i am
almost tongue tied.
how does someone celebrate their birth day when it finally does come?
arranging small pieces of cloth over and over and over until she finally
pours herself a cup of wine and begins to say thank you.
i want to THANK YOU ALL for the very real and great importance you have taken in
my life this year. your interest, encouragement and very real Beingness for me.
i think i have said this before, but it merits repeating...when i talk about
this blog, about your blogs, about the whole Spirit Cloth world, people comment
that it is as if i actually "know" you all, as in have met, face to face....
i feel we have. we have met cloth to cloth/heart to heart and it is very REAL.
so, here i am. i have realized in these last days, giving it all a lot of
attention, that i had indeed internalized some thought forms about what it means
to reach 65 years. how i had internalized something about what that might mean
i guess according to my american culture. that you get to uhhhh, maybe slow down?
you get to begin to ummm, tone down and get golden? hmmmm. as i said before,
fine tune?
well...
i have always been what you might say is "my own person". this has been both
positive and in certain ways, not so much, but it seems as if stuff is just wanting
to keep on coming.
it's been a year now, since i found Spirit Cloth. a year my birthday. i look
forward to continuing, the deepening, strengthening of all of it and i thank
you, all my cloth sisters, and most, i thank you
Jude.
48 comments:
i guess it's ok to comment now????
love it. that bird is marvelous and the threads are like 3 figures dancing across the cloth.
to continue the talk about clotheslines, when i was a child we lived on the 3rd floor of a 3 story house. my father rigged up a clothesline from the kitchen window to a billboard that was on the facing boulevard. what i remember most is the shirts and pants dancing on the line when they froze from a sudden drop in temperature. it still makes me smile. sorry this was so long.
i really get a sense of wind here. things attached or caught and subject to wind.
deanna, yes. clotheslines.
clotheslines.
it is interesting to me, as i was
trying to "order" my thoughts this
week or so, what kept coming up
was the clothesline.
and actually, it is an "of course",
the clothesline...because it is
kind of how i have always
"claimed my place on the planet".
often it was just a rope tied
between two trees. when the kids
were little and we sent camping
in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
every summer, the first thing, once
we had chosen the campsite, was
the clothesline.
then in this order:
rocks for the fire pit
little rock or wood somethings to sit on
fire wood for that evening fire
tent
logs between rocks to make a kitchen
home.
and then, everywhere else. many.
this one crashed with a big wind
when i had sheets on it. about
2 years ago. being alone, it was
up to me. i drove in for a bag of
quickcrete and spent much of the
day, tilting it up little by little
with my body, on my shoulders and
back, stuffing a rock in the
crevise. again, again, again and
finally it was up and straight and
i cemented it in.
i love your story of your family
line...what a beautiful image you
give me...
i think this clothesline thing will
go on for a while.
it has some meaning for us all.
like Marti said some time back,
prayer flags.
thank you deanna7trees for being
in my life.
Jude...not enough yet, but good...
Everything here, Everything is
attached or caught and subject to
wind
everything.
Wind rules this world. other
places there are different
weather beings, but here, it's
Wind.
well happy celebration.
and i have enjoyed your blog, your thoughts, and your gift of self.
thank you for being there grace.
much love to you on all the days to come, not just the ones we celebrate on.
serena/mnem
you have been very significant to
this year...whether you are/were
aware of it or not...but can be
said outright. you are young and
so, i have been very taken with
your life, the urgency of it and
you are Right, it is
urgent
but
just the fact that you sense that
will carry you wherever you want to
go and i oh so oh so oh so look
forward to traveling with you.
Not only wishing you a happy birthday, but a happy year and every year there after. You seem very content with your lot in life and that is important in our second half of life. Hey ho! onward and upward!The best is yet to come.
I forgot I wanted to say, remember when we used to put a blanket over the clothesline and make a tent? or was that just me in the U.P.?? A clotheline can be apart of a home, sitting in the tent stitching doll clothes . .. remember it well.
helen...YES, hey Ho! and about
the second half, well, it just
feels mostly to me like a
continuation....there is no break,
no taking a breath, just the
hey Ho! of it all.
yes...i DO remember the clothesline
tent...but for me, it was where i
lived till i got to escape to the
creek. and i didn't stitch any
thing there, but wanted to hang
pemmican on my line.
that's not true.
i DID stitch. but it was saddle
blankets for my plastic horses.
xoxo, g
Grace. it is YOU. this cloth has grace, movement, thought, silent wisdom. name it "grace"
all you've written about your full circle stitching year is
full of gracefulness. the image of clothes waving
from a clothes line, moving with the breeze.
you have taught me so much since this summer in
c2c, your words of wisdom!
thank you, grace. much happiness!
speaking of words of wisdom, when you get a chance
fly over to my place. take a look at
the dolls i made. let me know what you think.
happy birthday my dear grace... i am happy that this is the piece that came on your birthday... it is windstrewn... like in look what the wind blew in! it has that wild energy that the wind does. the balance is quite good the composition balanced... what a great gift you have given yourself and us... love..n
i see a face, the whole piece is one face. and yes i love our blog community too, don't quite know what i'd do without it. k.
...happy birthday Grace...thanks for sharing your windfalls, breeses and stormy winds...i really enjoy reading your blog...cheers! did you hear the clinking of the glasses? take care
cristina...your doll beings...YES!
they have such spirit...more on
your blog about that
but i am thankfull for you being
here in this place that i have
loved since a child in the attic
in Michigan. it is always so
good
to know that you see what i see
xoxo,g
nance...composition. balance.
i am trying to learn. and i
DO so rely on your thoughts...
you know.
love
kaite....well....
old
friends now.
and continuing
in the next set of classes, in
whispering.
i keep getting the feeling that
somehow, some way, we will all
be in the same place?
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you....better stop there. Did you know it's copyrighted? You know how it goes. :)
The world is so big and wild, it is so good to be able to find friends.
Gming...clicking of the glasses...
YES!i did!
of all the places i would wish to
go, aside from Manya's house, it
might be Africa. i have a deep
instictive love of that land. it
makes me feeeeeel gooooood to
think of you there, showing me
things of that place of my Heart.
Thank You very strongly from
my self to your self....
Deb g...beautiful just found to
be so young you, yes. Wild. and
Big. and so, challenging us to
meet it only half way, i think.
i have a huge fondness for you...
unexplained, and so we will let
it live there. But...
a very real and sincere
Thank You to you.
and we are looking at
Chico, California.
you may have driven past.
not actually Chico, but the outlands of Chico. Oroville too.
a continuation of words to Deb G:
Chico
Oroville
Northern California.
anyone who has any sense of this
part of the world...please RSVP.
picked first, because it seems to
have a lot going on in the way of
growing
farmer's markets
daughter will take her little herd
of 12 (?) Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. her livestock guardian dog,
Kadir.
this is not going to be uncomplicated.
she will visit first, search, find
the land. probably pay for that
land for a while before actually
going TO it.
i am here, having given my word to
the Old Cowboy. that is a whole
other story. if he knew anything
about this, he would be afraid.
so...lots in the coming days.
i don't think there is Big wind
there. i think about this. i
have checked, though, and there are
many lizards.
there are mountains, not too far
away
the Ocean, not too far away and i
know that Wind lives in these
places..............
Happiest birthday Grace! We are new cloth-heart friends, and I'm so glad to have you and your wise words and heart in my life!! I just sat down with a glass of wine myself to catch up my RSS feeds. So, here's a toast to you, my friend! May we have many more cloths and stitches together this next year! OH! And I love this new cloth... especially the JOYful bird. I can hear him singing!
;~) Debi xo
Debi from PNW...Yes!
here's to Us.
this First Bird. well...i am not
really sure exactly which bird he
is. he is somewhere else now..it's
cold and he evidently spends cold
mornings elsewhere...but once it
begins to become warm again, in
February, maybe?,
there....
in the darkest dark
before any hint of light
there will be
One
Single
note
....and then quiet
and then again, that one single note.
will write more about all that is
in this cloth, that thick honey
morning...flowing over into moon
but, that is First Bird. my guess
is that it is MockingBird OR
Thresher
but it is too dark to see. have
tried for years.
But, when that sound wakes me from
dreams,
i am assured that dawn is not long
away
Your welcome!
Chico...I called my mom to ask, it seemed to me that someone in my family had lived there (My cousin's wife's grandmother as it happens). My mom (who was born and raised on the coast of Northern California-both my parents were) says hot and dry in the summer and cold in the winter. And rattlesnakes. And a college town (party) and certainly agricultural. You probably knew all that already. Not some place she would choose...but then she lives in the Pacific Northwest, green and gray and gray and green. No rattlesnakes.
Hi grace, it's terri. I sent you an email greeeting earlier, but I was reading your comments here just now and decided to join in the toast. So I have poured a glass of wine and here's to you! Was actually going to pick up the phone and call, but found I don't have a number amongst the info Lilly gave me. You should have mine, so if you feel like it tonight, give me a ring. I'll be up for another couple of hours here yet. Love and Cheers!
ohhh so beautiful... the wind. everything caught in the wind.
you have been such a big part of my life these past months... it's strange, i feel sad that you are leaving NM. i got tears. i still felt that one day i would see you there.
well everything will be as it should be and :wishes: that you are good wherever you land. thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship and encouragement miss grace. hope you had a great day :)...
much much much Love!!!
Grace, happy birthday and I love your thoughts about clotheslines...one of the very first pictures I took with my very first camera was of our summer clothesline and the billowing shirts and sheets. It is a bit(understatement) wrenching to change locations, but I think after a time you'll grow to like CA. I forgot that Chico is near Oroville, where I've been and liked a lot. I'll try dredging through my memories and see if something helpful come up.
BAH! I missed the celebration! Happy belated Birthday Grace, I'm going to study your new prayer cloth...
We are all so lucky to have come together through Jude and her Spirit Cloth.
Happy Birthday sweet lady and I love your birthday cloth.
Jacky xox
It was my beloved auntie's birthday today too, so I'm thinking of her, and at the same time I'm glad that yours is the same day. Have a happy one.
Hey birthday girl, it's great to know you! The windswept bird is so full of life. Loving it.
hey..hugs.lots of them And thanks.
Call this piece Mi Tierra: When I look and magnify this piece, it has a power to it that reaches into the soul: Mi Tierra- my land; the elements of New Mexico, the wind, the land, the things that grow both naturally and by your tender hand. On this first day of December, the day after your 65th birthday, the thing I want to say to you querida grace is that your house may change, the land will change, the wind so strong a presence here will shift. What is constant is the wisdom, caring, attentiveness, devotion and knowing that you will bring with you because like my beloved turtles, we carry home within us.
deb g ~ well, on my meandering way
here, i lived on a mountain top
(in the airstream trailer) near
Eugene Oregon for almost a year.
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY but not for me.
i am a lizard.
the weather in that part of Cal is
very much the same as here, but
NOT as cold in winter as it is
here. so, that's the compromise
they all give me.
and rattlesnakes, well, if someone
visited Polvadera where i live...
but over across the freeway or
even just down the road maybe 5
miles, they might say there are
rattlesnakes here. exactly my spot
here is sandy. was old Rio Grande
river bed. no rattlesnakes.
so, it will require research, looking. she will do all of this
because of her goats.
thanks, deb, for asking around. it
all adds up.
Terri!!! hey! you spoke! (here,i
mean)...thank you and i am glad
you are now here too!
twhich~i get tears too. i will
always get tears. i'm not sure
a human being could love a little
piece of land more, but also
i need to Honor my daughter's
"mission" in life, honor her love
of her own daughter and that little
boy being. there are so many
reasons and if we can sometime
manage to get you here in the
next year, we will sit outside here
and i'll tell you. you can have
the blue rocking chair. i'll sit
on a stone, ok? i'll water your
feet with the hose to cool you off.
we'll work it out.
Suzanna...it is somehow right. i
left michigan and came here with
actually no consideration for any
thing except my need to come here.
it's been about 20 years and i
can let it go for this reason.
otherwise, it would be hard to
pry me away. it is a very loving
world here.
Gracie...it's a sign to me that
we are perched there together on
Jude's sidebar. it's how life can
be, if i pay attention.
so glad about you and about
working with you in the next
Cloth to Cloth, Boro
Jacky..yes. lucky. and yes...
we will be in the next class. it
was so good to be with you in the
beasts...and here we go again!!!
Karen...me and your Auntie...this
is auspicious i think. it's been
quite a year, hasn't it. so
much pleasure for me in watching
your concentration....
Penny...so many things i have
seen on your blog, so inspired i
have been by your gift with
cloth, photographs, thoughts...
wind swept birds....
and
Manya. first i saw the lizard
you left me, and my ears pricked up
....who was this lizard person???
and then i watched as you hung
your cloths on your own line and
i knew we were "related"... some
day i will make one like this for
you but with the sea, your beauty
Full Sea...
thank you just so much for being
your amazing self
and Marti...maybe
LaTierra...mi...not so much and
this has become such a perfect and
beautiful lesson in this thing of
attachment...my buddhist work....
the land, la tierra, gave herself
so wholeheartedly to me and i
gave back in kind...we made this
sisterhood of living, yes. but
Life continues to ask things of
us, it seems. now for Jenny's
land. or La Tierra to whom she will belong. Her turn now.
that old Shaker song, Turn Turn.
thank you for your endurance with
me...
Grace, I am late today in reading. Happy Birthday! I am later still in writing, though I am here regularly. It seems there may be a new segment of your clothesline linking you to yet another space. I have hung many clotheslines over the years - as have you. I never feel quite right in a place without one. It always feels as if there is a gap there - a missed stitch perhaps. You're stitching a mighty big Spirit Cloth.
Lovely Grace. I feel the same. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Gilly
Kathy...never late. as a matter
of fact, your words have given
me a very very good thought.
what if i put those traveling
mercies on the clothesline? or,
maybe even just one?
Thank You~
Gilly...thank you....
it's an interesting year.
Grace, I missed your birthday. Work gets in the way. I feel like I know you too. In C2C I always looked to see what you said about my work. It meant as much as Jude's words. I know this uprooting and moving is a big challenge but I am envious of you doing it. I would move to the ends of the world for my daughter too. You are a good mom and grandmom. BYW I love the clothesline..
linda
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