To Be an Artist

Cycles go round and round, and in this new cycle the self as artist is returning.  
Ladies in Cambridge and in London are dancing with me, and we are producing a show around the theme of feminine circles.  The process continues, of finding and creating venues, designing costumes, rehearsing in the deep intuitive way that I like to rehearse, embodying this moment in time through the creative act.  My old friend and teacher, Kista, is here to visit England, and she has given me a solo to perform.  A mature, witty, feminine solo.  A piece, a shared choreography, an evening, an impulse.
I never meant to be an artist.  I often think I would much rather lie around in the grass and garden, learn needlepoint, read novels and brew my own wine.  Alas, that is not my destiny.  It looks like I must create, talk about creating, write about creating, live my life in the studio and search out culture.  I long for the sun.  I work.  Such is life.  

And so, in the words of Utah Philips, I "Run to the wilderness, the one within."  I run with a bolt of fabric and the sound of drums and a circle of women waiting for me!

Big Love

I love this man like you wouldn't believe!!!!

 

Oestara

Easter this year was so much more successful than last year!!  And still, it can be even better next, now that we are settled and know how to get what we need and desire from this culture.  
We colored brown eggs, and they came out just fine, we used deep reds and blues and purples and it worked.  We went crazy for Cadbury's and that was nice too.  They have been bought by Nestle, so no more Cadbury's come next year as I cannot in any ethical frame of mind support Nestle in any of its guises.  Caramel eggs, creme eggs, caramel bunnies, truffle eggs, on and on.  
We went to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, and wow everything is in bloom!  Daffodils, hycainth, tulips, violets, dogwoods, forsythia, pink blossoms on bushes, white blossoms on trees that smell like heaven, magnolias in pink and fushica and white!  It was a gray day and still a sea of softly blowing colors that inspired.  We will go again next week on a Sunny Day and take pictures to share.  
The children have 2.5 weeks off school, so we have been swimming at the pool everyday and cooking and cooking and cooking.  Perhaps I will do a few recipe posts soon, there are some nice new concoctions being created =)  
Tonight I will make my first vision board since coming here, and I am excited to see what intuition pulls up as truth for my coming future.  We love you Oestara, goddess of new life and hope and soft gentle days.  We are resurrected in our spirits, even as the sting of winters breaking is still with us.  Shalom~

Fightin' Fires

Here is our boy fighting fires!  He is loving being on the volunteer fire squad and this past week was his first real call.  He responded in time to get dressed on the truck and was put on the hose.  Three other high schoolers are on the squad, and when the fire was completely out they all went straight to their baseball game!  The picture is blurry, it is from the newspaper. Yah yah!

Ex-Pats

Well here I find myself, in the blustery wet winds of England, teaching Oh Susannah to my children.  I've Been Workin' on the Railroad is a new favorite, as is She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain.  Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Jump Down Turn Around Pick a Bale o' Cotton, and When I go Down to the River to Pray fascinate them.  I am just happy they are singing!  
This is the time, 18 months in to our adventure, when we can finally re-integrate the aspects of what we shed in coming here.  Aurora is growing sprouts, I am saying no to constant caffeine and yes to dancing yes to singing yes yes yes to flow.  These are the parts I wish to re-integrate. 
A student recently approached me to begin a sacred dance circle for women.  Energy stuff, free dance, holding the space, and I said, It's about time Lord!  So y'all start planning your visits.... 
the singing dancing crazy American has recently been caught having high tea, and she will be delighted to share the joy of roses and cathedrals with you, while happily belting out spirituals along the tramways =)

Tools of the Trade

Hiya!  Something has shifted.  I am excited, exuberant even, about my studies, about my life here, about my children.  Diving in....  I mean, who ever thought I'd do a PhD anyway?  
Now that I am at the PhD level, there is alot more expected of me.  To make it happen, I need to invest in some basic textbooks and tools.  If anyone is so inclined to help me make that investment, I will so much appreciate it!  I have made a wish list:

Hannah's wish list/Tools of the Trade 

Many Blessings! Xx

Spring!

It's spring sang the frog, 
It's spring sang the groundhog, 
It's spring!!  
The birds are chirping and the crocus have once again 
covered the lawns of England :)  
The windows are open and 
my toes can feel the breeze! 
~Delight~