Friday, December 30, 2011

Mother Rising

I can't describe the funk I'm in. It's overwhelming because it has so many layers to it…

I have always seen journaling as a valuable tool in my life. I could go back to read entries and chart the course of my life….see my growth, see myself...in essence hold presence for myself. My journals have also been a source of healing…after 9/11, my journals were a safe place to store the unimaginable horrors I experienced so that I could free my mind and create more pleasant memories.

During my ivf process…my journals kept me focused and hopeful.

When I became a mom, I knew that my life would be different and that I would not have the time to create in the way I once did. My journal helped me train my eyes to see the sacred in the ordinary rather than be blindsided by the endless chores and lack of sleep. My journal helped me to shift my definition of creativity and discover that making a kite for my son can be as soulful as making a piece of art. Through journaling, I learned that creativity is a language with many dialects. My journal was not only a creative outlet and a tool for self discovery, but it also provided my son with a diary of his childhood.

Blogger was just the tool that I needed to quickly document our days. I called the diary, "Mother Rising" because I usually wrote upon waking and sleep was erratic in those early days.

My plan was to use blogger to create blog books/diaries for my son. I was only able to print Satchel's first year because my old mac was no longer compatible with their program. I needed to wait until we purchased a new mac and we weren't able to do that until a few weeks ago. My plan was to begin that process after the holidays…on Tuesday when Satch went to school. Once completed I would back up the blog since the new mac would be able to handle this task. I estimated that it would take a few months if I worked steadfast while my Son was in school. Unfortunately the photos disappeared before I was able to do this.

My plan was after finishing Satchel's blog books, I would focus on creating a book version of Mighty Girl Art as well as an e-course as this seems like the logical way to expand since taking more than 6-8 girls per session will greatly change the dynamics of a small, safe and sacred circle.

I launched Mighty Girl Art 3 yrs ago because I'm committed to being a present mom and I needed to wait until my son was ready and willing to separate from me to explore on his own. Three years ago he asked to go to "nature camp" which he heard about from a friend. It's a summer event that meets for 5 mornings at our local nature center. I knew that was the sign to launch MGA and that is what I did. I taught while he was at camp. I continue to plan my MGA sessions around the needs of my son. Trying to maintain that delicate balance of being fully present for my son and fully present for the girls I teach. Expanding MGA must be done with the same mindset.

I was just getting to the point where everything was falling into place. After 6 yrs of devotion and hard work I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But now with the loss of all those photos, I feel very much like the tunnel has collapsed. Because I have to start all over and repair the damage to 6 years worth of living.

I received a message from Google that states the issue happened to a number of people during an upgrade to Google+...photos began migrating to phones and displayed publicly despite privacy setting and the like. In the panic, myself and others removed the photos and in turn they were deleted from the blog. They say that I have re-upload and synch 6 years worth of photos manually. I am not giving up hope that there is someone out there who can restore it somehow.

In the meantime, the first thing I will need to do is repair MGA because I don't want to disappoint those girls or the kindred spirits who sponsor their supplies and gifts. I don't know how long that will take.

The second thing I will need to do is try to fix my family diary/blog, "Mother Rising". My plan is not to start at the beginning, but to work backwards so I don't become too horribly depressed. I will not be repairing any book/product reviews or the "Mom to Mom" interviews. While I am grateful for the opportunities and the connections I've made by making my journals public, my blog has always been first and foremost, a family diary. So restoring that is my priority.

Lastly, once my family diary is repaired, I will need to slurp it into Blurb and print those yearly books for Satch. Before this crippling destruction of my blog, my plan was to have the blog books ready for my son's 7 birthday - this is no longer possible.

That said, after very little sleep and lots of sobbing:

I will not be taking on any new commitments, i.e. giveaways, reviews etc.

I will not be present on facebook, though new diary entries will continue to cross-post.

The reading/research for Mighty Girl Art that I've been working so hard on while Satch is in school, will now be limited to an hour of reading/research while eating my lunch.

I will be repairing 6 years worth of memories from 9 - 3 m-f.

I don't know how long any of this will take. Months? Years?

I crumple into a heap of tears at the thought of it. It's daunting and I feel like I'm buried alive.
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posted by Wendy at 11:55 AM 4 comments

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tears

I naively began writing Mother Rising as a way to quickly create a diary for my son. I realized as a new mother that time was no longer my own, and blogger had provided me with an easy way to record our days in photos and words. I had no idea at that time that anyone other than family and friends would actually read it.

Over the years, Mother Rising has evolved and grown...it has become a treasure trove of resources, connections and useful information, i.e. interviews, product/book reviews etc. In essence, I've shared by life, my heart...in words and images that have spanned 6 years.

Over the holiday something very strange happened. All the photos from my blog appeared on my phone and I received a crash warning. I checked the accounts and did not find a change in settings so I removed the photos. Then all the photos from my blog, and Mighty Girl Art site disappeared too. The thumbnails in the linkwithin widgets remain, as do some videos, but all the photos are gone.

I spent the day sobbing and am utterly devastated. While I have my original photos on my drive it may take years to manually re-upload each photo to the respective posts, if I can actually remember where they go. I can not find contact info for blogger/google/picasa to restore and synch the photos. If you have such info, I would greatly appreciate it.

As of now, I will be spending my days trying to manually repair my Mighty Girl Art Site first. Then I will begin trying to repair my family diary entries because the thought of not having these diary entries intact for my son is heartbreaking.

Since this will take a great deal of my time, I will not be repairing my product/book reviews or interviews. I sincerely apologize for the loss of these linked images.

Sincerely,
Wendy
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posted by Wendy at 12:21 PM 6 comments

Friday, December 23, 2011

Seasons Greetings

To our friends and family who inspire us daily....
















May you awaken to the mystery of being here...
May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path.
May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.

- John O'Donohue

Happy Holidays....See you next year!

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posted by Wendy at 7:33 AM 0 comments

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Everything Counts

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Big Kids Magazine: A Treasure to Behold

"Out there, there's a world outside Yonkers..."
- Jerry Herman (Put On Your Sunday Clothes)























We have fallen in love with Big Kids Magazine!

Recently they sent out a call for submissions (treasure maps) and I asked my son if he would like to submit his work. He had a few pieces that he made last year that would fit the criteria. He was both nervous and excited. I felt it would be a good experience for him. If his work was accepted it would be terrific for his self esteem - if it wasn't, I planned not to tell him unless he asked about it and then I would dig out some of my own rejection letters.






















His work was accepted and now he's bouncing off the walls with excitement to see his work out there in the world. I promptly emailed his teacher and school principal with the news. I asked if there was some way to add it to the morning announcements. S is in first grade and not particularly fond of school. I felt that receiving some congrats at school may make his last day before winter break a memorable one. The principal emailed me straightaway and said she would get right to it.

This is the ripple effect that one rarely sees the outer edges of...and here I am watching it all unfold. I will never forget the look on my son's face. I will never forget how his friend A was so authentically happy for him and how the two boys stared at the screen wide eyed and smiling.

Thank you, Lilly and Jo, for the work that you do and for giving children a place for their art beyond the refrigerator door.

*Postscript: The principal was able to reach the tech guy who was able to get permissions from the site and had my son's art from the magazine on the all the video screens in the school during morning announcements. His teacher told me that the class cheered and S was smiling from ear to ear. The tech guy went to the class afterwards to see the reaction and said S was so happy. When I picked him up after school he said, "I had a great day at school today...they announced my artwork on the Big Kids Magazine website and showed pictures and everyone cheered". He will never forget this. I will never forget this. I'm so grateful for every bit of it.

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posted by Wendy at 4:45 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Oh What Fun!

Don't let the season pass by without seeing this play...


















We received free passes to see Ken Ludwig's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at Adventure Theater. If you've never been to Adventure Theater, let me tell you....there's not a bad seat in the house. It's small and intimate which fosters a strong connection between the audience and the performance.

The play opens with a reading of the famous Clement Clark Moore poem,

"Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse"...

but it is interrupted by a mouse stirring cookie batter. The mouse argues that the poem is incorrect because we can plainly see that he is a mouse AND he is stirring. The audience was overcome with laughter.

We soon learn of a plot to steal Santa's Naughty & Nice list and we are whisked away on a wild and hilarious adventure to save Christmas. The acting is superb. The sets are lovely and simple. It's fast paced and funny and will keep children (and parents) laughing from start to finish.


‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
November 18, 2011– January 2, 2012

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posted by Wendy at 12:38 PM 0 comments

Monday, December 19, 2011

A House of Welcome

"May you have the eyes to see
That no visitor arrives without a gift

And no guest leaves without a blessing" - John O'Donohue


I present you with more evidence that I am the luckiest person on Earth...

On Saturday we hosted our Annual Winter Solstice Holiday Open House and the peeps flowed in and out of our home for 8 hrs straight. And I made my famous crock of vegetarian chili and guests brought treats of every variety and fires were toasty, and the friendships were too, and the children delightfully boisterous. I was so exhausted from the whole shebang that I did not have the energy to bring up the sun the following morn.

Here I must take you back in time in order to reveal the magic that is my life....

There was this extremely handsome teacher in my middle school whom I was smitten with. His name was David Hildreth and he had crazy curly hair. We were kindreds - we had that genius hair connection. David taught math in the classroom where I studied Spanish and that is how we met...passing each other in the doorway as his class left and my class entered. He was never one of my teachers. Anyway, David began leaving me messages in the classroom, always funny and often hidden. It was a dalliance that spanned an entire school year...until I switched schools.

One day David left me a cryptic message on graph paper and it was in the form of a math equation. Math is NOT my language. I carried it with me everywhere trying to decipher the code. I took it with me to a basket ball game - teachers vs teachers, I think. I sat in the bleachers trying to decode the message. My school chum Jeff sat beside me and helped.

I have known Jeff since childhood. He used to tie my shoes for me because I broke my right arm in two places when an unstable wall in my tree fort fell on me. I had a cast up to my shoulder. The only way I could tie my laces was to sit on the floor and bring my knees to my chest which was no small task in the crowded hallways of our school. So when Jeff would find me huddled trying to tie my sneakers, he would always lend a hand.

So there we were, not paying attention to the basketball game, but instead, trying to decode my message from David Hildreth. Eventually, we figured out that the equation was telling me where to place lines on the graph paper (brilliant) and by placing the lines in the right place, it spelled out a message...

T U R K E Y L E G S

I have no memory of this but Jeff swears that when we cracked the code I stood up in the bleachers and screamed

T U R K E Y L E G S ! ! !

and no one knew what was going on except for me, Jeff and David who at that precise moment looked up into the bleachers and smiled.

Flash forward to the present... Sunday morning:

Bleary eyed and with extreme genius bed head, I made some hot cocoa. Having just missed the sunrise, I headed for the computer to check my mail and visit my pals on facebook. And THAT is when I discovered that my old school chum Jeff went outside in his pajamas to photograph the sunrise in NY and posted it to my facebook page. I suppose he must have guessed that I would be too exhausted after my annual Winter Solstice party to bring up the sun proper. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I saw the sunrise on my screen.

And if you ever doubted that I am the luckiest person on Earth, this is further proof.

May you smile big for the knowing of this and may you feel as blessed as I do.

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posted by Wendy at 5:11 AM 3 comments

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

With Light & To Shine: Decking the Halls

The light flows from their branches.
And they call again,
"It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come
into the world to do this,
to go easy,
to be filled
with light,
and to shine." ~ Mary Oliver


For our faraway family and friends, we wish you could cozy up by our fire...hope these images will make you feel as though you are here with us....













































The Twelve Days of Christmas Garland that I made inspired by these. Behind each door is a to-do like "make hot cocoa", "go skating", "invite a neighbor to dinner"....







































Shrinky dink ornaments from family photos of our ancestors...










































felted wool ornaments we made years ago...and wooden shrooms...






















a hawk feather that we found, ornament inspired by these...






















a felty tweet from Fa la la la Felt...

















a dragonfly ornament that I made ages ago...





























































































The Seasonal Stack:
  • Return of the Light: 12 Tales for the Winter Solstice
  • Lights of Winter
  • Snow Music
  • When Winter Comes
  • The Snowy Day
  • The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice
  • Owl Moon
  • White Snow Bright Snow
  • The Big Snow
  • The Tomten
  • The Tomten and the Fox
  • The Mitten
  • December
  • The Snow Children
  • Snow
  • Christmas Farm
  • One Snowy Night
  • Polar Express
  • Santa Mouse
  • Snow Moon
  • Night Tree
And a basket o' boots and winter woolens...

















a flurry on flannel sheets below a glittery reminder...






















A bedside tree for my wee boy donned with miniature felted wool balls from Nepal. The bedside table is a tiny antique wooden stool that I found at a flea market in SoHo many years ago...






















old vogs from the back of the closet glitzed with silvery paint (see gray issue of Nuno for instructions)....






















our pine cone peace wreath is finished and donning our door...






















I'm signing off to prepare for our 4th Annual Winter Solstice Party this weekend. We're participating in Pixie Campbell's Mother of All Releasing Ceremonies. I am proud to call her friend and we are all so thrilled to be participating.


We are also excited that our Snow Globes and feather ornaments were featured on The Crafty Crow!

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posted by Wendy at 4:32 AM 3 comments

Monday, December 12, 2011

Hints of Gladness

"They give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me,
and daily." - Mary Oliver


On Saturday, we hosted a Christmas-Craftapalooza! The neighborhood kidlets flooded the studio and joined my son in a morning of seasonal crafting! With holiday tunes spinning, we made paper mache' ornaments, rattle drums, and snow globes....




































































Then we dashed off to join more neighbors for a vegetarian feast at Woodlands. On the way home we stopped at the nursery to pick out our tree!



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posted by Wendy at 4:49 AM 0 comments

Friday, December 09, 2011

Bringing Up the Sun

the sun

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.

~ Mary Oliver

















He awoke early and padded down the stairs. "You're just in time", I said, "if you hurry and put your coat on you can see the sunrise before you get ready for school". He put on his coat and his shoes and we ran to the vista in our pajamas. We were out of breath, but made it in time.

"It's so beautiful", he squealed, "thank you for showing me".

We walked home elated, though a bit cold and soggy around the ankles from the wet grass. I made a warm breakfast and we sipped some hot cocoa.

"Mama...one way to bring up the sun is with music", he said.

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posted by Wendy at 4:33 AM 0 comments

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Guerrilla Gratitude Notes

Sprinkle our society with thankfulness. ~ William Shakespeare
After making the teacher gifts, I started thinking about all the others...like the principals, the janitors, the cafeteria crew, the crossing guard, the librarian and those that stand outside rain or shine to usher the kids at the kiss n' ride..and how about the mail carriers. I decided to make a set of business card sized gratitude notes to give thanks to everyone who makes our lives easier, wiser, safer, funner, healthier, fuller, etc. I will give a handful to my son to distribute at school while I go guerrilla and hit the post office, crossing guard, trash collector et al.

I used Overnight Prints for my cards because their printing is perfection and the prices are the best around! You can get 50 cards for under $10. And it's easy! Just download their business card template, add your photo and text...then follow the directions. Once they arrive in your mailbox, you can go spread your pocket sized bits of gratitude all over town!



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posted by Wendy at 5:11 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Clarity of Light: Memory Ornaments

"May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours." - John O'Donohue




I've been trying to think of ways we could honor our ancestors, elders (and especially departed family members) during the holiday season. I wanted to make something meaningful for my son that he could pass on to his own children one day. We sat down and looked at old photos and I shared as many memories as I could think of about. That gave me an idea! I decided to print the old photos onto shrink film and make Memory Ornaments!



















  1. Scan your photos
  2. Print onto ink jet shrink film aka Shrinky Dinks.
  3. Leave some white around it when you cut them out. Try deckle scissors.
  4. Punch a hole in the top for hanging.
  5. Write a sentiment, memory or the names of the people you are honoring on the back with Sharpie marker.
  6. Bake in oven according to package.
  7. Let cool.
  8. Add a hook, string or ribbon and hang.

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posted by Wendy at 4:30 AM 1 comments

Monday, December 05, 2011

Snow Day: DIY Anthropologie Snowglobe

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.

The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


After the tree lighting ceremony in our town center, we took a walk through Anthropologie to gaze at all the eye candy. Satch really liked the mason jar snow globes so I promised him that we could make some for teacher gifts. They sell for $25-$38 - Holy Mother of Mark-Ups! They cost less than $5 to make! Here's how to do it...






















First the mojo: The same exact jars can be purchased at Michaels or DollarTree for $1, but you can use any jar...try thrift stores or freecycle. The trees come in 2 packs for under $5 at Michaels or hobby shops. The sleds come in a 4 pack for under $3 at Michaels. As for the white snowy glitter, this huge can cost $5.99 and I had more than enough to make 4 mason jar globes and 3 spice jar globes.


















1 - Hot glue your tchotchke to the inside of lid *unless it's a glass lid with a wire thingy
2 - fill 1/4 of the jar with glittler
3 - close & give


Here's what we made...
  























 

*If you want to make the kind with liquid inside, just fill the jar with water, then add a little glycerin. The glycerin keeps the glitter from sticking to the glass so it floats around like snow. You can buy glycerin at your local drug store. Make sure to glue the cap on your jar though to keep it from leaking.

By the way...my Peace Sign Wreath made into Poppytalk...I'm so giddy!



I have another craft to share Wednesday...

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posted by Wendy at 4:17 AM 1 comments

Friday, December 02, 2011

This Breath: DIY Feather Ornaments

"I have only this breath
and this presence for my wings
and they carry me" - David Whyte


I saw these lovely feather ornaments by Roost pop up in various stores and they made me do a little happy dance. They run approx. $12 each so I decided to try to make them myself with some of the feathers that I found on sidewalks, trails, and lawns over the years.





Fillable ornaments can be purchased in glass or acrylic at your local craft store for $1 - $3. They come in several sizes, but the shapes are limited. Just pop the cap off and slide a feather inside. I used annealed iron to make the hooks and a bit of hand dyed ribbon. They look like they're floating in bubbles and we love them.

This one cradles a downy breast feather from a hawk.
























 This one holds the feather of a goldfinch and a white winged dove.
























I have another DIY to show you tomorrow Monday...

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posted by Wendy at 4:45 AM 1 comments

Thursday, December 01, 2011

I feel

"You don't have to speak, I feel" - Bjork

I feel... (Ik voel, ik voel, wat jij niet voelt...) from Elsbeth van Noppen on Vimeo.

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posted by Wendy at 11:31 AM 0 comments

'Tis the Season: DIY Peace Sign Wreath

“Now is the season to know that everything you do is sacred” - Hafez

I was never a wreath kind of girl. That is until I stumbled upon this one below which at the time was priced out of my league and at present is no longer being sold.




















So I gathered some pine cones, sussed out a wreath form and wire from Maine Wreath Company and went to work. It's so easy that I wouldn't dare insult your intelligence with a tutorial. Just attach the pinecones to the form with wire...you can't mess it up.






















It's not quite finished yet...I still have to add some small pinecones to make it a bit fuller, but you get the idea. The best thing about this wreath, besides its über coolness and awesome message, is when my neighbor walks by and flips me a peace sign and smiles.























I shot our holiday photo at one of my son's favorite farms. We couldn't decide which photo we liked best...





















Satch chose this one below! So this is our 2011 holiday postcard!















Our photo calendars are printed and ready to send to faraway family. We used Overnight Prints for all our printing because the quality of their printing is superior to the others we've tried over the years, and the prices are better too!






















And believe it or not, our Christmas shopping is finished too! We do our holiday shopping on-line to avoid all the madness, crowds and commercialism. I just have to wrap 'em and hide 'em until Santa arrives. Now it's time to start spinning the holiday tunes while decking the halls, do some fun holiday crafting and get ready for our annual Winter Solstice Party. I'll be sharing some more DIY holiday crafting tomorrow...

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posted by Wendy at 5:35 AM 2 comments