"There is another world,
But it is in this one."
- William Butler Yates
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge...
why not check them out and join in the fun !
Monday, 22 April 2013
20 Steps Outside my Door
As the early dawn light chases away the shadows of the night, there is a far away look in the old gnomes eyes. seeing back into the world he left behind...
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge...
why not check them out and join in the fun !
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge...
why not check them out and join in the fun !
Sunday, 21 April 2013
From one Journaller to Another
Sometimes the most beautiful gifts come to you when you least expect it, and you had no idea until they do, how much you need it. Sifting through Facebook this evening a post came up with my name on it. Below was this photograph:
Strangely enough I recognized the kind of notebook immediately. They were the ones I used to teach my Journalling classes to kids. As I read what was written, tears began streaming down my face... and then I started sobbing. I don't even know why, but I couldn't stop.
Journalling has always been my saving grace over the years. It's where I go to write about my days, to plan and organise, to make lists of things to do, to capture images and ideas. But it's underlying purpose is a safe place to go to discover what I feel, to sift through the confusion, try to figure things out, pour out the pain and a haven to shelter from life's storms. It's where I go whenever I am lost and I need to find me. My journal is my most precious belonging and it goes everywhere with me, and is always, always there for me.
That a seven year old's first entry into her new journal twelve years ago be about a nice lady that she met at a garage sale, is quite lovely. That the nice lady that she met happened to be me... I don't have the words to say what this means to me today. But I know that it is precious beyond belief.
Thank you, Teagan, Thank you. You will never know how much I needed to see this. I didn't, but I do. I would be lying if I said that I completely remembered you. My fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue has put paid to many finer details of my memory these last ten years. But I can promise you that I will never forget you now.
And know that I will be writing about this, tonight, in my journal.
Strangely enough I recognized the kind of notebook immediately. They were the ones I used to teach my Journalling classes to kids. As I read what was written, tears began streaming down my face... and then I started sobbing. I don't even know why, but I couldn't stop.
Journalling has always been my saving grace over the years. It's where I go to write about my days, to plan and organise, to make lists of things to do, to capture images and ideas. But it's underlying purpose is a safe place to go to discover what I feel, to sift through the confusion, try to figure things out, pour out the pain and a haven to shelter from life's storms. It's where I go whenever I am lost and I need to find me. My journal is my most precious belonging and it goes everywhere with me, and is always, always there for me.
That a seven year old's first entry into her new journal twelve years ago be about a nice lady that she met at a garage sale, is quite lovely. That the nice lady that she met happened to be me... I don't have the words to say what this means to me today. But I know that it is precious beyond belief.
Thank you, Teagan, Thank you. You will never know how much I needed to see this. I didn't, but I do. I would be lying if I said that I completely remembered you. My fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue has put paid to many finer details of my memory these last ten years. But I can promise you that I will never forget you now.
And know that I will be writing about this, tonight, in my journal.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Herb Gathering
Wandering around the property, foraging for young, tender dandelion leaves and digging roots, gathering pepper cress for tonight's salad and looking for the elusive yellow dock for tomorrow's class. Time for some lemon balm tea...
Monday, 15 April 2013
20 Steps Outside my Door
"Can also be used as a Finger Bowl..."
Any guess as to who's the culprit???
"There is another world,
But it is in this one."
- William Butler Yates
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge...
why not check them out and join in the fun !
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Nature's Abundance
In the last few years I have often thought fleetingly on the sheer glut of food that nature provides free for the taking. Just here on the small island I call home, succulent blackberries, elderflowers, salmonberries abound. Huckleberries are prolific. Apple laden trees display their fruit to people passing by. Plum trees hang swollen, ripe for the picking.
Yet seldom do we take advantage of it. Preferring instead the ready-made, vacuum-packaged items at our local supermarket, or occasionally buying from farmers' markets and roadside stands.
I used to wonder at what point Nature, so ignored, would simply not bother anymore. But I know better. Nature, unlike us, keeps giving. Regardless. Season after season. Year after year whether anyone notices or not.
As I wander further along my path of learning about the medicinal properties of the wild plants of Coastal British Columbia, I am amazed at just how much more giving and abundant nature is than I first imagined. It's impossible to learn about the medicinal properties of a plant without venturing into its nutritional aspect. All of a sudden, the much-maligned dandelion has tremendous health benefits, it's young leaves delicious in salads, its sunny yellow flowers a culinary delight as pan fried fritters!
The nasty nettle, cursed for its sting, is much sought after for many medicinal uses. The leaves provide an abundance of healthy dishes from soups, to steamed greens and scruptious nettle spanakopita. And that's just the beginning.
Venturing into edible plants of the area, weeds become gourmet salad, the budding maple trees food for the table, and then there is the ocean, full of nutritious seaweed.
There is so much to learn. So much to explore. And so very, very much to be grateful for...
I used to wonder at what point Nature, so ignored, would simply not bother anymore. But I know better. Nature, unlike us, keeps giving. Regardless. Season after season. Year after year whether anyone notices or not.
As I wander further along my path of learning about the medicinal properties of the wild plants of Coastal British Columbia, I am amazed at just how much more giving and abundant nature is than I first imagined. It's impossible to learn about the medicinal properties of a plant without venturing into its nutritional aspect. All of a sudden, the much-maligned dandelion has tremendous health benefits, it's young leaves delicious in salads, its sunny yellow flowers a culinary delight as pan fried fritters!
The nasty nettle, cursed for its sting, is much sought after for many medicinal uses. The leaves provide an abundance of healthy dishes from soups, to steamed greens and scruptious nettle spanakopita. And that's just the beginning.
Venturing into edible plants of the area, weeds become gourmet salad, the budding maple trees food for the table, and then there is the ocean, full of nutritious seaweed.
There is so much to learn. So much to explore. And so very, very much to be grateful for...
Monday, 8 April 2013
20 Steps Outside my Door
I just got back from being away on Mudge Island for 3 1/2 weeks and the first thing I did today was take a walk in my garden. When I am working amongst the plants with the sun on my back and my hands deep in rich, fertile soil I feel I am in another world.
"There is another world,
But it is in this one."
- William Butler Yates
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge... why not check them out!
Thursday, 4 April 2013
A Year of Healing with West Coast Herbs
Last Saturday I attended the second month of Heather MacLeod's "A Year of Healing with West Coast Herbs." What a simply amazing day! We came together over nettle and blackberry leaf tea, sharing our previous month's experiences, and how already the course was having a profound effect on each of us. We then looked over the excellent handout detailing the wild plants and homework for the month ahead. Weeds were on the menu, in more ways than one.
Piling into Anne's van we took off, high in spirits and drunk on the sunny weather, in search of the perfect nettle patch. A kind gentleman had offered his land for the taking. Gathering nettles in the sunshine, sharing feelings with fellow gatherers, to the gentle sounds of Patsy Kline coming from the landowner's radio, will not soon be forgotten...
Bags filled to the brim, we made our way back to class. Heather had suggested a pot luck lunch this time around. While snacking on goat's cheese and Anne's honey wafer crackers, and Linda's delectable smoked salmon, capers and cream cheese pita breads, we chopped and sliced, sauteed and stirred.
Back outside into the sunshine, this time to learn about, identify and harvest common weeds for a nutritious salad.
Lunch was simply delicious... I had brought a coleslaw to which Heather
added a delicious dressing made from Anne's blackberry
vinegar...
Judy brought homemade pie casing with a jar of her mother's homemade lemon curd, a perfect end to a perfect feast! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, so maybe she'll make more for next month... we certainly hinted enough...
But the day was not over. Gathering the plants we had harvested during the previous month we learned how to put together the makings of a tincture, and then all worked together to make a wonderful, soothing healing salve.
Just like the day was to my spirit...
Piling into Anne's van we took off, high in spirits and drunk on the sunny weather, in search of the perfect nettle patch. A kind gentleman had offered his land for the taking. Gathering nettles in the sunshine, sharing feelings with fellow gatherers, to the gentle sounds of Patsy Kline coming from the landowner's radio, will not soon be forgotten...
Bags filled to the brim, we made our way back to class. Heather had suggested a pot luck lunch this time around. While snacking on goat's cheese and Anne's honey wafer crackers, and Linda's delectable smoked salmon, capers and cream cheese pita breads, we chopped and sliced, sauteed and stirred.
For the very first time I learned the proper way to use Phyllo pastry. Seven women in a kitchen and not a cook too
many! Soon the Nettle spanatopika was ready to go in the oven.
Back outside into the sunshine, this time to learn about, identify and harvest common weeds for a nutritious salad.
Judy brought homemade pie casing with a jar of her mother's homemade lemon curd, a perfect end to a perfect feast! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, so maybe she'll make more for next month... we certainly hinted enough...
But the day was not over. Gathering the plants we had harvested during the previous month we learned how to put together the makings of a tincture, and then all worked together to make a wonderful, soothing healing salve.
Just like the day was to my spirit...
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Part of my Process
At the beginning of the year I joined Carla Sonheim's wonderful "2013 - Year of the Giraffe" course - an amazing opportunity to immerse ourselves all year long on one subject, exploring it in as many different ways and with as many different mediums as we could. I was beside myself with excitement. I couldn't wait to get started...
During the previous three months, a few odd (please note this is a figure of speech... and not a critique of my sketching skills... I hope) sketches did find their way into some of my pre-existing (and equally deliberated at the time) sketchbooks and journals, but honesty dictates that I cannot really count them as they were not, as such, in THE Giraffe Sketchbook. But thought I would include them, you know, as "part of my process."
When in doubt... add another one!
I do this... I take forever to get started on something, and I quite often abandon projects without giving them a further thought, mid-stitch or stroke. Ignoring them blithely for weeks, months, even years on end. Then one day... they resurface and give birth to a myriad of inspired pieces without further ado. It's "part of my process..."
Anyhow, today I sat outside on the deck in the sunshine and started my Year of the Giraffe... I will, as I have with everything in my life, go at my own pace, doing things in my own way. And I will learn, and enjoy and be inspired again... and again... you see, it's part of my process!
What's your part of the process?
Blind Contour
Gesture Drawings
Then, true to form, I deliberated. A lot. Okay, an awful lot. This time it was months... For the
right sketchbook. I freely admit that this is a particular neurosis of
mine, and finally, after a very long time and due to the kindness of a
my dear friend, Janie, have come to accept that it is in fact, in her words: "part of
my process."
One Liners
Contour
Random One Liner a.k.a. "So that's where the Xmas lights went..."
So how long are their necks, anyway?
I do this... I take forever to get started on something, and I quite often abandon projects without giving them a further thought, mid-stitch or stroke. Ignoring them blithely for weeks, months, even years on end. Then one day... they resurface and give birth to a myriad of inspired pieces without further ado. It's "part of my process..."
"Just checkin' in..."
What's your part of the process?
Monday, 1 April 2013
Picking weeds for supper
I spent last Saturday having a wonderful time with an amazing group of women led by Heather Macleod teaching the second month of my "A year of Healing with West Coast Herbs" course. I'll write about it in more detail later, but tonight on the way back from the beach I thought I would pick some young dandelion leaves to put in my salad. The search led me to some Pepper Cress... and there right beside it I found some Miner's Lettuce! Lo and behold in searching for more I soon came across some Chickweed... and suddenly I had a bunch of nutritious, tasty, mineral filled greens for my supper...
Last night we had steamed nettles with olive oil, pepper and grated Asiago cheese... I could get used to this wild crafting and eating!
Last night we had steamed nettles with olive oil, pepper and grated Asiago cheese... I could get used to this wild crafting and eating!
20 Steps Outside my Door
I have decided to continue with the theme of last week's blog photo challenge, here is another world I found when stepping outside my door, here on Mudge Island which is my home... my world, for another week.
...
"There is another world,
But it is in this one."
- William Butler Yates
Here are some of the other bloggers doing the same challenge... why not check them out!
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