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After the end of the turmoil of disgruntled boarders, I spent the morning repairing the neglect and damage done in my garden outside of the new studio. I gave up control of my garden along with the studio space to the people staying here and it was a huge mistake, other than the fact that I have a new starting point again. We are expecting more rain today, so I moved our compost  and discovered the most beautiful “black gold” at the bottom, lots of lizards and decay. It was a glorious, little eco system at work. It will take some time but I am determined to have the most wonderful flower garden ever! The space used to be an abundant cottage garden and has taken many turns since I was put out of commission in 2006. Little by little it will come full circle. I am just a little slower now.

The completion of my new studio sign is a confirmation that I am here to stay and create and be free again in my sacred space. The wee hours of the morning call me into the studio quite often where I can fall into my art. After the roosters in the neighborhood begin to crow with the breaking of the dawn, the gardening begins. I am in the preparation stage but a trip to Baker Nursery yesterday motivated me. I will replace the ten year old rosemary plant that once flourished and then met it’s demise under the ignorance and carelessness of the last, less than ambitious, “gardeners”. This is truly a new beginning. A morning spent at the nursery is pure inspiration, dreaming of all of the possibilities that will soon be in place. However, the work is a part of the journey and I am grateful to be able to take these steps.

It is a magical mystery tour on the planet, baby…… roll up!

Saturday was spent with my sister who lives in central, downtown Phoenix. She has created quite the urban farm and although she is in the heart of the city, I feel miles away from everything in her gardens. These photos are only a faint view of what she has going on in her desert paradise. She has planted many gardens that surround her adorable, old, hippie home. The chickens are the latest addition to her small family farm. Most everything has been built using recycled materials. Things that were left on the property when she bought it several years ago, building supplies that were given to her as well as the many findings that she drags home after hippie tripping around town in her VW bus, “Free Spirit”.

She has also built a place to gather in the small orchard, in the back, around a one of a kind, metal, art firepit. Using split tree trunks from a fallen tree, she created a sacred circle for drumming and gathering. So, head’s up to any of you rainbow children in Phoenix that want to gather for a drum circle!!! Just let me know. We have lots of drums and didgeridoos, if you don’t.

My sister also is an artist, currently creating beautiful pieces of art ~ some are functional pieces ~ using “found objects”. I cannot tell you the places she has tricked me into going with her ~ looking in fields and by railroad tracks and obscure industrial areas, etc. searching for “treasures” like anything rusted and metal and anything odd or unusual. I honestly could have died when my 93 year old father gave her his metal detector, knowing that, for me, this meant future bizarre “walks along the beach” with my sister (ie; alleys, empty fields , demolished building lots….). Eye yi yi! She paints the most GORGEOUS watercolor paintings I have ever seen, but she loves building things and making folk art. I have tried to encourage her to paint watercolors more, if for no other reason than,  because it requires no freaky trips to lonely places! HA!

Saturday was the absolute PERFECT weather. We went to the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market , to find it fragrant with freshness and shining with so many beautiful people. I LOVE how people bring their dogs along, there were many and it was so cool. I ran into some friends, old and new, and had such a FABULOUS morning there. They now have a new market that is open throughout the week, carrying the same things as the open market, on Saturdays, plus much more. It is called the Phoenix Public Market and includes a wine bar. They hold permaculture classes on site as well as other day seminars and such. It is SO REFRESHING to spend the morning at the farmers market taking in the whole, raw adventure. Open air markets and health food stores soothe every part of my spirit. Those are the two most sensational comforts to me, for some reason.I will post more about the market in the near future, maybe the VERY near future.

“I’m going up the country, babe don’t you wanna go
I’m going up the country, babe don’t you wanna go
I’m going to some place where I’ve never been before
I’m going, I’m going where the water tastes like wine
Well I’m going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water

, stay drunk all the time
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away”

PEACE, LOVE, DOVE

Yesterday was the annual Mermaid Parade in New York ~ Coney Island~. How appropriate that Rose’s memorial/celebration of her life and art was held on the same date, as well as the eve of the summer solstice. The ceremony was elaborate and moving. The entire event was saturated with the spirit of Rose. So BEAUTIFUL. The mermaid parade was spectacular. The GORGEOUS Sirenas were at the heart of the ceremony. It will be etched in the hearts and minds of all that attended and participated.

The painting exhibition room was put together by Susan Sutton. The paintings and other artwork are on loan from the many collectors of Rose’s work. It will be up until June 27th, so there is still time to bask in her art. I am definitely going to go back, once or twice more, before the installment is taken down and the art is returned.

The mermaid procession was unforgettable. My camera was slow and stubborn, so I did my best at capturing as much as I could. But, I don’t feel that I was able to get as much as I wish that I could have. I am more than certain that my photos pale in comparison to the photos taken by all of the professional photographer’s there!

The procession began around a big pond filled with ink, that sits in the center of a huge room with no roof (the Cathedral room). They circled that many times, to the rhythm of a stick and hauntingly, eerie music played by two musicians who also walked in the procession with the mermaids. They paraded into another huge room (the silver room) and continued in the same fashion, circling the silver room several times to the rhythm and the music. Mermaid after mermaid, the love for Rose carried on through the altar room and out to the Memorial Rose Garden where a Buddhist monk was waiting to greet the beautiful sirenas. The kneeling mermaids sat at the base of a special tree that will be planted in her honor ( I was told the tree was shipped here from Hong Kong). The Monk preformed a blessing and the crowd dispersed after one last procession back from whence they came.

I’m loving all of the “angel orbs” in some of these photos!

The Tree dedicated to Rose. Because the season in which the tree will bloom has not arrived, paper, tissue flowers were placed on it for the dedication ceremony.

The altar room was built by Phoenix artist, Joe Willie Smith. A well known local artist. The room included art by Rose, as well as burning incense, sage, flowers, candles….everything you would place on an altar. Of course, I brought Nag Champa incense to burn.

There was also a room to create your own piece of art in memory of Rose. The finished pieces were hung on the wire wall,  with messages of love and goodbyes from Rose’s artist friends and family.

~ BEAUTIFUL ~