ma and pa

Ma and Pa

I was sitting here in the library working on a few things when along came this incredible man in my life with a figurine he got for me. He said it was us.

Now I know there are plenty of people out there who get gifts from loved ones all the time. I have never been such a person except when I was little and my dad would shower me with things that made him think of me. My father has not been physically on this planet for over 30 years now, and for the first time in my life I feel the very best that my father ever gave me in every moment he shared with me has been wrapped up in the most perfect package in the man that I now live with.

Every day that I'm with this man I feel so much more love for him. I well up with it and it spills out all over him. To have him in the same house with me, to be in the same building he's in, to work with his fabrics, to read to his little boy, to be able to do the dishes after one of his fabulous meals... wow, did the gods look kindly on me!

I told him last night that I could feel phase two of my time with him eeking into our lives. Phase one was getting to know one another, and oh! have we enjoyed that phase. I'm sure that's an ongoing one, but now phase two has crept into my brain and now I can't stop thinking and churning and creating and... There's nothing (well almost) I like better than to create things with his fabrics, and this morning he relinquished even more of his designs into my stash. One of his friends gave me a few bags of batting and fabrics, and you would've thought I had inherited the world.

In my previous life with the husband, I owned a quilt shop, ran another quilt shop, did commissioned work, designed my own patterns, and taught classes, not to mention wrote a book about a fiber artist. I had a 1200 square foot studio with five machines, a monstrous cutting table, a room full of fabrics, another one just for notions, a section for reading my wall of books, and every kind of paint, bead, yarn, etc. you can possibly think of. Ooh, and let's not forget the plethora of stamps and inks and papers and... well you get the idea.

And now I've got a borrowed machine, a stash of tie-dyed fabrics and t-shirts, a bag of batting, and a pile of fabrics that Dan gave me that I haven't looked at yet. The inventory I have now -- the one machine on my table, and the pair of paper scissors I use to cut fabric instead of all my rulers, cutting mats, and large cutting table -- pushes me to use my imagination more. I don't have the drawers full of stabilizers and fusing materials that made applique easy. Instead I draw onto paper the images I desire, and then freehand cut the fabrics I want those images to be. I don't have the tools I used to, and I'm finding that my designs flow easier. I'm more drawn to them. I just like looking at them so much more than what I've made in the past. I'm recreating how I work, and it's changing who I am.

I need less, and I create more. What comes from my hands now represents me more. I push myself to reconfigure how I work without all the tools and fabrics and notions. I stretch my limits until they're gone, and then I do it again and again and again.

I do it in a room that's filled with love for me. Can you possibly comprehend the enormity of that? There are moments that I just stop and breathe it all in because this is what I've been waiting for all my life. This outpouring of love. I want to do more for him. I want to be more for him. I want to grow myself so much more because he deserves it, and so do I.

So, I take what I have in my corner of the front room -- the fabrics, the ideas, the three spools of thread, the discarded men's shirts, and the buttons I cut from them -- and I send my imagination out in the far reaches of Idea Land, and miracles occur.

One day very soon there will be a website hosting all these morsels of imaginative fun, and I'll be sure to post it on the blog. For now, you'll just have to settle for some pictures taken of me on Christmas morning making a potholder for new friends of mine. Enjoy!

coffee and water mingle with the tie-dyed flowers I made



the Dan style is to embellish both sides



all fabrics dyed by Dan

All you fabric artists out there understand when I say I get to wake up every morning with this man too!

Christmas in Leo Land

homemade yeast rolls



oh sweet baby jesus!!!



one of the amazing chefs for Christmas dinner!

 So, my first Christmas in Leo Land, and it was more than I could have ever hoped it to be. First of all, the dinner was exceptional, and I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Thanks to Dan's oldest two sons we were able to sit down to an absolute feast. There are no words to express my gratitude to both of them. They are amazing young men, and as they prepare to embark on their own journeys to other states, I will miss them terribly. They are not only talented and smart, but also so much fun. It's been great waking up to the bulk of testosterone that I haven't been around since I was a kid. This time though the boys are incredibly helpful, patient, and just so kind. It says so much about their dad because I see the very best in him in them.

I grew up with three brothers of my own. It was mortifying most of the time since I was the punching bag of the older two. Now I get to enjoy the company of Dan's three oldest sons before they all move away. I've been single and living without men in the household since 9/11/06. When I decided to jump on the next train to NY, the thought of living with several men again did cross my mind. What would it be like? What would they be like? Would we get along? Honestly, these questions lasted for seconds because I was so determined to be with Dan that I wasn't going to allow anything to keep me from him any longer. What I didn't count on was how easily we would all fit into each other's lives. I'm not going to speak for them, but for me, it was truly a piece of cake.

And, Christmas with Dan and his sons was more than I could have possibly imagined. Here's a picture of stockings I made for Dan and four of his sons. Dan calls me his Amtrak girl and he is my last stop, so on his stocking I made the Syracuse train depot with the train stopped right there. On each of the boys' stockings Dan helped me with the images that would mean something for them, so Ben got a sailboat. I cut up one of Nick's old t-shirts to applique the images on his stocking. One of Dan's pillowcases was sacrificed for Zane's, and I drew my own design of Calvin and Hobbes for the youngest.

notice the homemade biscotti brought to me with chocolates on the side...

Playing Santa while drinking coffee and eating biscotti in our bedroom was one of the greatest pleasures I've had on a Christmas morning. It feels as if I've waited my whole life to be here now with Dan and to share his life of boys and boxes and art and snow and everything else.

I've been here now for three weeks, met some of Dan's friends, been to his college, cleaned a few dishes, unpacked a few boxes, and just thoroughly enjoyed my moments here with him and his sons. I've been to parties, met artists, and visited the local quilt shop. I've spent many hours in the library and reading to my favorite six-year old. And lately the bulk of my time has been spent setting up my own space in Dan's house -- our house. Thanks to the oldest son, we made quite a bit of progress yesterday.

Tonight is the last night the oldest son will be here before moving back to TX, so we're having a family night. I am blessed, privileged, and ever so grateful to be considered part of this family. Not only is Dan an exceptional man, but he's also the best dad I've ever seen, and his sons are true testaments to that. In a very short time I have grown to love all of them, and tonight I get to celebrate with the finest of men anywhere.

And, to the oldest Leo boy, thank you for making me so welcomed in your home, in your family, and in your life. There will not be a day that goes by that I won't be thinking about you. Enjoy your adventure called life!

new home, new life

Since I last published a post in this blog, I've crossed several state lines, had dinner in Chicago with a brand new friend that left the train in Cleveland, and now I live with the man of my wildest, craziest, out-of -this-world dreams. I arrived a week ago, and I can honestly say that every single day I am more in love with him. I am happier than I've ever been, and I have finally reunited with the very best part of me.



jarring a shirt



putting yellow dye on all the white spots



My first morning in The House of Leo, as it is so lovingly called, began with a very hearty breakfast and two strong cups of coffee. He loaded me with caffeine and nutrition so I could get to work on finishing what he had started for me before I had arrived. The top picture shows what it looks like to "jar" a shirt. After tie-dyeing I soaked a t-shirt in amethyst dye. I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of the finished product because that one really rocked. You'll just have to take my word for it. And the same thing with the second picture. It was a massive piece he tie-dyed with a huge mushroom in the middle, planets in the corners, and a two-legged peace sign. It is by far the most amazing peace sign I've ever seen even though it is missing a leg.

To give you an idea of what I've done with Dan's fabrics, here's a sampling.

This is made from t-shirts he tie-dyed in the 90s. The handle is cotton fabric he dyed, and I cut it into strips and braided it. The flower is made from the same cotton fabric with the center being a scrap from a t-shirt.

This purse is made from two sleeves off a t-shirt. The fringe is scraps from several of them as is the flower.

Here's a sampling of flowers made from his cotton dyed fabrics with centers cut from t-shirt scraps. They're going to grow up one day to be decorations on purses, clothing, etc., but for now they're sprinkled throughout the house.

Looking at this still takes my breath away. This is a detail photo of a skirt I made from his t-shirts. I have a hard time taking my eyes off the colors and designs in the fabrics. It's like falling in love with him over and over and over. And, what a lovely trip that is.

I love these skirts! They are amazing to look at and, oh my gawd, they twirl! When my daughter was little and I would make her dresses, the number one criteria was that they twirled. The twirling factor is still monumentally important. If they don't twirl, I'm not sure they're worth wearing. Just sayin'...

Our relationship started out (I think) with the fabric. Hm... the more I think about it, the more I think it started out with the eyes, then the smile, the voice, the laugh... well, I know for sure that the fabric factored in there somewhere.

Now I have a pile, a stash, a plethora of Dan Leo's tie-dyed fabrics to cut up. Just typing that statement made me weak in the knees. What I haven't done yet, and can't wait to do, is some thread-painting with his designs. The pieces he's made for me keep that little hamster running frantically in the wheel inside my head. For the first time in years, I want to enter shows again. I want to stretch again and again and again. There's so much to experiment with, so much to see what could be stunning and what's gonna really suck. (I found one experiment so far that fits that bill.) However, the ones that suck will just challenge me to see what I can do to "unsuck" them.

After typing that last paragraph, I decided to take a little break and walk around a bit. When I got back to my computer at the school where Dan works, this is what I found.

ah... nuff said

going home

I haven't celebrated Christmas in many, many years. No Christmas tree. No Christmas dinner. Just didn't feel like it. Christmas has been just another day for most of this century. As a matter of fact, I was looking at the same kind of Christmas this year too as everyone in the compound where I live right now in Taos will be gone by Christmas. I thought I'd be here by myself -- again.

Not so anymore.

I'm moving to Oswego, New York. Heading that way on Monday. Right now my last load of laundry is being dried, and just one more suitcase to pack. I've given away even more of my stuff. I've spent my single life purging like crazy, and when I left McKinney, Texas I thought I'd purged enough of my things. Again, it's not what I thought.

All of my belongings now fit into two large suitcases and a duffel bag. I'm arriving in Oswego with no past. I've gotten rid of all journals and now most of my pictures. I've held onto a few pictures of my daughter, but all others are gone.

This move has been a no-brainer. It has come strictly from my heart. I am working with someone creating clothing from his dyed fabrics. The joy I feel from working with his masterpieces is indescribable. The passion I feel for working with him has led to something very personal. There is a connection between the two of us that has made this move across the country the easiest thing I've ever done. I am told several times a day about how cold it is there, the amounts of snow they have every winter, and how poverty-stricken the area is.

It doesn't matter. I'm moving to be with the man, not to be in the place. The love I feel for him is so deep and natural and real. It's the truest thing in my life. It's the one thing I'm more sure of than anything else. And, it's all that matters.

I'm 54 years old. I'm not a young teenager that's walking into a situation thinking it's all rosy and sweet. No, I'm looking at it as fun. This adventure is my fun time. My marriage was hard work, drudgery, and putting happiness at bay. This relationship has just been so much fun. If I could only impart the joy I feel brainstorming with him, looking at his picture of super heroes overseeing his cups of dyes, hearing about the nativity set where each figure is about one inch tall, and looking at the picture of the glass baby Jesus in front of the margarita mix bucket. He opens my world with his fascination of how macaroni could actually look like an angel. When I look at the picture he sent me, I can't help but smile and get excited about creating new Christmas memories.

This is my time to lighten up, to play, to live with boys again, create art, clothing, and accessories out of tie-dyed fabrics, to laugh incessantly, to dance to every kind of music, to plant a garden with seeds garnered from eaten vegetables, to help cook coconut battered fried chicken, to make up stories, and to love so openly that joy spills out. This is my new adventure. The train I'm taking leaves on Monday and arrives where my heart is leading me on Wednesday.

I am going home. Finally. And, home is not a place. In this case it's a man, and I get to play with him.

fabric magic

While I sit in front of the windows I see the amazing plants outside. I don't know the names of any of them because I haven't taken the time yet to really get to know this place called Taos. One of my neighbors is a Taos history buff, and listening to him makes me want to go to the library and absorb everything I can find on Taos. This town was built on, by, and with very courageous and powerful women, women who chose to live life differently, no matter what the cost. I don't know how courageous or powerful I am but I certainly feel like I live my life differently than the majority.

The heads of the bushes outside the window right in front of me look like bouffant hairdos on little old ladies. I would love to trim them and dip them into a can of shellac and hang to dry. Their stems are so tiny and fragile, and yet the blossoms are large and bushy. I watch them wave in the wind, and am amazed at how easily those tiny stems hold up such massive heads.

They dance in the breeze with such grace. They swing in unison like the Rockettes.  They look as if they're nodding yes to me, and I don't even know what question they seem to be answering. Yes! Just yes.

Yes is my new word. I say yes often. I say yes to the next possibility and the next one and the next one. I just keep saying yes, and the possibilities become profound. I've learned to dance on shifting carpet, as my friend Tom Crum taught me. I've learned that the path I'm to be on just took a sharp detour into the dark woods, and god only knows what's on the other side. I take it anyway.

I have deliberately and consciously chosen to lead from my heart, and I've learned to stop questioning where it leads. Instead, I just jump on that train and hang on for the ride. I always seem to know when to jump off and pick up another one.

I don't feel anything is permanent in my life. I don't believe in "death us do part." My life turns on a dime, and what I'm seeing is how much the new train rides are taking me down tracks I've been on before, but this time I'm riding with more knowledge, wisdom, and compassion. I may have the same name but I'm not even close to being the same person.

I'm back to sewing like a fiend again. I came to Taos without any supplies or machines, and lo and behold, I have access to three machines, a beautiful working gallery, and loads of fabrics. Hm... Didn't I get off at that station once before? The difference this times is the depth of my imagination and creativity. I seem to have opened myself up in a way that helps me see how I can turn just about anything into something that can be worn or used. The reactions I get from people who see my work astound me. I'm realizing that they've never seen this kind of work before. This town is full of artists, and yet it seems I've brought something to town that's very different than what's shown up before.

Well, it certainly amazes me when I'm done with a piece, and what I'm noticing is that it's not just me doing it. There are several people involved. For instance, yesterday while working in the store, I had torn strips of silk, knotted them, and then braided them together. I had also gathered circles of them into flowers. While I was twisting the braided pieces together a young customer came in, looked at it, and said, "Oh, that's a fabric necklace!"

Well, it was news to me, but that's exactly what it turned into. When I showed it to others after I'd finished sewing the flowers and buttons onto it, it really was a fabric necklace like nothing any of us had seen before. I am not alone in this venture. This is community. I have a bag of silk scraps from Katie. My dresser is filled with dried twigs, cactus pods, and sage from the mountains. I have a mica pot from Taos Pueblo clay for its magic to fill the room. And, best of all, I have a pile of Dan's tie-dyed t-shirts sitting beside me on the bed. I know just what I want to do with them as soon as I get to the gallery today. I designed a skirt from knit designer fabric swatches while I lived in McKinney, and now I want to cut up the t-shirts to make more. Put primary colored thread in the serger and off I go. It's taking me so long to type this because I keep stopping and visualizing those skirts. Some of the shirts have holes in them, and I want to zigzag stitch the holes in wild-colored threads to add even more texture. The pictures in my head are making my heart beat faster. With the scraps left over I want to try my hand at more fabric necklaces and belts.

Okay, okay.... I've gotta go. I have to get to town so I can cut up some t-shirts.

living the vision

"What really sets the twin soul union apart from all the rest is the profound degree of completeness experienced and the overwhelming sense of spirituality unique to them. Twins want to serve in some meaningful way. There is also a very sacred sense of intimacy and feeling of divinely inspired wholeness that one finds in a twin soul relationship. It is not by accident nor is it without purpose." -- http://star.goddess.tripod.com/

Whether or not you believe in twin flames/souls is not the point of this excerpt. The reason I keep looking this information up is because I keep getting messages about this very thing usually when I would love to be sleeping.

Last night/morning I saw "movies" of what could be my life. And it wasn't the first time I saw these pictures. The difference last night was that I saw the face of the man that has been in my dreams/visions for years. And this time I didn't run screaming from my bed when I saw what I've seen for awhile now. I saw myself working with a man that I dearly love. I saw our work unfold as if it held magic. It transformed those who wore what we made. I was told by an intuitive years ago that I would make twin flame garments with my twin flame.

First of all, I was pretty skeptical of that terminology. After the relationship experiences I have had, there was no way I was getting sucked up into another business with someone I slept with. I was wanting to run for cover. I never really believed in the whole twin flame thing, just something made up to put labels on certain relationships.

Then along came Dan. Well, that turned this skeptic upside down. The reason I started looking at the twin flame information was because there were things happening between the two of us that I had never experienced before. There were a lot of things. The first one being that I got knocked on my ass when someone tried to ask me out, and the first thing I saw when I "got away" was Dan and me together in New York. That became a wtf? kinda day. I realized for the first time that I was no longer in charge of what transpires. There was something so much bigger than me that took over, and still does. Like last night when I saw Dan and me working together. What was fascinating to me was the ability we had to flow together. There was this seamlesness between us. There was little need for words, and the happiness in that room was astounding. There were moments when I couldn't tell if I was looking at his hands or mine. There was this sense of complete oneness that I'd never felt before. It sounds so trite to write it like that, and it is anything but trite. It was so real, so magnificent, and so very, very right.

It seems like I spent most of the night awake in this vision-like state, watching us live together, play together, and work together. I surrendered my all to him as he did to me, and it was the most pure joy, vibrancy, and ecstasy I've ever encountered.

I cannot wait to create what I saw us making together. I awoke this morning not tired at all, but rejuvenated and raring to get to the gallery and sit at the sewing machine. But first, I'm at the store, and if Dan's box arrives at home while I'm not there, I will move mountains to get to it.

at least 1000 words

After a long day at the store and at the gallery, I arrived home somewhere around nine tonight. I haven't been sleeping much, and I was dragging my ass through the house to get to my bedroom. I haven't been sleeping much lately because my brain is spewing all night long with ideas of what I can do with tie-dyed and/or batik fabric. Not just any tie-dyed and/or batik fabric, but Dan Leo's fabrics. I've been writing about him for a while without giving up his identity, but tonight when I got home, I got an email from him with these pictures and a short little note. He hopes these pictures are worth at least 1000 words.

Well, mister, you got it, and now that you sent me the pictures I'm blowing your cover!! Personally, I'd write across the sky if I could how I really feel about you, but there's not enough sky. So, I'll do what I can here.

First of all, I loved coming home tonight and finding your new pictures not only in my email but also the ones of your work on Facebook. I want everything you've ever made. I would love to be in a room in your house with all your fabrics and shirts and my sewing machine and boxes of threads and beads and batting. Your designs are so amazing, and I would love to get my hands on them. You ain't seen nothin' yet...

I think you're a genius. You're amazingly talented and you up my game. You stretch my imagination. You expand my reach. I look at this design, and I'm awed at your creativity. I have an inkling of an idea of how long it took you to do this and what the process was. I am in awe. I could look at this for hours, and if it were in my hands right now, I would spin my own magic on it. I look at this, and I radiate love for you. Oh my god, Dan, this needs to be in my box that you mailed me. I feel like Christmas will arrive when I get to open what you sent me. This is a dream come true to be able to work with a man like you. Your work is stunning, and I get to play with it. How did I get to be in my shoes?

Something really cool happened today. When it occurred, I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore. This really is Taos. I know you said that I had to stay in Taos, but I'm telling you I ache to work with you. I know it would be the highest high to stand next to you while we're playing with dyes and fabric. I have no doubt about that at all. Baby, we could rock the world with what we can do together. The world has never seen what we can do, but I've seen it plenty of times in my head. It keeps me awake at night. I sleep with my laptop now because I wake up with all these ideas and can't go back to sleep until they all get written.

Today while I was working in the store a woman from San Fransisco walked up to me and told me that if I would write every morning nonsensical words and read them backwards and forwards I would get the message about why I am here. (Now remember, I'm in Taos.)

She told me that at least by February it'll all be clear to me. It could happen sooner if I'd get busy writing like she told me to do every single day. I told her that I was collaborating with someone in New York with my artwork. I said that I thought I was going to be doing energy work in Santa Fe, but instead ended up in Taos doing art again. She just nodded and said, "Yes, that's right." She told me it was important for me to do that writing every single morning. I told her that I would, and she walked out of the store. As she walked down the hallway, she abruptly turned around and stood in the doorway. She said to me, "You're not staying in Taos, but you know that already." I told her that indeed I did know that. She said, "Look beyond the city lights." She smiled at me, and then said, "And you know what that means." I told her that I did, and then she left.

Then a man named Dave came in looking for information on one of the offices upstairs. We got to talking, and I eventually told him about Ms. San Fransisco and what she told me. He asked me if I felt in my heart that her words rang true for me. I said they did, and he said, "Then I'm going to leave you with this gift today." He reached across the counter and held my hand in both of his, and said, "When you hear something, look within. If it resonates with what your heart is telling you, then it is true for you." I told him that it was true for me, and he told me that what Ms. San Fransisco did for me was provide confirmation for all I had been feeling.

Well now, welcome to my world in Taos. Just another day at the office...

So, would you still kick my sweet butt back to Taos if I showed up in New York, in the town beyond the city lights? I feel that you and I are walking a path that neither one of us ever anticipated. Even though it's a dream come true, it still makes me shake a  bit in my boots. I am bewildered. Really, Dan, I'm blown away by what's happening between us. And I am so grateful, so very, very grateful.

The thing is that I don't see any obstacles. There's this sense of knowing how right this is, and that it will all work out beautifully for everyone involved. This relationship is built upon deep unconditional love for each other. This is a brand new experience for me, especially when it comes to loving a man. It doesn't matter to me that you have 8,000 sons, or that you live a world away. The magic unfolds for us to be together. I am more sure about that than anything I've ever felt before. You and I are one. There's no definitive line where you end and I begin. I know that will become more apparent when we create together. We were born to be artists together. Oh my god, I'm weak in the knees just thinking about it. Dan, if I could just be in the same room with you while you do what you do to make what you make. If I could just watch you... If I could just be with you... Damn, I wish I had the right words to finish those statements, but what I do have are feelings, intense, amazing feelings for you and what you are able to do. I am humbled that you want me with you. I am privileged that you want to work with me, and I am so very grateful that you love me.

This is my Dan. This is the person responsible for the huge smile on my face and my heart opening even wider. By the way, even though I'm looking at your face, I can't help but look at that fish behind you and wish I had it and my sewing machine together right now. God, I've never had the passion for a man and his work like I do with you. My heart could explode right now just looking at you (and the fish...). My heart doesn't lie, and it tells me it's you that I want in my life right now and right now and right now.

I'm going to have to come up with my own language for how I feel about you because there's nothing in English that comes close to what you mean to me.

When I opened this file and saw you looking at me like this, it took my breath away. I don't know if there are at least 1000 words or not in this post, but there are no words, no adequate words, no words that even come close to the way I feel about you. No word has been invented because how I feel about you has never been experienced before. What we have together is beyond words, is beyond what most people know. It certainly was something I knew nothing about until now. You are my love. You excite me beyond measure. Just looking into your eyes, just hearing your voice, or listening to your laughter changes every cell in my body. I am the best I've ever been because not only do I cherish what we have, but I know you do too.
Wherever you are, I am also. You are the air that I breathe and the ground on which I walk. And yet I know... Baby, I know with everything I am that I ain't waiting til March. Just sayin'...

twin flames

Twin flames, also called twin souls, are literally the other half of our soul. We each have only one twin, and generally after being split the two went their separate ways, incarnating over and over to gather human experience before coming back together. Ideally, this happens in both of their last lifetimes on the planet so they can ascend together. So you probably haven't had many lifetimes with your twin.


 Each twin is a complete soul, not half a soul. It is their task to become more whole, balancing their female and male sides, and ideally become enlightened, before reuniting with their twin. This reunion is of two complete and whole beings. All other relationships through all our lives could be said to be "practice" for the twin, the ultimate relationship.

excerpt taken from http://www.soulevolution.org/twinflames/twinflames.htm





A friend stopped by the studio yesterday while I was sewing away. I hadn't seen her in several days. It was interesting to see the changes in her, or was it all the changes in me? Hm, hard telling when I think about it.

The main difference I noticed was how she was talking about her relationship with the man that she's with right now compared to the one she had previously. This one now was all from her head. She talked about what they did, what he said. It was almost like she was reading a book to me. I wasn't feeling a connection as much as a desperation to make it into something it was not. A need for it to be a certain way.

When she was focused on the man before this one, she'd  speak from her heart. Everything was about feelings. It was a long-distance relationship where they'd connect by phone and have moonlit strolls together. She'd have no need to tell me later what it was like for her, because I could feel the change in her, the peacefulness, the contentedness, the deep connection she felt for this man. I did not hear that once from her yesterday about the current man in her life. She kept telling me how "old" the relationship felt. She knew they'd had lifetimes together as if that made it mean that it was permanent.

When I got home last night I thought about her "old' feeling about the relationship, and I remembered how  all of my significant relationships felt like that -- they're "old" because they're karmic, there's something that needs to be worked out due to the circumstances that were played out in previous lives. I remember that "old" feeling, and that's something I haven't felt at all with the man in my life right now.

It feels new. It feels fresh and right and easy.

I Googled "twin flames" last night because there was something about that term that kept coming up for me yesterday, and listening to my friend talk, something was just feeling off. I had had a reading done by an amazing intuitive two and a half years ago. She told me that I would not only have a twin flame in my life but that I would be making garments with him. She said that the energy that radiates from the two of us together would be like none other, and something the world would be waiting for. She said that we would finally come together when we both were ready for this major shift in our lives. She explained in great detail what we would be doing, how we would feel about each other, and how we would come to know who the other one was. We would know, and all obstacles would fall away.

For years I thought about what she'd told me. I wanted to believe it, but with the experiences I was accumulating, I just wasn't so sure that it could ever happen.

And then one summer afternoon someone I went to high school with showed up to see me. It's been a few months since then, but things between us have been unfolding that have made me rethink what this intuitive had told me. I think he saw the possibilities long before I did. He asked me to make dragonflies for his art pieces in  a show he was in a few weeks later. My head was in the fuckin' clouds, and I didn't do it. Lately, I haven't been able to stop thinking about working with him, and yesterday I realized the magnitude of what we have. The energy we create together is something I've never experienced before, and I guarantee that if the world could experience this, there would be peace.

I believe that everything is energy. I know that we can use that energy and infuse it into what we make together. I know this to be true because I've been doing it for years without someone working by my side. Can you imagine what would happen if we were to be in a studio alone together? Oh my god... the creations that would come out of that time spent together... I'm having difficulty writing about it because the visual and the feelings that arose just now took me there so fully that my hands stopped typing.

Back to the twin flames concept... So, the story goes that twin flames are the two souls made by the final split of a soul. The reason for the split is so that the soul can grow and expand even more by having two separate experiences in many lifetimes before reuniting. And they come back together after being apart for most of their lifetimes. This is not a karmic relationship. They don't have to "duke" it out with one another, so most lifetimes are spent without the other physically present. They reunite when they've both reached a level of growth and expansion that allows them to fully realize who they are and how they can serve the world together. They no longer need a relationship to work things out. This is the relationship that mirrors so exactly who they are, and that's why they usually come back together when they've been through the garbage. This is a time for unconditional love, and that's why these twin flames don't come together physically right away upon meeting each other. The physical time apart provides a time for them to grow a conscious relationship, where they can step back and truly appreciate who they are connected with. The physical doesn't get in the way. And, once they do come together physically, they've already established a very strong loving foundation.

Now, this doesn't mean that there won't be difficulties. As a matter of fact, since the twin flame relationship is one where the complete halves come back together then it can be very emotional if the groundwork has not been set first. That loving foundation is essential before coming together physically because ego cannot play a role in this relationship. The magic that happens in a twin flame relationship is when the two have worked through their shit, the ego (for the most part) isn't a factor, and they flow together in this river of unconditional love. There are no requirements, no needs, no desperation, no holding on. It's a love so true, so light that the two involved can come and go easily and effortlessly. There's a knowingness about the relationship that settles the doubts, and it's built upon such a strong foundation of unconditional love that nothing else matters.

I haven't had a relationship before that didn't jump into the physical rather quickly, so I find this fascinating that I feel more for this man than anyone I've ever been with. Is it my imagination? Is it wishful thinking? Is it that he's so far away that I can romanticize it?

This time around I know. I just know. There are no other words necessary to explain it. I just know. It's unexplainable. I know how it feels though. I know how it feels so unlike anything else I've ever experienced. This is not old. It's brand new. It's the cosmic sigh of relief -- ah, you finally found each other...

And where does it goes from here? That part I don't know. I don't really think about that. I am so enthralled with right now, with the feelings that I have for him, and for the creativity we can do together. That part, that visual of us alone with fabric and dyes and a sewing machine and... oh my god, now that keeps me up all night. To be able to do something that so fills me with someone I absolutely adore... oh my god... The energy that arises within me when I think about that is so palpable that it could launch rockets. I know whatever it is we do together will be like nothing that's on the market today, and I know the world is waiting for it.

sacred

‎"What really counts is to strip the soul naked. Painting or poetry is made as we make love; a total embrace, prudence thrown to the wind, nothing held back." Joan Miro

Last night after a long day in the studio, getting ready for bed, and propping my laptop in front of me, I read these words. I have longed for a man in my life who felt just like that, and much to my pleasure this was posted by a man I adore. I was trying to explain to him how different our relationship is than anything I've ever had, and this morning the word came to me: sacred. What we have together I cherish. I see it and feel it as sacred.

He showed up in my life again when I was ready to hold nothing back, to strip my soul naked. I've done just that with him. It feels like the only thing to do, to be that transparent. It is that safe with him to bare all and know I'm still loved. Sacred. This is sacred.

In the movie, As Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson tells Helen Hunt, "You make me want to be a better man." I always loved that line. As a novelist, I love hearing great lines spoken, and as a woman who has longed for a man that can be so heartfelt, that sentiment has always made me weak in the knees. Now that I've shared intimate moments with a man who expresses himself like he does, I know firsthand what it feels like. I know that deep connection that's been there all along and just been waiting for that person to physically show up. I know I've carried that connection with me forever because when he showed up in McKinney, Texas to see me, my life as I knew it was over. And the very best in me was revealed.

Crazy has turned into peace. Doubts into knowing, and love has shown up as sacred. I am in awe of this man. I am in awe of how it feels to think about him. It's as if I've never been with a man before, and in a way I haven't. I've never allowed a man in like this, and probably because it was never the right man.

Every moment I think about him, I am so very grateful that I've experienced all that I have because it's brought me to now. Everything's grown me to who I am right now, and right now I've grown into the woman he wants in his life. Wow...wow... Every single heartache, tear shed, wailing and gnashing of teeth has been worth it. I would do it all again knowing that it would lead me right back here to right now with him in my life. 

on a mission

‎"Once you have a mission, you can't go back to a job." -- Shai Agassi

This was on my Facebook page when I got home yesterday from the hospital, my new place of employment. Maybe. I thought I was going to be working but instead ended up just dealing with more paperwork, and now having to wait until mid-December to work after the HR orientation is scheduled.

I had the expectation of working yesterday, and when it didn't happen I was really pissed, disappointed, frustrated, and a whole lot of other adjectives. So, when I turned on my computer and saw that quote, the feelings stopped.

I thought I was just going to serve coffee for hours a day and then go to a friend's studio afterwards and create art. She was concerned that I wouldn't have the energy or the creativity after being in the hospital all day. All I could think about was the money.

That's been a constant theme in my life -- thinking about the money, whether it was where to invest it, use it to pay bills, collect it from insurance companies, and lately how to make it. I was once told that sex, God, and money were all the same energy. And, once I learned to attract one, use that same ability to attract the other two.

What this person meant by sex was a partner, but people listened more closely when he said sex. I feel I've had a very close relationship with the energy I call Source, my form of God. I live it and breathe it. I've learned that it's the one constant I have in my life, my only security, and my only reason for getting up in the morning. Without such a strong connection to Who I really am (Source) then there'd be no true substance in my life. Everything is temporary. Everything. I've had really fat bank accounts, and now I don't. Money is fluid energy. It flows. I either have an open allowance of it flowing in or I don't. Just because my first day on the job is postponed doesn't mean that I don't have money flowing in. It's that I got so damned stuck on how the money was going to come in that I was disappointed when it didn't show up that way. I had it all planned out how the money from that job was going to pay my bills so that I could do art the rest of my vertical hours in the day. So, what was I saying about my allowing money to come into my life doing what I love to do instead of serving coffee at the wee hours in the morning? Do I really want to serve coffee? No, but I'd be good at it. Well, I was good at collecting money from insurance companies, but by doing that for years I was cutting myself off from my creative juices. I was drowning in all that I didn't want to do.

And, I know that's how it would be doing anything else but what I long to do. I chose to live a heart-driven life, not a robotic have-to existence. I've already written about how my ass gets kicked when I do something that goes against what my heart's desires really are. I was able to ignore it for most of my life, but I haven't been able to do that here. It becomes physically painful to not do what feels good to me. And, it seems the Universe rearranges Itself to knock me back to where my heart leads -- over and over and over. You'd think I'd learn that by now. You'd think that I would have mastered that concept by this stage of my life. Well, people, in case you didn't know, it took me thirty-two years to get out of a dying relationship, so it feels like my learning curve is definitely getting shorter.

So, in my life the man, Source, and money are all the same energy, so what holds them at bay? My thinking, my programming -- what I call my mental masturbation. It's when I take a vacation from my constant chattering and am doing what I love, oh my, that's when the real magic begins. I can go to a place where nothing else exists. Hours may pass, and I don't even know it. When I look at whatever it is I've created, I know that it wasn't just me involved. I tapped into that higher Source and just let 'er rip. There were no judgments, shoulds, or any of that crap. In a world of all possibilities, I can look at anything in front of me, and see it as a tool for new creations. In that space anything is possible, and it's in that space that I connect with my Source energy and create whether it's art, relationships, money, or anything else. It's in that connection of Who I Really Am that the energetic flow, the one constant in my life, swims freely, and the mental masturbation ceases. Thoughts hum rather than distract. That place right there is where the magic is. That's where anything can come into existence because I allow it. I don't chase it. I go into a meditative mode and allow. My meditation is usually in front of a sewing machine, or while painting fabric, but it's a place of quiet where my imagination soars.

I look at the things I've made. I hear what people have to say about them, and I've been selling my art and doing commissioned work since the late 80s. My artwork hangs in Capital buildings around the world. I've made pieces for recording artists, film makers, women who have fled war-torn countries, CEOs, and the list goes on. And I get bent out of shape because I don't get to make coffee for doctors and nurses today? Really? I think I can only pay my bills when the money comes from an employer? What the fuck is that all about? Just who do I think I am?

One of the most amazing things happened yesterday too that has to do with this energetic flow and what I'm allowing into my life. I blogged about someone yesterday, not knowing how he'd feel about what I'd said, or that I'd put it out in cyberspace. I feel very strongly about him, and I can't not write about that. Sure enough, I got a FB chat yesterday with these words after he'd read my blog -- "we must talk." Gulp. I immediately remembered the long walk down the hallway to the Principal's office. Shit! It was never good news in that room.

He called me last night, and it was the simplest, most honest, and easiest conversation I've ever had. What I discovered, and keep discovering about him, is that he's not reminiscent of anything or anyone I've ever had in my life before. Talking to him is like soaking in the very best parts of me that I didn't even know existed.

He also makes my imagination run rampant. I can't stop thinking about what he does with fabric, and it has kept me up for the last two nights just running  a ticker tape of ideas through my brain of everything I'd like to try with his remnants. I was emailing him long after I needed to be asleep because I had to tell someone about the parade marching through my head, someone who would care about it as much as me, someone who would get just as excited as I was, and I knew no one else in my life but him that qualifies for that position. For the few hours we spent together last July when he came out to see me and my artwork, it was such a high for me to share my creativity with someone who truly appreciated it, someone who spoke my language. And now I know that he can read my posts, see inside my head, and still not want to run.

And while I've been typing this, I've thought of several other ways to incorporate my artwork into streams of income. I write about this man, feeling him, and remembering his words to me, and a whole new world opens up for me. It's the same as when I'm tapped into my Source energy, the exact same feeling. Hm, money, the man, and Source all the same energy. So, that's how it works...

leading from the heart

I'm discovering that I live with two jills -- one is the ego, the personality, the mind-fuck, and I call her jill, and then there's the other one  -- JILL. She is the heart, the soul, the essence, the core, the real me. For most of my life she has been in hiding. She was taught to not come out and play because it was too dangerous. She danced to a totally different rhythm and where I came from that wasn't allowed. I was taught to behave, to not be heard, and to follow the rules without question. I have to say I did that really well for most my life. I did it so well that I buried myself in my marriage, in being a daughter, in being a mother. So, it took me 48 years to dig through all that crap I uncovered, but I still did it. And, I'm still digging out from under some of it -- again and again.

So, back when I was 48 jill became Jill. Yep, she stood up to a man who didn't want to hear her, and she said she wanted a divorce. It took him 2 years to really believe her because he chose not to listen.

By the time she turned 50 Jill became JIll. She moved to Steamboat and worked with a shaman. There was a deep excavation process that went on throughout that two-year stint. The excavation was not only a physical process of releasing all the shit, but a major shift in how she was thinking. She went from being a oh-woe-is-me girl to OMG-what-revelations! woman. She got a taste of loving unconditionally. She took shamanic journeys, goddess classes, sexual rituals, did Native ceremonies... whatever it took for her to value her own voice so she could hear herself.

Not too long after her 52nd birthday, she arrived in McKinney, TX where she transformed into JILl. She went back to a place near where she grew up. She got the experiences of healing childhood wounds, growing up a bit, and tasting the contrasts of what she no longer wanted in her life. She discovered how very tired she was of living a life where appearances mattered. And slowly, all of her possessions were discarded.

Which led her to New Mexico by the time she turned 54. Here, she stripped down to her naked vulnerability. Here, she's uncovered JILL, who's been with her all along, but not allowed to surface fully until now.

Even as I write this I'm shaking. I'm scared. I'm choosing to live my life so openly. I'm willing to allow JILL to absolutely take over, and the roads that have shown up as a result scare jill to death. Bottom line is that I see a road opening up to me that I never considered before,  a life so very different from what I've ever had before... And yet when I look at the visions I see before me, I realize that I was born for that life. Every experience has led right to that path. Everything... And everyone...

What has happened when JILL arrived completely is this feeling that jill is no longer in control. I mean, that little presence has no say whatsoever in what happens. My feelings override every thought I have until the thoughts come around to resonating with the feelings. When I'm in a situation that no longer matches how I feel, oh sweet jesus! I get shoved right out.

The first time this happened was last Friday when I was at a coffee shop and someone I had just met was asking me to dinner. My ass was kicked right out of there. I mean that literally. That's what is so new to me about living this way. It's as if my heart truly leads, and my body is forced to follow. I couldn't breathe well when I was in that coffee shop, and as soon as I got outside, I felt this weight come off my chest. I sighed heavily (and gratefully), and then saw a vision of myself with someone in New York.

Since this was my first time to experience this kind of ass-whupping, I carried on like a two-year old throwing a tantrum. I walked down the main drag of Taos flinging my arms and yelling like a crazed lunatic. I was determined that I was not moving again. I was staying in Taos. I love everything about this place and the people here. I was not moving. Period.

And then it hit me -- for the first time in my life I was seeing myself somewhere else with someone else because I wanted that more than I wanted to be in a place I absolutely adored without him. What's even crazier is that I've seen him for just a few hours in the last 36 years. I've communicated with him somewhat regularly for the past four months or so, but I feel as if I know him so well that there's no separation between the two of us. I feel him all the time. I see him in his daily life. It's the craziest thing, and yet it feels as if this is what I've been waiting for forever. This is nothing like I've ever experienced before because there is no need involved. I'm at peace. I'm calm. I'm not questioning anything. I know. I know. I just know. And now that I can be heard, it seems words are not that necessary.

There's this fine line, a veil that's getting more and more transparent as the hours lapse where I can be here in Taos laying in my bed, and I feel his arms around me. I can be walking across the street, and he's there beside me. I used to have a constant mantra when this first started happening -- wtf? wtf? wtf? Now, it's normal. Now, if I didn't feel him or see him, maybe then I'd be chanting that mantra.

My heart feels so wide, so open it could encompass the world and then some. This is how I am to live my life. This is who I am. If it weren't for all those twists and turns, the zigzagging on this crazy path, I couldn't possibly be prepared to love this man the way I do. I couldn't possibly be able to see the utter beauty in him without all the crap I've carried for years. I had to dig deeply and allow my true self to come up and out so that I am deserving of such a man like him.

I read his words to me, and I am humbled that he has chosen to not run away. I am privileged that he experiences moments that he wants to share only with me.  It has taken me forty years to finally match the greatness within him so that we could finally be drawn together. I never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed, but I am so grateful that we have what we have with each other right now. It is the most open, calming, vulnerable, safe, and loving relationship I've ever experienced.

And, besides all of that we have this passion, this absolute crazy nuttiness for what we can do with fabric. It kept me awake last night. There is no switch to turn off when it comes to creating. My head becomes a virtual TV screen of what I could possibly do with fabric, beads, paints, fibers, etc. And to be able to share this contagious craziness with someone like him? It's beyond my wildest dreams. I've never had a man I could be so open with about what fills me and have him get it, have him feel the same way about the same thing. Un-frickin'-believable...

What if this is the way life is meant to be? What if we are to have partners who we want to confide in more than anyone else, and share a passion with, and feel him when he's physically not there, and know what he's thinking about? What if this is the way it's supposed to be? What if it's a soul union that's been waiting for the physical bodies to just catch up? And, what if every experience leads to just that? Then, how important has every person and situation been to our growth if it inevitably leads each one of us to that soul union?

If that's the case, all I can say to every person that's ever influenced me in any way, thank you immensely. I am grateful for whatever it took to get me to where I am right now, and I look forward to wherever my heart leads me next.

hitting the jackpot

I just built a roaring fire and am curled up in front of it with my laptop. The wind is blowing the wind chimes along the porches, and I can see the mountains outside the window. I spent the day at the store selling art and Fair Trade items. I got to listen to tourists' travels and their home lives. Some locals stopped by to give me some silk fabric and colored wire. And in my bag I brought my favorite hummus and carrot sticks for snacking. I was in heaven.

I spread out the silks, ripping them into strips and cutting them into circles. I took a spool of bright pink wire and began shaping them into figures. I've never done this before, and like magic the wire turned into recognizable people that I dressed with the strips of silk. I was pleasantly surprised how they turned out, and those working in the shops around me went nuts over them. How cool was that?!

I've discovered so many ways to make art without my regular supplies. For those of you who don't know, I've been collecting supplies since 1984 when I took up quilting. I also bought into a shop and accumulated a room full of supplies. When I built my house I had a 1200 sf studio on the top floor. For the first time I had a room just for notions, one just for my fabrics, and a large area for my sewing machines and cutting table. I had an entertainment area with stereo and tv with dvd/video player. I had shelves and shelves for my books, and closets full of beads, wires, jewelry-making tools, stamps, inks, paints, etc. If there was something on the market that I wanted, you can bet that it was in my studio pronto. I lacked nothing. I had it all. More threads than some stores even.

Then September 11, 2010 I moved to New Mexico with absolutely none of it. I sold a lot, gave a lot away, and left a lot with family and a dear sweet friend. (Thank you, Molly!) This has forced me into rethinking, recreating, reimagining how I can work with materials I have already or some I can find outside my house. That process alone has stretched me in ways I never thought possible. Today when I was shaping that wire, I had no idea I was capable of making wire look like human figures. Where did that come from? When I cut out dragonflies from magazines I free-formed them. I didn't draw them, I just cut. Was it all those years of thread painting with my sewing machine? I'm sure that has something to do with it, but I also know there's a lovely little place I go when I'm handed little treasures like I was today. I dip into the bags and just create with what I have. I get so much joy out of it that I think I could pop right out of my skin.

So after pricing my little gems and leaving them at the store, I got the kindest offer by a friend who took me to the grocery store so I can have my coffee in the morning. We talked for hours and then she took me home. What an absolutely amazing way to spend my day today. And then tonight while sitting in the living room by the fire, my neighbors came over with drinks, and we just got to know one another. They went home to fix dinner and as soon as I'm done here I'm joining them.

Now, here's another not so little thing that happened when I got home tonight. A dear, wonderful man read my previous postings on my blog and sent me private messages that so warmed my heart. I am one of the most blessed people I know, and I am so very, very grateful.

And just one last thing. On the walk to work this morning, a notion hit me. I wrote a novel years ago that just got published last year. In all the years that have passed since beginning this novel everything that happened to my main character ended up happening to me except ONE thing. And that one thing is coming to pass. You see, in the novel the main character is a woman named Grace. At the time I wrote the book Grace and I had two things in common: we both worked in our husbands' offices, and we both quilted. Grace did something dramatically different than I had ever tried at the time. She met a male artist back east, and he painted on fabric that she would sew together. When she returned home to her husband, that male artist sent her boxes of painted fabrics that she then created art with. That is the ONE thing that has not happened to me yet. However, on my walk to work this morning I realized the offer that a male artist made to me. He's sending me a box of fabrics that he's dyed. Here's something I never thought of when I was writing that book. This wonderful man who lives back east is not only sending me his dyed remnants but he's sending a batch of homemade cookies too!

And that, my friends, is what it's like to hit the jackpot!

To Tammy

So, the day has passed. I'm now home alone as Tammy is with her boyfriend, and the owner of the house is in Santa Fe. I love this house. I love Tammy so much. She is the reason I'm in Taos. She is the reason I came to New Mexico at all. And something happened today that made me feel ties to Taos being cut. I could feel the cord being severed, and quite frankly I just want to land. I love it here, and at the same time I "see" myself somewhere else. Really? I just got a new job that I'm so excited about I can hardly stand it. I've made friends I want to see on a regular basis. I've given up a car, a phone, a lifestyle, my art/sewing supplies... I keep dropping baggage everywhere I go. I'm down to my panties really, and it feels like it's time to let those go too. (Oh, I can tell where some of my friends' minds just went...)


Whether or not I move is not the point. I feel the point to what happened today was about me being able to say yes to moving again. It was an experience that showed me that I'm not to have ties here either. Untethered, my new job description...

Tammy's not hanging with me much anymore. We both have jobs that take us to different parts of town, and she's with her boyfriend most other times. She's planted here. I thought I was too. I thought I was ready to put down roots here, and maybe I will, but it just seems that being attached to this place is not in my future (or my present). I'm whining. I'm bellyaching because I had expectations. Oh shit... When will I ever learn that lesson?

Once upon a time here in Taos I was dating a wonderful, amazing man, but even though he was the one who ended the relationship, I had no qualms about it. It has been very easy not seeing him anymore. I knew, I knew deep down, that there was nothing sustainable about a romantic relationship with him. I knew it. I felt it, and I am deeply touched to have had him in my life.

Then this afternoon Tammy and I were in a coffee shop with her boyfriend, and I was introduced to an acquaintance of theirs. Really fascinating guy whose conversation intrigued me. He sat closer to me. He leaned into me, and then he started talking about having us over for dinner. All of a sudden this awful feeling swept over me. I felt like I couldn't talk. I listened to them talk, and I wanted to flee. My throat was constricting as I stood up and put on my jacket. I told them that I had to scoot over to a friend's store to talk business. This very nice man asked if I'd come back another time and join him. I don't know what I said, and I'm not even sure that's what he said to me. As soon as I got outside I could breathe easier. I walked briskly away from there, and as I did I saw a picture flash through my head. Well, holy mother of God... I saw myself in New York with someone I met forty years ago.

Every day here in New Mexico has been a day of letting go of what I think I want or what I think it looks like or whatever else. There's this head and heart game I play every now and then, and today has been one of those times. My head says I want to stay here in Taos, work my jobs, play with my friends, and meet new people while doing art. I want to live in my house and just go about my life, simply with no fanfare, no extravagance, no great meaningful purpose. I just want to wake up in the mornings and greet the days with a smile on my face. I want to serve coffee and sell art. I want simplicity.

And then there's this heart thing... Yeah, yeah, yeah... God, it's got a loud voice that shuts up the head. I came here with Tammy to live from my heart. I came here with Tammy to open my heart wide and love authentically and transparently. I'm not sure how or when my heart opened up so easily to allow this man in, but I know that today I have surrendered to all possibilities. I have let go of Taos, and if I should stay here... Well, I'd be perfectly fine with that, and I also know that being tied to a place is not in the cards for me either.

I live a fuckin' crazy life. No one has to tell me that. I am well aware of it. It's crazy because it's heart-driven and there are no rules. I have seen this man for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon in the last 36 years, and my heart is wide open to him. I didn't even do that with my husband and I was with him for 32 years!

I have to give Tammy so much credit for helping me through all of this. She's taught me so much about openly loving people. She has one of the purest hearts I've ever encountered, and to know that I'm willing to live somewhere else so far away from her is showing me how much I've grown since meeting her last June. Yep, you read that right. Tammy and I met just last June. Almost three months later I move to another state with her. And now I'm willing to consider another move -- down the road. Please, God, let it be way down the road. I'm just now standing on my own two feet again...

I love deeply. I love easily, and I love openly. Tammy, this one's for you. I am who I am today because of you. There is no one on this planet who knows me like you do, who has put up with me like you have, and who has loved me anyway like you have. Your sons and you are my family. I am blessed. I am privileged, and oh so grateful to be able to call you my sister. I miss you so much, and I am so happy for you. Your dreams are all coming true right here in Taos, something you've ached for. It's a lovely vision to watch, and thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it.

It feels like I'm saying good bye, and I'm really trying not to do that, but something happened today. Something so tangible that I could physically feel myself being pulled away. As much as my head says no to anything else but Taos, my heart shuts out its blubbering. My heart wins. I'm untethered, and it could still mean years for me in Taos with you. Or not. It's the "or not" I'm wrapping my head around because my heart is loving the idea.

things that make me go hm...

I used to ask for signs. Lately I've had so many coming at me that it's been difficult to remember them all. However, for many, many years now the signs have still been pointing in the same directions, even though they're on two separate sides of the map -- Windstar in Old Snowmass, Colorado and New York. WTF???

First, I have one thing to say before I get into any of that. I LOVE TAOS!!! I love being here with Tammy. I love the house I live in. I love the places I work. I love the people here. I love the energy. I love it all. I'm going to repeat myself here -- wtf???

So, here's a few things that have happened this morning. While drying off after my shower, a thought hit me (as they often do...) that since singledom I've apparently made it a habit to move every two years. Now, let me just say that all morning I was thinking about how much I love Taos and how much I truly enjoy serving the people here. I am so excited about being able to provide meals and coffee and desserts for them next week. I was even thinking about how much fun it would be to run a restaurant with Tammy here with her magnificent recipes. And then I get out of the shower and am knocked upside the head with the idea that I've moved every two years since being single. Two years ago today I arrived in McKinney, Texas with my U-Haul. Hm...

While living in McKinney last July a friend of mine who lives in New York came to visit me and see my studio. While looking at all my stuff, he was quite taken with a little piece I made with dragonflies on it. I gave it to him, and he has since asked me to make him some dragonflies to put on his own art. That's what I've been doing lately instead of doing it last August when he asked for them. Oh well...

Now I'm obsessed with them. I've been making them like crazy, and this morning I decided to look them up in Ted Andrews' Animal Speak. Here's what jumped out at me immediately:

Dragonflies are very territorial. They will lay their eggs within their territory near the water. The egg eventually develops into the nymph stage of metamorphosis in this insect, and remains as a nymph for almost two years before it transforms into an adult dragonfly or damselfly. This can reflect a number of possibilities for those with this totem. It can indicate that an approximate two-year period of change is about to reach its culmination. It may reflect that you are coming into a two-year period of transformation. It may even reflect a need to institute changes that may culminate in the colorful transformations you desire within a two-year period.

Well now... I know I'd be crazy for trying to figure out what any of this means. God knows my interpretations in the past have sent me up shit creek, so I'm not going in that direction now. I'm just noticing patterns and synchronicities -- 2 years, dragonflies, moving, New York...

I just read those words I typed and am surprised at the order I put them in... again, just noticing patterns (I'm telling myself this...)

When I opened Animal Speak to the page with the dragonfly description, I noticed a notation I had made. On June 24, 2005 I was at John Denver's Windstar Foundation in Old Snowmass, Colorado where a dragonfly landed on me. According to the book, in some Native American culture the dragonfly represents the soul of the dead. Really... Just read that.

So, 36 years have passed since I saw this guy I went to high school with (the NY guy). He comes to visit last July and loves my dragonflies. The day he came to town changed everything, and I didn't know it until he left. First of all, he met some of my friends in McKinney. We went to a friend's home where she was putting on a dinner party. My NY friend couldn't stay, but there was something that stuck with me after he was physically gone because that night I could no longer participate in my usual McKinney routine. Every person at that dinner was a very dear, wonderful  friend of mine, but I couldn't stay. I kept leaving the party, walking to the square to just be alone and think. Looking back on it now I realize that there was something between my NY friend and I that was exchanged on a soul level. I have not been the same since. It was that night that I was ready to leave McKinney even though it didn't happen for another two months.

In my life, energy plays a much bigger role than what my physical world looks like. As Ted Andrews says, "Dragonfly can help you to see through your illusions and thus allow your own light to shine forth. Dragonfly brings the brightness of transformation and the wonder of colorful new vision." I don't look at what's in front of me and believe that's all there is. I listen to the words spoken to me, and know that's only part of the story. I watch people's behaviors and know that there's so much more going on. I feel the fabric that ties us all together. I know there's a huge picture developing no matter what shows up. I don't pretend to know what is going on; I just know that if I let go of trying to figure it all out then "the wonder of colorful new vision" appears.

So, that being said, what I'm trying to get at, successfully or not, is that there is a magnificence unfolding in my life and it feels like this man who now lives in NY has had some part in it. Where does it go from here? Who knows? I know that information is showing up for me now, and it's opening me up to more possibilities.

And with that being said, I'm just going to work on dragonflies today. I'll probably go to the store and pick up some groceries. I may even walk to the Plaza to talk to some friends about my artwork. But I know one thing for sure, no matter what it is I do, magic will be involved.

a wonderful life

In a previous "lifetime" when I was doing energy work, I had an intuitive tell me that my work came from the void, the nothingness, the zero point field, and it was a way for me to go back there. She said that doing energy sessions for other people was not the purpose of this. The purpose was for me to go there, to dwell in that zero point field.


That was just a mere four months ago, and since then I've moved twice and gone back to what I used to do -- art. When this intuitive told me this, I remember thinking that I wanted to do nothing more than these sessions on other people, but now I see that it really was about me going into that field, that zone, whatever you want to call it. Now, I feel it all the time. I don't have to "go anywhere"; it is me. It's the energy I've always been.

So now I can do anything I want and the energy becomes part of it. I can take a break from the physical world and see so much more clearly and be peace. I can listen to conversations about Verizon phones and how irate the customer was, and not feel part of it at all. As a matter of fact, it's almost as if I can "watch" the words float by me like leaves falling from trees. It really is that insignificant.

What's really fascinating to me is my ability to adjust to a world that is so unlike one I've ever lived in. Technology is almost totally out of my life, except for this computer. What it has done for me is to become so much more a part of the physical world. I walk wherever I want to go, therefore I am making contact with the ground, looking at the landscape more closely, talking to people I pass, and exercising outdoors. I've been in Taos for almost three weeks and I can't even count how many people I know already and how many solid friendships I've cultivated. I told Tammy that I feel like a magnet with arms open wide walking down the street, collecting all that is lovely and beautiful and peaceful. A walking magnet of money, of love, of peace. The peace part is my favorite. Just sayin'.

Is it possible to live in peace here all the time? As much as I want. How's that? As much as I allow. As much as I choose. Ha! There are so many opportunities for me to experience anything other than peace, and after each little episode, I go back to peace. I just can't imagine not wanting peace to be my permanent address. However, I do know that change is inevitable, so let's see where I go next. I certainly showed up in New Mexico thinking that I would do only energy work and would be living in Santa Fe. I also thought I'd have a car and... And now I'm dreaming in tie-dyed fabric. What the...? I wake up with what I can do next with the items I accumulate. Last night I was working on a dragonfly that I cut out of a t-shirt (not one that you gave me, Dan) and stuffed it with ground-up sage I picked from my backyard. I'm learning to use everything at my disposal instead of buying anything I think I need. I used to spend up to thousands of dollars per month on supplies, travels, classes, etc. and now I look at what's around me and how I can make it into something else. My form of alchemy.

I was just informed that I'll be going to work in the store today. I have my bag of goodies to transform into something magical. And when I'm done, when I'm completely satisfied with whatever I make, I plan on sending them to NY. I promised I would send dragonflies last August, and here it is months later, and it's dragonflies that consume me. Dragonflies out of paper, out of t-shirts, glued onto silk, made out of paper towels and glue... It's been a very long time since I've been so enraptured with art. It's interesting to me that when I finally have no supplies, I am creating like a mad woman. I forage the yards around the house. Here in Taos, the different textures, scents, and colors abound. They are prolific. I live in the midst of the most abundant supply store possible! This has caused me to stretch and expand what I thought was possible. Sometimes I feel like a scientist without the beakers. My lab is acres and acres of sage. My ingredients do not foam or boil over, but they do make dragonflies smell nice.

This has truly been a very trying time letting go of all my old beliefs and misconceptions, but slowly coming out on the other side, I've been able to see the plethora of miracles that surround me. Last night when Tammy came home, she brought groceries for a dinner she made for both of us. Every morning when I wake up fresh coffee is waiting for me. I am privileged to work in a store on the plaza selling art, and I get to go there today. Yay! I get to talk to all the tourists that come in from all over the world. I listen to other languages. I hear how people live. I'm able to travel all day long as they describe their lives. When I'm not talking, I get to work on my own art. I dig through my bag of silk scraps, feathers, markers, cardboard, yarns, etc., and I get to turn those ingredients into something else. Wow, it's a wonderful life.