Days to die for........

.......I was walking in the sunny forest this morning, meeting with the trees. They were meeting me too, and I was loving it.

I was walking in the city Yesterday, in Galway, where it was both sunny and windy, and seagulls flew above me, riding the wind, shimmering in the high sunlight of the mid morning as I crossed the bridge, loving Galway. 

I went to see my herbalist Dr. Dilis Claire as I have done every two or three months for the last...oh ......almost two years. 

We had fun as she listed my symptoms that I arrived with, all that time ago. 

As she read out each one... "how is this/ how is that? and any pain there??? ".... or, " what about this"....on she went along; I shook my head saying, "No, thats not there" or, "Oh yeah, I forgot I had that, and gosh yes I had that too". I was pretty well clear of everything. A little tired still, but thats about it. 

Its been a long road, I was feeling ill for years and then terribly sad too from being grief stricken, Its been a steady and determined combination of EFT, herbalism, and meditation, and I find myself....... well healthy. 

Should I whisper that? 

No, yesterday I wanted to shout it from the bridge up to the seagulls, so they could carry it out to sea and maybe to the other side. 

Today I told the trees!

They stretched out their arms to me as I passed, gently patting me on the back as I followed the path through, under the great old oaks and the cathedral-like line of beeches, and those strong hardy hazel. 

I feel so supported and free. I have been given a gift and each day I feel really well, is precious. 

All those herbs I have taken, I want to write a prayer to each one of them. To kiss the hawthorn for improving my circulation, and the rose, and the marigold too, and..... so many amazing, intelligent plants that came into my body, worked with my tiny cells in the most miraculous ways. 

They lifted me up to see all I needed to see, gave me the energy to revive enough that I could tap with EFT, and sit through my deeper and longer meditations. 

I could face the darkness then, and the grief that frightened me so. 

I am well, a body alive. 

These Fall days are so beautiful now. This is my favorite season!!!!!!!!!The one thats all about letting go, and carrying the light with you through the darker days. It is the perfect reflection of my greatest learnings these last few years, and now as I bask in the colors of Autumn and in the falling down of everything into the NOW, I value the experience of it even more.
In my improved health I breathe so deeply.

Today is the Michaelmass festival at school and although I am a mere novice at understanding the depth of meanings that Rudolph Steiner taught about these festivals, I do listen and read a bit about it all, and use my own intuition to see what it means for us. Today, its the story of Archangel Michael and the dragon that stand out for me and little M.

I read, in a second hand book store yesterday, about this. (Charlie Byrnes wonder emporium of books, bookstore to be exact: ) That Michael is the angel that guides us in our individual freedom, in finding our own healing path, he protects our journey into love and peace, to find our way in overcoming fears /fighting dragons.

Today little M came home with a red felted pouch she made in school and inside was a dragons tear she said.
They had a harvest feast at school, and we this evening had our own feast. It felt important today to mark it together, I needed to celebrate. We happend also to be sharing our supper with some lovely lassies too, and I was glad to be cooking for friends again.

I asked M and her little friend to pick some flowers for our table.

It became a floral mission beyond my expectations I can tell you. Look at what they did.

Magnificence ........it was a feast amongst Autumns final blooms and seeds of color, a last glimpse of summer.


Now I am almost finished Milla's package for the Bio regional swap. A wonderful idea, inspired and brought together by Mary Good, who writes Terralectualism. She has got a group of Blogging lovelies to send parcels to each other, of our bio regions. Sending a little of who we are, and where we are, and what we do. I have been given Milla to bestow my gifts upon, and cannot tell a word about what is going in there so as not to spoil the surprise, but I am deeply loving this idea, and so glad to be involved. I have always dreamed of a job where I make and find presents for people, I feel a little as if Mary has grated a wish: )
I have been doing a similar thing with a friend in Glasgow for the last few years, as an artist swap. Thats another post I shall get to.

The Studio was bliss today, sunlight pouring in and nothing the sounds of the chickens outside having dust baths under the trees, and the breeze on dry leaves. Yellow leaves are falling past the windows there and flying in across my floor when I open the door.

I have been learning some eurythmy as part of the research for my new project and today I felt I finally 'got' the essence of the movements that I have learned thus far........

 lalalalalalal I could go on all night it seems but I shall stop here with a Thank you dear reader

Be well this night

....Let the waves break
Let the stars rise
Lets the flames leap......

warmth

xx E

Whoosh.......

A wild autumn wind came and broke branches, howled around corners, and cast out summer in a whoosh and a whish. Me and little M curled up in each other and listened to the echoing winds and watched the light come in as quick clouds passed over head, letting moonshine in and then away again it went, with only darkness drawing in through our skylights.

The winds brought plenty of windfalls in the way of apples and the last plums at my Father's garden. And so many leaves fell too, not yet fully turned in color.

Many flowers still bloom though.

                              Bright and beautiful tansy

The tansy being one of my favorites, and the sunflowers of course radiating their brightness, like huge smiling suns. Yellow abounds, and some reds and oranges, pinks and even some blues now fading into the grey skies. The greyness or the whiteness, usually of these skies, seem to only heighten the brightness of Autumn's gifts. My new and lovely neighbor knocked on my door today to share the joy of a bright orange mushroom she brought from the woods, and three days earlier, my friend Sara arrived with the most beautiful purple green cabbage, as big as can be, all life force falling from its heart.

Well amidst all that I had a fever, for nights and nights it seemed, but maybe it was just four or five. It felt longer. I had chills and aching bones, and tiny pains here and there that would cause an out -loud ouch every now and then. The pains finally ended up in my head with a three day headache, which drifted away one night leaving a cough behind. Well I thought, that really seems a lot for one week. And as I bark away now, thinking of the month that has passed, I look inside to see if somewhere within is that familiar smile that renews me after each and every little challenge big or small, remembering the magic of all experience, and what grows from it. Yep its there! a small one but its there all the same: )
Its been a full three weeks though.

Before all the hullabaloo, there was this one thing that has had my deepest of attention and had taken away all my writing blog time, as I have been considered all sorts of things about it.

I did a course in Limerick called ASIST. It is a suicide intervention training course. I chose to do it a while ago, when I felt so compelled to try and turn around some of my grief, and perhaps it was indeed time to now offer some help. It was a very in depth and intensely filled course in learning the skills one might need to effectively help someone in a suicidal state. There is so much to say about all that, and how it effected me, and the healing that has come from it, and since doing it. Its a post all of its own at some point, I think.

It was empowering to say the least. ASIST is available to take all over the place it seems. It originates from Canada in the 80's and has been found to be so successful that it has spread.
Here, it is offered by our health system and is a free course, anyone can do it! You can learn to have both the confidence and skill to be ready to see those who need your help, to notice those who are suffering, read between the lines of those that hide it so well, and how to act for those who are really at risk. If I did decide to do some volunteer work in this area, I would looking here at Pieta house.

Needless to say, I have done very little work in the studio, but for the wonderful new little art classes I am doing with two daughter's of a friend, who are being home schooled now. Just a couple of days ago, we had such a time playing with color. I am working with them for a couple of months introducing some important elements of art making through the forest and the changing season, we are taking an adventure together through shape and color, light, and form. This week we had a grand experiment in color, me being quite enthralled by mandala's this past while in my own work, I stumbled upon a post over at Momemt to Moment, a veritable treasure trove of ideas in being creative with children. I was inspired by her post on making mandalas with nature. And thought it a wonderful way for us to work with color, and what an opportunity it is now, with the forest in full color transition.

This is what we made

We began with the darkest colors of our autumn booty, which we had gathered from garden and woods. We talked about what is bright and what is light, what is dark and dull, and put our colors in some kind of order. And as they radiated out we talked about the gradient of color and how they transition, and how leaves are green and turning to red, with oranges and yellows in between.  How different shapes and textures make refections of colors and others seems to suck the color in. 

It was so impressive to watch it grow and so beautiful to finish. The girls were so keenly involved with it, and stayed with it till the end. We painted then, anything we felt inspired to paint having made the mandala. They all decided on trees, and as little such groups do they began to compare their works, and the ever present question, it seems we can never shake off... who's is best?

Would you like to know a great diversion with this??? 

Ask them to sing their paintings!!!!!

Having explained again, that each child paints in a unique and wonderful way, I suggested they sing the feeling of their paintings to illustrate how different they are. I began, by humming a different tune for each work, which I felt described the feeling of the way they create. 

It works a charm and is so much fun.  It brings great appreciation in the individual nature of each one. The girls thought it such a funny thing and sang for each other's work too. Before long I found myself sitting with a wonderful kind of new minimalist jazz vocals happening with three wonderful little spirits.  

At some point then we were joined by Sophie's chicken and her half grown chicks coming in to visit with their cheep cheep and curious wonder at our floor creation: )

A few years ago I did a similar kind of project on an art residency with 5 to 7 year olds. I covered the walls in paper up to about their eye level, and played a game of dance and draw. They each had a crayon and a pencil of their own choice and I played music and they danced to it. When the music stopped they had to draw on the walls. 

It was pretty high energy as you could imagine, but the music was the director. I would begin with Rachmaninov and some fast moving music, bringing about some pretty erratic mark making and then end up with some of Debussy's softest sides, which brought such fluid lines and shape making, and a kind of calm. 

I was so interested at the time, how creative energy flowed and manifested, and unbeknowns to those little folks I was totally learning from them, rather then them from me. I wonder will they remember at all those dancing days with that 'artist' that came to stay for a while: )

It has been a whoosh this September, and really feels like we are coming up on winter faster here. It feels chilly and like halloween is around the corner. 

Everyone is talking about another cold winter, and I am still getting over the fact that summer did not give a lot of sunshine this year. I am making do with color again. And hoping this coming week to be in my studio a lot. Till then here is some pictures of mandalas I made of summer near my studio and winter and autumn last year. This autumn one has sold, and will be on its way soon. 

they are all part of my 'cellular work' pieces. More about that at a later date.

And then I will tell you of little M's day at the farmer's market and some of her new drawings that take my breath away, and will be preparing the magical Milla's parcel as part of the bio regional swap over on Mary's beautiful blog....... 

Till then ........Thank you dear reader, so wonderful to have you visit and look through these days with me xx