My days working in the mosaic studio vary, which I like. A typical day? Often I don’t know until I set foot in the studio. Yesterday I bubble glazed and loaded the kiln. Some days I cut clay pieces or sand dried ones for bisque firing. The last few days[…]
Sea foam and crashing waves require bubbles. Not just bubble shapes, but bubble texture and bubble glaze. Creating a bubble effect with glaze, using a straw and a little soap, is a little like being a kid again. The ocean image on the Dana Point Stair Mosaic has loads of[…]
Twenty years ago I could not have done this. Not because I had to work, more that I lacked the patience, confidence, and even vision for a creative life. Yet this is the direction my later years are taking. I don’t know what’s better: living it or witnessing it. There’s[…]
Does a painted rock have life changing energy? You bet! Read how in my second essay with Orange Coast Magazine, Stepping Stones to Kindness. Note, the title of the essay is different in the print version should you happen to have a copy. Stone-Cold Inspiration or Stepping Stones to Kindness,[…]
My birthday cards arrived in mailboxes in early September. An email from Audra’s employer, Marsh McLennan, arrived just as she and her husband, Tony, were discussing ways to fulfill my birthday request. Marsh, who 21 years ago today lost 358 employees in the Twin Towers, wanted to honor first responders[…]
A year ago today I kicked off my $60 Birthday Project. What I feel is my 60th year drawing to a close faster than I’d like. The passing of time is more noticeable this year. Maybe it’s because the project made the year more noticeable, more special than most. Perhaps[…]
I don’t know what I’m more excited about – that the energy of my pay-it-forward 60th birthday project continues to radiate or that I can now call myself a published author. Either way, an essay I wrote about the project is in the print and online version of February 2022[…]
I was weeding out front and all of a sudden my dog, Sawyer, took off after a stray Pit Bull wandering down the street. So begins Nancy’s gifting story. After getting Sawyer under control she quietly followed the stray. He was too scared to let her near. But a connection[…]
Ella is a tiny girl that lives in the nook of an old oak tree. Like a moth, she has two antennae and feathery wings. At night she collects light from all that glows and shares the light with those needing help finding their way in the dark. Ella’s biggest[…]
Mystery gift turns into $300 regifts from 51 students for $15,300 worth of holiday surprises, the headline in last Wednesday’s Orange County Register read. The mystery donor who gave a boatload of cash to students at Los Alamitos High had just one mandate: “Make someone else’s day.” I can’t help[…]
August was a tough month: earthquake in Haiti; hurricane Ida in Louisiana; a surge of the Delta COVID variant; in California where I live, the final countdown to the Gubernatorial recall election; massive wildfires in the West; and the most heart wrenching to watch, in my opinion, the chaotic U.S.[…]
My birthday is almost two months gone. It’s time to shift the focus of my giving project to storytelling. It’s time to share with you the wonderful and creative acts of kindness, the worthy and diverse charitable organizations, the ways in which some made their $60 go further, and the many touching moments[…]
Tomorrow I turn 60. I want this birthday to represent me, but not be about me. So I took inspiration from a woman I read about in my local paper and set a gift of kindness in motion, sending the letter below to 60 friends and family members (the 60-60[…]
Joy delivered today. This time to the Red Cross where I donated blood. Hand-painted rocks a long overdue thank you to staff for being there on the front line continuing to collect blood for those in need while the pandemic raged in the background. Lately I’ve been thinking about the[…]
The community college choir that I love singing in went virtual this Fall. The experience of recording myself singing, listening and watching that recording, and then submitting it for others to watch and listen to pretty much pushes all my “I’m not good enough” buttons. And I knew it would.[…]
Mile 10,793. Home. 75 total days on the road. The first thing I did when I got home was walk through a screen door, knocking it off the tracks. Twenty-five years in this house and not once, until now, have I walked through a screen door. And believe me, there[…]
Mile 9752. Armitage Park in Eugene, OR. 892 miles from home. Trains, trains, trains. That’s what it feels like anyway. We hit a bit of an anomaly in BC in Spences Bridge – what must be the hottest and most arid part of the province. Temperatures almost touching 100 degrees[…]
Mile 9022. Kokanee Bay Motel & Campground in Lac La Hache, BC. 64 days on the road. Population density returns the further south we travel. Towns are closer together, traffic is continuous, there are obvious signs of industry – logging, milling, semi trucks transporting goods, and an active railroad. Significant[…]
Mile 8235. Bear River RV Park, Stewart, BC, straddling the U.S. border at Hyder, AK. Talk about getting an idea stuck in your head. Yesterday we took a 52-mile day trip to see the toe of the Salmon Glacier, the fifth largest glacier in North America. Only the drive was[…]
Mile 7541. Hi Country RV Park in Whitehorse, YT (again). The last blog was written outside on a beautiful sunny warm evening in Tok, AK. The next morning I awoke to rain and the smell of smoke, both of which put me in a foul mood, irritated by everything and[…]
Mile 6824. Tok RV Village in Tok, AK. Week 8, Day 1. A pull through campsite where you don’t have to unhook the truck is a treat after a long day of driving. The miles aren’t commensurate with number of hours driven. It’s more the condition of the road, much[…]
Mile 6021. Quartz Creek Campground, Cooper Landing, Kenai Peninsula. Homer or Bust. That’s been our motto for the past year. I even doodled it in snow on the Icefield Parkway skywalk outside of Jasper exactly one month ago. Homer, at a glance and in our minds, was both the northern[…]
Mile 5735. Deep Creek View Campground, Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula. Raining. After spending the day by myself I realize that time alone every three weeks is not enough for someone like me who values alone time, needs it to recharge, and is used to having it. Here I’ve been[…]
Mile 5131. Denali Grizzly Bear Resort, Denali National Park. 37 days on the road. One day I think there’s not enough to write a post, not enough photos to share, and the next there is too much. I won’t know until I get to the bottom, but there may be[…]
Mile 4759. “C” Lazy Moose RV Park 65 miles SE of Fairbanks, AK. Sunrise 3:25am, sunset 12:24am. Don’t be fooled by the sunrise, sunset times. The sun never really sets here. The photo above was taken at 9:00pm, at Midnight Dome (Dawson City) where the summer solstice has been celebrated[…]
Mile 4369. Gold Rush Campground in Dawson City, YT. 165 miles south of the Arctic Circle. We found ourselves on the road yesterday trying to “get ahead of it” again. This time trying to break free of smoky unhealthy air from a fire SE of Dawson City that grew considerably[…]
Mile 3943. Hi Country R.V. Park in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Daylight hours 18. Here, in the capital of the Yukon Territory, we rest for a few days. A fire near Dawson City (north of us) blanketed the sky and scented the air with smoke when we arrived. But today both[…]
Mile 3650. Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. Day 21. Sunrise 4:11am, sunset 11:01pm. Hello? Is the world still out there? We’ve been 48 hours without any coverage whatsoever. Mark didn’t care, but I had a difficult time settling without it. We arrived in Dawson Creek BC (not of television series fame),[…]
Mile 2898. Country Roads R.V. Park, Grande Prairie, AB. 1 Black Bear, 4 Elk, 1 Mountain Goat, 2 Deer, 2 Seagulls, 1 almost dead Squirrel. The beauty of this kind of trip is flexibility. We have no campground reservations after Jasper. From this point forward stops can be lengthened or[…]
Mile 2321. Pocahontas Campground in Jasper National Park, Alberta. No cell service, no Wifi. We successfully entered Canada on June 15th. Twenty minutes to cross. No search. No kids selling Chiclets or climbing on the car to wash the windshield. All the expected questions except one – when was your[…]
Mile 1652. Wenatchee Confluence Park in Wenatchee, WA. One coyote, two deer, six mosquito bites. Sunrise 5:02am, sunset 8:58pm. A few nights ago we camped at Maryhill State Park, a campground nestled on the northern bank of the Columbia River, the largest river in the Pacific Northwest. Our site looked[…]
Mile 1107. LaPine State Park on the Deschutes River in La Pine, OR (south of Bend). MPG 11.4. Oregon gas is $1.00 less per gallon than California. We’re still in familiar territory with decades full of memories of fun family vacations in Sunriver, Bend, and neighboring areas. I didn’t think[…]
Mile 790. Antlers RV Park & Campground, Lakehead (Shasta Lake). Nearly 800 miles and we’re still in California. This is the problem living in the southern end of a long narrow state, it takes forever to cross its northern border. I’ve traveled this route many times over the last 30[…]
Mile 244. Port San Luis Woodyard Campground in Avila Beach CA. Our front door is steps away from the beach; our back door within walking distance to the entrance of the only active nuclear power plant in California. Those of us who are old enough may remember Diablo Canyon. In[…]
There’s no rhyme or reason to this post. I just need to write it to test the new subscription service on my website. “Subscribe to the blog if you want to follow us on the trip”, we told family and friends. Only it turns out the sign up feature wasn’t[…]
What makes this all possible? This 9000 mile journey? My husband’s retirement. After 30+ years Mark is leaving the world of Surety. Five years ago he told his boss he was retiring and planning for this trip began. Countless hours on the internet researching RVs with Two and Half Men[…]
The Alaska Highway is what some would consider the greatest American road trip. Built in the 1940s after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it connected the once neglected U.S. Territory to the contiguous United States allowing the U.S. to protect itself from a land invasion from Japan, a possibility that[…]
My husband has gone fishing. I’m at the picnic bench in our campground surrounded by the majestic pines of the San Bernardino National Forest and listening to the wind through the trees and the lively conversation of Steller’s Jays. A squirrel is foraging for food inching its way towards the[…]
Part of trip preparation is learning how to use the new DSLR camera and figuring out the best way to publish blog updates between Instagram and Facebook. So please excuse (and enjoy!) these experimental posts.
Practicing with my new DSLR camera in preparation for the big trip. Backyard birds make great subjects. Thanks to this little guy or gal for sitting still long enough for me to get this awesome photo!
Practice makes perfect. Or as my choir conductor always says, practice makes permanent. Either way, my husband and I recognize the importance of practicing before our big trip. We’re jumping right in, bringing little to no RV experience to this grand adventure. Our mild weather makes camping in winter possible[…]
Last fall I set foot in my first elementary school classroom in over 30 years. I became a volunteer with Pacific Symphony’s elementary school partnership program, Class Act. The symphony’s core purpose is to “enrich the human spirit through world-class symphonic music and community engagement”. They accomplish this through a[…]
My husband fulfilled a dream last fall. He bought his first RV – a 2011 Aljo Ultra-Lite travel trailer by Skyline. Now we’re working on an even larger dream of his – a trip along the The Alaska Highway, a 1400 one way trip from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to[…]
My husband and I traveled to Europe for the very first time in 1998. It was the first time either of us had left the North American continent and the first of many big adventures in our 31 years of marriage. A travel agent helped us assemble an itinerary because[…]
My orchid cactus, given to me as a clipping from someone’s yard, is blooming. For many years I had no idea what I had. I stuck the clipping in a pot and subsequently forgot about it. It grew to be unexceptional, spindly, and unattractive by normal standards of beauty. I[…]
Unseasonably cold in May is 50s at night and 60s during the day. Some Memorial Day weekends are so hot I sweat, even with the air conditioner on. But not this one. This year the marine layer is so thick and heavy it feels like one of those gravity weighted[…]
In this moment I am surrounded by nature. I mean seriously. The Mockingbird Chronicles is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many other birds in my urban backyard. A few days ago I came home from my very first shift as a docent in a butterfly house[…]
This may be my final Mockingbird post. The babies now spend some of their time in neighbors’ yards and once they learn to feed themselves I will have no means of tracking them. I follow them as best I can now. One sibling lags behind the other, slower to fly,[…]
The calm and silence in my backyard is almost deafening. For a short while both parents are absent. When they do appear it is without food. A crow is allowed to perched atop the telephone pole without threat. The nest is empty. This puzzles me because elsewhere I hear the[…]
Mockingbird aggression is on the rise as babies food intake increases. LOL, this sounds like the heading for a newspaper article. Bryx can’t venture far from the house now without both birds ganging up on him. And the air is thick with sounds of warning squawks and hungry squeals.[…]
I thought I’d look up the spiritual meaning of Mockingbirds given their presence in my life right now. Whenever the mockingbird arrives, look for opportunities to sing forth your own song. Follow your own path. Learn to take what you can and apply your own creative imagination and intuition to[…]
After some investigative work, the nest is found. The frequent squealing of baby birds narrows down the location to a dense juniper tree next to my house. The parents confirm the spot, after much hesitation. Even though I keep my distance they know I’m watching and are not sure if[…]
My numerological profile contains many fives, five being the number for freedom and variety. In the outward expression of my life there is much freedom. Thanks to the way I am wired, the country in which I reside, and the support of many friends, family, and co-workers/bosses I live my[…]
10/31: I have been treated this Halloween! A card from my cat slipped under the front door, a pumpkin out front, and a Halloween mask in my mailbox all brought a huge smile to my face. I’m grateful to be the recipient of such whimsical fun. It brightened my day[…]
10/26: I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend some creative time with my mom and one of her friends and for the increasing popularity of Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday whose theme and folk art I adore. The three of us had fun decorating Sugar Skulls at a[…]
10/25: After a night of stifling heat and gusting winds and getting up at 2:30 am to take down wind chimes and umbrellas, I awoke with this thought/prayer/wish — that there would be no local fires. Everyone around me is a bit on edge after the recent Canyon 2 fire,[…]
10/21: The entrance to tunnel 7 is what I’m grateful for today. It was cool and shady. There was room for me on the low wall leading up to the entrance and I sat for quite awhile escaping the heat of the stadium interior.
10/20: I’ve not written here in two months. People ask if I no longer have things to be grateful for or if the things I’m grateful for are so constant they’re not worth writing about. Neither really applies. You can always find something to be grateful for. Think outside the[…]
8/11: In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence. ~Robert Lynd
8/9: This chipmunk is part of a table setting entered by a friend into our fair’s table setting competition. Her annual entries have opened my eyes to a whole new world of creative expression. She started competing in 2014 and since then I make a special trip to the fair[…]
8/2: Some things get thrown out the window as you get older. Being ladylike all the time is one of them. The air is unusually thick with moisture and I feel like I’ve stepped out of the shower when all I’ve done is chores. The air conditioner just went on[…]
7/29: There have been many moments to write about this week, but not the time, so once again I’m collecting them all here in this one post. First and foremost I’m grateful for my brother. I wouldn’t be sitting here today writing this blog if not for him. When I[…]
July 24: It is a gratitude kind of day. Rolling out of bed this morning I thanked my cat. He let me sleep until I was ready to get up. And then I thanked my body for its continued healing of the cyst on my back drained by a doctor[…]
July 22: I’m still working on the conceptual photography course. This lesson involved words. Themes are revealed in 25 minutes of journaling. One is selected and then flushed out referencing definitions, synonyms and antonyms. Then you create a map of metaphors, one of which becomes the subject of your photo.[…]
July 21: I’ve been writing this gratitude blog for six months. I just had to write that down, to see it on my virtual sheet of paper. And now I’m going to say it out loud because frankly, I’m astonished. Discipline is a challenge. I’m great at exploration and beginnings,[…]
July 15: There are a multitude of small moments this past week to be grateful for: This morning I found baby Monarch caterpillars in my garden. This always brings great joy. I love sending mail which makes me grateful for the variety of fun, creative, and beautiful postage stamps that[…]
July 13: Tell yourself whatever story you want about this photo. Its theme is based on the concept of balance and mirroring. The subject is either an antithesis or echo of something inside of me. The caption is a clue and what’s been on my mind lately is this —[…]
July 7: Taking a brief break from gratitude …… well not really gratitude, just writing about gratitude ….. to dabble in a 10-day online course I stumbled on called Begin Deepening. It’s an exercise in a kind of photography that I’m unfamiliar with – Conceptual Photography. Conceptual photography is photography[…]
July 6: My energy is off today. I’d like to say it’s the result of a few restless and sleepless nights, but more than likely it’s the blank calendar in front of me. I’m exactly where I positioned myself to be yet I’m totally uncomfortable with it. It’s not that[…]
July 3: The title of today’s blog post sums up nicely what I’m grateful for today….a pre-4th of July 4th fireworks show with my family on a beautiful evening. It doesn’t get much better than that.
July 2: Books expose you to people, places, and situations too which you might not otherwise have access. I learn a lot about who I am and who I want to be from books, good fiction, in particular. My definition of a good book is not one that is perfectly[…]
June 14: I’ve been thinking about my first two years of college prompted by a study of the chakra system, and in particular the first chakra, the root chakra. The chakra system originated in India between 1500 and 500 BC. It was traditionally an Eastern philosophy now associated more with[…]
June 13: Something was just calling me to double check the Milkweed garden along the back fence. The caterpillar I found the other day can’t be the only one and when I found it I noted the garden was mostly Milkweed stems from caterpillars who have come and gone in[…]
June 12: The day contained several moments of gratitude starting with the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes this morning — the sun. I know it means the heat wave is on its way but for the briefest of moments it brings relief and a burst of[…]
June 8: Last weekend was amazing. I gathered with 4 other women for a weekend of creativity, inspiration, soul filling conversation, nurturing, my first aura reading, oracle cards, homemade Crab Eggs Benedict , a visit to my first metaphysical store, singing, dancing, Margaritas, art education, Reiki, sweet Bella, and a[…]
June 4: I’m grateful for the singing and dancing I did this morning with my girlfriends — Good Morning Starshine, Proud Mary, Janis Joplin, the Black-Eyed Peas, Groove is in the Heart, and so much more. More of my mornings need to be started this way.
June 2: I’m enjoying one big art date with two women from Michigan, one from Illinois, one from Canada, and myself from California. These women have nurtured me creatively and spiritually for just over 3 years now and I’m grateful to be here with them this weekend.
June 1: One of my cousins recently returned home, having completed a tour in Afghanistan. It’s not his first tour, but its completion feels the most poignant given the suicide bombing in Kabul earlier this week. I’m grateful my cousin is here and not there. But it’s a bittersweet and selfish gratitude.[…]
May 31: My husband is a good sport. Last night he experienced his first float. He was luke warm in his initial response to the experience. At first this bothered me. In the old days I would’ve chewed on this for awhile like a problem to be solved. Now I[…]
May 27: While the logistics of air travel have become tedious over the years, the view from the plane never grows old. And this was my view flying home last night. A view of the heavens.
May 23: I’m grateful for this day of sightseeing on Cape Ann in Massachusetts. My favorite spot was here, at this quarry turned nature preserve, in Halibut Point State Park.
May 24: I’m always grateful for the opportunity to work on my bucket list. Visiting all National Parks, going on an African photo safari, and visiting all 50 states are just a few of the items on my list. Visiting all 50 states sounds ambitious, but thanks to a few[…]
May 22: I could not have asked for a more perfect day to honor my dad and indirectly, my grandmother and grandfather. I can’t help but think they are smiling down at us because finally we are in the town where my dad grew up and meeting some of my[…]
May 21: I’m so thrilled to have visited the New England Aquarium today. It’s a bit odd to come to Boston, a place steeped in so much American history, to see an Octopus, but ever since reading The Soul of an Octopus by naturalist Sy Montgomery this is what I’ve[…]
May 20: Today is a travel day. A day vulnerable to mishaps has been gone well. It’s worth acknowledging, even expressing gratitude for. I’m a seasoned traveler and did all my research in preparation for this trip. But still I found myself anxious as the day approached. There seems to[…]
May 18: Every morning I read a passage from The Book of Awakening, a book by Mark Nepo. Today’s entry is about friendship. Honest friends are doorways to our souls, and loving friends are the grasses that soften the world I immediately think of the friends who’ve graciously allowed me to change[…]
May 16: The Nuttall Woodpecker I wrote about awhile back is now a proud parent. The City’s Tree Services Coordinator came by to discuss the replacement of our two diseased Liquid Amber trees and as we stood below the tree in question I became distracted by the sound of baby birds. I[…]