~ ‘on the road’ shot with a spectra camera, sofftone film ~ available here ~

If I have my way I will own a VW Van just like this one by the end of the year. It does not matter that I cannot afford one…I believe in the magic of the Universe. The end.

Perhaps one just like this…

When I spied this beauty I went, Hey!, time for a roadtrip!

I have been practicing my guitar…listening to this quite stunning duo made me realize how far I have to go…listen up, trust me you will love them. ‘Triumphant’ music at it’s best.

This week…I am participating in the Exquisite Corpse collective…you can see my sliver here and I have decided to add a few original hand signed polaroids to my shop and this baby is the first up:)

Oh! and this morning I listened to such a classic and moving tiny desk concert which melted my heart into a puddle.

Happy Thursday all you beautiful souls!!

xoxo

Maddie

one more thing! this THIS is so hysterical!!!

~ I shot these photo’s in color but I have been in a bit of a Johnny Cash mood lately so it found it’s way into the grey scale of the spectrum ~ I like it, it feels a bit badass. (then again, maybe not with that vintage floral bag front and center:)

Spring has appeared in my garden, virile and lush while fevered crocuses and hummingbirds preen with pubescent glee. A choir of ebullient birds wake me up every morning from their perch in the cherry tree. In this fecund and loamy season I can feel a beautiful gravity drawing my soul once again to the open road.

I am happy as a plum on roadtrips, surprisingly so. Packing up the car with drums and guitar, picnic blankets and tents, vintage carrybags filled with sweaters and bathing suits and a favorite pillow. Carry mugs for roadside coffee and containers of hippie trail mix and watermelon. Chocolate, bundles of firewood, maps. Hiking boots and an old favorite hat. A camera. (or two, or three) Lots and lots of music.

Happiness!!!

I never fail to be awestruck with the study in variations of landscape, the carefree delight allowing my thoughts to flow with curvaceous horizons, the way time seems to slow down no matter how fast I drive. The mystery of becoming.

Everything falls away as I skim along the highway, certain truths dissolving into question marks then morphing into poetry. Everything is better on the road! Take for example, coffee. Have you ever noticed how even the most terribly bitter coffee tastes positively gourmet when you get behind the wheel heading into the adventurous unknown? It’s true.

Anyway, if I have my way this is going to be the best roadtrip year of all. I have been thinking about driving to New Mexico and am on a mission to get a map and plan the route. So if anyone lives in New Mexico and doesn’t mind me crashing for the night please let me know ~ I will make you Irish scones for breakfast with my famous homemade gooseberry jam.

Presently I am looking for a new (used) car and have been completely tempted by the darling vintage VW Vans. I don’t know why I always end up finding white cars ~ I hate white cars! so this time I am holding out for something with a Maddie~esque color. Perhaps green. Green would be perfect actually.

If you have a moment pop on over to Jamie’s place ~ she has a wonderful new e~course launching called ‘Sparkles’ which I am deeply honored and delighted to be participating in as a teacher. Jamie has such a genuine and bright heart and I can’t imagine a greater guide to help you burst into Spring with panache.

Tonight is the super(b) moon ~ I am meeting a group of friends for wine and a little moon gazing and the sky is so blue and clear I can just tell it will be magnificent:)

aaaaaaaand…this post kind of made my day.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone! Paz! Peace!

xoxo

Maddie

oh one more thing! such fun over at reel time with Darlene ~ go see!

update! the moonsong viewing was positively glorious ~ we brought a tray of cupcakes left over from a party, a bottle of wine and a jar of roasted cashews and sat on a blanket. I swear to you that swollen luminous moon sat down right beside us and had a cupcake too.

filled a nest with some vintage mercury decor which I rather love

Words really cannot describe the mood I am in today ~ an insistent persistent longing of foot tapping wanderlust, the murmuring underbelly of winters slumber. Of course I realize that winter’s pale thaw contains seedlings just aching to burst forth into jazzy aria’s at the first blush of spring (I can feel them tossing and turning in my chest) and yet….little birds are already flying around in my head penning vagabond songs with their startling wingspan.

I have the perfect solution for this mood ~ run UP a hill and then back down with your dog. It puts roses in your cheeks and a fire in your soul and leaves you breathless and satiated in the best way possible. If possible, do it a few times and then collapse on the ground and stare straight up into the sky through a filigree of trees and scream ‘aggghhhhhhhh!!!”

I am reading an old book of poetry entitled ‘a little book of vagabond songs’ (which i first spotted in Brooke’s stash here and then ordered off of a vintage book reseller on amazon) and these lines in the preface struck a chord deepest inside…

There is more than mystery in that indefinable place that can only be called beyond the horizon because we have no word for it…We understand the horizon to be the thin line that divides the land and the sky. We can see it, it is omnipresent, it is always there just beyond our reach. Yet ever we try to possess it, only to find that it lacks substance, that it is an illusion, always beautiful and like true beauty, impossible for human beings to achieve. What then is the reward of the true vagabond? If he may not reach his horizon, if sanity informs him that it is all an illusion why dos he not have done with his striving and sit contentedly by the side of the road? The rewards are are more real than they may at first appear. They are at his very feet, on the edge of the passing roadside, in the ever changing panorama that is always beautiful..there is beauty in the very road itself as it winds and stretches out before him.

Alleluia I say!!!!

Yesterday was a brilliant flurry of domestic bliss which I tend to resist to a large extent and then suddenly am consumed with a desire to bake berry pies and homemade pizza whilst sipping red wines and listening to music. Laney sent me some wonderful mix cd’s as a gift along with the most delightful print of Lumwinkle and that got me to thinking abut making some of my own. Later this evening I am going to make up a playlist of music I am all passionate over lately and even design sleeves for the cd with the playlist on the back.

A little slice of a cappella to gift this season to my friends and loved ones. I’m so enthused to start this new project. And speaking of music I am completely smitten with this beautiful voice….all stirred up inside with these boys lately….and if you are needing a great podcast of christmas jingle jams say no more.

wishing you a song in your heart and a fire in your desire
xoxo

maddie

I was actually dusting today! So I thought I would share with you a detail of windowsill in my kitchen. I am very fond of collecting flotsam and jetsam off the beach and needless to say I am overly fond of feathers.

Sunday was so completely wonderful and since it is by far my favorite day of the week this was particularly pleasing. My daughter Tess and I drove to Granville Island to the market ~ it was positively energetic with the Christmas spirit and we wandered past turkish figs and pineapple pistachio pastries, singing carolers and lemon gnnochi…only to stop for a perfectly delicious donut at Lee’s donuts (the best donuts in Vancouver there is no doubt.)

I couldn’t resist wandering over to the floating homes on False Creek. Some are so very modern and others are like darling little cabins with decks strung happily with twinkle lights ~ most of them have rooftop gardens filled with pots and wonderful ladders you climb to get to the top. I have to say I find these homes on the water so alluring and magical ~ if you take the water ferries at night they glide right past this row of colorful floating homes and you can stare right into their windows and I promise you it is beyond enchanting. They are directly behind Emily Carr and just past the market and I like to imagine I live there and am walking home with paper bags filled with fresh vegetables and fruit, cheese and wine and if the basement were perchance to flood I would simply go for a swim.

This week I have been wearing flannel shirts and scuffed boots quite a bit for some reason ~ I took a roadtrip to the Island to visit my Mom and sang all the way along to Nina Simone in the car with a rainbow for company. I always take the scenic route when I drive with a toss of my hand to the extra time it takes to get to my destination. I prefer the lure of the landscape, the pull of the ocean’s sway, the diners and old coffee stops along the way… the curvy expanse of road and the song in my heart. I love to linger and am reminded of something Johnny Depp said in an interview…‘time is so precious…and completely worthless.’

I also shot my film for ‘reel time’ with Darlene on the Island ~ on a little curve of beach in Qualicum where my father and I used to sit and drink coffee together. You can see the last little smude of rainbow in the film if you peer ever so closely at the horizon. A little bit of magic. My collaboration with Darlene this week is so breathtaking in our serendipitous offerings ~ reminds me of a St. Exupery book somehow. I hope you can pop by and see for yourself and play our films at the same time for an extra dose of beguiling beauty.

Oh happy Monday to you and wishing you an evening of shooting stars…(well, actually fragments of comets)

xoxo

Maddie

I will not harbor questions and mere theorems
(a fleet of noisy clacking colors)
Jump the quick wall
perhaps the world is thundering,
pollenizing orchidaceous flowers
brazen painted poems and God~reaching kneesocks
looking up between the legs
of light casting revelations

Migrate with hail cracking faith
curl into the reminding moment
plumbing our sacred bed (fingering rain)
a fledgling ellipse of wind
all the way to
……………….. watersmooth

Dear diary

We are on the road once again ~ a golden pulse of moon skimming through midnight blue skies, holy quietude and small noises in the trees, things of dreams and even the forest floor (freshly fallen leaves). Hearts wide open uttering night cool whispers as we pluck the stars from the celestial skies under the influence of God explaining her mysteries in a sacred yellowing aria, while our shoulders touch together just so.

I am not sure why I know things deep inside but I do and the past few weeks all I have experienced with my ‘boozing’ heart have followed a ‘knowing’ I have had for so so long. I no longer feel expelled from certainty but profoundly sure and humbled in the grinning face of my mystic intuition. Doors have swung open and I have quickened my pace stepping across thresholds, wanting, expanding with far reaching surrender.

(excerpt from my sketchbook journal entry ~ October 7, 2010)

Oh! Guess what!!! Vivienne and I took the train to Lizzie’s town heading down to teach at the retreat. Vivienne (don’t you just love her name?!) took this photo of us hanging out on the platform at the station in Seattle doing what we do best. (Making films, taking pictures wearing lively shoes and boots.)

Oh, and here is the small film I took whilst clamoring along the tracks on the train ~ I quite like it especially the ‘swaying’ part…

Teaching at the retreat was…well, magical, not to overuse that word or anything but it really is THE word. I was deeply touched by the class of artists that showed up for this retreat ~ deeply intuitive and awakened women with such vast sharing hearts and ‘off the charts’ fabulous inner joy. It’s quite incredulous to me how the universe brings together people that seemed so destined to meet and our unique and vital bonding was so quick and beautiful. I took some lovely pictures and one portrait in particular which I can’t wait to share with you but you will have to wait as I am saving it for ‘words to shoot by’ on Sunday.

Oh hello! Whilst at the retreat I had the sheer delight to join in on the poetry classes taught by new kindred friend Susan ~ and ended up writing lots of poetry ~ it felt so glorious, sort of like running to the door to greet an old friend. (writing poetry and meeting Susan just in case you are confused) I wrote the poem you see above beneath the photo of the trees and this one too…

I feel like swaying hips
bursting with petunias
on whiskey drunk orange
or even one tiny piece of the Taj Mahal

(with violets)

(I love this one, I cannot lie:)

I have Susan’s book ‘poemcrazy’ and let me tell you it is pretty darn brilliant and inspiring.

It’s a lovely Friday and I made such a great smoothie (spinach, blueberries, banana, soy milk and yoghurt)

~ I am thinking of all of you and wishing you something wild and hailcracking for the weekend.

‎”Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run…”

~Keats ~

There is sunshine in my bones ~ and love brimming in my soul as I spin into my favorite season ~ autumn. This week heralded celebrations with a morning misty seaside stroll, rainbows, feathers, sunbursts, a drive into the mountains and champagne (real champagne) by a jade green lake.

I love to mix a concoction of essential oils into a personal scent and this morning I have a sensual and simple alchemy of Jasmine, Patachoili and plum which seems to suit fall to perfection if I do say so myself.

Well! wishing you your own bottle of happy face wine, autumn poems and a little flourish of Django

It’s true! I have been ‘on the road’ once again, this time scooping up my son Noah and driving 14 hours from Vancouver to Edmonton to spend the weekend with my lovely friends Darlene and Duke. It was a ‘whim’ which means literally from one day to the next I called Darlene asking if I might spontaneously drop over for the weekend (Yes! Of course, Yes!) tossing a vintage turqouise cooler into the back of the car filled with sandwiches and hummus, falafal chips, apples and bottles of water…towels (for bathing in the mountain lakes and hot springs at Jasper National Park) camera’s (my last package of expired Time Zero film) and lots and lots of music naturally. Oh, and dark chocolate covered cranberries as well ~ I refuse to embark on a roadtrip without chocolate. (You can see a little gallery of photo’s from my trip here….)

“The air was soft, the stars so fine…that I thought I was in a dream.”

- Jack Kerouac, On the Road ~

Every now and then all these emotions begin to fill up to overflowing in my heart and a roadtrip through the mountains is just what a girl needs to bring her back to herself and allow inspiration to run rampant ‘neath abounding, billowing, most spacious skies. We woke up at the first breath of dawn and hit the road which graced us with the most ethereal morning light through the mountains and a stunning glimpse of the moon and sun passing over one another in one blinding moment of startling glimmering magic.

And for just a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm…”

~ Jack Kerouac, On the Road ~

Weaving past jade green lakes and mist shot mountains, fields painted with splashes of golden yellow cradled with undulating landscapes, I experienced visions and wanderings as my soul dialed back to myself once again. I rolled the windows all the way down, inhaling the hypnotic mountain air and let me tell you this is invigorating tonic to behold. If you ever have the chance to embrace this euphoric, saxophonic drive I urge you to do so ~ you will be blissed out and trust me, I never use that word lightly ~ and oh! make sure you stop at the hot springs in Jasper national park ~ soak your sorrow and aches away in those pools of rejuvenation and then fling your body into the ice cold pools for a splendid shock of awakening only to slip once again into the heat of the detoxifying baths. Yes! Do it! The spiritually uplifting road to the hot springs is a wonder of re~emergence all by itself and my son Noah kept a keen lookout for bears.

‘we be jammin’ ~ Darlene and I jammin’ away in a stream of consciousness rhythm on the djembe drums ~such pure joy!!! (gorgeous photo by Duke Paetz)

One of the serendipitous moments of the weekend with Darlene ignited when a friend popped over with a brand new Djembe drum (a surprise gift for his wife) and he very generously allowed me to try it out with some very fine coaching tips from Duke. I am now officially smitten with drumming and determined to find myself a drum of my very own which I will bring up to Lizzie’s retreat in a few weeks to inspire everyone else by the evening campfires. I love to share my new enthusiasms and excavations with anyone who will put up with me.

A little link lovin’ to share ….the four with some fabulous shots…words to shoot by...just in case you want some djembe lessons FREE online….aaaaaaand some delicious road music by the poet of the heart and soul himself….