art, creativity, grief, heARTmaking activities
I’m participating in the 100Mandalas challenge led by Kathryn Costa to create 100 mandalas in 100 days (not necessarily consecutive though!) When I sit down to create something I tend to want to boil the ocean in my artwork. Mandalas provide a nice container within which to start. I can stay inside the lines if I want to…or not. I will explore different mediums and some of my mandalas will be observations. I’m keeping my options open. Shouldn’t we...
9/11, birthday, grief, widow
Today, September 11th, is my birthday. As a member of the widowed community I now have met and come to know the real life stories of women who lost their person on 9/11/2001. Knowing that others are mournful on a day that I would otherwise be celebrating does put a damper on the day. How could it not? Celebrating love that lives on with Tanya at Camp Widow West. Her fiance, Sergio Villanueva, was a responding NYC firefighter on September 11, 2001. On my 2001 birthday I opened cards that arrived in the mail, glanced at them and tossed them straight in the trash. I can’t tell you exactly why. Grief alters our usual behavior in unexpected ways. We stayed quietly at home. We did not sing the birthday song. I can’t remember if there was a cake. My birthday remains a paradox: this day is not about me but this day is about me. Over the course of the last decade plus I have created a few ways to take care of myself and handle the contradictory feelings of the day. I stay away from media, enjoy a nice dinner that I don’t have to cook and each year I ask myself what feels right as a way to honor the totality of the day. Imagine opening your mailbox and finding more than one hundred birthday greetings. That’s what social media, in particular Facebook, can be like on a birthday. It’s pretty awesome. Now imagine following the mail carrier as she makes her rounds and seeing that on that same day in all the other mailboxes she...
clown, depression, grief, suffering, suicide, teacher, why, widow
On our first real date in 1989 my late husband and I saw Dead Poets Society. It was a great date-night movie, inspirational with poignant reminders to explore, stay curious and that we are all creative beings. We were in our early twenties just venturing out in our own lives and trying to figure out how to make them extraordinary. The film was poetry brought to life through script, cinematography and cast. As I recall this was my first experience of Robin Williams in a serious role moving him far beyond the simple but fun silliness of Mork from Ork. He was superb in the lead role; a vast talent not just mere funny man. I was uplifted by the experience of watching him and became a fan for life. He glows before us on the silver screen standing on top of a desk. “We must constantly look at things in a different way. The world looks very different from up here,” he tells the students, encouraging them to climb up too and look around with a new perspective. “…just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way, even though it may seem silly or wrong. You must try.” We think we know death and the reasons for it. Robin Williams took his own life and speculation abounds as to why: addiction, depression, maybe even bi-polar proposed one armchair psychiatrist in the media. He, like so many others who have died by suicide, is called selfish for his actions. But let’s take a new perspective. Let’s climb up on that desk and...
children, Photograph by Ken Gehle, Photography, Wordless Wednesday
All of the Wordless Wednesday images are available as fine art prints. See the details...
children, Father's Day, gratitude, Holiday
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” ~ Umberto Eco I’m grateful today for the awesome fathers in the lives of my children and my bonus children. They have taught lessons both on purpose and without trying. Amazing men I am proud to know and...
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