Gratitude & Bliss

This Yule season has been filled with love and generosity. I am filled with Gratitude.

On this quiet cold winter day, clear skied, warm inside I give Thanks for the many blessings I have swirling around, infusing every facet of my life.

Life is Right.

The Path Beautiful.

Blessed Be!

A Generous Spirit

Dear David,

I am blessed to have been a part of your heart's circle. 11 years after your death, emotion fills me with a swirling of love and gratitude, despair and loneliness, and simple sadness for my lost friend, mentor, and teacher now that these belongings you had set aside for me have finally arrived. I am deeply moved that you would pass on some of your treasures to me.

Tears welled up as I opened the long awaited box... and then three days later the wailings of one deep in mourning poured out when I sat down to finally write what I felt.

You taught me to trust my creative instincts, to trust the uniqueness of me, even in its extreme facets. Your example taught me to be generous in teaching. You affirmed that we should laugh and have fun, work hard, and be proud of the results. You shared your journey with me. I was thrilled to watch your career vault into amazing projects. Our friendship/mentorship included sharing the nasty little details like procrastinating by cleaning and fluffing, something we both fell prey to, and still I struggle with!

And then the terrible news came and you shared your dying with me...

For your trust and the love that was/is there between us I mourn the lost visits with you that your death stole from me and from your family, your friends, your students, your own creativity, from the world that is not as bright without your soul shining in artistic journey among us.

11 years I have waited for these things, not knowing what they were, only that you had entrusted our friend to get them to me... Finally my grieving can come to a close. You are in my heart and that can never change. I know you are free in heaven enjoying the astounding welcome that is God's gift to those who return home.

Thank you for
Welcoming me into your life,
Your heart,
Your resonating creativity.

You are a treasure in my life forever.
I know the Joy of God's embrace has welcomed you home in perfect love.
I love you David.
Rest in Peace.

Blessed Be!

Torture on my Mind

Image from a Yule card I received last year. My thanks to the artist for gracing us with such beauty as I write on what is not.

Torture on my Mind

Torture and confessions... what wouldn't you say if pain is being, has been, mercilessly inflicted? Humans are not meant to feel pain except as a safety mechanism to initiate a flight response.

Who are the torturers? What evil have they survived to be able to inflict wounds, degradation, misery, and pain in unrelenting, methodical, and organized ways on another human being?
Who are the people that order the torture?
Who authorizes the use of torture?

It is criminal to abuse a child, so, how can it be morally justifiable to abuse an adult? Even the worst person does not deserve to be tortured. No justice is served and the debasment of Humanity is perpetuated. We do ourselves injustice when we allow there to be people in our sphere of influence who we will say deserve treatment other than we ask for ourselves. Have we forgotten The Golden Rule?

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

How do torturers resolve this?
How do their confessors?
How do those who support torture in any instance resolve this?

Do we not remember what it is like to be a child, innocent and accepting?
Perhaps we could agree to display The Golden Rule in public places. And especially in all the secret, non-existing government "facilities", and military intelligence gathering training manuals, and police protocols, and... how about high school bathrooms? I invite you to offer your ideas for more good places to have the Golden Rule posted as a reminder to all who call themselves human.

To call on God to Bless any "mission" that uses "whatever means are necessary" to achieve suspect ends is an abomination. How can we stand for a president to call for our laws to give him torture as a way to "get the job done"?

~A Nightmare:

The final act: evil metal devices worn on my torturer's thumbs... his right thumb pressing into my left temple, causing pressure... no doubt damaging pressure on my brain, my balance? My thinking? Torture on my mind, my brain, literally. How deeply will my torturer press? What must I say to make it stop?

I broke the dream to stop the damage.

The prayer of all tortured was granted me,
"Please let this be only a nightmare that I'll wake up from".
~Blessedly, for me, it was just that.

Moon Cycle Howling

Have we forgotten that even as each month our wombs grow fertile, only wisdom brings the skills and maturity that makes motherhood effective?

I am 42. I have chosen not to have children. I have never been pregnant. Since I was 13 I have known I would not give birth... and the one time I believe I conceived I was able to take the morning after pill and let the child I would have had live on in The Great Spirit's embrace.

Have we forgotten that becoming a parent is more than simply hosting an embryo to full term, or not, as has become so common in our times?

Have we lost faith in the existence of the soul? Do we not believe that our choice to become parents is guided by a Great Spirit that will allow our children to come forth when the time is right?

I lament the adamant voices that cry for citizenry for what is not yet ready to be brought forth from the gates of Life: our female thighs. We must not allow the policies of guilt and repression to take away our wisdom: to have a child is a sacred decision. To be born to parents who have chosen to raise the child to full adulthood, giving the child every advantage for a happy healthy life... This is every Soul's desire.

I believe that bringing Life forth is an honor. I believe that That Which Is Holy supports a woman and her mate in choosing when to bring that life into our contentious reality. I believe that The Holy Spirit has entrusted us with a monthly opportunity to bring forth Love... and requires us to live in Compassionate Truth... and demands that we not bring a life into this world if it will be brought forth into suffering.

Our western cultures are in danger of losing our Wild Wisdom... too many technological distractions... not enough time spent in Nature, observing the Sacred Circle of life, death, rebirth, decay, renewal.

Let your children play outside... let the teens wear sweaters and coats in the winter.... it is not a time to bare midriffs in the incessant quest for sex appeal... Let your children learn to make french toast. Let your children wait to be born till you have finished your self discovery and can offer them compassion and some hard won strength.

Trust in the Blessing of the monthly moon cycle... this is Our Great Spirit's gift to our families and communities... that we are able to bring Life forth, into right balance with time, space, and circumstance.

Blessed BE!

The Road to Kindness

A prayer for Kindness

That which is Kind & Generous
Be fueled.

Those who take away Compassion & Right Action
be shown their errors, Kindly.

Those whose greed for power and money,
has turned their cheeks to Compassion,
be brought Illumination.

Those in power and the many they influence grow
Heart and stop their destruction of
Compassion & Loving Values.

Let no man take away Freedom.

Let no woman deny Wisdom.

Let Kindness & Generosity Guide Us.

Blessed Be!


Christina Boyce 2004


So I begin the revelations. No longer do I hide my vision. This entry marks the start of my show Land & Light ~ Reality, Essence, Vision as it appears and evolves online.

The first pastel from this image is begun... the words of the prayer potent as I listen and read the news around our planet.

It is time for us to nurture our own dreams into reality. It is time for us all to accept the love that flows in our direction. It is a time to understand kindness as it manifests in self love... a time to take care of our Spirit and bodies such that strength and courage become our way.

And, in the care taking spirit I wish all a sound night of sleep and dreams filled with hope bringing imagry. Schlaf Gut!

Roosters' Last Night

Have finished my shift, beginning a new paradigm. Time sheets to count every 5 minutes spent. Having the effect of motivating me to get tick marks in projects that have languished. Feel good about the 44 hours I just gave since Wednesday at 1800 hours.

Home after 0100 hours to pluck 3 roosters from the hen house. All red roosters. They will provide feathers for art, meat for meals, and respite for the 20+ hens we have now. One rooster is left. He is a magnificent Americauna.

Listening to the gypsy music from today's link prepares me to sleep with passionate dreams.... to wake with lavish desire for the dance, the poetry, the song, the LIFE!!!

All week I have been listening to live coverage of Rosa Parks memorial and funeral services. Tears have fallen for the glory she has left on our planet. Excitement fills me from the passionate words I have heard spoken about our nation, our failures, and our struggle for a better world.

I feel it happening. The shift begins. Those who believe that one person can change the world rise up in respect and admiration. We are called to live vibrantly as we believe. Mrs. Parks passing is charging people to speak out for action in honor of Truth and Justice and Freedom.

It is a time to speak truth, to act in grace, and to let the corrupt know that their actions will no longer be tolerated.

It is a time for all who desire a world of Joy for their children, or their friends' children to make sure the vision is made real: ACT locally, THINK globally, DREAM Spiritually, BE physically what you seek to see in this world, in the world you leave to the children of our children.

Thank you Mrs. Parks, Thank you Reverend King, Thank you Gandhi, Thank you to all Souls who have made a stand for a world of glorious diversity, passionate beauty, and deep reverent compassion. I pray we act to honor your examples by living wisely and courageously in our own lives.

Blessed BE!!!

Strength Through Compassion

New moon, my weekend about to end, shift about to begin. Tim and I chopped a cord of wood over our weekend, snapped many bundles of kindling.

Kitchen painting has taken another leap forward. Guatemala colors inspiring the new look, memories surface with each brush stroke.

New water heater... the old one died... so, paint job started on the old will begin anew on the new... or, I will try a different approach. All in the name of environment. A happy home is a vibrant, clean, healing womb.

Note: my MO here is to link my title to a timely news piece, and include an interesting photo.

Today I chose the link Tim sent me earlier about Walmart's "war room"/ image control center. We do not shop there due to the myriad issues that globalization without heart creates and is led in it's example by Walmart which is one of the most powerful corporations in our country. You would think that a corporation that has that kind of earning power would take pride in treating its employees to a premium health care plan and retirement benefits.

I note that another giant company, GM, is pruning its health care benefits for its employees and crowing proudly at the move it considers intelligent as it tries to clear up its financial trouble.

Don't these CEO's and CFO's know that it is their employees that are the life blood of their companies and not the cash flowing in from their product sales?

I grow livid when I hear that a company wants to improve their financial standing and thus will trim health benefits.

I am most grateful to work for a company who cares deeply for the health of its employees.

In the shade of our Grandparent ponderosa tree we grow strong and our hearts grow light. Our life is indeed blessed.

I am Blessed. Blessed Be!

All Hallow's Eve

Happy Halloween!

I return to my musings after many interesting events worthy of writing about... but today I simply mark the holiday and enjoy the lovely fall weather... and return to my studio.

... Well, the trick or treaters are home and hopefully in bed on this school night, as I head over to my studio for a few more peaceful hours of creative exploration.

Finally able to upload a small picture from childhood trick or treating but still experiencing trouble with Blogger photo server. It only lets me add small sized photos. Wonder what is up with that and if they will fix it.

KMart has taken all the home sewing out of contemporary Halloween costuming. Tis doing it quite nicely, no doubt thanks to Martha Stewart.... prison has its benifits I guess.

Blessed Day!

Courage to Speak

Waiting for the edge of winter to slice through the velvet fall. Four roosters roam the yard, running from me even as I bring them food for fattening. Three will serve our hunger. Chicken pot pie this week.

When I consider the choices I've made I am glad.

Faced with new tasks, I find myself challenged to live according to my moral ground. Today I voiced my truth.

I hone my resolve on obstacles placed in my Path by The Great Spirit to test my strength, my awareness, my courage. I am hungry to live a life of integrity.

Arrival

Fall rides in on these chill winds. Indian summer sun warms my skin even as goose flesh raises during pumkin patch wanderings. Chimes deliver poetry capriciously changing directions.

Strident light streams silently, severing past from dark. Designing the way to Fall's brilliant color. We welcome loved ones, anticipate hot apple cider sipped in vibrant conversations. Walls are painted freshly, recipes reviewed, and guest beds made.

Emotions run swiftly along Life's edge. Splashing on banks of change we challenge ourselves to be better to each other. Times call upon us to be activists in our society, to slow down, to watch the world in which our children grow... watch the lettuce grow. A miracle we must teach.

Dreams ripen into crisp relief. Blossoms prevail. Fruits fall. Harvest bears. This feast is ours.

Burn it up!

Fiesta de la Santa Fe... Viva La!

Nuestra Senora de la Paz reigns after La Conquistadora and her Conquistadors realize the offense that may be taken by the people who were "conquered".

The event celebrates the peace that has come to be between the 3 main cultures in the state, Spanish, Native American, and Anglo. The event also celebrates, unofficially, the end of the summer season de las touristes... or so I have long understood it as a native born and much in love with the city. Long since discovered by the same visitors, Santa Fe swells with festival seekers and is departed by locals who have seen it all too often.

I finally returned for a Fiesta visit after perhaps 23 years since the last time I braved the crowds who flood the city to see the spectacle of Zozobra burning.... missing that event but making the official entry of the Fiesta Royalty and the blessed Nuestra Senora de la Paz... ending my visit to see the new spectacle created by friends who are creating their own Zozobra event.

A smaller, closer Zozobra a la West, burning it in a more hospitable venue... This version looks like he belongs to the West clan even... and, their burning is more like the Ft. Marcy park events I remember from my childhood.

Viva la baby Zozobra! Viva la Familia! Viva Nuestra Senora de la Paz!

Prayer for Global Humanitarian Healing

Though yet the known world prevails,
an undercurrent runs strong in all I experience
Each Heart yearns & dreams for love & light,
That kindness prevail in Wisdom's Flight.

And tis this river running in our cells
Brings moments of Sacred Bliss alive on Earth,
When industrious minds are filled with Joy
and able bodies work with pride.

Such faith have I in Beauty, Earth, and Humanity
that some day we will wake upon the rainbow's appearance.
Quiet Glory gleaming upon The Dream made REAL,
A River of Wisdom running clear wit Love throughout all lives.

Blessed Be!

Memorial to New Orleans

Upon waking from a dream... I comprehend more fully that I have found my mate and I am deeply in love. My life is full and I have no more room for mementos filled with despair and regret.

We have only today ~ for what if today brings disaster and tragedy? What if suddenly here we had to survive? Would our days prior be lived well and have brought us strength? Would our memories keep us happy with the new challenges we would face?

I choose now. I choose flow. I choose Joy.

~Blessed Be!

Beautiful Day

A perfectly beautiful day our anniversary has been. Sweetness began it, skies turning from overcast to sunny and clear to stormy and back to partly cloudy for a lovely sunset. Family calling to extend salutations added unexpected warmth to our fires. We are blessed!

Thank you Pam for making the day so completely ours.

Recovery & Reunions

Tonight I keep it simple.

Zucchini appear from every garden: Nature’s abundant harvest appears on every counter... keeps coming: breads, sauté’s, and bakes… plenty more for compresses, salads, facials, and decorative array. Inside the lush plant: a womb-like vortex of still flowering, just forming, fully developed fruit in many stages of various degrees of maturity… much like the inside of the hen we accidentally butchered a few weeks ago. It was miraculous to see the egg-creation biomechanics even as we lamented our mistake: combs do not a rooster make!

I was thunderstruck by the sudden realization that our modern medicine continues to disservice the study of female anatomy. We are different. Beyond compare. Our bodies are sacred places of creation; capable of bringing life forth when conditions are perfect to raise a healthy family on a healthy planet, in a healthy society. But we are constrained in a paradigm where one can bring forth life into a hellish reality simply because the womb does not stop once it starts. Have we forgotten our hearts and souls and minds are the keys by which the Great Spirit & Mother Earth in Divine Understanding have given us ability to bring forth Humanity in Harmony? I think not. But we must struggle to remain the keepers of the Gates of Life. We must remember it is our choice, our life, our children's lives we stand resolute to defend their beginnings.

Our war mongering society, our contentious world, our violent state of current affairs is an abomination to Our Truth: We are meant to Live lives of Joyful Respect, Honorable Discovery, and True Learning in Sharing. We have not even begun to realize our potential growth.

Those who righteously call out for murder, deceit, and destruction will find their actions returned and compounded 100Fold upon themselves and their organizations. It is the Universal Law of Responsibility. You ARE responsible for all your actions. Let them be right and just. Let them honor the diversity that our miraculous planet presents.

Love is the only way. Action that is right minded, just, and compassionate must become our carefully deciphered Path. Let us gather together in reunions of Laughter and Happiness. Let us be willful in action that brings justice into reality.

Magic is alive. GOD Lives! Blessed Be!

Packrats, Routers, & Resistance

Tonight I am home for a few extra hours, a much needed respite in the 12 & 1/2 hour shift schedule which will continue for two more days as I have been called in to cover the next shift due to family illness. I will send my prayers for healing and wellness in my coworker's path.

Tired, but trying to make my upcoming anniversary celebration with Tim exceed expectations, I headed out to the wood shop. Sated with a wonderful dinner of fried catfish, brown rice, fresh garden spinach, and tomato wedges with the spectacular blue cheese dressing prepared by Tim for this welcome dinner together, I set up the router. I had a feeling that something was not quite right... but rather than enlist Tim's advise for this gift for him, and having mastered the use of a router years ago, I continued on, until the routing failed, though the router continued to run... Then the router began to shake violently with more power than I could control and get one hand free to flip the power switch off.... Frightened now, with no emergency off and fighting to keep from routing myself, blue electrical sparks began to arc at the bit! Overwhelmed and in classic flight or fight response I flung the router to the floor, where it crashed, continued to rout the air and yanked the power cord. Adrenaline response. Router bit now too hot to fit in its sleeve and me shaking too much to continue I headed into the house. Tim offered that I was too tired to even have begun working with a power tool and that he was worried as soon as he heard the sound. He was glad I was not hurt and was not expecting an anniversary gift beyond our plan to stay home to cook a gourmet meal together. So, did I rout for nothing? Am I resisting my fatigue? Denying my best health for the making of art?

In deference to my shaking hands and minor shock my project has stalled. I am headed off to bed perchance to dream.... though I have been so deeply tired these last 2 weeks that I do not remember my dreams and my alarms wake me from deepest sleep.

I share with you with images of the little pack rat we chased out of our camp kitchen... and a nest it had created.

What purpose does this nest serve? Art for rodent interiors?

Too beautiful to simply burn, I snapped the shot before we used it for fire tinder in our concerns for the dreaded "Hanta" virus.

Isn't it odd that our culture slowly but surely is being frightened away from all contact with Nature and foreign cultures even as the world goes global and our environment stands perilously close to ruin?

I leave you with two questions:
What is Sacred to you?
What frightens you?

Seasoning, Endings, & New Starts

As I remember recent visits from friends, frantic days finishing off tasks, meals taken in delight, and hard work finished, it occurs to me that summer is indeed ending. Our camp on our land is broken down and the pack rats can return to build their astonishingly lovely nests. The feel in the air of autumn foreshadows the pumpkin spice, nutmeg, hot apple cider broom trips across dramatic harvest moons. Swept skies. (Thank you Tia for that image!)

Tim and I have begun our school routine, I have finally gotten water in the studio and access to the new Sierra Grande Art Gallery. Spent time today with fellow Area Creative Enterprise, LLC member Mike and property owner Sheron cleaning out our second room for meetings and more display space... maybe even a workspace. It is big enough. The two days I spent at the gallery kept my time limited in my studio. The pay off in community building traded for stock building and image making.

I return to work tomorrow and will be on for 5 12 & 1/2 hour days. Will be consumed with getting to work on time and getting enough sleep. Saturday we travel to Trinidad to hear Peter's band Blue Suburban play.

Then, Sunday, Tim and I celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Will be making a gourmet meal... and butchering several of our old enough roosters bought in March. Busy! Yes, romantic too! 18 years together and enjoying it more every year.

Summer play ends, autumn work begins. Crickets chirp.

Blessed Be!

Recovering Flow

Wow! What a loaded last 36 hours! Yesterday's alarm was the 911 line ringing... was not called out until crew short driver... on 6 hours of sleep I made the 4 hour trip with a medical pt. Home at noon with no energy left... the day shot, shared with the ghost of a headache. I felt lost.

Today I woke after 11 hours of sleep just before my alarm sounded. Had to work to recover the inspiration I had planned for Tuesday's pre 911 day: am pages brought me back into flow!

Rode my bike through vivid midday blue skies embellished with perfect white billows of cloud. Thinking through my goals for this blog... wanting it to be something more than vanity fare for the ego.

Art! Art is my manna. New studio classroom space is in progress by Louie... my studio now has water, just need to turn input on downstairs after getting the key on Friday.

Wow! My dreaming leads me into reality. Time to make class schedules and menus of services... time to get the business ducks in a row! And, thus the ducky... made collaboratively by two sisters... 6yr old directing 14 yr old in shaping, her vision clear, vivid. The result brilliant yellow above!

Today was perfect with time in the garden and fabulous lasagna dinner by Tim. My flow be strong and clear!

Running Into the Picture

Friends join us for dinner and camaraderie this evening... the house got cleaned and all the stops were pulled out! Fresh Harry & David Royal Riviera pears gifted to us from Linda & her mom, her friend, Cathy added a luxurious touch.

A joy to see the two of them planning tomorrow's drive... like friends, not like parent & child. A discovery to note Linda's mom is a scientist as was her dad. Linda is an engineer... runs in the family!

We enjoyed Tim's expert hand in the kitchen: bison burgers, fresh garden salad with his spectacular blue cheese dressing, and baked french fries. Stuffed, we took a break from eating while I made a desert of crepes with an orange & apricot sauce with a half each of the pears Linda and Cathy brought topped off with a chocolate of choice just in from Mom's mailing to Tim. This we finished off with hot chocolate and mint tea.

We were sated as we set up a photo... timer on Cathy's new digital camera called for ingenuity! I set up an improvised "tripod" to be sure we were all in the photo. Our camera took two also. When those get developed I'll post it... till then, I think fondly on running into the picture back in Chichi when Tim and I were making our farewells to Posada del Arco... Life is Beautiful! It is late... or early, and dreamtime calls:

To bed, perchance to dream. Bon Voyage Linda & Cathy... thanks for the wonderful visit!

Regarding "Bill of NON-Rights" email floating around...

Maybe you've received it already... the email circulating about a new bill of NON-Rights. It's good until you get to the final two articles... sounds like someone of a different mind set tacked them on.... well, I had to rewrite. So: here they are first the article and then my response:

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!

MY REWRITE: This country is built on the sweat and dreams of people who have come from all over our Mother Earth. Being big enough in heart and soul we honor and respect the languages of all peoples. We speak English as our unifying language and we delight in learning to communicate Please, Thank you, Happy Birthday, Happy Holiday, and other common culture building phrases in many different languages. We applaud the efforts to save our country's indigenous languages that the Native Americans who have given their lands and ways that we may have ours are currently embarked on.

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all -- with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!

MY REWRITE: This country was built by people who were displaced from their lands and by others who could not worship in their country as they saw fit. As people who learn from their mistakes, and entrusted with continuing to build a great Nation, we affirm that each and every one of us has the right to our individual spiritual and religious beliefs. Period. The phrase In God we Trust is bigger than you or I can define. As this is true we will remember the wisdom behind separation of church and state and leave religion out of our political devices so that it may express itself without restriction in each individual heart. We grant that most of us are on a Spiritual path and hereby refrain from making judgments based on religious preferences. God understands all languages and all modes of devotion. We will not seek to determine that one way is better than another. We hereby gladly greet each individual as a child worthy of love and respect. God, The Great Spirit, Allah, Krishna, Buddha, The Goddess, Nature, Mother Earth.... knows we must become in our actions what we seek to experience.

Image is of gifts we brought back from our recent trip to Guatemala... a visual reference to the abundant diversity we love about our planet!

Beginnings...

Remembering travel and new neurons forged in discovery... Home after 32nd hour of 44 hour shift... T - 11:40 and counting till I return to my cubicle for final 12.5 hours...

Shower calls, refrigerator working, rain has finally come to these dry lands... My bones call for sleep and this computer screen, while thrilling in comparison to the one I work on, still emits the rays that we do not yet fully understand, still keeps my eyes dry, and causes me to question its magnetic pull on my creative force.