This weekend has been so beautifully restorative for me, after such an overwhelmingly busy week which became busy in a wonderful way when I finally decided to ‘surrender’ and ask for help. So many articles were overdue, my mind was feverishly gestating creative ideas I wanted to rush out and manifest, not to mention requests for three proposals in relation to my new polaroid project, ‘open to exposure’ for children. Surrendering took the form of hiring my lovely friend Jennifer, who is a brilliantly gifted writer and asking her for help which she undertook with grace and humor on very short notice.

Pop by her website and you will be seduced with her charm I promise you ~ Jennifer ‘curated’ a stunning collection of essay’s in a book called ‘Lanterns’ which you can order off her website, several of my friends penned luminous stories for Lanterns and the photograph’s are sooo gorgeous!

Have a peek as well at the little film clip I took this weekend at the Aquarium of the moon jelly fish ~ they are by far my favorite sea creature as their effervescent beauty is gorgeously hypnotic to me. I could spend the entire day just staring at them and was so happy to capture a bit of their magic on film.

Later this same day I visited the Buddhist temple for a meditation class and had a most lively conversation afterwards over jasmine tea in the caffeteria. My Dharma practice is incredibly personal to me so I tend to tiptoe gently through spiritual conversations if only because in the end it is so incredibly ordinary. It truly has nothing to do with ‘identity’ and like my deepest personal relationships I find that sheltering this ‘wheel of becoming’ allows my lens to become ever more generous.

Wandering through life’s experiences I am learning to simply be natural, to venture beyond a point of view to insight and understanding, and perhaps the biggest of all to ‘learn how to listen so others will speak, and how to speak so others will listen’ ( a big one for a chatterbox like me:) Somehow all of these facets help me penetrate more deeper into intimacy which I guess in the end is where I am continuously trying to make my way.

The sky is a most lovely blue today and I am heading out further exploring my new passion for the px 100 silvershade film by the impossible project ~ you can peek at photo’s of my learning curve here. This film has the most beyond~gorgeous magical shimmering sparkles that I am over the moon with. It’s so cool because they have little ‘quotes’ on the cards that the polaroid camera spits out ~ my last one read ‘catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.’ Needless to say I was quite charmed:)

Have a fabulous week, I hope you had a relaxing and peaceful Easter weekend.

‘invisible ink’ polaroid print available in my shop, taken with a vintage sx70 camera

Oh my goodness, it seems so long since I have settled down to pen a post, where no one is in a hurry to go anywhere. I am happy today is such a day despite a mountain of ‘to do’s’ that I refuse to worry over.

The past two weeks have spilled over with various dwellings in loveliness including a retreat away for a profoundly intimate celebration of a transformational time in this dear friend’s life. I was incredibly moved with the unbidden outpouring of love for Liz, the ignition of artistic births that comes when one is surrounded by a gathering of gifted and generous artists in the magical reverence of nature. One evening as I looked at all the beautiful faces of friends gathered for Liz it occured to me how wonderfully revealing our friendships are. Her village of friends reflected the joyful healing power of unconditional love, the warmhearted delight in one another’s company and the mystery of encouraging support that moves in the energy of the connected flow of togetherness. It was a gift to celebrate this weekend that I will cherish forever as I witnessed the way Liz’s heart and beautiful soul has touched so many lives.

A mere two days later I leapt into another transformation as we celebrated the exhibit for my children’s photography course ‘open to exposure ~ seven.’ I have so many photo’s of this delightful event but could not upload most of them since the children all sat by their personally designed exhibits and shared with the visitors the inspirations behind their photo’s. You can see a few snippets in my set here however which are simply delightful beyond belief. And yeah, I cried when I went home because, well, I just love those kids so much.

I am now in the midst of embarking on my new project ‘open to exposure ~ seven ~ the polaroids’ which chronicles the work of seven children, seven questions, and polaroid pictures of course. I will be documenting their journey throughout this project for a book I am writing “Open to exposure ~ giving your child the gift of self expression through photograhy.’

My passion for polaroid is spilling over into so many areas of life now as I have truly found my ‘medium’ rooted in the old fashioned magic of analog imagery. Thank goodness the impossible project is no longer impossible and my appetite for film will now be forever satisfied:) so let’s hear a loud ‘yay!!!!” for that news.

Spring has sprung and my garden is awakening with a charmed sleepy yawn, jasmine preens on my front porch and I have strawberry plants and tomatoes, mint and tarragon to coax along summer’s path.

I have missed all of you and this week I can’t wait to pop by your blogs.

What magic has come your way this lovely Sunday?

Darlene took this photo in my studio the other day and i quite love it ~ it makes me smile for the light and twinkles and nifty yellow warmth. Today I cleaned up said studio as it was getting awfully messy with piles of books and records stacked on the table, floor and chairs. Not to mention all the crumpled up papers under my desk and various scattered mugs of coffee and tea consumed at odd hours of the night when smitten with my writing fits. It felt so good to clean my studio since I put on music and brought up a tray of chocolate biscuits and set about returning the room to a pleasing sense of order (all ready to be messed up again sooner rather than later but nevermind)

However I am not in my studio now. I am in my livingroom with a cozy fire and cup of homemade chai listening to the rain pattering outside in my garden. And thinking. Thinking once again of my grade seven’s I am teaching a photography class to. Oh, you will love this. This week we talked about love and beauty. I asked which they wished to discuss fist and they all shouted ‘LOVE!!!” We chatted about how deeply personal love was, so abstract and complex and difficult to define, we talked about romantic love, platonic love and spiritual love and how you will find it everywhere in art, music, dance, photography etc. We discussed deep tenderness and emotional closeness and how love makes you feel so great by the happiness of another. And then. A very sweet boy put up his hand and said ‘And there is self love too.’ “Self love” I responded “Oh yes, and why is this important?” And he said “Because if you don’t love yourself how can you really love anyone else?” And then another boy put up his hand and chimed in….”You know when I do things that make me happy for myself then suddenly I am all filled up with joy and I want to go share that with everyone ~ it makes me feel like I have more love to share and I am just bursting with it.”

And well, I have to tell you it didn’t stop there. Discussing beauty later we chatted about inside beauty and outside beauty, feelings of inferiority through perceptual experience of attractiveness ~ I showed them this film and then asked them if they could give examples of inside beauty. A boy put up his hand and said “Have you seen the film Forest Gump? Well, he really wasn’t that good looking of a man but he was SOOOO kind and soooo gentle and funny and inside he was a very special attractive person. Everyone responded to him even the beautiful girl in the film.”

And then it really hit me ~ children KNOW ~ children are born KNOWING and who am I to believe I am teaching what was seeded in their soul’s from the beginning? I am not here to teach ….just to remind…to keep the faith and and hope alive in our world that it is true and beautiful and worth trusting and illuminating in self expression. Children always have their arms wide open….they remind me how easy it is to connect with one another and how far we are capable of reaching out to each other.

I am so so so SO grateful for every moment I get to share with these kids!

sweetness… and love…

See that most wonderful vintage mokka pot on the little pile of magazines? I found it this week at the thrift shop with Duke and Darlene and am quite pleased to report it makes the most astonishingly delicious expresso. (a big shout out of thanks to Duke for teaching me how to perculate to perfection) I am madly in love with it, and also the adorable vintage granny crochet pillow you see in the background which we also found at the thrift shop along with a delightful record happily entitled “Merengues and Mambo’s.” (which I am listening to right now as a matter of fact)

This morning I made oatmeal and a green smoothie (Darlene has been making them for us all week and now I am hooked) and am working on my lesson plan for my grade seven’s photography class this week. It is a quiet springbursting day in February and I just adore this photo Darlene took of me, this lovely set from ‘the four’ and this seaside shot I took with my polaroid camera ~ my greatest fear in life is to run out of polaroid film so if anyone has any stored away they would like me to take off their hands please do let me know:)

Happy monday!

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, a topaz
or an arrow of carnations that spread fire:
I love you like certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

~ pablo neruda ~

This morning there was the gift of capturing so beautifully (yes, I think my photo is so so so beautiful) the intimate and moving love between Darlene and Duke which shares pleasure merely by being in their encompassing and generous company. Followed by a drive to Main street for a curried breakfast of samosas, chickpeas, mint chutney and chai at Nakodhar Sweets, shopping for an exquisite silk turquoise kurta for Duke and fabulous salwar kameez and dupatta for Darlene and I. (which we are certainly wearing at a little gathering I have planned for tomorrow evening in my home)

There is no answer as usual to explain the mystery of a comfortable friendship, but this week has been pebbled with warm fires, fully belly’s and rainy evening strolls on the beach. (not to mentions exuberant outings to thrift shops with audible cries of ‘SCORE!!” ringing out when we discovered our various treasures)

My cup runneth over yet again this week as I almost burst into tears with pure joy with my luminous grade seven’s as they filled me to overflowing with their gracious admiration of one another’s brilliant and pure way of expression in photography. They have re~ignited my love of photography and their boundless enthusiasm for one another reminds me to be generous to soulful glimpses we encounter when invited to witness creative gust of our peers.

I am happy. I feel hopeful, and beautifully alive. Love actually is …all around.

Oh! and this interview in conversations….is a beauty. I promise. Go see…

I will be back …Darlene and I are making films, having a seaside exhibit and generally up to grande enthusiasms.

‘clouds’ polaroid photo shot with my sx70 camera and artistic TZ film stock

unphotographable ~ the responses that moved me to my very innermost being when I asked my grade seven students in the photography class I am teaching (open to exposure) “where do you feel most like yourself?’ which is their assignment to photograph this week ~ I cannot WAIT to see the photo’s they shoot

~ ‘actually the place I feel most like myself is a time of day ~ at night when it is dark and quiet and I can be alone with my thoughts peacefully’

~ In the mornings my Mom and I sit on the front deck and we can see the ocean. We always have tea together and it is just her and me and we watch the sun come up and one day it was really this perfect line of pink and that is when I most felt like myself

This week ~ was perfect in every way and I am so grateful for the honor of teaching these tremendous and artistic little souls ~ and somehow I can just tell already that is really me who is the student, and once again I am reminded that love is indeed all around.

Where do you feel most like yourself?

Have a gorgeous Sunday ~ and a heavenly helping of clouds

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm