i cleaned windows today.
on one,
i used
glass cleaner,
paper towels,
and elbow grease.
on the other,
i used
honesty,
love,
and
trust.
i can see clearly now.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: trust
Archive for » 2012 «
May
02
May
01
stitching.
quietly.
pondering.
it’s a good way to spend some time
every now ‘n then.
wish i could do it more often.
perhaps i should work on that
cause creativity is as necessary
as oxygen,
if you ask me.
Apr
28
for my friend
karen sharp
and other women
who find themselves in need
of gentle hugs
and heart balm:
an altar.
pansies
for thought,
blue bird
for happiness,
a clock to say
“all in good time,”
and a sparkly, boro’ed bird
to remind us that
there’s art in mending.
~~ :: ~~
Apr
28
for my friend
karen sharp
and other women
who find themselves in need
of gentle hugs
and heart balm:
an altar.
pansies
for thought,
blue bird
for happiness,
a clock to say
“all in good time,”
and a sparkly, boro’ed bird
to remind us that
there’s art in mending.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: mending
Apr
27
yesterday
Mother Nature and I
pitched a hissy fit.
in perfect harmony.
today we are
cleansed.
refreshed.
hoarse.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: weathering
Apr
26
each tear
an altar
to things
unspoken
and unseen
and yet still
Known.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar (cloth): Knowing
Category: 365 Altars, altar cloth, churnings
Tags: 365altars, altar cloth, teardrops, tears
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Apr
25
they were productive,
these women.
cooking
cleaning
planning
preserving
sewing
planting
teaching
cutting
picking
tending
and more.
and sometimes,
sometimes for days on end,
they cried.
they cried silently and
without attracting attention
because to explain
in words
what every teardrop held
seemed an insurmountable task.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar (cloth): determination
365 Altars: honoring our deepest sumptuous selves every day in every way. 63/365
Perhaps you’d like to get the 365 Altars Newsletter.
And share a link to your blog so we can drop by and say “Hey.”
And join the 365 Altars Facebook community
and the Flickr community.
and wave to us by using the hashtag #365Altars on twitter.
There’s room for everybody at this table,
so join us if and when and as you will.
Category: 365 Altars, altar cloth, churnings, clothiature
Tags: 365altars, altar cloth, clothiature, teardrops, tears
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Apr
24
stitching.
battening down,
i call it.
riding the thread
to places
unknown
and known but forgotten
and known . . . but maybe not really.
rhythm
soothing
surprising
and still
relaxing in its predictability.
up and down
space for pondering things like
being taken care of
and
self reliance
and
my children
and
my female ancestors
who spent a goodly
part of each day
stitching.
thinking
about fine lines
distinguishing
humility from self-deprecating humor,
for example
and how easy it is for us
to believe the worst in ourselves
instead of the best.
why is that, anyway?
back and forth
thinking backwards about what was,
forward about what if,
and right now
about what is.
or what i sense
is
is.
in and out
thoughts flying.
captured
then released.
remembered
then forgotten,
marked
then erased.
stitches
knots
woven
frayed.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar (cloth): harvesting repetition
365 Altars: honoring our deepest sumptuous selves every day in every way. 62/365
Perhaps you’d like to get the 365 Altars Newsletter.
And share a link to your blog so we can drop by and say “Hey.”
And join the 365 Altars Facebook community
and the Flickr community.
and wave to us by using the hashtag #365Altars on twitter.
There’s room for everybody at this table,
so join us if and when and as you will.
Apr
23
I’d like to add his initial to my monogram
Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb?
There’s a somebody I’m longin’ to see
I hope that he, turns out to be
Someone who’ll watch over me.
i’ve been a feminist all my life, and yet . . . these lyrics to the george gershwin song always bring tears to my eyes.
always.
do i strive for self-reliance because of feminism or is it borne of disappointment and enough experience to know the truth behind the old saying “if you want something done right, do it yourself”? does it matter? and even though most days i want to be a self-reliant woman, i am not ashamed to tell you that way down deep, i want to be taken care of.
at least sometimes.
“can a woman be self-reliant and still feel betrayal and abandonment at the hands of another?” i recently asked a friend of mine who enjoys these chewy conversations as much as i do. of course one question begets another then another, such as: is self-reliance really the goal, and if so, what does desirable/healthy self-reliance look like? and: how has the journey to self-reliance hurt women? helped women? and last (for now) but definitely not least: say we want to be held, to be seen, to be taken care of (at least on occasion). is that possible to go hand-in-hand with being self-reliant? which, of course, leads us to still more questions about asking for help, vulnerability, worthiness . . .
you get the gist.
join in if you want. share your thoughts, your questions, your stories. the more the merrier . . .
~~ ::: ~~
today’s altar is dedicated to cutting through it – whatever “it” is, staying with “it” as long as it takes.
365 Altars: honoring our deepest sumptuous selves every day in every way. 62/365
Perhaps you’d like to get the 365 Altars Newsletter.
And share a link to your blog so we can drop by and say “Hey.”
And join the 365 Altars Facebook community
and the Flickr community.
and wave to us by using the hashtag #365Altars on twitter.
There’s room for everybody at this table,
so join us if and when and as you will.
Apr
22
when i hatched the idea for 365 altars, it was on the fly – an impromptu project that appealed to me in many ways and for many reasons. (we’ll talk later.) but then i began to think too darn much, and before long, i’d thought myself right into the sideline bleachers. but here i am, back today with renewed commitment to persevering, even in the throes of uncertainty.
and to mark this occasion, i choose this particular cloth-in-progress. i’ve been working on it a good little while – in fits of starts and stops. i get to a place of blankness and stop, laying it down to work on something else a while, then like magic, i see what to do next with this cloth, so back into my hands it flies until the next blankness.
such is the nature of creativity, me thinks, ephemeral cauldrons swirling with alternating bouts of certainty and uncertainty, stitched together with a commitment to “simply” stay with it until the blankness is a certainty that you’ve reached the finish line and you raise your head to see a path, a doorway, breadcrumbs leading to what’s next . . .
~~ :: ~~
365 Altars: honoring our deepest sumptuous selves every day in every way. 61/365
Perhaps you’d like to get the 365 Altars Newsletter.
And share a link to your blog so we can drop by and say “Hey.”
And join the 365 Altars Facebook community
and the Flickr community.
and wave to us by using the hashtag #365Altars on twitter.
There’s room for everybody at this table,
so join us if and when and as you will.
also penning stories here
