Jamie has put together a great package of the transcripts from Interviews with Highly Creative Bloggers and some extra bonus materials. More details and information on how you can purchase a copy of Your Creative Spark is here.
Spring is the perfect time to celebrate!
We would love for you to share what you are celebrating!
A few of my bloggy friends have some great stuff going on and I wanted to share!
Heidi is a lovely lady who is hosting and teaching at The Inspired Nest. It looks like such a beautiful creative retreat! It is also only a few hours drive from me. I so wish I could attend, but May is super busy month for me. ((My daughter's 5th birthday party is that weekend. I think she would be quite disappointed if her mama was not with her to celebrate!))
If I could financially afford it, I would go to Squam this September. It is just a few hours from my home. I would take the very talented Misty Mawn's 3 day Poetic Diary class.
I Love listening to creative women ~ if you know of any great interviews or podcasts or happenings please share with me so I can write about them on this blog and link to them on the sidebar.
The posting of the interview also seemed like the perfect time to re-launch my Etsy shop.
I am feeling really good about creating in the midst these days and will continue to add new collages to my shop as they are complete.
Thanks for your encouragement and support! ~ Melba
Thank you to all who left such lovely comments about my art work. You really touched my heart! I haven't had much of a chance to visit many blogs because I have been occupied with sick children, but everyone is all better and it is school vacation week so I am hoping to spend some lovely time with a hot beverage and some serious blog reading while the children play. (We will see if that happens, but I can hope!)
As you can see there are 4 names, for three pieces of art. What happened was that I picked 3 numbers at random and when I saw whose number was matched to each comment it turned out that one of the authors was my very dear friend Mary Ann. Just yesterday Mary Ann sent me an email telling me I was one of her winners! I was already planning on sending her a thank you because Mary Ann is one of the sweetest and most generous souls I have ever met (and she is one of my bloggy friends that I have had the great honor of meeting in person!) So I picked Kimmie, the author of the comment above Mary Ann's, because she wrote a very sweet and encouraging message to me.
I have emailed each of the authors for their address to send them their prize.
justBeConnected has been through many transformations since January 2006, but the one thing that has stayed the same is this blog's purpose. My intention for justBeConnected has always been to create a Home for Creative Bloggers to connect with one another and place for Creative Bloggers to openly share.
Although I am the host of this blog, usually I am not the one who has written a post. I am often emailed questions about specifics in a post that I am unable to answer. If you have a question or comment for the author of a post please look through that post to find out who the author is and then contact them directly.
If you have something you want to share email me and I will post it here. In order for me to publish something here you have to send it to me ready to post with links already included.
I am happy to publish posts about current issues, swaps, a new creative endeavor, a call for art work, or charity events.
I will post here as well when I come across something I want to share. I also plan on hosting a few creative swaps again this year.
I will be continuously updating the links listed on the sidebars. If you have a link you want me to add email me.
This site is for Creative Bloggers. I do not exchange random links or sell spots to advertisers. I can not post badges or buttons.
Thank you for all your continued support and encouragement!
Still on the road here, so my surfing history is next to nil. But the travel has been great! So Mother Henna's surf is the few sites visited and then other stuff is about the 'Burgh since that's where I am this week!
First up is Shimmy which is this great show my mom found on FitTV where they feature a yoga warm up and then very basic (built up to small choreographed pieces) bellydancing!! The little I've seen already taught me things in a way I'd never felt made sense before. So did a search and found two full seasons of the show on dvd already. Click thru and check it out...there's a teaser vid on the home page!
Toolin' around the 'Burgh...
Well, sort of. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and we're back this week for a family wedding. Hawk is doing the photography, so I'll have photos to share at some point in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I'll share a little with you of the surf around the 'Burgh area.
Valley Guides You...
Hawk was asking my mom about history of the area. She turned us on to a Community Guide from Valley News Dispatch where you'll find snippets of history, current demo, info about city council, school districts, etc. I must admit it is very weird to read the city council names from our home town and realize I went to school with half those buggers! Egads, when did we all "grow up"?! Anyway, the guide has stuff about *all* the little towns in the area.
250 Birthdays
The 'Burgh proper turns 250 years old this week. So it turns out there are all kinds of celebrations and what not.
Pretty, pretty
We're not particularly religious, but the churches in this area are stunning. There are parts of our old neighborhood where there are literally churches on every corner, like the four at the corner of McCandless and Kenneth where you have St. Vlad's, St. Paul's, Rivers, and Canaan First! You just don't see this kind of architecture and community building out West. And speaking of architecture, there is an interestingly, funky, edgy, newly build mall in the area now, too. Mills Mall. Inside and out, they had a designer or team of designers with interesting eyes toward look and feel. As you walk the mile around, even the floor textures switch up and create a different experience depending on where you are. Very interesting!
And the fooood!
It would not be a trip to the 'Burgh without yummy tasties! The Renock Family makes a killer, fantabulous pierogie -- I'm talkin' the kind you used to get from the old ladies at the church kitchen on Lent Fridays! Get down to Sunseri Brothers in the Strip and try a fresh cannoli. If you think you don't like cannoli, maybe it's just coz you haven't had it fresh! There's good Italian food on every corner, not to mention great German menu, especially now for Octoberfest. If you've never had cookies at an Italian wedding, omg, you don't know what you are missing. You'd have to taste my Mimi's cookies to know what I really mean :) but the Cookie Queen is a neighbor who sells something very close to it online! And I can't talk about the 'Burgh food without a mention of the fabulous film, The Bread My Sweet (on dvd called "Wedding For Bella"). This film gives you such a sweet taste of the Strip District in particular, and those biscotti will make you drool! My lovely friend Adrienne and her partner Melissa really made this film happen one biscotti at a time, hard work, and beautiful vision. Check it out if you haven't seen it!
That's that for this week, folks...more next week from Chicago! See you then.
Miracles, k-
This has been an entry of: The Surfing Life of An Artist Mother Henna seems to spend as much time surfing as she does making art. Each Thursday she will plunge into the history of her browser and share what she's swum through during the past week. Sometimes it's all a splash in the beauty of other artists' sites and blogs, sometimes it's a plunge into the submission guidelines of various publication, sometimes a kick board thru YouTube videos that show "how to" do this and that. You just never know what you'll find in Mother's history. Get your fins and flippers and come swim with Mother!
About Mother Henna Mother Henna (aka Kara L.C. Jones) wears many hats: artist, writer, photo assistant, Reiki Master/Teacher, workshop facilitator, wife, bereaved mum, step mum, grandma, and more. You'll find more detail about Mother Henna than you could ever really want by clicking here. To follow the progression of the 1,000 Faces of Mother Henna project, check out the blog at MotherHenna.blogspot.com. Lots of items are out in the world with Mother's designs featured: Handmade items at MotherHenna.etsy.com Books & Ephemera at Mother's Lulu.com shop Tshirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies and more at Mother's CafePress shop
Hi, it isMelba here ~ time to share what I have been reading, listening, and watching...
Reading...
This week I bought three books. I won't be finishing them all anytime soon which is sort of good because I need to hold up on the book buying. AmazonPrime (which my brother in law signed me up for :) makes it too easy!
I will be reading a few chapters of Faeries of Dreamdark:Blackbringer by Laini Taylor everynight before I go to bed. I have been a long time reader of Grow Wings and blogger friend of Laini's so I don't really know why I didn't buy and read her book sooner.
The second book I purchased this week was also written by a Creative Blogger; Christine Mason Miller who writes the blogs Swirly Girl and Sparkletopia. Christine's new book, Ordinary Sparkling Moments, is the kind of book you savor. I keep flipping through the gorgeous pages reading a few at a time. This is one of my favorite pages so far.
And finally, I purchased Soul Coaching by Denise Linn because I signed up to participate in my dear Creative Blogger friend, Jamie's, new project called The Next Chapter. I haven't received the book yet, but that's OK because the project doesn't start until November. You should join! Everything Jamie does is wonderful ~ she is very talented, insightful, and lovely!
As you can tell I am a firm believer in supporting our Creative Blogging Sisters!
Earlier in the week I listened to the Magnolia Soundtrack. I remember liking the movie when I saw it in the theater in 1999. For some reason I was thinking about the CD and remembered we had it. I really like Aimee Mann's voice.
The only movie we watched this week was Charlie Wilson's War. I liked it. I had to really pay attention because I don't remember history. I realize now that despite my bad memory, I like historical movies. Last spring we watched John Adams on HBO and I loved the mini-series.
I updated this site a bit today; cleaning up some links. Let me know if there are any other Inspiring Creative Communities you think I might want to list on the sidebar to the right.
Thanks for your comments on last week's post!
It is so fun to share what we are reading, listening, and watching!!!
I'm posting this week while on the road, so Mother Henna's surf is a bit shorter than normal and is all over the map -- just like I am physically traveling all over the map these next few weeks it seems!
First up, we're here in lovely, sun filled, blessing of a swimming pool Arizona for the annual MISS Foundation Conference.
This amazing conference -- no, it is more than a conference -- this amazing experience, was founded by Cheyenne's mom, Dr. Joanne. Click that link to read a great post she shared with us this week about how we make meaning (or not) after great loss. I'm excited to say that one of our home town companies stepped up and sponsored a part of the Festival of Chocolates. A big thanks to Seattle Chocolate Company!
This annual event is more like a ritual for me. We live in a world that is mostly devoid of ritual for great loss. Parents become silent after their children die. Their parenthood is often closeted. But here at the MISS Foundation, they are offered a full context for their being. They are accepted whole. So in seeing the model of people like Dr. Jo and reading how to make meaningful ritual as Dr. Sukie writes about, I have come to appreciate the fullness of being here. Of being both my artist self and my mom self, outloud, fully counting ALL our children, not just those who are fortunately still with us here on the physical plane.
In planning for our trip, I did discover I'm getting a sore throat though, so that led to my next surf:
The Neti Pot
The one you see here is the "unbreakable" one from the Himalayan Institute, but they also sell the white porcelain one, too. I had seen my friend Nan use these Neti Pots with great success in staving off sore throat and colds. Since I really really want to be healthy for this whole trip, I decided to finally try it. I did get the "unbreakable" one because we are traveling on three planes and one train ride, so it seemed easier and safer to pack. I'm not thrilled that it's plastic, and may switch to the porcelain one afterall. But for now, it has been a savior on this trip. As soon as I do a wash with it, my nose clears and my throat doesn't hurt at all! It keeps coming back so far, but I'm keeping it up along with vitamin C and plenty of rest. I did get in the pool and let the heat soothe me today though! Lovely.
Fighting the Yeast Beast
Some of you know I've recently given up sugar completely in an attempt to deal with systemic yeast infection. Well, we've also discovered I'm reacting to wheat, too. So along with discoveries of things like Stevia, Spelt, and lemon in your drinking water, I've also learned a lot about Acidophilius, particularly the product from the Kyo-brand folks. Haven't been able to find it on our island and wasn't able to get to the mainland before our trip. So I got another brand that is close to it. Been using it at least one meal a day, sometimes two. Wow. I haven't had indigestion or problems sleeping all week! It's an interesting thing to see your own body shifting! I'm so sorry it took me this long to figure out these various pieces of the puzzle. But hopefully this old girl of a body will be kind and just work with me in the present!
Starting Poetry Therapy-ish Group
Had a wonderful email this week from a man in TX who is starting a poetry group thru a local university to work with homeless folks. Using poetry as expressive therapy. He had read some of my (very old and now archived) articles on one of the syndication sites and wondered about finding resources or models for doing this kind of work. It has been awhile since I visited these sites, but it was great to see what everyone is up to these days! And exciting to share these resources with you, too:
Arts In Therapy (AiT)
AiT is a great site exploring poetry, drama, visual art and more as expressive therapy. Click the link to read a great email exchange I had with the AiT founder a few years ago now. Very cool of her to keep it posted as one of her shared healing stories!
I learned so much from reading the book Poetic Medicine and then communicating with John about ideas and group experiences. They've now started a whole institute and are takin their pilot model all over the place What a great person doing good work in this world!
Remember last week's surf when I shared that cool little animation of Lucille Clifton's poetry? Turns out there is a whole project, Poetry Everywhere, the marries poetry, voice, and video! What a cooooooooooool thing to see in motion. Poetry alive. In the artist's voice, or in any person's voice for that matter, poetry just leaps and dreams and comes alive in ways it may not for most when reading the flat printed page. Really glad this resource is online now.
Forgive me if I shared Violette's fabulously art-FULL site here before, but there is so much inspiration there, so many amazing drawings, illustrations, how tos, and the discussion boards are worth their weight in gold! Just recently there was a thread about how to "stretch your craft dollar" -- and getting ideas from all these artists is just such a gift. Really. It isn't like I just have artists all around me, and we can go to lunch everyday and share tips and ideas. But I can check into the boards while munching my lunch and these artists are there, sharing, cooperative, not competitive. I loooove it! And Violette is just such a great artist -- look for her Journal Bliss coming out soon!!
Autumn's Blog...
And one last bit: shameless self promotion, really :) It was very exciting to have Magpie (Rachelle Mee-Chapman) include one of my Mother Henna posts in her feature about How To Have A Soulful Autumn! She didn't feature just moi, and there are also lots of others shared there who offer great ideas and inspirations for the turning of Autumn. Click on over and have a read!
PS
I'm not sure how my internet connections will be next week or the week after as we are off to other locations those weeks. If I can be here, I will! If not, never fear. Mother Henna will return with more surfing goodness upon return to the rainy Isle.
Miracles, k-
This has been an entry of: The Surfing Life of An Artist Mother
Henna seems to spend as much time surfing as she does making art. Each
Thursday she will plunge into the history of her browser and share what
she's swum through during the past week. Sometimes it's all a splash
in the beauty of other artists' sites and blogs, sometimes it's a
plunge into the submission guidelines of various publication, sometimes
a kick board thru YouTube videos that show "how to" do this and that.
You just never know what you'll find in Mother's history. Get your
fins and flippers and come swim with Mother!
About Mother Henna Mother
Henna (aka Kara L.C. Jones) wears many hats: artist, writer, photo
assistant, Reiki Master/Teacher, workshop facilitator, wife, bereaved
mum, step mum, grandma, and more. You'll find more detail about Mother
Henna than you could ever really want by clicking here. To follow the progression of the 1,000 Faces of Mother Henna project, check out the blog at MotherHenna.blogspot.com. Lots of items are out in the world with Mother's designs featured: Handmade items at MotherHenna.etsy.com Books & Ephemera at Mother's Lulu.com shop Tshirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies and more at Mother's CafePress shop
Before I blogged I use to watch alot of television shows. Once I started blogging in August 2005 I pretty much gave up every form of entertainment~ I still read and wrote in my journal, but I spent ALOT of time reading blogs. For the last few months instead of spending so much time on the computer I have been reading, listening to music, and watching movies.
Since I gleam so many of my ideas from my blogging friends I decided every Mondayish I will post here about what I have been reading, listening to, & watching with the hopes you will share the same.
This summer I read the Twilight Series as well as The Host (I read all 5 books way more times than I will ever admit to anyone!). I am now a big fan of Stephenie Meyer. I ADORE everything she writes.
Last week I finished The Time Traveler's Wife. It was OK. I found myself bored sometimes and not dying to finish it like I usually am with a book.
Before I go to bed I have been reading a few pages each night of Emmanuel's Book ( I have read it a bunch of times in the past). This book is FULL of wisdom.
I have been listening to the I am Sam Soundtrack. (The movie was great too) The soundtrack is made up of Beatles' songs performed by a variety of artists. It is a really good CD to do chores to; it keeps me in a good mood.
Last night we watched The Prestige. I Really liked it. You have to pay attention. It reminded me of The Illusionist which I also really liked.
One night when Sean worked late I watched The Celestine Prophecy. I read the book over fifteen years ago. For some reason I felt like re-reading it, but I couldn't find it amongst my stuff. When I went to order it on-line I saw that it was made into a movie. I liked the movie, but it definitely is for someone who has read the book because they don't give enough details about the insights. I am not sure if I will buy and re-read the book, but I have been browsing the Celestine Vision website.
Please share in the comments what you are reading, listening, and watching too!
To Kill a Mockingbird is apparently required reading for American teenagers in school but in the UK it doesn’t enter into our education. So while I was slogging through the equally classic (but dull) Z for Zachariah across the water kids were being engaged by the immensely likeable voices of Scout, Atticus and Jem. I have to say I feel a little bit cheated.
I only read To Kill a Mockingbird this year and I was instantly in love with it. Of course I’d heard a lot about it before I began reading. Although I’ve never seen the film it’s a book that everyone thinks they know something about and I imagined there would be a lot of time directly focused on Atticus Finch’s battle to defend Tom Robinson in court. I thought that the ‘lesson learning’ part of the book would be blankly obvious and that the book might be little more than a moral lesson in racial relations. As anyone who has spent even a few chapters in the company of the narrator Scout, Finch’s daughter, will know Harper Lee’s book is a true novel, not just a vehicle for social lessons. The ideas on the prejudices of Southern society and the right way to act are subtly expressed and integrate easily into the story of a childhood summer. Scout’s voice is easy and natural while the details of her world create strong, imaginative pictures. The story of everything Scout sees and does is just as important as the ideas expressed through the narrative. The book is full of life as well as having injustice to highlight and morals to champion.
Harper Lee has written a child narrator that doesn’t seek to categorise or patronise the age it portrays. Scout is the kind of scrappy, childish, wise woman character that all readers recognise as the soul of the child they wish they had been. She may not know or understand everything but she tries hard to learn, even when those she learns from don’t really know any better she trys to work their world views into hers. She is a character who believes the best of those around her and attempts to puzzle out how their views might fit with her perception of them as good people. She is truly good but also adventurous and not always attentive to her instructed duty which keeps her character from being a preachy mouthpiece.
It is impossible not to love her and her family as they project such a likeable spirit, free of artifice and full of energy. The way Atticus raises his children with infinite patience for everyone and understanding of their sufferings independent of their views makes him an amazing role model that everyone should learn about. Bring To Kill a Mockingbird to the British calssroom!
Creative Ideas:
Make a collage of childhood photographs and think about the adventures you had
Draw a character sketch of one of the main characters based on descriptions from the book
Think of five fictional characters who would be good role models and outline what they teach you
Write a letter to a childhood friend about ‘what you did one summer
Jodie loves books, drinking and crafting. She longs to hold a party based on these three things (think posh cocktails and cider). She can be found discussing British literature every month at Estellas Revenge. She is the maker of Pretty Little Love Objects and loves to discuss the handmade revoltution.
It's been an interesting week on Mother Henna's trips thru the surf. Lots of art, inspiration, and exploring the full spectrum of feelings, joy to grief and back again.
Hopper Is Coming!
I'm always looking for new exhibits that are coming through town or somewhere nearby so that we can take in the physical experience of interacting with art. I'm just flipping out to discover that Seattle Art Museum is about to bring an exhibit of Edward Hopper's works including my favorite all time painting: Chop Suey. This is an image my good friend Heather and I have always shared -- it is an expression of what our life was like when we managed to live in the same city for several years -- oh, way back in the day! :) Anyway, I've never seen this painting live and in person, so this is very exciting!
It's cheesy, but I love it!
I've been a Huntress collector since Earth 2 series, but we haven't had a tv since back in 2001. So I was shocked to discover there had been a whole series Birds of Prey that came, played popularly, and was canceled, pretty much in one breath! How dare they cancel Huntress!? There's great Wiki info on the series and the storyline history, and though it seems they replaced some of the soundtrack in the transition from tv to dvd, I have to say I loooove the series. It's cheesy, weird, funny, over the top campy. And Mia Sara as Harley Quinn is BRILLIANT! So sorry they didn't let this one play it the whole way out to a more natural end.
Help is on the way, darlings!
Tammie's photos and insights are so inspiring! I always feel as if I've entered a haven when I get to her blog. If you've not checked out Spirithelpers, you should :) And if you have checked it out before, drop by for a visit to see the most current posts. That latte she snapped looks yummmmy!
Give and take of blogging!
Leah over at Creative Everyday posted a wonderful quote the other day, and while I was reading there, I noticed that Leah mentioned one of my posts here on JustBeConnected.
She was saying she was digging the MIT open course offerings, and in particular, she found a class, The Creative Spark, that looked intriguing. So I surfed on over and sure enough, look at that, coooooool!!!! There are so many materials online for/from this class: pdfs, links to sources, samples from student works, and more. Very rich resource!!
Little Lovin' for Literature!
Have you been over to Black Eyed Susan? She rules! Wonderful writings, great exploration of self and process in her Confessions, and I just discovered this week, that's she's doing something called, "Little Lovin' Mondays". She invites you all to share links to relatively recent posts on your blog that have had very little lovin' or comment. And then asks all who post, to click thru and read, give some lovin', leave a few comments. Wonderful! So many gems turned up there this week! Check it out!
Oh. My. Gawd. A Girl Can Dream
Would you look at that pretty picture (above)? How coooool is that photo? Hey, I can dream about seeing some of my 1,000 Faces art all showcased in a museum like that. Better than just dream, now I can SEEEEEEEE it (above) :) hee hee! What fun. It is a free, fun, little, turn-key from Photofunia, so you can surf on over there yourself and play! You can put your art up on billboards, on magazine covers, and other fun mock-ups like the play you see here. FUN!
Never heard of her, the actor, the film, nor the history...
Isn't this a beautiful Tintoretto?! I've always dreamed of going to Venice to see some of Tintoretto's works life and in person. In the meantime, I recently saw the film Dangerous Beauty -- wow, what a steamy bit of history! In the film, there was reference to a portrait done of the main character/historical figure of the film, Veronica Franco. So I went hunting for it and discovered Tintoretto had painted it -- and there was this lovely image of the painting on Wiki. FABU! Anyway, the film was great, thought provoking, insightful. Catherine McCormack is the actress who plays Franco. I've never seen McCormack in anything else, but she was amazing embodying Franco in this film!! What a talent. My favorite line from the film:
It's wanting that keeps us alive.
Creating Your Life teacher now online!!
Joan Newcomb's new site just came online, and it looks great! She's the teacher who facilitated that "Creating Your Life" class I wrote about a lot in my Mother Henna blog. How fun to see all of Joan's work posted, lots of her writings shared, and info about her books, blog, and classes. Check it out yourself and see...
Gentle prompts for exploring the difficult stuff
I've been working with a small group of bereaved parents who wanted to explore creativity for examining grief and life-after-the-death-of-a-child. In sharing resources with them, I re-visited my deck of Support Cards from Grief Watch. These are wonderful prompts for writing or art-making, gentle questions and ideas asking us to look at the full picture of loss: from grief to love, loss to continued relationships with the deceased. Really thoughtful deck!
Living in a grief denying culture...
I first heard the line, "we live in a grief denying culture," when seeing Molly Greist present about her stone sculpting. She's an amazing woman who only discovered stone carving after the death of her son. Her work transcends what you would think of as "a grief journey" -- it's much more like a LIFE journey, a full life, where she feels all she feels and doesn't deny grief at all. In that way, she stays open to feeling everything. If you deny one emotion, chances are you are turning off other emotions, too. By staying open, you stay open (duh!). Anyway, Molly is an amazing model of learning to live again after the death of a child.
Can we learn to grieve and therefore learn to live?
I have been wanting to write a post over in the Kota Blog about all the images and stories that came out about Gana, a gorilla whose child died causing her to express grief in ways that may have seemed shocking or looked odd in the face of our "grief denying culture." But I've not gotten round to writing yet -- or maybe just haven't made sense of all my feelings about it yet. So I'm very glad other bereaved moms have written about Gana. In particular, Grace's mom over at the blog Cover Her Briefness In Singing wrote a moving post and shared several of the photos. I'm so turned inside out seeing these photos. You see Gana kissing the feet of her child. I so know that. You just want to take in all the physical-ness you can before giving up the body of your child. It's such a complicated and unimaginable time of shock and grief. And yet it is so normal. It is so real. It is so human -- turns out it is even more basic than human -- it is instinct, animal instinct. Just wow.
A master poet...a masterpiece
Another writer who explores grief and life, love and joy, loss and being ... all explored with grace and beauty: Lucille Clifton, specifically in her poetic memoir Good Woman. You have to see this collection as a whole to really appreciate it, but there are individual gems that just fly off the page. When she is "speaking of loss," she ends by saying, "i am left with plain hands and / nothing to give you but poems." And the "homage" poems are just downright brilliant! In fact, today, I'll end with a little animation I discovered on YouTube -- a lovely, fun version of the hips homage:
This has been an entry of: The Surfing Life of An Artist Mother
Henna seems to spend as much time surfing as she does making art. Each
Thursday she will plunge into the history of her browser and share what
she's swum through during the past week. Sometimes it's all a splash
in the beauty of other artists' sites and blogs, sometimes it's a
plunge into the submission guidelines of various publication, sometimes
a kick board thru YouTube videos that show "how to" do this and that.
You just never know what you'll find in Mother's history. Get your
fins and flippers and come swim with Mother!
About Mother Henna Mother
Henna (aka Kara L.C. Jones) wears many hats: artist, writer, photo
assistant, Reiki Master/Teacher, workshop facilitator, wife, bereaved
mum, step mum, grandma, and more. You'll find more detail about Mother
Henna than you could ever really want by clicking here. To follow the progression of the 1,000 Faces of Mother Henna project, check out the blog at MotherHenna.blogspot.com. Lots of items are out in the world with Mother's designs featured: Handmade items at MotherHenna.etsy.com Books & Ephemera at Mother's Lulu.com shop Tshirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies and more at Mother's CafePress shop
During my history degree I liked to take the most random classes available. I wrote essays on the Chinese opium wars, antiquarian architecture and and attended a whole lecture series about the Carolingian Empire. My final dissertation was written about British and European witches, the Apocalypse and contextually rational arguments. In my third year I, a woman who has a serious fear of heights, took a course on the history of mountains and mountain climbing. The course taught me a lot, encouraged me to over come my fear of leaning back and letting go (this year I had my first successful visit to a climbing wall) and made me add a whole heap of books to my to be read list.
Sir Chris Bonnington’s three decker autobiography ‘Boundless Horizons’ is the book I remember best from the course’s required reading . Beginning with Bonnington’s boyhood attempts to climb the smaller British mountains the big trilogy follows him through to his (finally) successful assent of Everest. Along the way Bonnington sees men die, is exposed to blistering conditions and yet never really questions if he will continue to climb. His story is almost one of a zealot or fanatic who acknowledges the frightening power of the mountains but does not consider this a reason to stop climbing. He seems to feel that the cold, the wet, the fear are things that must be gone through in life, but this view must not to be confused with culturally conditioned stoicism. Bonnington does not simply endure freezing temperatures to achieve the joy at the end of these experiences. While he realistically documents his climbs, admitting to being afraid, once he is away from these mountains he does not entertain giving up climbing these sorts of routes. Although smaller, yet still technically difficult climbs may offer more joyful periods of climbing and path finding climbs like Everest satisfy something in him is hard to define.
This trilogy is full of all the emotions that climbing evokes and the motivations that push people to climb anything, anywhere. Bonnington is an inspirational figure, a man who pursues his passion in full knowledge of the risks that this involves.
Creative Tasks:
Get thee to a climbing wall, it’s fun and you can learn how to tie ropes and climb safely. It’ll get your blood pumping and give you a rush of creative energy.
Currently Reading: Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson
Jodie loves book, drinking and crafting. She longs to hold a party based on these three things (think posh cocktails and cider). She can be found discussing British literature every month Estellas Revenge. She is the maker of Pretty Little Love Objectsand loves to discuss the handmade revoltution.
This week's glimpse at Mother Henna's browser history has some gifts, some grief, some chocolate, some how-to's and more. Check it out and have your own surf thru...
First up: Consider your holiday footprint
School's back in session, Halloween items are beginning to appear on the shelves, apples are beginning to fall off the trees. It can only mean we are rolling around to holiday time again. This year for the gift giving holidays, consider your footprint. Check out ways you might give experiences instead of stuff! That's the promo for our own little King County here in WA state. Maybe your county does the same thing? If not, maybe you can be part of the start of a "Waste Free Holiday"?! As an artist, I'm participating offering a discount on henna body art sessions. So you see, you can participate as a vendor as well as a gift buyer! Click here to find out how it works in King County!
Working for Equality...
They are doing great things at the Women & Girls Foundation to bring equity to us all. They've launched a new PSA...check it out here...
Likewise for world peace...
Over at World Peace Emerging, they are doing great things for promoting peace in our time. They've launched this beautiful online magazine -- free! Click thru and get your copy today -- learn all about International Peace Day -- it's coming up right quick here! And if you'd like to share your Piece of Peace, consider submitting your art work to "A Peace of..." blog exhibit!
Giving up sugar...wowsers...
I have to say again Theo Chocolate comes to the rescue! I've recently given up sugar to try and deal with some health issues. This of course means giving up lovely dark chocolates that are sooooo part of my yummy days. So in trying to find an alternative, I came up with Theo's nibs. They are unprocessed, so as close to whole food as you can get in chocolate. No sugar added, but still with the lovely bitter dark chocolate flavor. And they are yummy in salad, soup, over fruit, or even tossed into steamed yam -- quite yummy. And these nibs are keeping me in chocolate while letting me give up sugar and processed stuff as much as possible! Thank you Theo, you life saver you! :)
A couple of How-To's
Came across two great resources this week. One is a listing of free, web based, alternatives to Photoshop. What a generous post for this author to have done the research and shared options with us. I haven't personally worked with any of these alternatives yet, but it is on my to-do list for sure! Second up is a Blogger Buster for creating a drop down menu for your label listings. I don't know about your blog, but as my entries inch near the 300 point on my Mother Henna blog, my labels list was getting very looooong! So I picked up this bit of code, altered my template and Wa-LA! I have a drop down menu for my labels and gain a whole bunch of real estate on the side bar of my blog back! Very cool.
Last up for this surf: Of Memory and Grief...
On this anniversary of the infamous 9/11, I'd like to remind us all that grief is part of every day life as a human simply because we are mortal. While we remember those we lost on 9/11, we also remember all of those loved ones you are missing who have died at other times, in other places, due to other circumstance. I want you to know that even though the media doesn't do news stories about our losses -- heck, they hardly do anything about 9/11 losses anymore -- that the love and loss you feel is acknowledged -- by me and through our KotaPress work -- and we remember. With that in mind, I'm sharing links today to various online supports I've accessed and trust myself in the hope that if you need support in your journey, you will seek it out:
This has been an entry of: The Surfing Life of An Artist Mother
Henna seems to spend as much time surfing as she does making art. Each
Thursday she will plunge into the history of her browser and share what
she's swum through during the past week. Sometimes it's all a splash
in the beauty of other artists' sites and blogs, sometimes it's a
plunge into the submission guidelines of various publication, sometimes
a kick board thru YouTube videos that show "how to" do this and that.
You just never know what you'll find in Mother's history. Get your
fins and flippers and come swim with Mother!
About Mother Henna Mother
Henna (aka Kara L.C. Jones) wears many hats: artist, writer, photo
assistant, Reiki Master/Teacher, workshop facilitator, wife, bereaved
mum, step mum, grandma, and more. You'll find more detail about Mother
Henna than you could ever really want by clicking here. To follow the progression of the 1,000 Faces of Mother Henna project, check out the blog at MotherHenna.blogspot.com. Lots of items are out in the world with Mother's designs featured: Handmade items at MotherHenna.etsy.com Books & Ephemera at Mother's Lulu.com shop Tshirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies and more at Mother's CafePress shop
