Athena Dreams Design

Dusk .:. some memories .:. [sacred life]

Images of Dusk  from Flickr artists

dusk1    [duhsk]

–noun 1. the state or period of partial darkness between day and night; the dark part of twilight. 2. partial darkness; shade; gloom: She was barely visible in the dusk of the room. darken darkness evening gloaming gloom nightfall sundown sunset twilight I have always thought dusk was a most magical moment at the end of any day. There is brief time, a quick moment, when all the whites brighten and glow, as the darkness begins to creep in, like fingers of fog coming over the hills from the ocean. It has always been my favourite time of day: As children, on a summer night we would be out with our neighbourhood gang of kids, playing tag, or hide and seek, and there was always that moment where we all seemed to glow in our summer whites, for just a second, before it became almost impossible to see each other.   And when at my grandparents house, we would sit out on the grass, and wait for that twilight moment, and then watch the bats streaming out from the eaves of the barn. Such a thrill so see them flying like a black ribbon twisting and fluttering against a periwinkle sky. Scotland in summer, my very favourite time and place: where the gloaming lasted for 3 or 4 hours, the full darkness of night never quite arriving, before the sun would start coming back up for another gloriously long 20 hour day of light. Scotland, a land where fairies and elves, and mischievious pixies, still live large in most people's minds, and why not, when the dusky light lasts so very long on a summers evening. These dusk-y moments recall to me times of magic, times of wonder and imagination. The dusk at the end of a day feels like a moment out of time, a moment when anything could happen, a moment when all the darks and lights of the world are polarised, reversed, and you see things in a way, differently, less focused, more internally. The soft light at the end of the day envelops us in a beautiful cocoon of beauty, of calm, of safety, and most of all, mystery: for at this moment, I have always felt that we are able to see the world in all it's beautiful allegory: its myths, symbols, and legends. All the mysteries and tales that seem so far away and unbelievable during the daylight hours, and sometimes all too frightening in the deep dark of a night, are made glowing and beautiful. Last night, sitting on the porch, sketching and writing, I was wrapped in that beautiful evening light, and remembered all the reasons that I love that moment at the end of the day. The page in front of me glowed and shone, and I kept sketching until I could no longer see the page or my marks on it. Night took over for the dusk, and sent me off to dreaming of things that might be, that could be, that hover at the edge of our vision, for such brief moments everyday.

5 Wonder-fully Musical Things . . .

A big part of my life is spent in my little studio, and a good part of the time that I am here, there is music playing. I will be the first to admit (read: confess) that I get a little obsessive about my play lists. I find a new album, or a new artist that I love, and it's all I want to hear. Anyone else do that?

My ears only want that one voice, those certain wonderful melodies, that awesome sound that creates the soundtrack for my studio for weeks at a time. And then I'm done. Done with that wonderful. magical sound for a long time, and on to new ones. . . 

Holly over at Decor8 recently posted a list of what she was listening to and asked readers to comment or post links back to what they were listening to: kind of a Musical Share, if you will. And so in that spirit: here is a list of what I am currently loving to hear, would LOVE to know what you all are listening to, maybe there is something else I should be obsessing over and don't even know it yet...

Omar Sosa: Free Roots  amazing CubanLatin jazz, love him!

Erin Corday's Secret About the World is  like a life story all in one CD . . .  I pulled this CD out a few months ago after not hearing it for years, and now it on constant shuffle.

Jesca Hoop: Kismet

Tom Waits says: "Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night." Mmmm Hmmm

Tina Malia: The Silent Awakening 

a gorgeous voice

and finally, my latest Jonatha musical obsession/love

The Works her musical collaboration with Woody Guthrie.

SO, now, if you feel so moved to share your current musical loves, I would love to know what you're listening to in your studio : on your iPod : in your car : and on your computer!

All You Dancing Lights that Shine

I love this photo for so many different reasons: It was the first night at Squam, Jonatha singing at the bonfire, and a group of people was gathering to celebrate a few days we all put aside from busy schedules:

to create,

to befriend,

to renew, 

to enrich, 

to experience. 

And just about anything was possible, anything could happen.

Now that I am already home and already a little too immersed 

in the day to day, 

in the rush of deadlines, 

in the give and take of a day 

and the phone ringing 

and all the things we do everyday, I look back at this photo, and remember:

there are so many things that I want to remember, to keep taking out of my treasure  box in the months to come and dust off, and smile, or maybe feel my eyes filling up.

I want to remember seeing and being seen: 

Not in the way of an off-handed nod while thinking about something else as you pass someone in a corridor 

or on the street, but in the full eye-to-eye contact, where the half smile or the nod is deeply acknowledged, 

and passed back and forth, like a gift.

I want to remember the laughter and the voices: 

in the woods, out on the docks, in the cabins, in the dining hall, everywhere. 

There was such a beautiful variety of sounds:  the animated talk of a group, the quiet, private voices 

coming from cabin porches and docks at the end of the day, the excited voices calling through the woods 

and along the paths, it's all like a song in my head now, a beautiful and spontaneous 

weaving of  voices, like some amazing piece of improv that Ella would be singing.

I want to remember the light through the trees and how each path through the woods  had it's own meander, 

and how each day the light was shifting and mysterious and familiar all at once as I walked to and fro, 

meeting others along the way, or walking  by myself.

I want to remember the dock that I spent many an hour on looking out at the lake, 

or up at the stars, it was my meditation spot, my resting spot, my touchstone.

And most of all, I want to remember all of you. 

All of you that danced and shone,  just like the sparks from the bonfire that first night.

 

All the beauty and the care for each other and the open hearts, 

and the hands held, and the arms that wrapped around,  

and the eyes that met and held, held each other, 

and the voices talking long into the night, 

and the stepping past our usual comfort levels and trying, 

just trying something different. 

Stretching and meeting each other. 

Leaping and finding our ground.

Transparent and fragile, and yet, strong enough to dance and shine.

I saw all your lights, and I saw mine too, and these are the memories I want to remember to take out every once in a while, on a particularly difficult day, or on a wonderfully brilliant day, or just a day that I hear the wind move through the trees and remember the woods, and all your shining lights moving through the buoyant air. 

Thank you Elizabeth 

for having this bold and beautiful vision, 

and for being a gorgeous and tempting muse for us all.

And thank you, all of you that gathered in the woods in NH, by the side of a lake, in early autumn, thank you, all of you dancing lights that shine, for showing up and being. 

A Moment from Squam

My hope note from Kelly Rae & Mati Rose's thursday eve talk at Squam.

So many thoughts and such a tired happy mind today so I will just start with one moment:  

I realised about half way into my time at Squam that one of the many things I was there for was to better learn to stay open. To stay open in the face of insecure feelings, in the face of fear, in the face of shyness. I think it was Thursday night, I was sitting with a group of people on a dock, and I looked up at the stars, and I heard my own internal voice say: You only need to stay open, no matter what.

Stay open. 

Stay brave. 

Show the world who I am: 

no apologies

no excuses.

Just stay open.

Open.

An Enchanted Escapade

Before departing for my own enchanting escapade to the wilds of NH, I have put a new print in my Etsy Shop, just in time for the unveiling of the new Indie Fixx Galleria.  I am so incredibly pleased and happy to have been accepted into the Galleria for the month of September: the new Galleria goes live tomorrow, and there will be a bunch of new artists/crafters/photographers and who knows who else featured, so go on by and take a look at what Jen has assembled.

Jen Wallace, the force behind the Indie Fixx Blog, Galleria and Shop, features and supports artists who work in a myriad of different genres, and styles, and she stays ever so true to the artistic/indie spirit. In her own words: "Indie Fixx is a celebration of the creativity, tenacity, and general spunky goodness that is the indie design movement."    (love that!)

For information on how to apply to be included in Jen's Galleria, go a-visiting here.

A Whirl of A Week: A Precursor to the Whirlwind

So, this is my pre-whirlwind week, before the real Whirlwind of a week. Yesterday I discovered that my plane departs for parts northeast on Friday morning, not on Saturday, and wow that kind of just changed everything in less than a heartbeat, and a loud gulp (a big thank you to sacred sister-in-law for reminding me what my true itinerary is). I am leaving THIS Friday morning... yikes.

• What shoes do I need? and the more important, what shoes do I want with me?
• Do I really want to take a raincoat, and as Kelly has already said, do I even own a raincoat? [I looked, and in fact, don't seem to own one.]  
• Do I pack my paint in my suitcase, only to have it explode?
• Do I have enough electronic devises and chargers to stuff in my bag? 
• How will THIS trip be with my family? 
• Should I ditch the rental car, or keep it as a possible escape hatch? 
• Will my head blow off if I continue to sleep only 4 hours a night and wake up to add more things to my to-do list?
• Will my head blow off regardless of how much sleep I get? 
• Will I meltdown somewhere tremendously inappropriate, at some point along this travelling odyssey?
• Will I ever run out of "Don't Forget To's" to add to my list?
• And if I bring only 2 pairs of shoes, which ones will they be?

First stop on the whirlwind express is NH, and a visit with one of my brothers and his family, and I get to meet my new-est niece for the first time in her little life - so looking forward to that... and catch up with my ever so grown up nephew, who is soon to be 5.

She's a bit bigger than this now, but how precious is that little face... 

And then down to Boston to surprise my mother on her birthday... I think all the siblings have managed to keep their mouths shut, an all time first for my family, and she has absolutely no idea I am coming (I hope). Regardless, though, I have not celebrated a birthday with my mother [in person] since sometime in the 80s, and it something I am so looking forward to doing with her this year. 

Here she is, a 20-something, riding tricycles with me and my brothers... and look, I don't seem quite as concerned about shoes at this age...

And then, it's back to my brother's in NH, visits with cousins and whoever else I can fit in, and soon after a drive further north to Squam.

How is that a week I have been looking forward to for quite a few months is arriving so quickly? How does time do that? How do we move through time, sometimes so oblivious to its passing, and then look up and find a precious moment has arrived, and now is a memory? It remains a deep and sure mystery to me...

And then, as if I weren't distracted enough already, THE book arrived on my doorstep today. Oh happy moments, oh sparkly thoughts, oh, to sit down and commune with this wonder of a book, in between adding things to my to-do list.

Staying on track (a little), staying on course (not at all), and running around the house all day in my jammies (not yelling Squam, but my hair was sure sticking up), designing something, jumping up to go through my travel shampoo and etc's supply, sitting down to design, jumping up to answer the phone, sitting down to gather the thoughts, and jumping up to see if my favourite skirt is clean or if I need to wash it, sitting down again, to unsuccessfully gather the thoughts, jumping up again (I need lunch!). OK, sitting down again and not even attempting to gather anything, just throwing together some random thoughts, some random images, and some earthly distractions.

Here goes nothing, as they say... and also, lest we forget, and since my nephew is very fond of quoting, I really can't forget: "let the rumpus begin"!