Today’s word comes from the gorgeous book, Dreaming My Animal Selves by Hélène Cardona which, incidentally I never would have found without the magic of the internet. I’m so glad I did because it’s a glorious book of poetry. The word I chose randomly is whimsical! Yay!
I am not sure whimsy ever got squeezed out of me in my youth. I’m fortunate to have children and friends who help keep this alive in my heart. Something I love about my city is the whimsical things that are often waiting to be found. I remember being acquainted with the Toy-Box Trio at the Seattle Art Museum and fell just a little in love with their sound. It’s common to happen upon little art installations, fairy houses, or stacked rocks in local parks. It’s lovely to live in a world where such joy waits for me stumble upon it.
Today’s quote comes from Yoko Ono. It’s more of a directive but I was drawn to it because of the word whimsical. The book it comes from, Acorn, is filled with delightful prompts that can only enrich one’s life.
Wishing Tree at Carkeek Park
Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper.
Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree.
Ask your friends to do the same.
Keep wishing until the branches are covered with wishes.
Finally, I can’t think of whimsy without thinking of my fabulous friend, Rob D’Arc who makes glorious puppets for the stage as well as puppets you can take home. You can also find him at the Pike Place Market selling his puppets. The holidays are coming…
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (me too) At the end of the movie, Alice chops off the Jabberwocky’s head then returns home triumphant and sails off to her own, self-created destiny. She has lots of friends who helped her along the way. She…
Today’s random word comes from my friend, Aaron Dietz‘s book Super. I wrote about his book a few years ago when it was published. Today’s word is breaking. breaking with tradition. breaking up. breaking hearts. breaking old habits. break dancing. breakfast. breaking a pattern. give me a break. breaking. Breaking is a delightful word for…
Yesterday, I spent several hours alone at The Frye Art Museum drinking in the “Moment Magnitude” exhibit. I wrote pages in my journal. Random things I overheard people saying, snippets from the art descriptions or the videos and my own feelings and thoughts that arose. I also took pictures of things strangers had posted in…
hiding a stuffed animal for your cat to find in the night to present the kill the next day melting into the soft sweetness of midnight phone calls and intimacy in separate beds naked boy running through morning stillness disturbed by the smell of flowers the itch the need to taste blood to destroy something…
Over the past several years, I’ve been mindfully working on authenticity, issues with bullies, shadows of pain from the past and speaking uncomfortable truths. A lifetime of people pleasing and fear took a long time to rework. I feel like I have finally found my voice, like I can speak my truth and feel completely…