Each week something new will be on sale! This week is the ever popular earth necklace… perfect for fall and holiday season!

creature at the Academy of Sciences, SF, Taken with iphone

I’ve been reading and listening to Eckhart Tolle a lot lately. Like I said in a previous post, the book sat on my shelf for years until I picked it up again recently. (I was inspired by the Oprah podcast called A New Earth)

Yesterday, we took Ben to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He is obsessed with the creatures of the world, most especially with sea creatures, and it was pure joy to be with him while he sprinted around the museum squealing with delight at every new animal. “What’s deese?” “What dat?” “Why he not moving?”

As we looked around I remembered a lesson from the podcast that I loved. Tolle suggested we try to experience things as much as we can without labeling them with our intellect. To be present, to simply experience nature (a tree, an animal, a flower) without knowing its name (or choosing to forget for a moment) gives us space from the rational mind. We can experience its essence without shutting ourselves down with labels.

The museum was a perfect place to practice this.. There were so many creatures that I didn’t know the names of. Strange, enormous fish with huge snouts, bright orange cylindrical things jutting out of the bottom of tanks (plant or animal?) and even large animals in dioramas like the one pictured above. Without a name, I could simply experience it without my preconceived ideas.

We do with this people all the time… adding them up in our minds, labeling them by race, class, size, etc. We cut ourselves off from the essence of who they are; we do the mental math before we even allow ourselves to connect.

For a moment, I got a window into Ben’s universe-seeing things for the first time, having no name and therefore nowhere to put them-leaving them simply as they are: A wonder, a delight, a wild and extraordinary creature of the world.

Lake Anza this morning, photo turned upside down, Berkeley, CA Taken with iphone

Another poem by my favorite, Maya Stein 

By Inches

You want it here and now, a remedy for everything
gone wrong. A magic wand, perhaps, alighted
on your shoulders. An angel whispering
sweet nothings while you sleep so you wake benighted
with certainty that you are whole once again. You realize
your patience is diminishing, and yet what’s required is the reverse.
This will not be some biblical miracle before your eyes,
a transformation of movie star proportions. No, healing is a slow nurse,
pausing bedside with drips of water, a hot cloth, a murmur of a touch.
By inches, a change sneaks into you, even if it doesn’t look like much.

Me in my Topo Ranch sweatshirt, Manzanita, ORCanon Digital Rebel XSi

Random good things:

My Topo Ranch Duster that I have barely taken off since I purchased it three months ago. Even Ben has taken to unzipping and demanding, “Take it off!” but I refuse.
Birthday breakfast with Brigette at Rick and Ann’s.
Birthday lunch with Maggie at Boulette’s Larder.
Birthday dinner with Matt at Chez Panisse. I could have eaten vats of their little gems lettuce and green goddess dressing.
My fantastic coach, Laura Neff. (tell her I sent you… she is amazing)
This video (even just sixty seconds will do) will change your whole day.
The Kirtsy book just came out! (several of my photographs are a part of it)
Seeing Ben’s favorite band Octopretzel perform live.
Dinner at Dona Tomas with Amy Krouse Rosenthal and her husband.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (it took nearly five years of resistance to finally pick this book up again. Now I see what a revelation it is)

A rainbow outside the library:

Ben’s collection of Schleich animals:

Seeing sunset out on the pier at the Berkeley Marina:

A random chair on a porch that caught my eye:

And a conversation with Ben the other day:

Ben: (whining and dragging his feet behind me as we walk home from school) I’m roaring and crying.
Me: You’re what?
Ben: Roaring and crying.
Me: I know just how you feel. I roar and cry all the time.
Ben: I’m sad.
Me: What are you sad about?
Ben: I don’t know.
Me: Why don’t you just roar and cry then?
Ben: Okay.

illustration by Linda Davick Linda Davick

I’ve gone into the jewelry cave. The pre-holiday dash to make lots of Superhero goodies for the season. I’ll admit, I was a little worried this year that I might be over it. Won’t I finally be bored after nine years?

Turns out I still love making them. It might be the juicy colors I get to play with, or the simple act of using my hands that I love the most. Maybe it’s the radio stories I listen to while I work (audiobooks, podcasts, This American Life, Fresh Air….) or that I can chat for hours on the phone with a dear friend while I am whittling away.

Maybe it’s the quiet.

As I add some new and exciting projects to my plate, I will be shifting around my jewelry business to be more limited edition. I will have a specific number of pieces to sell twice a year (Holiday time and Mother’s Day time) and when they’re gone they’re gone. I am excited about this shift.

I’ve always had the intention that each necklace is a talisman, reminding the wearer of their courage, their wisdom and their joy… I send out this little prayer as each one goes out the door. Hoping you’re feelin it out there.