peak pals!

watercolors + pencil + glitter glue

Here are my completed submissions for the Pin Pals Art Show. I'm quite pleased with them. Check out the rest of the submissions in the gallery here.

wynoochee

More camping! This time at Lake Wynoochee in the Olympic foothills.

Our walk-in campsite was super close to the lake, but as you can probably guess we didn't see much swimming weather. Instead of swimming Johnnie tended the fire while I read and we both ate hot dogs with salmon cream cheese and pickled okra. Strange I know, but we were both too mystified by the music in the Monte Thriftway to buy proper groceries. We didn't even buy beer! Whaaa?

I've made it to The Two Towers and as I promised here's the cover art, presumably by the same mystery artist as the first:

Again, you won't regret clicking to enlarge this guy. Look at that color scheme! Totally kick-ass.

I spent much time on the Wynoochee River growing up and it came to be a sort of sacred place for me. I never felt very at home in Aberdeen, but I always felt at home on the river. It was interesting to go back again after many years away. The trip was only one night but as we drove back to Seattle I had a moment of clarity where I saw Seattle and my life here from outside myself and I fell in love all over again! Before I came to Seattle it felt like I was living life through some smothering protective cocoon, now I'm thriving and I feel so free. Here I've found friends like none other - real, real good peeps. It's good to fall in love with this city and my life here again. Thanks you guys. 

gournal share

I have a few journal pages to share before I head to the river and the woods for a night or two:

A swirling river bank, my musings on the oyster shell (again), a bit of energy mapping, and a small tribute to dear Bob Ross, most gentle of gentlemen.

oregon country fair

This weekend a friend and I travelled down to Veneta, OR for the Oregon Country Fair. The Fair was super psychedelic, my outfit was adorable (though I totally failed to document either) and the scenery was beautiful.

I'm out of practice on my Polaroid as you can tell by the blurry shots, but it's hard not to like whatever comes out on that film. 

Being out in the country made me more than a little homesick, it's been a while since I've left the city. Unless my mind totally fails me I hadn't been far out of Seattle since a short trip to Portland last July! Good news is I'm on vacation starting TODAY and I plan on spending much time in the country! (And perhaps my adventures will be more thoroughly documented than this one. ;)

the tao of broken

If you want to become whole,
first let yourself become broken.
If you want to become straight,
first let yourself become twisted.
If you want to become full,
first let yourself become empty.
If you want to become new,
first let yourself become old.
Those whose desires are few get them,
those whose desires are great go astray.

For this reason the Master embraces the Tao,
as an example for the world to follow.
Because she isn't self centered,
people can see the light in her.
Because she does not boast of herself,
she becomes a shining example.

Because she does not glorify herself,
she becomes a person of merit.
Because she wants nothing from the world,
the world can not overcome her.

When the ancient Masters said,
"If you want to become whole,
then first let yourself be broken,"
they weren't using empty words.
All who do this will be made complete.

This chapter of the Tao te Ching came up in my Twitter feed today thanks to Daily Tao Te Ching. It looks like many minds are pondering upon the same questions. Am I broken? Am I whole? Which should I be? Am I both? My good friend Capri also introduced me to the Hindu goddess Akhilandeshvari -- girl's got that shit down!

the original source of this image escapes me

addendum

I feel it would be good for me to briefly expand upon this realization I had with the oyster shell.

I was just sitting on the beach feeling sort of bad. I'd found myself a little sand hollow on the top of a grassy dune to sit and sunbathe. It was warm and clear and there were so many sailboats out on the water. I had earlier disappointed someone dear to me and so I found myself pondering things done wrong and "things wrong with me" as I absentmindedly buried my hands in the sand - like you do when you let someone down. I was feeling a bit broken. (Except more than a bit, because feelings with me are always a bit more than a bit ;) My hand was deep in the sand when it felt something cool and substantial - I thought a stone, but when I pulled it up it was the oyster shell. Its edges seemed harsh and jagged and with a glance over it before I tossed it aside I assessed it as broken. Then before I could think a small voice popped into my head and said,

"Here's the thing about the oyster shell-- it may seem like it's broken, but it's actually whole." 

So I fetched the oyster shell for an inspection and as you might guess, found it unbroken. Completely unbroken. Certainly not missing large parts of itself as I had thought upon first sight. A few small chips in it's many delicate scales perhaps, but no one could call it broken.

And the significance of this was not lost on me that day. It filled my entire being. Or emptied it maybe. I expanded. I was the oyster shell. We're all the oyster shell!

ZEN MOMENT ACHIEVED!!

And so my heart was warmed and I felt immense gratitude for this beautiful metaphor that had been gifted to me by the oyster shell. A paradox that applied to myself and my feelings that afternoon, but also in my mind applies to everyone, everywhere, ever. We all have wounds but they can't keep us from being whole. We're whole just the way we are, we just don't always see it.

Peace, bro. c;

zen on the beach

I don't want to admit it, but it seems true summer days are gonna be rare again this year. On Monday I seized a beautiful opportunity and biked to Golden Gardens after work.

It was a warm sandy glorious sunbathing time. And I had one helluva Zen moment with an oyster shell! Let's do it again summer!