to wrap up our show! Don't miss it.

And if you want to check out the whole Women, Women, & Song concert, be there Saturday, July 12, at 1:45 p.m. at Ober Park, where Women, Women & Song will have one more hurrah. Mary told us, "We were importuned to do this, and we’re doing it. Now stop grousing that we broke up 17 years ago!" Ha! We're so excited to see them together again!

Photos of the trio Women, Women, & Song
1988, left to right, Mary Tuel, Libbie Anthony, and Velvet Neifert;
2008, left to right, Velvet, Libbie, and Mary.

Another Big Thank You...followed by a few creative sparks!

And I'd like to give a big *THANK YOU* also to Michelle from over at With Towel In Hand! She sent this Arte Y Pico award our way:
This is an award for bloggers with creative flair -- I'm honored to be in this company! Eseya from Paraguay is the creator of this award, and I must say there are lots of really fun blogs out there who have gotten this one! Google the name of the award and surf around to see for yourself. How cool! Winners are asked to:

Be selective about other blogs you choose to win this award -- share the name of the author and link to blog when giving this award in return.
Each award winner is asked to show the award badge and share the name and link to the blog that gave you the award.
Please also share a link to “Arte Y Pico” blog, so origin of award can be traced.
PLEASE NOTE: This stuff is not mandatory as I don't believe in "chain letter" style stuff. But I'm awarding forward for things I think really do have creative flair -- and if any of the winners feels like doing the above, great. But if not, that is okay, too!

There are a few blogs I can think of immediately where creative flair abounds!! So I'm forwarding this award and sharing the following Creative Sparks with you now:

Beverly Naidus - Arts for Change: I looooove this site. It's more like actually entering inside a piece of Beverly's work than being just a website or blog. In terms of creativity and discovery -- a way of surfing in an interactive and reactive way -- just can't say enough about this site! Also her writings in the "blog proper" for Artists Stirring the Compost are very insightful and interesting.
Dr. Joanne - Comtemplation, Cacophony, & Contumacity: Every post she writes moves me deeply. She's thoughtful, complete in her research, honest in her emotions. I appreciate that she is addressing grief, but look from all sides, personal, academic, artistic.
Courtney's Quiet Girl Gallery: Her art is so intriguing and full of layers, like the depths of a dream. I love the actual process she uses, too, the encaustics. She just has a flair for art, for presentation, and from what I hear, her classes are just like walking into her art.

That's that for now...more adventure gossip and art soon from the Mother Henna home front!
miracles,
k-

Surfing Thursday at JustBeConnected...

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:11:00 +0000

Check out Surfing Thursday with Mother Henna over at JustBeConnected!! This is going to be a regular feature for awhile, so hope you'll link along and visit me there on Thursdays :)
Miracles,
k-

You Lucky Tea Party Winner You!

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:34:00 +0000

Congrats, Marilyn -- I'll be in touch via email or on your blog to connect for mailing the package to you! And I'm so glad all of you joined us for this Mad Fabulous Glorious Tea Party! And many thanks to all the party goers at A Fanciful Twist for hosting the big gathering...

Groovin' to the Tunes

For your partying pleasure -- heck, just for blasting in the kitchen while you do the dishes -- I've been grooving on soundtracks lately. The shows on dvd are great, BUT the soundtracks of the following are really interesting:

West Wing
Sopranos
Brothers & Sisters

Unfortunately with West Wing and Brothers & Sisters there doesn't seem to be any collection put together yet. BUT you can find out what the individual songs are and get them one by one on iTunes.

On one of the "unofficial" sites for West Wing, you'll find this guide to tunes from various episodes. And they have other links to buying certain pieces of music here.

Sopranos has long had soundtrack cd collections available like this one and this one at Amazon. Also there are a ton of single tracks in the iTunes store if you search for "sopranos soundtrack," so you can listen and purchase one by one.

For Brothers & Sisters, there's a great forum thread with suggestion for soundtrack list -- read the replies, too, because they add a couple other great ones! Also TV Show Songs site has a list with links right into iTunes for various episodes. Okay, and while I'm on the Brothers & Sisters theme, let me say that I totally get that it is a complete soap opera, but Rob Lowe is so, so, so cute! And hey, isn't it interesting to see the whole gang from Thirtysomething back in the tv game? Must be interesting to be part of the Olin Dynasty :) ha ha -- pun very intended as Brothers & Sisters reminds me a lot of Dynasty updated for new century!! Those scenes with Sally Field and Patricia Wettig going at it in the food fight reminds me of a campy 2000's version of Linda Evans and Joan Collins going at it! HA!

Another Opportunity for Artists!

Over on Violette's message boards, I saw a post today for another opportunity for possibly having some art published -- in an odd, interesting retail way. Check out this call to artists from Sweetriot! Maybe your art could end up on their tins??

And check out Mosaic Maker...
How cool is that?! It's so quick. Yes, I could do that in Photoshop, too, but it would take me forever and it would make me crazy. But with Mosaic Maker, you just paste in the url of each photo and wa-la! You can also sign up for a free account with them and upload from your computer, too. Or if you have Flickr, then it ties right into your acct there.

Okay, there's my blurbs for the day :)
Happy artmaking to you!!
miracles,
k-

Mad Tea Party Give-Away!!

noreply@blogger.com (1,000 Faces of MotherHenna) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:49:00 +0000

A Fanciful Twist is throwing a Mad Tea Party and we're joining the fun!

Click the tea party collage image to the left to see details in full size, and scroll down below to see detail photos of two tea cups we're giving away.

In addition to the cups, I'll be sending along a couple other tea surprises like variety tea pack and some lavender and maybe a few other things yet to be decided...

When you enter by leaving a comment, please leave me enough info to connect with you if you win -- like link to blog or your email addy. But don't leave really personal stuff like home address or phone.

And click through to see the Fanciful Twist invitation to the Tea Party -- make your own tea party art, or do a give away, or take photos of your real tea party! Post it in your blog and join the bloglandia party. :)

And speaking of Tea Parties, check out the call from Cloth Paper Scissors for mixed media Tea Party art!!! Surf around their site, too, as they have other submission guidelines and such online.

Okay, here's the give-away photos:

Mug 1, view a

Mug 1, view bMug 2, view aMug 2, view bMiracles!!
k-