Creative Grief Tool, gratitude, Kairos, landscape, memories, National Parks, Photograph by Ken Gehle, Photograph by Tamara Beachum, Photography, prayer, quest, tool
“Let’s go to Death Valley,” he said. This was in response to my question about where we should go for my husband’s forty-fourth birthday and our first vacation away from our two small children in several years. I laughed, “No, really where do you want to go?” “Death Valley!” he grinned looking over the top of his glasses and that’s when I knew he was serious. Death Valley National Park is a place of odd beauty. Compared to what I perceived as the lush landscape of the Southeast, most of the vistas in Death Valley could best be described as simply, brown. To an inexperienced eye, such as mine, the ridiculously vivid blue sky was met only by tones of sepia. All the same, once Ken had convinced me to be there, I found it a place full of wonders I was eager to experience. We hiked and explored everywhere: salt flats, enormous sand dunes, a salt creek, abandoned mines, steep trails leading to surreal rock formations and even a ghost town. After days of exploring the park mostly at sunrise and sunset a curious thing happened, my eyes adjusted. One evening Ken set up for a shot in an area of the park known as the Artist’s Palette. Our trip was almost over. Faint hues of white, verdigris and deep red were visible on the range in front of us. As the sun approached the horizon behind us the colors of the arid earth began to reveal themselves. The mountainside was luminous with yellow, green, blue and even purple. The variety, there all along, was subdued and unappreciated...
gratitude, grief, moving forward, transformation
I am so pleased to announce the re-launch of my website. It has been quite an effort over the last month to get to this point but such a joy to channel my creative efforts in this way. And now it is finally ready for the big reveal! An unexpected technical issue precipitated the need to make some changes to the site but it also offered me an opportunity to consider what I wanted it to be now. Basically, my website got sick and I had to take some time to nurse it back to health. It came through transformed. Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it? My goal with this new website is to provide you with inspiration and make it easier to find ways of living forward after loss that work for you. I have tried to make it more visually appealing and a true reflection of my voice. I hope that comes across. One of the new features of the site is the ability to schedule a creative grief support session with me directly through the website. This also includes a new free 30 minute “Get to Know You” session if you aren’t sure what path you want to take. (Rest assured, I still answer the phone though.) I would like to thank some amazing people who helped me with this site: Rob Granholm over at IT Arsenal did all the back-end web stuff that was over my pay grade leaving me free to take on the creative aspects. Penny Treese designed my logo and loaned me a digital copy of her beautiful encaustic painting....
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...
gratitude, heARTwork giveaway, love letters
Author, Patti Digh, recently put out a challenge to be a rock fairy with the call to “Fling some beauty into the world today, with gratitude at its core.” I love that idea. This is something I have done before. It makes me feel good. The last time I was on a plane I tucked a love letter into the airline magazine in the seat pocket in front of me. I didn’t think about the gratitude that was behind that offering but it was there. I was headed off on an adventure to Puerto Rico. So many times I have been reluctantly in an airplane seat on business trips, the pull to be home instead or the longing to be wandering somewhere that didn’t involve the inside of conference rooms tugging at my heart. I could have used a love letter. My heart was full with gratitude for the time and ability to be on an adventure of my own choosing when I slipped my anonymous letter between the pages of that magazine. So what beauty shall I fling into the world today? I’m offering this blue ceramic heart I made to one of my readers. I’m grateful for so many things these days: for the ability to share my journey with you, to witness your stories, to make art in whatever form I choose, and to love life because of my blue heart not in spite of it. Comment below or on this Facebook post if you want to be considered and I will choose one winner at random to send it to (in the US please.) What...
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