Welcome to the view from our front window - I love to watch the trees on this street as the seasons change - bare and dusted with snow in winter, the first impossibly hopeful green of spring, a leafy tunnel in summer, and mother nature's palette in the fall. (Note also the large landscape rocks which will stop any truck! ;-)... you may remember our 'crash' experience of 3 years ago...)

Anyway... we're having a bonfire in the back yard tonight, inviting neighbors and friends for hot spiced wine and smores - wish each of you could be with us too...
Happy holidays to all - may your days be merry and bright, and may your Christmas be filled with a sense of peace and hope for our beautiful world.

Love

Marie

Happy Solstice

The snow started falling yesterday and I woke up to this scene out my front door. Snow caves, sledding, warm fires, and hot chocolate are in order. Wanna come over?

Snowy Night by Mary Oliver

Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness.

I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.

But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air.

I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.

Welcoming the light,
Staci

Ocean and Sky Become One

Swimming into the warm ocean of your thoughts, brings me a cozy sensation of familiarity and contentment. I'm also excited to see images of your lives and what moves you, my favorite people. The image here is from a helicopter ride obove Kauai. Had a wonderful time. Sad I missed the LIOS trip to HI, but looking forward to next years opportunity. Love to ya'll.

Aloha, I thought I'd share a picture of the seawall in front of my shop. We had this amazing storm last week. The waves were reaching across the road...then came the THUNDER, LIGHTNING AND TORENTIAL RAINS>>>EEEEEEEKKKKK!!

Collaboration With Nature

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Andy Goldsworthy. I hadn't until just this morning. He is a "British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist living in Scotland who produces site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. His art involves the use of natural and found objects to create both temporary and permanent sculptures which draw out the character of their environment." (per Wikipedia)

I had seen his work, or not exactly his work, but the creations that my brother-in-law had done in the past, inspired by his work. Beautiful art. The video above is a 5 minute demonstration of some of the things he has done.

Most of anything, what calls me at this time, is the impermanence of some of his pieces, which disappear as soon as the tide engulfs them or the wind blows them away. This has a lot to do with the book on Buddhism that I am reading right now. I am trying to understand some of it's basic concepts, since I realize I know nothing about real Buddhism other than rumors, new age factoids, and other random stuff. And for some reason, it's calling me right now.

I realize that there is so much personal work and change that I need to do. And a lot (if not all) involves getting a grip on my thoughts and my attitudes toward things that happen to me and around me. How I react to things when I don't get what I want, or how I deal with life when things are not the way I think they really "should" be... is something I'm not particularly proud of, most of the time.

Just sharing my ramblings :)

Trip to Anchorage

I caught some beautiful sunrises in Anchorage this week. Since the sun rises to late, it's not a hard thing to do. In fact it seems like either it's a sunset or a sunrise whatever is going on in the sky at any given moment throughout the day.

We went shopping and oh, how I'm starting to dread shopping. I've never been much of a shopper, really, but living in the bush makes shopping such an ordeal that you can't but hate it with passion after a few experiences. "Guerrilla shopping" they call it, apparently. And it's really what it is.

It has it's positive side also, of course. I get to see people walking around, eat in a restaurant, get a Chai anywhere, drive a car... basically, do things that I don't get to do on a regular basis anymore. Things that I used to take for granted, and that nowadays seems like luxuries. It's funny to look at life from such different perspectives at once.

warm from the inside out

Ohhhhh.....how fun this is. I am excited to be a part of it as you all feel so much closer.

Here is a pic from my house....inside that is. A snowy Tumalo creek from my kitchen window. This time last week I was in my bathing suit, drinking margaritas on a quiet beach in Mexico!

Thanks for your inspiration!

staci

uhm...my first blog

What a beautiful blog site.

All of your pictures are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing. I would love to share if only my satellite would upload without timing out....28-56K....yikes.

While trying to organize my office earlier, I came accross a CD and loaded in my pc. What a pleasant surprise to see if was of our class. I couldn't help but smile and even shed a few tears. (the cry baby club still is here).

I realized in those two plus years since our class, how much I have moved from the original intent and moved into more different spaces. The irony is; professionally, I am known as a "change agent" (word du jour)....and yet change personally, I still find resistance in. So I sit in my change, I look at it, smell it, try it on, if it fits, I wear it. And I look at others changes who did not have that luxury of time for their change through moving, babies, disease, and more...am curious on your feelings of change and having or not having time for change?

Pondering change and the need/desire/want/ of it.

most humbly in my first blog....ugh!
dee