Laundry Line Divine

This may startle you a bit. I have been keeping a journal since I was 14. I am 51, about to be 52 in September. That means the heavy selves of spiral bound notebooks that take up a bit of real estate here in my studio contain pages and pages of my scratchy handwriting.

I began keeping a journal steadily in Mr. Dedic’s Junior English class. He was just one of the many fine teachers I had at Escanaba Area Public High School. I have the notebook right here. We wrote on Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoonriver Anthology, he allowed us to write ‘tho’ instead of ‘though’ and assigned us to make daily entries. That was all the impetus I needed. As a jumpstart for those early pages, I started keeping lists. I was years away from encountering Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” with her perspective on journal keeping.

I just plowed through several stacks of journals to find the page you see below. This list was written in the year of my 21st birthday. I was still working at Bay Cliff in the summer and in the heart of my years at Northern Michigan University, doing theatre, dance and working with kids doing both of those activities. Judging from what I wrote, I had a sense of the world ahead.

On the facing page to this journal entry are cellophane taped-in magazine pictures of fresh fruits, pasta with basil, kefir in clear pitchers and beautifully arranged vegetables. This particular notebook is full of stuff I stuck in-poems by friends, church bulletins, newspaper clippings, notes from my college boyfriend who I was madly and a bit sadly in love with at the time, photos and letters. I wrote lots of lists- food I’d like to try, places to go, music I’d like to hear, presents I’d love to have which included things like a diamond ring, new tennies, and to swim in a river. The “we” I allude to in this list must mean me and BZ, that boyfriend. Hmm. I have long lost him, but gained so many other gifts. There are many things I have accomplished in these 30 years.

Over at my pal Jennifer Gandin Le’s website, she posted her “Mighty Life List”. You will find her in my blogroll. Jennifer’s writing is what got me thinking about the miles and miles of lists I have kept. I am going to post a new “Mighty Life” list here on the Laundry Line. But before I do that, I want to take a moment to value and offer gratitude for what I have attained.

This is what jumps off the page today:

We- and here I mean me and my husband- have a hammock that swings under tall trees, namely a linden and an oak.
I have a sewing room that is also an ironing room, yarn storage and closet for winter clothing and Jonathan’s hanging clothes.
Just this year I bought a pair of Frye boots. Nice timing.
I live in New England and don’t really hanker after brown bread anymore.
I went to a mountain spa in Steamboat Springs this winter- Strawberry Hot Springs, which is heaven.
I have sat under and sketched many palm trees in many different locations.

There are many things I have done, but mainly, I brag I do have kids- I love many kids more than the 2 who call me Mom. We do own our own home and it has a big, clean kitchen, though I share it freely with the rest of my family!

My life is filled with so many blessings. Today most of all, a year after a tumultous health passage for me and just 2 days after a smaller but traumatic moment for Jonathan, I can say we are all blessed with good health. And the finest of friends all over the world. Looking at this list reminds me of all I have lived in these 30 years. Offering gratitude for this cornucopia of blessings, experiences, challenges and joy keeps me in touch with the Sacred with every breath. Thank you Goddess, I will take more.

As I write this I got a notification from Tammy McLeod’s blog “AgriGirl”- she is writing about journalling today too. You can link to her over in my blogroll.

Jennifer posted a photo of herself as a young girl as a reminder to be gentle on herself as she scribes her desires for the future. This is a photo of me from the month I wrote that list 30 years ago. Pretty hopeful bundle of hair I had there.

In light of all the earthly events making the news this week, of losses my friends are having like dear Martha Burkes dying on Wednesday, of Haiti, of all that oil…I cannot stop living the life I have here today. I send my love to each of those hearts of need, all over the planet. And as a pledge to the Divine, I will live this one Mighty Life, right here in the shade of the Laundry Line.

I am heading out to the garden to ponder my Mighty Life List. I will fill the bird baths and sing a song of gratitude for all I have done since I wrote that list of ‘Temptations’ back in Big Bay.

How about you? Got a Mighty Life List to share?
I’d love to read it.
Yours, S

Peep over at Mary Oliver’s poem “Praying” before you read this please.

“…a few small stones: just pay attention, then patch a few words together…”

This is the patching.
Thank you Mary.

I love stones. I worked long ago on the shores of Lake Superior and by the end of those summers; I would have more poundage of stones than dirty laundry or mosquito bites. My Mom would chide me for driving stones around the country as I moved from Escanaba, to Houston, to Marquette, to Louisville, to Chicago, to Louisville again, then New York City. Now in the stony Berkshires I have plenty to keep me company, though I must admit to collecting stones from wherever I travel. The first time I stood next to my husband in a Jewish cemetery, I saw all the headstones decorated with handfuls of small rocks. I realized then what I have been doing carrying stones around with me from home to home. I am remembering where I have come from and that I too, carry the love of that former place to this new place. On and on, I move small piles of memories held in stones.

When you stand on the shores of Superior, or the Atlantic or probably any large body of water, there are times when the surf moves sheets of stones in the waves and the sound is like no other. The texture of the minerals rubbing against each other, becoming sand eventually, grinding away with the action of wind and water, it is quite a sound. Is it the sound of the sands of time perhaps?

My Moon Circle is about to hold our Summer Solstice Sweat Lodge. Yeah, we can be witchy with ritual. We bring rocks to the fire that are imbued with our intentions, honor and desires. We construct a framework of logs to hold the rocks in the 4 directions. Then, when the rocks have withstood an enormous fire, my fire tending Lydi and I rake them in to the sweat lodge to gather their heat in to our bodies and their wisdom in to our souls. Some of the rocks split open and shower orange crystal sparkles. Some reveal their insides that have long forgotten the yellow glare of the sun or the wet of rain; they reveal their insides to us in those moments. Time exposure.

The rocks I found yesterday are what I see nearly every day. I walked to the river with Lydi early to swim and see what we could see. Then at 12:30 I headed out to the yard. I realized the stones that surround my house are ones that I have chosen during my travels and brought home. Costa Rican green stones, Mediterranean white, the pinks and grays of the Cape and of course, my beloved Lake Superior stones.

When we go home in the summer to visit my parents, I allow myself to buy 3 or 4 knobs made with Superior stones. A man who sails on the ore boats makes them. Our kitchen cupboards are slowly becoming like the stony beach at Big Bay. I strew stones on my altar among the chickens and art.

Please don’t tell Danny about this collection of flat stones. When our boys were little, oh, about 12 years ago, our families were on the Cape together. Danny and I stood on the shore of Wellfleet Bay and skipped rocks at low tide on to the silvery gray ocean surface until our shoulders were sore. We talked the whole time. I don’t think we have had that much time to just talk since that afternoon. He will have his 50th birthday some year soon and I intend to give him a box of rocks that we can haul to some shore and catch up on our talking. These rocks are from all over the world. Don’t they look like they will fit into his big hands perfectly?

I know this is one honking big blog post. The blog police will be out to get me. But I am armed with stones, not ones with which to fill my pockets and drown nor to slay Goliath, just the ones to remind me of all the places I have loved all over this fine planet.

You can see a slide show of these stones on my Flickr page. Just click over one of the photos above. I cannot get this page to link to Kathy’s but if you would be so kind as to go over to my blog roll and link to ‘Kathy in the north woods’ you will see her gorgeous post titled “Simply Stones”.

Love, S
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There are stars in blackberry blossoms, after a bee visits the tiny tendrils open up in to a constellation of black spots against the white petals.

I am digesting a whopperdosie of a Mastery Weekend with the School of the Womanly Arts. www.mamagenas.com Then I had Monday with my Jill and The Seven Sacred Steps. www.thesevensacredsteps.com

I am rather speechless.
My friend Susan said she is pregnant with stars.
I know how she and the blackberries feel.

Tomorrow Kathy from Upwoods and I are going to have another playdate. If you’d like to join us, take your camera and go out to find some rocks to enjoy with your eyes. We will be posting our finds here and on her site at
www.upwoods@wordpress.com. We would love to see your photos too. If you send a few to me on email, I will post them here. laundrylinedivine@gmail.com.

Steamy evening in the Berkshires.
Love, S

Kathy from Upwoods and I had a date yesterday, a grown up playdate! We each shot photos at 12:30 pm of Food Labels.

Ingredient List for this Slideshow

“Perfect in Puddings” Janet just gave me this on Tuesday. She has a way of knowing just what I need, like this little tin of Lyle’s Golden Syrup for a spring day. I happen to be partial to pudding, almost any pudding, but especially my own Coconut Rice Pudding or Janet’s limey concoction with all sorts of ingredients I can’t even remember.

Fair Trade Banana Label. These yellow fruits have been on my mind alot since Miami. I love the arrow on this label.

The spaghetti box that turned in to an art project. I love printing on found papers and this beautiful box- really nice paper, Italian of course, looks cool with my new stamp blocked all over it. Hmm…I will cut it up today for a Mail Art Card.

Oh the humble masking tape label, the fruit of my hot kitchen labors over the harvest in early October. I used to make nice labels with my kid’s art discards, then out of Victorian stickers. Masking tape has a certain zip to it though, right?

Chocolate labels from my stash…yes, I have many of these. Karen and I are firm believers in the power of chocolate, as our “Fe-Mail” cards attest. Plus, my husband uses chocolate as his vitamin source. Thanks JNB!

Yes, alot of chocolate labels.

Then there is the food label stash here in my studio. Each one has a story, like the Dairy Queen label from Munsing Michigan or the lady from Richard Bourdon’s bread labels that I use all the time. I am the person soaking wine labels off the bottles in fancy restaurants. Some waiters love me.

I made this page in my Collage-A-Day journal using a fab wine label from something we enjoyed last Christmas. I love the gold parts next to the red, just so Chinese New Year-ish.

Thank you Kath, for the fun playdate!
Let’s go see what she harvested on her end! http://upwoods.wordpress.com

Love and hugs, S