‘Red Top’ on top

 

 

Liz Mandeville is a modern-day blues chanteuse,

 delightful storyteller and a good friend.  

I have had the pleasure of following her success

and photographing her, including the cover

of her current release by famed blues label Earwig Music.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer girl! 

 

instant messaging

Do you ever open a book, magazine or e-mail and get a message that seems it was written just for you? Find your attention drawn to a quotation or advertisement that says exactly what is on your mind?

It seems I’m getting all types of messages from the universe just as I am practicing the action of greeting fear (mine and others) with openness and compassion.  My current regimen includes meditation, reading on fearless living such as Pema Chodron’s classic book “When Things Fall Apart”

—and the ever-popular practice “in the field.”

Some mornings this practice is like opening a door that is heavy with rust.  At other times it’s a fluid, effortless energy creating unique interactions all through the day.  I practice with my son’s teachers and classmates at school.  My neighborhood of familiar and unfamiliar neighbors, immigrants and artists. My ex-husband. My in-laws. The Red Line train full of sleepy strangers all going to work downtown.   The little interactions that that reflect the larger picture.

So this morning’s e-mail greeted me with a banner headline that invited me to ‘meet the source of your fearlessness.’  In the spirit of the occasion, I composed a poem on the spot.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

the first e-mail of the morning

invited me to

“meet the source of your fearlessness,“

I did.  And he said,

“What’s for breakfast, Mom?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My son’s love and trust inspires me to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Yet it will change and pass, as does everything I love and cherish.  My job is to love him (and the world he lives in) fully in this present moment, knowing that things will change and pass-

-and not wishing or wanting to have it any other way.

 

new and impro(ving)

 

I dismantled the last photography blog and am reconstructing it, especially to report on the progress of the rebranding project I have begun.  Each year it became more important to be clearer about my message and the direction of new work.  

And I finally gave up the idea that I could do it all myself.  

 

I interviewed a number of designers and companies before selecting a local company (actually in the neighborhood!) called TripleSpoke to hold my hand, kick my butt, and eventually translate all these wispy concepts into something that is truly ME.  

 

So this new site is all sparkly with mentors that say that the best investment you can make is in yourself….

 

The main thing is to remember that the main thing is the main thing.  Stephen Covey