Tea Bag Wisdom

Live from your heart,
you will be most effective.
A relaxed mind is a creative mind.
Let your heart speak to others' hearts.
A relaxed mind is a creative mind.
Let things come to you.
Your destiny is to merge with infinity.
Live with reverence for yourself and others.
Man is as vast as he acts.
May this day bring you peace,
tranquility and harmony.
Act, don't react.
Life is a flow of love;
your participation is requested.
Act, don't react.
Be happy so long as breath is in you.
Keep up.

Two weeks of messages found on my 'Yogi Tea' bag string.

This post is dedicated to my friend Robert who knows this stuff and lives it for the betterment of us all.

Supporting a Friend

I am in transit again, I shouldn't be, but my gut said to be there and stand by my friend as he says goodbye to his last parent. My friend has been in my life for twenty years, he is as consist ant as the sun rising. He always felt bad that I had spent so much of my life mourning the dead. Now within the last five years he has lost both of his beautiful parents. It will bring me home and center me as only these shared experiences can. I think of his Dad and I having a pint in Galway. Talking about cancer treatments, love and pursuing one's dreams. He thought the topics deserved more than a 'glass' of Guinness, and I guess he was right. A pint was in order. I had a strange feeling that that would be my last memory of him, and that has proven to be true. I had an equally beautiful talk with Tim's Mother that would also prove to be my last. You see they are a tough family that only speaks of illness and death when it draws very, very near. Mary turned to me in their bright sunny kitchen, filling me with Oreos and coffee. She tilted her head and said in a low lounge singing voice, "I am ready to go." It is a special honor to be witness to that moment when they verbalize that they have made peace with themselves.

So I scramble to find a way to carry me home. To hug and cry and be another friend in the wings. Be back soon.

Environmental Action Proposal Writing

Trying to apply and interview for work balanced with filming in the Hudson made proposal writing seem like fun. I am multi tasking and doing performance actions. It is a crazy mix of things to take on in this freezing cold week. After a few hours of rewriting, I head outdoors and the jolt of cold air seems to do me good. My body has a memory for cold. It reminds me of my undergrad days doing photos inside Buckingham Fountain in January. Returning to the darkroom when my eyes were no longer able to take the cold.

My twelve days of Christmas-days 7

I have been so busy good deed doing and not really writing about it. Let's face it Christmas is long gone, and I am more than a little behind.

One of the most memorable good deeds that was about as close to helping an old lady across the street as I could get. I was asked to hail a cab by an elderly woman. Well this seems like it doesn't qualify and you may think that it is pretty wimpy, but please hear me out. This was no ordinary cab hailing. This was rush hour mid-East side cab hailing. This was near the United Nations that was surrounded by police cab hailing. Add to the mix a torrential downpour that had been going on for an hour or more. So we have thirty police cars, about fifty officers on foot, a dozen rescue vehicles, a downpour and a lady with a walker. Now were talkin' good deed. I shamelessly stepped off the safety of the curb and tried my best to look like a rich movie star that would tip well. They took the bait. One pulled over, I loaded the walker in the trunk, smashed my umbrella in the folded walker, and tucked her into the warm cab. Mission accomplished. Even the soda delivery truck guys cheered my drenched endeavor. Bonus return fortune...1/2 price entry to the Japan Society if I filled out a questionaire for them! Yippie!

This good deed is dedicated to my friend Tim, the greatest 'open the door for old ladies' person I have ever met

Operation Domestication Support Crew

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and this seems to be most helpful when dealing with a frightened kitten as well. This crew works around the clock to be good role models for him. Tiger at top is a lightly older cage mate who shows him the ropes through wrestling matches. The grey guy is his litter mate and purring coach, Mister Ginger allows all the kittens to slap at him and even pull his tail, and finally "fake Mama" who acts motherly even though she doesn't need to. Together we have made little man go from a terrified ball of claws to a playful, though still somewhat unwilling student of domestication.

Peace Returns to the Heart

I have never been the kind of woman who would become so obsessed over a man that my every thought was about him, but this little man is different. This photo only tells the happy ending where our dear friend learns to trust me enough to not only fall asleep in my arms, but to also purr for the first time today. Day 3 of intensive domestication training was a success.

Wierd Return Generosity Continues

So tonight I write a thank you card to the person who decided to put those cd's out with a 'please take' sign. I walk over there thinking it is the least I could do considering I listened to them for half night and they are some of the best classical music recording I have ever owned. So there I am using strapping tape to secure the card up high enough on the tree so to be out of dog pee zone. I had scrawled in big Bubble Sharpie letters "TO THE PERSON WHO LEFT THE CD'S HERE." Well that should do I thought as the neighborhood watch called the police. I decide to walk back on a street that I have never walked down. That was kind of an odd decision to make but I thought yeah, six blocks South sounds good. Along the way I decide four blocks South should be the route.

Sure enough Curbside garbage heaven awaits me as I stand speechless in front of a large apartment building and a black garbage bag mountain that is as tall as me. Now this amount of waste is always troubling, but it was what was next to the wooden bar stool that stood on top of the heap that caught my eye. A framed painting in murky palette thrown atop the bags in king of the mountain style. I lift it up noting that is was roughly the size I paint 24x30. It was a still life of an indiscernible object, possibly a semi open paper bag of walnuts. I flipped it over to decide that it was on linen and when examining it under the street lamp it was clearly a vintage oil, thinly painted with a couple of small flakes that have come off and some spiderweb cracking. The wooden stretcher bars were a heavier wood than what is used now, It just sort of screamed student art. I brushed off dust bunnies that were older than me and dusted it as I walked. When I got it home, I realized that the only weird thing was that it appeared that there was a signature that had been painted over at a later time with a different hand and a thicker texture. As I tilted it in the light it was really evident that there was something covered by the zigzag brush stroke. It is the kind of painting that grows on you with time and distance. It is the kind of painting that is quite powerful from ten feet away. I really could not put a date on it, but the pallete choice makes it seem like 40's or 50's. The stretcher bars are helpful, but I still cannot tell. Hmmmm, well regardless, when I got it home it looks like it belongs in my room. It fits the vintage style of the building so much that it looks like it was painted in this building. I would not be at all suprized if it was. Nothing seems accidental anymore to me. I just have to keep going with it and see where it takes me next.

My 12 Days of Christmas-Day 6

I am a little out of order, but here we go. The other day prior to my researching galleries, I volunteered at the cat shelter again. I made a special assignment for myself for the day. I worked very hard on helping one terrified kitten learn to trust people. He is terrified, huddled in the corner any time he sees a person. I endured a few scratches, but it was well worth the effort. I grabbed up his steel grey social butterfly of a brother and simply held them both until the he wasn't so scared. It seems so simple until you try it. I think regaining trust is maybe one of the harder things to try to teach. He and I are better for it. He seemed to even have enjoyed it briefly. Well, ever so briefly. I will continue with him so that he has a chance at adoption.

This act of kindness is dedicated to all of the people who adopted the cats that I saved in Hawaii, especially Ms Andrade

My 12 Days of Christmas-Day 5

Alright, lets begin with a disclaimer. First I am normally, and still consider myself to be a good samaritan when it comes to lost items. Tonight I decided to put a timeline on the recollection of lost gloves. Say, if a glove wasn't claimed from the fence post in a day or two I could take it and redistribute it to someone in need. I take myself on "inspiration walks" that are a nonlinear ramble that often clears my head and gives me some fresh insight. Tonight was a well deserved walk after a day spent writing about yesterday.

As I walk I always continue to find lost gloves. I came up with the idea that I could redistribute these lost gloves to the homeless citizens that I encounter in my journeys. I thought to myself that if gloves were not claimed by the time the chuch bell tolls tonight, then it would be finders keepers and I would collect them for redistribution to the homeless. I decided that that was justifiable as tomarrow was trash collection day and they usually get thrown in with a nearby building's usual garbage. They are percieved by many to be garbage like a can or bottle.

I came past some knit ones who had been left on a fence post for days. I know because I put them there. Ha! that would be my first collection. I tried to think which street had the gorgeous men's glove the other day. I remembered as I walked and headed over to that street again. For some reason I remember the fences where I place these gloves. But nope, the glove was gone. Well good, I thought to myself maybe the owner came back.

I took no more than six steps on down the street when I saw a note taped to a shopping bag. I stopped and glanced shyly back towards the people coming towards me on the sidewalk. I stepped back to the bag even though I felt a little snoopy. The note was written in a beautiful hand. It read "Good CD's-classical-please take." I gasped and peered into the bag. As I peeked in I even quietly said "oh my God" outloud before turning to the umber toned three story whose occupants had left this secret gift. I had felt like I was being watched. There inside the doorway was the man who had been walking behind me who was now also turning over his shoulder as he entered the umber building. His silvered wild hair was like Beethoven himself. He looked me over trying to decern if I would be a fan of classical music. I think my dropped open mouth and prayerlike mutterings must have given him all he needed to know. He smiled and added a sincere nod before turning to go indoors.

I tied to rationalize the act as it was just too perfectly unexplainable. Here I was combing the streets for gloves to possibly save a few people from frostbitten fingers this season and I was rewarded almost immediately with 17 cd's of music created with some of the world's most talented hands. At each stoplight my hand dove into the bag to pull out recorded performances by Cedric Tiberghien, Yo- Yo Ma, San francisco and Chicago Symphany Orchestra's and more. I was stumbling home shaking my head thinking these are the albums that I would buy if I could ever justify the expense. Surely something I could never do at this moment. But maybe the most wonderful part was the three second exchange of smiles as two good deed doers crossed paths in the night.

This glove relocation is dedicated to my friend Karl whose empathy for the homeless is constant and true

My 12 Days of Christmas Day 4

Supporting a non for profit is a nice way to help keep them around. Today I gave my day to The Poetry Project. I spent the day supporting their wonderful service to writers by attending their 34th Annual New Year's Day Marathon Reading. Your ticket helps fund their projects, and all of the food items including Magnolia cupcakes were donated and their resale raised money for them too. What a wonderful way to start the New Year. I ate and listened and met some interesting people. I was inspired knowing that such things exist. Lets just say I tried to eat enough chili and baked goods to insure that there will be a number 35.

This is dedicated to the hundred poets who gave of themselves for the betterment of us all today

My 12 days of Christmas day 3

I decided to try to make up for some of my slips into dining at McDonaldland by making a conscious decision to reclaim clothes for my new wardrobe. I am in a new place and having to build a work wardrobe from almost nothing. Much of my clothing was donated to charities when I left Hawaii since tropical clothing wasn't going to help me elsewhere. I decided to try to off set crazy American consumption by buying only reclaimed clothes. It is taking patience and creativity to pull this off, but what better place to do it. I had forgotten how much black colored clothing that event companies expect you to have in your wardrobe. I feel a little bit better knowing that these clothes are getting a second chance, and they are smashing to boot.

This act of reclaiming is dedicated to my blogging buddy Cally who gently encourages us to think a little more about the earth http://callycreates.blogspot.com/