To be in awe

That is how I feel everytime I see this garden.

I can't tell you exactly what the vegetables are.

But they make my mouth water.

I flip throught all my memorized recipes.

But then I remember.

They belong to Sandy.

Self

"You do not need to be loved, not at the cost of yourself.

The single relationship that is truly central and crucial in a life is the relationship to the self...

Of all the people you will know in a lifetime, you are the only one you will never lose."

-Jo Courdet

Advice from A Failure

The young alchemist

The mother in me is always looking at possible ways for the girls to be entertained.

One day, I suggested to Snowden that she gather things from the yard and pretend she was an alchemist... something of an era she was studying in school.

She took to it with gusto. I get to smell the potions she creates, and my skin serves as the test area too. As you see above, this is serious business for that creative mind.

Brain Tickle

In the 10th degree.

Working on this bag has been way up there on the pleasure scale. I have learned new techniques and learning tickles my brain anyway.

This rates higher than conquering a Quickbooks dilemma, or a new food recipe.

I keep looking through Lucy's attic to see what else she has to share.

Chandler's Farmers Market

Chandler encourages its residents to shop locally, and I comply by visiting the farmers market on Thursdays.

This area of Chandler has undergone major changes and on Thursdays I feel like I am on Main Street somewhere. I love the small town feeling.

My vegetable purchase, grown locally.

Tamales from the Tamale Store.

Pottery from Sharon who sells it at a very reasonable price. I have several of her pieces. Made in her local studio.

My heart warms when I see how I am a part of a community.

Choose

The single clenched fist lifted and ready,

Or the open asking handheld out and waiting.

Choose: For we meet by one or the other.

- Carl Sandburg

"Choose", from Chicago Poems.

When the river runs wild

Conflict

Stop by here for further info.

From the bleeding heart social worker

What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander. - Elie Wiesel,

Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate

Sunday Pictures

It is a March Sunday in Arizona, but it could be a Sunday in 1972 Sunday in Mozambique where the family goes on the not so regular outings to downtown Beira. The stop at the cafe, and the walk through the park.

The San Marcos courtyard.

Commissioned art at AJ Park.

AJ Park.

Orange blossoms.

Petunias and more.

The courtyard at San Marcos.

I now have my Dad's camera from the Beira time. I always loved checking his drawer and touch his things. I felt connected. This ritual was established by him as a way to connect. I checked it for the last time two days after his death. I kept the camera.

Insecurity and power

Abuse of power for the individual is motivated by fear and by the resulting desire to control the power of life. This fear and arrogance are then used to create societies in which structures of domination create special possibilities for the privileged at the expense of shared power for all persons. The power that is intended by God for everyone who lives is used to destroy relationships in exchange for control. Rather than live in insecurity, some persons choose to create structures that dominate and control others for personal gratification and false security.
- James Newton Poling

The Abuse of Power

One piece in the puzzle

I was one piece in the puzzle.

In this community event.

Where people sung.

Danced.

Did capoeira.

Made art.