happy volunteers

After the rains, we have nasturtiums growing as big as your hand!

And a happy dill and cosmos partnership is happening in the north bed...

With one trip into nature, I am restored.

it comes in waves

Every day is an adventure this year. One day it's perfect laid-back happiness (as usual) and the next I'm hammering out a big recording project or building relationships with email marketing and I hit the pillow with puffy eyes. So many good and interesting possibilities to explore...

What I really want is to get back to this blog and to get back to the beach and to get out there and weed the garden. Joy is always there, waiting for me to return.

I'm drawing inspiration from a beautiful blog called "Sweet Sweet Life". Take a peek at the beauty and color over here.

an integrated life

Every time I pack up the portable studio, which fits in the overhead on the plane, I have a moment of awe that I've created a life where I can take my work with me wherever I go. I give thanks to Chris, and gratitude to Luis at Apple Music who helped with everything... from choosing the right microphone and pre-amp, to the padded case with wheels that acts as my mini soundproof booth.

winter vacation

We visited with our Mount Hood friends over the weekend, and did group yoga practice with my teacher... she gave me some excellent reminders and ideas to fuel my home practice. Now the guys are up on the mountain hoping for good snow. I'm here alone in the peace and quiet of winter, watching a flock of quail on the seed platform outside the dining room, and enjoying the silence. I have a simple red wool hat on my knitting needles, an interesting novel to explore, and super-comfy bed for napping. Ahhh.

more treasure hunting

I'd like to be doing more treasure hunting and creating and crafting, and less online learning. The inevitable glitches within and between software and hardware, and the enormous amount of time invested, can be very draining. A few days up on the mountain will do me good.

[photo by N. Spear]

the Zen of acting

Ben Kingsley was interviewed in the newspaper this week about his upcoming role in the Scorsese film "Shutter Island" and talked about how every detail of his character’s costuming is important, because if he looks down at his own shoes (even if they’re never seen by the audience) and they’re not appropriate to the character, or period, or conditions, his performance would suffer. It is an enormous investment to think through all the personal choices his character would make, but through the process, I absolutely understand that he comes to know his character, to become intimate with him, and we all benefit from the richness of his investment. He says that before every take he goes “to zero. Then I’m ready to receive all the energy of the set, the lighting, especially completely open to the other actors, uncluttered, no preconceptions, know my dialogue backwards. I find that a very gratifying and joyful way to work.” Man, I love him for saying that! Is there any better way to be in the world?

Haiku Saturday

how reluctantly
the bee emerges from deep
within the peony

[Basho]