Your post is such a good reminder that it can be helpful to try things a different way. And as always, I love these.

Hi Acey. I want to try the first two exercises here. The second one is intriguing and clear (the two pages with glued on images) but the photography prompt befuddled me a little since all pictures relate to visual perception. Can you say more? Blink level?

I wonder if there is a way to encourage doubt to become curiosity. Your words have got me thinking.

Happy birthday, Hazel! It doesn’t matter how many times you circle round. I’m here for it. Love the roses, real and painted.

I have missed so much of what happens here of late. My loss. The basket/nest is such a beautiful representation of the net of women who buoy each other (and maybe more) in times of heart lows. You are such a good story teller.

Beautiful weaving here of current awareness and past heart events. I love the idea of someone leaving seed packs at your door. Also the child begging for a post card of Anubis. And the incredible idea of walking therapy, where trees contribute to the healing.

Your commitment to social justice shines in each and every star. It is amazing to me how quilting about a life struck down forces us to recognize how quick the news cycle, how permanent the loss.

I envy you getting out and spending time with friends. The beauty of that landscape! And: your thread pictures do contain worlds like that rectangle of plants!

A quilt that I shipped to Australia this winter never made it. I had to do a full refund, of course, plus some fee, which meant I lost the quilt, the cost of the quilt, and paid for mailing, Etsy listing and return fee.

I have missed you. So sorry to hear about your health challenges. Thank you for sharing so that I can send you good thoughts. 💕

Other pieces in “a pile of life”. I have lots of such piles. So much so ( if I were a different person that is), I could spend the rest of my days just finishing them. We share February birthdays. I think of that. This will be the year that I outlive my older sister. With mile markers like these, i find the younger internal self somewhat kept in check. Each day is so precious, if only we could feel that more. Someone asked me this week, did I think my novel was my life’s work. I answered, it depends on how long I live. I wasn’t trying to be cute.

One of the best aspects of having a dog is how they force you to walk. Could stand to do more tho! The basket is a form of built focus. It holds ideas, nourishment, strays.... and I love how it echoes the ring of wood.

How smart to pull back. I agree with Kristin that the handwritten pages are like post cards, offering a little intimacy. I am pretty hooked on my phone, esp Twitter, in the fast changing newscape. I find FB and Instagram falling away, especially FB. I don’t know how you manage with so many followers. On the one hand, it’s laudatory, proof of something, but on the other hand, what a burden!

What an amazing dream. I love the idea of the dreamer coming across one hours later — in between the couch cushions, say. And thank you for the vocabulary list. Today is hair cut day in this house. I’ve gotten pretty food at K’s. Fortunately mine isn’t styled so it’s just a matter of making it shorter.

The double play on Moon has me wondering. Anyway, I love the dots on the large moon almost making it like Swiss dot — is that what you call it?

There is a lot to think about. I’m not shocked either but still dismayed beyond belief.

We will survive! Rinse, type, repeat! Starhawk and Susan Griffin, real blasts from the past. And the vision of the celtic horned god Cerunnos (had to look up because I'd forgotten his name) provides some wonderful echoes to things that just arose in conversation about the masculine vs. feminine. Going down to studio to explore right now. Hopefully some sort of new clarity will emerge.

I read and let the words wash over me and am warmed by the sunny colors. I tell myself it is okay that I will never be this sensitive. It is enough to know that you are.

Poison so sneaky but blooming subtle, too. Food for thought. Pocket cloth is a name that implies function — a cloth talisman to carry around seems like a very good idea right now.

Such an amazing birth story!

I could read writing like this all day.

Glad you’re keeping that star. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Hazel.

I sent cookies to the boys. Was able to use up old saved Christmas tins. One box took ten days to get to LA. Now I wish I had come up with little goofy gifts. It feels too late. I am more and more intrigued by and in love with your paintings. They create additional notes that tell a story. Interspersed with other work and text — and you get layers of meaning.

Love this post, Dana and the warm glow of stories and red lights. This year I was happy to just put up lights, but in the end my husband wanted to up some ornaments. The boxes of the boys’ yearly collected ornaments will not get an airing this year. Next week marks a year since we’ve seen them. It’s interesting to me how a compromise became such an enduring family tradition. Speaks well of you and Mike, I think.

An interesting read, indeed. Jam packed. I love the idea of seasonal tarot deck changes. I recently switched from my Voyager deck to my Ghetto deck, just because. I am exhausted today. Wrote about the eclipse this morning and wonder if it’s stirring things up under the surface. I’m going to have fun with make orange marks and ripping them up and reassembling them. One of my favorite room clearing practices is to put a fan in one window, open the others and run the fan for a few hours. Even in the freezing cold.