Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Beach dancing






Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling
Like I'm floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean
Sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads,
No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds
We have got to leave all that behind 
~At the Beach, The Avett Brothers~








Saturday, January 28, 2012

here and now




I have come to the waters edge 
                   to spend a few weeks with my Mom






we have places to go and things to do

Change



“OYA”

Change



I work in ways deep

ever present

always moving

I work in ways dramatic

with thunder and lightning

sweeping and uprooting

I work in ways subtle

pushing and prodding

wearing and tearing

I swirl you and twirl you

I splatter you and scatter you

I shock you and rock you

I clear the way for what is to come

I can be slight or stupendous

brief or long lasting

uproaring or uprising

What I can’t be is ignored



From The Goddess Oracle

{in the picture}

Friday, January 27, 2012

Haiku my Heart Friday

Winged Heart by Rebecca Brooks

She walks with Angels
Heart singing Soul gathering
Pray for restful wings


Dear Sweet Rebecca needs our prayers 
and visits to uplift her 
body, health and spirit 
in this time of recovery...
please stop by for some love


for you my Love

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Guest Post by Vivienne McMaster


 The following is written by Vivienne McMaster, my Self-Portrait Muse. After four online courses with her I learned so much and  have grown leaps and bounds as a photographer with the skills she taught me...she has rocked my world!

I’m totally honored to be sharing some words here at Deb’s blog.  We crossed paths last year when she took my e-course You are Your Own Muse and I was immediately in awe of that bright spirit of hers. 

One of the things I love most about photography is each and every time I pick up the camera and head out for a photo walk, there is a sense of discovery.  It turns an ordinary day into something full of potential. 

What light patterns will I come across?
What will be growing in my neighborhood? 
Who’s path will I cross?  A squirrel?  A cat?  A human?
What will the light be like?
Will I find the perfect quiet moment to take a self-portrait?
Will the cherry blossoms be blooming?

Even if I am walking the same route, I am unlikely to hold my camera at the exact same angle when photographing a flower that I photographed the day before.

There is always potential, discovery, newness ahead.

My life (heck, all of our lives) are full of ebb and flow.  Not every moment is inspired, by any means!  Yet I always have that camera nearby to pick up and tell the story of the day.  No matter what else is going on, there is always a sense of wonder accessible by looking at the world through its lens.

Maybe for you it is when you have a palette of paints.
Or a blank page with words ready to spill.
Or by sewing pieces together.
Or maybe today will be the day to discover that sense of wonder.
That place where creativity invites you in and you feel at home.
Where there is always something new to find.

What could you discover today?






Bio
Vivienne McMaster is a photographer and leader of the You are Your Own Muse E-Course (with a brand new session beginning in February).  She has a big love for helping people discover the artist and photographer in themselves.  She blogs regularly about self-portraiture, life on the west coast and about living a creative life!

Click here to view more details

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

play with me

me at Seaside, Florida
photo by d smith kaich jones


My friend Debi, writer, photographer, artist 
shot this fun photo of me on the beach last year in Seaside, Florida
I drown myself in her writings, so asked her to guestpost here on my blog this day, same day I am on airplane to Florida 
to visit my Mom...enjoy!



She said “playfulness” when I asked what to write about, and I said cool, no problemI am all about that, but then I remembered I wasn’t, that I’d mistaken wearing flirty skirts and twirling in the Texas sun as playfulness, when in truth maybe it wasn’t, and maybe wearing bare feet all the time wasn’t playfulness either, and I started to worry, started to think, but by then it was too late; I’d said I would – I’d said I could - and then I started to laugh to myself, started to laugh at myself, cause I remembered her cartwheeling down the cold-ass Florida beach, and I can’t do that, never could, never did, and then just the idea of playfulness became damn hard work in my this-is-your-brain-on-menopause, and it made me feel sorry for myself, that no cartwheel ability, and that made me think even more, and I had to just stop it.  Thinking will get in the way of play every time.  So I shut up talking to myself and just wrote.




Going to a baseball game with girls is more fun that going with boys.  Us girls will Cotton Eye Joe our way through the 7th inning stretch, even if we only have half of a part of a clue about what we’re doing cause it’s been so long since we did it for real, in a dancehall or under the stars on an open front porch; we will just stop thinking and dance around and toss out a yeeeeehaw or two or three, and we will laugh at ourselves and silly happy sparks will fly from our eyes.  If you go with boys, they will be buying more beer. 

I hurt my boyfriend’s feelings when I told him this, cause he sometimes mistakes fun for play, and I felt bad about that, so you should know that he once danced me across a parking lot at the end of a hard day’s work, the car door open, Guy Clark on the radio, the sun just beginning to fall behind the trees.  It was a damn fine piece of romantic playfulness in the late summer twilight and every once in a while he remembers and dances me around my office just for old times sake.

Which reminds me of one of our first dates, motorcycling into the overgrown countryside, stopped by a locked gate leading onto public property, and how we trespassed our behinds and that motorcycle beyond that gate, into the silence of waiting trees.  Which reminds me of climbing fences with a girlfriend, never mind that we were wearing skirts – there was a hill beckoning and we had to see what was on the other side.  In my life, amongst my friends, girls and boys are equal – we will always take the road we’ve never been down before.   Play is spelled l-o-s-t in the moment.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

pink shoes
flipflops
boots
bare feet painted toenails on the dashboard,
a full tank of gas
and the map tossed out the window cause it doesn’t lead to play.
you draw that road yourself with magic markers.
pass go.
don’t ask mother, may i.
hopscotch.
let go.
cartwheel, baby

Emma Tree

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

You are Your own Muse


1. rock my world, 2. worn out, 3. mellow yellow, 4. right eye, 5. wind is my friend, 6. frame, 7. The Beauty of Different, 8. pondering, 9. window sillouette, 10. I wished, 11. here comes the sun, 12. Texas wild-flower child, 13. wine and me


Dedicated to the lovely Vivienne McMaster
my Muse in 2011

I experienced my first online workshops this past year with Vivienne 
and by far it was the best bang for my buck!
It was so much fun and I do hope you will try one of her classes
You will learn to jump, twirl, turn the camera on yourself and P-L-A-Y!!

Click here to view more details


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Happy Birthday to Me



I am fifty four
  I cut my hair
    I am going to visit my Mom in Florida
I am collaborating on a new project SHE IS THREE
I started a new Flickr Group entitled "BARE BEAUTY"
    ...a self portraiture project for women 
                exposing their bare naked beauty

I am growing, learning, stretching...moving forward at a rapid pace!

That's What Deb's Doing ...how about you?



Saturday, January 21, 2012

She is Three



I am proud to announce 
and 
honored beyond belief to be 
One of Three 
beautiful, talented artists 
as we launch a new blog 
and project together...SHE IS THREE

Friday, January 20, 2012

ch-ch-change!



let go lighten up
silver strands  feel like feathers
shoulders feel like wings






Thursday, January 19, 2012

spaces of stillness




Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that's where I renew my springs that never dry up. ~Pearl Buck~











My days are busier than I want them to be right now.
But when I pause long enough, with camera in hand, 
I find sacred moments of stillness all around my home.

I have so many surprises to unravel and reveal this week...
                       afterall this is my week to celebrate 54 years of life!!





 Come get your JOY on over here

Monday, January 16, 2012

endless




Every moment of your life is infinitely creative 
and the Universe is endlessly bountiful. 
Just put forth a clear enough request 
and everything your heart desires 
must come to you. 
~ Mahatma Gandhi~

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

a good idea


Ideas can be life-changing. 
Sometimes all you need to open the door 
is just one more good idea. 
Jim Rohn


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Happy 82nd Birthday Jack


This is my Mom.
She has written a beautiful tribute to Jack, her husband, my stepfather
on this special day.....

Today we celebrate Jack's 82nd birthday.  I am so lucky to have met - and after several years - married this man.  Briefly, for those that don't know our story, 
we met online, when that was a fairly new experience.  No Facebook, MySpace or dating sites.  Just two pen pals with common interests.  
I relocated to Florida from Texas.  And the rest is history.
"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be" 
Certainly at our ages - late 60's and 70's when we met - we were not spring chicks.  And we both face the challenges of aging.  But together we meet each change as it comes, and treasure each moment in a way we could not before.
So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK.  May you reach your goal to live to be 
101 1/2years young, with me by your side. ~ Lyn Keil~




HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK
from Deb & Matt 
see ya soon! 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Postcard from Paradise

 painting by Katy Keuter
hangs above my morning altar
My friend Katy Keuter featured me on her blog...
won't you click here for a visit?
and let her know you stopped by?


painting by Linda Manzo

A very special gift arrived one day in December
much to my delight!
I am in love with this Mother Mary from Gemmashouse 

 painting by Hashi


My blogger friend Hashi visited me last year 
and upon her return to California, she sent me her painting
who watches over me bedside







This portrait sketch is by a very young girl, maybe 7-ish
sitting at the same table we were 
during the opening for a local Wine Bar.
She was sketching people all around her.
She is good.
She let me give her five dollars for it
since it was her drawing of me!