Here, There and Soon, Somewhere New

Saturday, September 22, 2012







My love and I had the fortune to stay in this lovely stone cottage on Padilla Bay. It was a needed retreat from the regular days of living. We spent our days reading, eating local treats and napping. I spent hours simply gazing out over the sweet bay. I painted some, but mostly just soaked up the colors and breezes and moon rises and sun sets.

We are home now and changes are afoot. I will be combining my artwork with this blog that has given me so much strength. All will remain simple here, just more focused on creating and sharing the work with all of you. Xo.

Heading South via Sisters

Wednesday, August 8, 2012



Road Trip!

Then on to Cali, oh how I have missed you. Earthquakes and all.

Another year Around the Sun

Monday, August 6, 2012

I turn 45 tomorrow. Wow. It happened, just like that...What an amazing miracle, this life on earth.



Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting

While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.

~ Hafiz ~

Hot, Hot, Hot



It has been sweet as bees knees weather-wise here in Portland, that is until the day I had to make a wedding cake with buttercream frosting. This day, it was 102 degrees. I have no air conditioning, well, because it is Portland and most of the year it is freezing and raining. So piece by piece, bit by bit, I made this lovely cake for a very lovely girl and her new husband. It only melted a little sitting out in the hot sun. Cake decorating is like a three dimensional painting, color, composition, layering...except of course when it is 102 degrees outside, then it is just super duper challenging.

Srimati Radharani

Thursday, August 2, 2012



A work in progress, I am just so happy to be painting. And painting, and painting. I am learning so much in doing. Duh. I am working on a series of eight Gopis. I will be sharing the progress here. When each is finished, I will post a bit about their qualities. Stay tuned. Xo.

Paint

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I have been spending time with this little work in progress.  I leaning toward a series  of Gopis, the loving consorts of Krsna. Each possessed specific qualities offered in service to Krsna. 



Before
After

Lots of painting in these parts.

Gnome Tats

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Yep. That is right, I gave my naughty gnome a tattoo yesterday. I live in a funky neighborhood and this gnome has found his tribe. I was out painting in the yard yesterday and thought he needed a little something more. All hail to Gnome Moms!


Internet Copy Cat

Monday, July 16, 2012

I didn't say that everything I made had to be decorative. Summer arrived in the Pacific Northwest just long enough to convince a few tourists that this is the most beautiful place in the world. It rained today. But that is oaky, because we ate the most delicious dinner. You should make at least one of these three:

Corn Salad
Cabbage Salad
Handmade Tortillas-I have been making tortillas a lot lately and the has been the best recipe for me.

Basically, I just made the entire menu from Posy, with the ingredients I had on hand. Everyone was very happy.

Happy Summer!

One Every Day

Thursday, July 12, 2012

I see so many pretty things on the internet. I am going to make some of them, just for fun. Every time I see something I like and I think I can make it, I will. I started with these...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Lace Pots.

The pots were hanging around waiting for their destiny. I picked the doilies up for a $1 at an antique store.



Stay tuned to see what I make tomorrow.

World Domination Summit

Tuesday, July 10, 2012



The weekend has left me speechless and more than a little tired. The hardest part for me was walking into a crowd of 1,000 strangers and MINGLING. Wow, that took a lot out of me. But I am so happy I sucked it up! I heard from incredibly amazing individuals. Do you know Brene Brown? Well, check her out. She has a TED talk too! There was this guy! Oh man, what a story. I gave up my birthday for Charity Water. You can too! The host of the event was this very generous man! At the end of the conference, he gave EVERY member of the audience a $100 bill to go out into the world and make real change with real action. I feel the responsibility of such a gesture and am busy forming the concrete way in which I will offer this gift to the world. I also heard from these lovely people:


Jennifer Lee, oh man she helped me so much to get my vision clear!


There was this couple. LOVE them.

And bless this woman. I think I have found my inner introvert and have been playing the part of an extrovert all of these years. Really. Really.

There were so many more, people I met in line for the toilet, the young girl I chatted with while eating grilled cheese sandwiches as she told me about traveling around Asia, there were the numerous coaches, writers, bloggers, free thinkers, open hearters. Come next year, you will not be disappointed!

World Domination Summit

Saturday, June 30, 2012



WDS is coming to Portland. Amazingly, I had the fee when the tickets went on sale. These tickets go fast! Needless to say, after floundering and floating in my career, I am coming to believe that I have what it takes to thrive and do the work I love. This is my first step. I am going to hang out with people like this! I am so lucky. And grateful for this lovely first step...

 A Superhero

A Life Artist

I've been reading her blog for years...

And the one starting all of the hoopla!

Washington D.C.

Sunday, June 24, 2012










I had the pleasure of wondering through The National Gallery this spring. What a lovely gift to be graced with so much art. I could walk through these rooms for days and days and days...

Mary, Mary...

Saturday, June 23, 2012












quite contrary. How does your garden grow? Since moving to Portland, I have switched from growing food to growing flowers. I hate dealing with pests and I am in constant conflict with letting them live or blasting them to their death. The other major reason is the damn Beagle. That Beagle eats anything I plant. She has already eaten every ripe blueberry, golden raspberry and strawberry within her reach. Yesterday I caught her jumping up to the top branches at an attempt to reach the last juicy, tender and sweet golden raspberries. She has learned to shake the tomato pots to free ripe fruit into her gaping jaws. She will even take a stab at the chiles, last summer the garden was strewn with partially eaten peppers, Habaneros, Purple Peruvians, Giant Jalapenos. I only have so much elevated space...So, this year? This is how my garden grows...

Hiding

Wednesday, June 13, 2012




Yesterday someone told it looked like I am hiding from the world. I think I am. I am okay with this right now, but I part of me thinks I need to make plans to visit the world. Is it okay to hide sometimes?

Looking Toward This

Thursday, June 7, 2012

My love and I are planning a little time away. I found this sweet little cottage and am so happy to be heading north. It is months away, to ensure some sun...It is still raining here and we just needed a little light at the end of the tunnel. Xo.

The Rainy Days of June

Monday, June 4, 2012





The sun has not risen for a few days. There is something inherently melancholic about this fact. Oh, yes, it has come up each day. I just have not seen it behind this thick layer of cloud cover. Today the clouds are pouring rain in a steady stream. Yes, I know this is why the Pacific Northwest is so lovely and green and lush. This is why the hop vines are trailing up and over the house, why the tomato plants are growing leaps and bounds every day. But THE SUN. I want the sun, I want it more than words can express. I cannot will the sun here, not with all of my might. I crave you, Dear Sun. Hear my cry.


The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed--
or have you too
turned from this world--
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?





The Waiting Place

Sunday, June 3, 2012


Sweet Tea Vodka and a Paper Straw



The Grill is Grilling



Tissue Paper Garland

At least the Waiting Place has all of these pretty things to look at while I wait. Lots of people have been born this time of year, so there is a lot to celebrate. We grab the sun when we can get it and mourn it when it hides for days on end. The flowers are blooming, and when that happens, I guess I can't complain.





Peonies


Long silences mean I was locked out of my blog. I'm back. More to come. Xoxo.

Where I Have Been

Saturday, March 31, 2012


Lots and lots and lots of rain in these parts. Lots. Endless. Never ending. Really. For days and days. I have been on spring break which even pisses me off more. I read a lot. I thought about doing the laundry. A lot. Did I do it? Nope. The only problem is that this is our bed when we lived in Southern California. Do you know how you can tell? Yep. The sunshine streaming in the window...that is how you can tell. No sun streaming through these Portland windows. Oh, husbandly just informed me "Oregon is reaching record rainfall for March." Well, I could have told you that. Thank goodness I love my bed so deeply.

What My Eyes Saw

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Mokulua Islands

I guess this stuff is supposed to be made in China...

Yum. Makes me hungry for Dim Sum.

Quan Yin in Chinatown

You can buy a whole box of this stuff. Did you know that?

No photoshop required.

The Mokulua Islands

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean
Right after this, I dove into the ocean to watch the rest...The sun rose right over me.

I am so lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky to be alive. To have eyes that see and skin that feels a breeze. To have breath in my lungs to breathe in this lovely, lovely world. I am lucky to have my limbs to swim. And a heart to know this is true.