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Wild Wisdom

Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? Reverb10: Reflect & Manifest


Focus. 
Jettison.
Wild Abandon.
And it's all still in process...


Consciously releasing what I don't need, letting go of energy drains, taking the value of my time seriously, and honing, precisely, my creative life.


Liberating!

Community

Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Reverb10: reflect & manifest)

I continue to discover community through my work as a performing artist and with the people who are supportive of me, supportive of my colleagues -- and each of us, all supportive of each other. Through performance making we are building community and that is super exciting. 

The looping reciprocity of energy is what drives creativity... it's what makes the arts possible, what makes the arts relevant. It's not really what the work is, but who I do the work with and my passion for sharing my artistic vision with others... and that is what builds community, slowly, one relationship at a time...

My most intimate community consists of close friends and inspirers I like to exchange yummy energy with on a regular basis.

I've also discovered a new community of brilliant creative folk, by having started my MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College.

I want to continue to cultivate creative, engaging, powerful relationships with inspiring peers...

Be creative

"Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use?" (Reverb10, reflect & manifest)

Besides these blog posts of late, I'm in the midst of creating some luscious new translations inspired by late 19th and early 20th century French poems, for an upcoming art song program at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. What materials?: My noggin & computer. 

I made baguettes from scratch for Thanksgiving. They turned out ok, even if they were a bit too crunch-ay. Flour, water, yeast, elbow grease. It was super fun and now I'm obsessed with perfecting the recipe.

I made an opera with my company. I wrote the libretto and an amazing composer set it to music. Dreamy.

Ingredients:

passion vision vision vision practice practice practice practice practice music words commitment disciple planning laser focus 2 singers a dancer 2 actors a lighting gal a set created by a sculptor costumes from a pacific northwest designer & headpieces inspired by victorian sea fairies paper ribbons plastic wrap fellow artists who believe boundlessly in you friends supporters sharers in the experience before during after and along the way blood sweat tears and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of love...

Divergence Vocal Theater, "Selkie, a sea tale" November 2010

Let go...

What did I let go of this year? (Reverb10: reflect & manifest) 


...The need to "belong"
...Energy vampires

What nourishes me?

...Commitment to my creative vision
...Commitment to nourishing relationships
...Commitment to the value of my time
...Release what I don't need
...Release what I don't need
...Release what I don't need...

Wonder

Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Reverb10) 


What I practice, sometimes with great success and sometimes with seemingly insurmountable challenges:


PresencePresencePresence
     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude
PresencePresencePresence

     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude

PresencePresencePresence

     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude

Compassion. Now that's a hard one for me

ExpansionReleaseLettingGo

     Compassion. Yep, that's still hard

           ExpansionReleaseLettingGo
Wait, Oh, yeah, breathing. Lots of breathing
       Don't forget to breathe

PresencePresencePresence

     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude

PresencePresencePresence

     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude

PresencePresencePresence

     Gratitude GratitudeGratitude

Compassion. Houston's 610 loop road at 530pm teaches this. Still not really getting it

ExpansionReleaseLettingGo

     Compassion. Now that's a hard one for me

           ExpansionReleaseLettingGo:

The cultivation of wonder...

Just being alive...

"Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year..." Reverb10


Lofoten Islands archipelago top of our world sun ocean glass waters burst with granite peaks fjords swooooooosh easy through glacier sea ferry rides tangle my hair holding hands salt on my fingertips stretch of Nordic beach my love finds a bracelet of knotted cords with little blue and white heart glass beads I wear for the arctic circle sculptures pop from the landscape in an unexpected pilgrimage discovery of reflective arc wall: its vain mountains and distorted field lost all its leaves from holding winter closecloseclosecloseclose baby sheep another day in May 


------------------------------


"Just being alive 
"It can really hurt 
And these moments given 
Are a gift from time" 

- Kate Bush

On creativity...

Daily creative prompts from Reverb10, in reflection of 2010 and manifestation of 2011. I changed today's from:

What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? to:

What do you do each day that contributes to your creativity?:

One word...

...for 2010...and one for 2011...

Tromsø & beyond...

Waterfall on Kvaløya

May 14 & 15

Fly. Fly. Fly

Svolvaer to Tromsø on little prop planes.

Tired.

More pics of Monks Walking in the Snow Mountain.

Hungry.

Need shower & big organic salad.

Ran out of coconut Assam tea two days ago. Boo hoo.

I love the word, Lufthavn.

Prop plane rides alone are stunning: snowy mountains reaching out of sea...peaks as far as you can see - jaggedy backs of dragons. Speechless. Pink and yellow smeared sun won't set sky a gradient to open sea and mountain islands floaty float on glassy wave-free ocean.

Tromsø

Tunnels, tunnels, tunnels. Tromsø city tunnels have roundabouts!

Found a dockside deli with loose Assam tea. Score!

Drove more fjords and hiked two waterfalls on Kvaløya near Tromsø…. Bruised sky with scattery raindrops over farms -- horses and fields stretching to wide fjords that lead to sea….came upon a glass artist in the middle of nowhere…

Ready to head home… Dear Volcano, please cooperate! Thanks!

Skulpturlandskap Nordland

Dan Graham’s Untitled

May 12-13

Been driving the lower part of the archipelago … beautiful very narrow ! winding roads along ocean and mountains

Distant peaks resiting in white against watery horizon

Like clouds on Goddesses’ tabletop…

Found a completely remote cove down a dirt road. Azure waters, rocks to climb, white sand, mountains all around…found a purple star fish to throw back to sea…

There’s an incredible public art program here that marries the wilderness with international artists. Throughout Norway, the landscape is the gallery and it is a bit of a hike and hunt to find the works perched on mountainsides or resting in valleys over looking the sea. We’ve seen several pieces. My favorite is Dan Graham’s Untitled – a large curving wall reflecting the mountains. Spectacular! : check out more info about it here: Skulpturlandskap Nordland/Artscape Nordland

May 11

Lofoten Islands

Spectacular prop plane ride over the archipelago... Enormous snow covered mountains rising out of ocean...

Overnite in Svolvaer. Amazing restaurant Du Verden. Reindeer!

Drove from Svolvaer to Ramburg. Loftr Viking Museum was totally amazing...living history museum....handcrafts: weaving, woodworking, leather works...all recreated near the site of the largest Viking Age long house that's been discovered.

Staying at a beachside Rorbu. Little red cabin. Deelish dinner. Cod, scallops, white white... View over the ocean. Sun clouds on snow top mountain black rock plunging into the sea...

The sun never sets

It rests below the horizon well after 10pm...never dipping too far down, leaving lingering light all night and rising at 2am...

Spring winds twist and howl around our little cabin...

I accidentally used all the hot water showering. Oops...

Tap water is godlike. Glub. Glub. Glub...

........

Glacier Goddess...maker of Heaven...

May 10, 2010

Changed all our flights around to fly from Bergen into Svolvaer. At airport. Day of flying. Organized photos. In coastal Bodø Lufthavn waiting for the puddle jumper to Svolvaer. Landing in Bodø - snow covered mountains heaving out of ocean. Every place in Norway is more glorious than the last. Two peaks rising from a large mountain look like monks walking single-file, robes covered in snow...

Love the yummy waffle snakes everywhere.

Landed at the top of the world... oh how the Glacier Goddess does leave Heaven in her wake!

.........

May 9

Trees budding. Budding. Budding.

Bare rock tunnels...and when the Norwegians build tunnels, they mean it

Bridges over cobalt azure cerulean aquamarine sunlit and barely clouded waters

Snow squalls hanging on to the mountain tops...

Daffodils Daffodils Daffodils

Snow covered mountain passes

Winding winding round and round roads. Frozen lakes

Peat thatch sod roofs with little trees growing out

Tan bodied black winged birds

White bodied black winged birds

Baby sheeps Old beautifully restored Bonnevilles and the like

Norwegians love hotdogs

Farm houses perched on fjords

.......

May 8

Train to Bergen.

Travel on the fly is fun but juggling an in flux itinerary, even with a travel agent is tricky. And iPhone travel planning is not highly recommended.

Headed to Bergen then on to the Arctic Circle: the Lofoten Islands and Tromse.

Oslo, beautiful. Cool spring weather. Kind of a cross between New England and Amsterdam. Sidewalk cafes everywhere with pillows and blankets for warmzies. Everyone is beautiful. Yum yum seafood.

Old sailing ships in the harbor. Amazing new opera house - built to walk atop of...

Gardens in not yet quite spring bloom.

Super expensivo and the Norwegians have very different concept of "luxury" travel than I do.. Getting used to the Ikea accommodations.

Taking the long train ride to Bergen - 6 hours to the coast - through hills, towns, maybe mountains.

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

The train was Uh.MAZE.ing.

Glacier lakes.

Kite skiers on the glacier.

Up. Up. Uppity high mountain pass...

Followed a giant version of the Kancamagus to the sea...to Bergen.

Delicious dinner of bream. Why, no waiter. I would not like to try the whale. No, not even peppered and smoked. No, why thank you for bringing a dish of whale carpaccio for free as an amuse-bouche, just "because we're Americans", but no, I will not eat it. "When in Rome" stops for me at whale meat. Sundown well after 10pm... It's 10:21 now and still light out...

Bergen's waterfront has a string of kooky, leaning 17th century dwellings decked out in pastels - housing bars, shops and cafes... Stopped for an eve stroll through the grounds of the old fortress, Bergenhus Castle. Delight!

Things evolve from nothing...

"What would be really interesting for people to see is how beautiful things grow out of shit . . . . Nobody ever believes [that it happens that way]. Everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head, that it somehow appeared there and formed in his head, and all he had to do was write them down . . . What would really be a lesson that everybody should learn is that . . . things come out of nothing. Things evolve out of nothing. The tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest, and then, the most promising seed in the wrong situation turns into nothing. . . .I think this would be important for people to understand because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work. If you walk around with the idea that there are some people who are so gifted, that they have these wonderful things in their head, but you’re not one of them, you’re just sort of . . . a 'normal' person. [But with this insight], you could have another kind of life. You could say, 'Well, I know that things come from nothing very much and start from unpromising beginnings, and I’m an unpromising beginning -- I could start something." - Brian Eno

Spring in the Garden

Kyoto iii

Trip to Nishiki Food Market in downtown Kyoto. So fun! Lots of strange yummies everywhere. Roasted chestnuts (got a bag for munching: warm and buttery), seaweeds, fish, unidentifiable dried berries, and Kyoto specialties of sweets, sweets, sweets, and an amazing array of alien pickled veggies.

Scored some beautiful Touan pottery for gifts. And more amazing pottery by an artisan who was throwing in his shop - his designs are based on an an 12-13 century scroll (The Chōjū- jinbutsu-giga), from to the Kōzan-ji temple in northwest of Kyoto: Wind-in-the-Willows-esque adventures of a rabbit, monkey, cat/tiger, and frog. These characters formed the basis for modern day Manga. Sooooooooo cool!

Also bought the best Gyokuro tea I could find.

Ventured to Tenryu-ji Temple in the Sagano area … lovely, singing, bamboo forest, tons of shops and street treats. Had green tea goo wrapped in a crepe. Nothing is too sweet here...

When we were leaving the temple, an old man who worked there (and was leaving for the evening) was walking in front of us. He turned around and handed us a lovely, wrapped, watercolor of a Tiger with a hand written page, in Japanese, about the auspicious, coming Year of the Tiger! Everyone here is so kind and generous.

Stopped by a shop where a woman was grinding macha tea!

I think our culture would advance by leaps and bounds if we instituted a simple bow for gratitude, salutations, and parting. Wow.

Train ride back to Kyoto city center was JAMMED!

Kyoto ii

Impossibly thick macha tea with sweets at little yummy shops everywhere - especially liked the rice balls with gooey-ies and powder-ies, cinnamon-ie and nutty...

Gion District rickshaw guys and Maiko/Geiko/Geisha at the temples, in the streets, and with photographers…

Bought some beautiful, old water color repros and one crow block print...

Stumbled upon an AMAZING Shinto wedding in progress at Kodai-ji Temple...

Beautiful, very foreign tasting (!) trad Kyoto lunch box...

Homemade tofu (yuba) everything…

Walk, walk, walk... Feet hurt, back hurts...

Why, yes, yes, you do eat the heads of the shrimp tempura...

Giant Buddha at the tomb of the unknown soldier...

Temples, temples, everywhere…

Bamboo...

Evening...Teppanyaki …. mmmmm …. Kobe beef…..

Walk through the giltzy lights and gazillon clubs and restaurants of modern Gion…

Cold!

Kyoto i

Our first two days in Kyoto

Temple, temple, temple, temple, temple, temple, temple

Gardens, gardens, gardens, gardens, gardens, gardens, gardens

Rock & sand gardens….

Monks chanting

Plum wine. Sake. Sashimi. Tempura. Soba. Udon

Crows crows crows

Temple kitties

Last bits of autumn red red red orange orange orange yellow

Cold Sunny Breezy

Tofuku-ji-Temple - OMG

Shiatsu massage

Bliss

Two Days in Tokyo

Mt. Fuji from the train to Kyoto

On the super high speed Shinkansen train, Nozomi, to Kyoto. It leaves every ten minutes! Where are our US bullet trains leaving every 10 minutes?

To pass Mt. Fuji soon.

Spent 2 days in Tokyo staying near The Imperial Palace. Tokyo feels a bit like NYC in another dimension: beautiful, big, clean, efficient, world-class everything - except everyone is Asian and you feel illiterate because reading is a non-option. Of course, we weren’t exactly exploring the city’s underbelly. And no jeans. I think I saw 1 person in jeans in 2 days. And the color is black - very serious stylishly dress. Denim is not the new black here. And neither is brown. Nothing is the new black, because black is not out. And I could not resist snagging a new, down, hooded, long, puffy-coat (whatever they’re called). All the rage.

We took in Asakusa where Old Edo was and the Sensoji Temple. Its awesome market streets were full tiny restaurants, yummy, unidentifiable treat vendors (we had some semi-sweet green tea battered puffs), and stalls full of everything from the chopstick hawker to the Old Man Seaweed Specialist. In front of temple entrances were giant, intoxicating, incense offering braziers. I always feel at home in Buddhist cultures. The offerings of incense, cleansing smudging, taking of holy water, coin offerings tossed over clangy metal bars to awaken spirits - all are completely natural to me. Feels very grounded, connected…

We took a boat ride down the river to the feudal hunting grounds of the Shogun family, Hamarikyu Gardens - a large park full of ancient, expertly pruned conifers (some enormous with wooden supports for their branches), and unbelievably aged wisteria...Gianormous crows swooped, cawing their conversations...D said they were the spirits of the Shogun. I liked that. A lot. Autumn remnants of Japanese maples and other deciduous trees: impossibly fiery red, pumpkin orange, almost hot pink...

Dinner atop the hotel overlooking the lit city and its brightly colored electro signs. Freakishly fresh Asian-Euro fusion…. indescribable tuna tartar, scallop ceviche, mystery fish. Kooky, pimpadelic, lava lampish decor.

Then a walk through the sparkling, uber-shopping district, Ginza. Dizzying spaceship-like convention center; karaoke bars stories high; rows and rows of tiny bars and restaurants tip-top full of people and built-squeezed end-to-end-under the expressway overpass.

Even though I only know a couple of Japanese words and cannot possibly read the language, communication is a non-issue. Actually much easier even than in France where I know plenty French. A little scary navigating the ---

Just passed Mt Fuji, OMG. Amazing. Amazing. Beautiful. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Breathtaking.

--- Tokyo train station with few transliterated signs and 10min to board the train. Whoosh to Kyoto!

TMI alert.

I am a total germaphobe and LOVED the public restrooms where you squat! Very clean and I think we need to get these and do away with the yucky ones we have in the US replete with the recorded sound of running water in the curved door stalls...

And so far, narry a tourist in sight! Weather: sunny, chilly.

The Week of Living Dangerously

Sunset in the mountains, Batangas, Philippines

Taal Lake & Taal Volcano

Ok, ok, it isn't dangerous. But it is kinda like a movie.

December 7-14

Batangas City, Philippines

This has been a relatively long week away from home, and is the “work” part of our travel before the fun part starts: 11 days in Japan, fly tomorrow. I am crazy excited about that.

Since this is my second long haul trip, I am more used to how sick I get from jet lag (more than I’ll admit) and how long the gosh darn plane ride is (but thank you Singapore Air biz class). We flew Houston--->San Fran--->Hong Kong--->Manila. Then drive a couple hours south to Batangas City. It is a small city on the water with an industrial/shipping economic base (thus the trip here for D’s biz).

I was, not, at all, prepared for the pollution here. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Bangkok in July is pristine comparatively! Jeepney’s and sidecar moto-bike taxis clog the air with leaded particulate. And the traffic is unreal. The city has a Mad Max-Mos Eisley-Year of Living Dangerously feel. Dear Corrupt Philippine Government, Please take care of your wonderful people and beautiful islands. Thanks, Fussy American.

We ventured up the nearby low mountain area to see the Taal Volcano. It is a tiny volcano in large Lake Taal - a crater within a crater. Very cool. Very beautiful. The ride was lovely - cows and goats everywhere, farms, and FRESH MOUNTAIN AIR!