The land of learning…

It’s 4 pm ET. There is a small pinch pot, complete with face and hands and feet, in progress on the kitchen counter.

The table is currently the home of electronic medical records and a first adventure with crocheting.

A movement is afoot to clear the whole counter for dinner prep.

It is, indeed, French Laundry experiment night!

But, before that… a call to the A/C repair folks for advice. (And, yes, it’s HOT!)

I am temporarily resting up from a major raid on Michaels, in preparation for sous chef duties.

My grandsnake is, well, snaking around his huge aquarium condo next to the table. I’ve begun to find him interesting, which is major learning for me. (Possibly enough learning in this case!)

The fabulous fish place was short a fillet-er and we had to leave before rush hour, so the mom & dad & I will be tackling that adventure, too.

I used to help my dad a lot.

That was, shall we say, a long time ago!

The girls are going to give me jewelry lessons. (Probably tomorrow.)

We’ve also been painting!

The cats are prowling around, somehow having guessed that there is snapper in the fridge. Or, maybe they’re just hopeful!

I have learned how to give money to tweens & teens new to the wonders of banking and debit cards!

And had a lesson in airpods! (Since I added a remote drive to my laptop, I have waaaayyy too many things with cords!)

I know all this sounds like blah… blah… blah… It really isn’t!

It’s the place where all the things I’ve learned and survived on my journey, thus far, feel like exactly what I needed to be ready for this moment.

I am utterly in my power… and have no need to be in charge.

Which is, when you think about it, kind of miraculous!

I suspect all this revelation is related to my recent ability to claim the fact that my SuperPower, if you will, is helping others claim and live into their SuperPowers.

This knowing has been a long time coming.

Blessedly generous teachers. Some effective choices at the crossroads of learn new things or give up. A hefty bit of urgent desperation along the path.

A lineage of amazing women. And taking my place on the way… following a great many and helping to lead some, too.

The power-full painting at the top belongs to one of those amazing women.

The slightly younger amazing woman, below, is already a talented sous chef.

And the fortune in the cookie for this moment, borrowed from a chosen Mama, Caron McCloud, is this:

Mattering matters!

ps… ready to take your place along the way? CLICK HERE!!! (It’s fun, fast, and free!)

pps… the elves at FierceArtWithHeart are busy adding new items! Come check it out…

Suitcase? Medicine Basket!!!

By the time you read this, I will be safely in Grammy Land!

The Legendary Husband and the big beasties will be home, holding the fort.

For today, though, the list is long. And part of it is kind of a revelation!

Laundry??? Very most favorite paint shirts, leggings, and a bit of BlueFish stuff (also paint spattered) just in case.

The magic denim vest – aka wearable purse – complete with intentionally opinionated, fiercely compassionate buttons.

Two pairs of shoes. One for airport security. One for actual – you know – walking.

More assistive devices than I would choose in fantasy land, but I really, really need to hug my kids!

All the miracles of modern science required to be “gone” for several days.

And enough crucial other stuff to require up-sizing the luggage choice…

Red thread. Anointing essential oils. My collection of crystal and artisan beads, so the girls can teach me to make jewelry. And books, of course. Where the Crawdads Sing, The Book of Love, and something about Jim Henson, with Muppets and art. (Also, there are bookstores there!)

Reliable rumor has it that, in addition to trying out a new recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook, there are lessons in molecular gastronomy awaiting me. (Dave is not so much for making jewelry!)

I have signed a bunch of petitions and emailed a bunch of senators. Mine & the rest of the gang. I imagine you can guess!

The dog food elves delivered last week so canine starvation is unlikely, even though Phoebe would tell you a different story if you asked.

In a lot of ways, things feel chaotic to me.

And, yet, I know an old, old story about the creation which is born in chaos.

Which may just explain why the bubbly, fountain-y sensation inside me feels like progress on my path… my Epic SuperPower Path which seems to be leading me in the direction of becoming my own Medicine Basket! Are you… making progress???

Would you like to make more progress??? I can help! Just click… READY!

ps… in honor of my trip to the D.C. neck of the woods, here’s another opportunity to get your very own “able to choose” tank top! Several colors. Lots of sizes. And still 20% off, along with everything else! But hurry!!! Christmas in July ends Sunday at 11:45pm ET. (Go figure elves!)

An old story, picking up steam!

My dear friend and mentor, the late Dr. H. Stephen Glenn, was the first one who told me about the rate at which world knowledge doubles.

Nope! Don’t run… this is cool and important!

(First, though, let’s pause long enough for me to admit that I’ve not yet managed to wrap my head around the way one would go about doing the math on such a thing! And, it’s still useful…)

Anyway, as the story – associated with R. Buckminster Fuller – goes, prior to 1900 (CE), human knowledge doubled about every century. Then, by about 1945, it was doubling closer to every 25 years!

Then, by 1982, all human knowledge was doubling every 12 – 13 months.

And, yes, I’m dizzy, too!

I remember a speech during President Obama’s second campaign (2012) in which he said that half of the kids starting kindergarten that year would enter the work force in a job that hadn’t been invented yet!

Time out for mind-boggled!

All of this has to do with a theory called Knowledge Half-Life, which means, as I understand it, the length of time it takes for half the knowledge of a particular area/subject becomes out of date and replaced by new information! (Fritz Machlup)

All of which is to say that facts change all the time!

Think of how much more we know since we started receiving images from the James Webb Space Telescope!!!

Yes, dear hearts, that blows my mind. It also matches my experience!

You may be wondering why this, just now…

Glad you asked!

You see, I’ve been relating to this whole knowledge doubling thing for 40-some years now.

In about the last 72 hours, though, it’s become real for me in a whole new way!

I won’t bore you with all the nitty gritty.

Let’s just say that I discovered that this new knowing bit can work for inside knowing, in the same way that engineers learn new things and our outside toys become obsolete!

Specifically, I’m in the middle of a major revelation about knowing. (And paint!)

The inside kind counts, too! The kind where every cell in your body lights up with something new, which just might be something, well… old!

And, then, if you’re like me, a whole lot of need for new outside knowing appears, too!

Lots of how? stuff. And in what sequence?

Yes, processing is in order. And, it may well feel different!

It also feels, at least for me just now, exciting! (Details to follow…)

For this moment, though, a question…

What old learning might you be holding tight to that isn’t serving you and your journey???

Or, if that’s a scary place to start, how about…

What new learning might you experiment with that might serve you better, now?

Curious???

CLICK HERE, even if it’s scary! Maybe especially if it’s scary! New questions and lots of support…

Why???

The clearer we get on our path, the more we can help!

ps… according to the calendar, it’s almost the end of Christmas in July at FierceArtWithHeart! Someone you know needs a gift that’s hiding here – maybe even you! The elves will be delighted to do the math and take 20% off everything, including super-gift matted art cards by the bundle. Please don’t miss out! (And, for the dedicated explorers… very cool hats!)

“Me and Frank was home abed!”

Nope! The Legendary Husband has not changed his name!

This is a frequent saying from my Farm Gramma, Elsie.

She was a weaver of stories, many of them about the trouble her five boys were out causing while she and Grampa Frank were sleeping, probably under a quilt like this one, which Elsie pieced.

Legend does not mention whether my Aunt Mary joined in the mischief, but I wouldn’t rule it out!

I never knew Frank. He was killed in a train accident years before I was born. Mostly what I know was that Gramma quit high school, forfeiting her long-promised graduation gift of gold beads, to marry him. And this – the much quoted line from their engagement announcement in the local paper…

Elsie Hanna Royce… is engaged to marry Franklin Cornelius Boardman who is, of all things, a Democrat!

As you might imagine, I’ve been pondering all of this a lot.

So, last night, I wrote about 1,000 words worth of what I’ve been pondering.

And, after that, when me and Bill were home abedGrandmother Moon, got into the conversation.

After assuring me that all those words worth of writing (and a bit of ranting!) were perceptive – and no doubt helpful to me in the writing – she wondered, gently, if they felt like they’d be as helpful for you as they were for me.

It was a good question!

And there was still time to visit dream-land again, with her shining courageously, even in this waning crescent phase, over the bed.

What came to me was a jigsaw puzzle of wondering.

Had Elsie, perhaps, been trying to pretend she didn’t know what was going on because she didn’t know what to do with it?

And how might we, all these years later, be trying – at whatever level of awareness – to do the same?

And, if so, what is it time for us to see?

Now, please hear me say that the part of me that’s wondering these things isn’t shaming or blaming me or you!

It’s just noticing that, for generation upon generation, part of the survival medicine in our baskets has seemed to be along the lines of not causing trouble or making a fuss.

And, if you’re anything like me, noticing that the time for not making a fuss has come and gone can feel more than a bit terrifying.

Which is about where I woke up for the second time today.

And, I did the usual things…

Tea. Big dogs out and back in. My time for being and learning and praying.

And List Time. You know… crossing things off & adding things on!

And some time to be in circle with friends on the road. Friends who love questions, too. Here are a couple more:

How might it serve you to be awake?

To be less consciously home abed?

To allow yourself to know?

To allow yourself to move in the direction of being fully you?

And what, then, might you do?

It seems entirely likely to me that the answers to what we will do will go down in our personal histories as the Epic SuperPower Paths we walked. And, just in case you’re the type who’d rather not walk alone, I can help! CLICK HERE!

ps… there are fabulous one-of-a-kind purses in Hat Heaven, too! And Christmas in July is running out! Caution, though… as accessories go, these are VERY brave!

“If you could read my mind, love…

What a tale my thoughts would tell!”

Time out! So, the rest of that song really doesn’t work for this story, but, feel free to hum along if you like…

Let’s just say that today, even though I couldn’t see it, my mind was feeling a bit like the painting looks! Kind of like a journey with no clear beginning or end, that ventured into some unexplored places.

A journey through new filters and beliefs. Through new perceptions and world views.

One of today’s stops along the way was in the land of Red Thread Circles. Four women. All of us on the road to being certified Red Thread leaders.

For two of us, practice leading. For all four of us, practice learning. Here are two of the big ah-ha’s for me…

One of my sisters was leading a conversation about creativity and the challenges of talking with people whose perspective is, “But, I’m not creative!”

[Pause for the voices in your head to have their moment…]

Then, we came to the question of how we might talk with children about creating, which is a question I just love!

My answer was immediate and intuitive. “Creating is making something that wasn’t before.”

Art, music, words, gardens, quilts, muffins…

(And, in my world, we do this in partnership with the Divine.)

Trust me when I say that I was grateful for this ah-ha before it was my turn to lead!

You see, I had a plan. (A plan I’d tested before!) It involved questions. My asking them, and all of us exploring our answers.

Guess what!

There were more answers than I’d planned for! Some of which involved a bit of adapting, mid-flow!

Sharing the details might be telling stories which aren’t my own, so I’ll go with this…

Where I wound up was walking my own talk about one of my SuperPowers… modeling.

About creating something that wasn’t before, even when it wasn’t the plan. And being okay with the seeming detour on the way to the place we were really meant to go.

And, maybe – just maybe – helping others along the way.

Frankly, I feel like I’m spending a whole bunch of time in places I’ve never been before, and I’m en-couraged!

We are – when we allow ourselves to notice – all in a place we’ve never been before, and I suspect this journey is going to take a whole lot of new possibilities.

Which, when we get right down to it, is exactly what I’m so hoping to help my girls learn!

And here’s a different bit you may not know… many, many moons ago, I was a surgical scrub nurse. And I’ve actually seen and felt living brains!

Frankly, they’re not much to look at. And it’s kind of a miracle that any noticing and wondering at all happens in there!

That being said, I’m pretty sure that there were places in my brain which were lit up and glowing today. New little paths being created along the way. And that feels like a really good day’s creating!

May it be so for all of us. Soon!

ps… curious about letting your SuperPowers out to play? Take a deep breath and CLICK HERE!

pps… as promised, the fabulous, one of a kind hats and purses – each with their own name – are ready for new homes! And, it’s Christmas in July, so it’s a great time to explore! The elves are waiting with bated breath to help, at FierceArtWithHeart!

A peddler, some monkeys, and a business strategy!

There’s a lot going on in my world, just now. Inner and outer!

Grandmother Moon and her team are staying quite busy trying to sort it all in my dreams.

Yesterday morning I woke with a crazy quilt of tiny bits of thoughts in my head… kind of like dandelion fluff.

Frankly, not all of it was fun. For this moment… some of what was!

Let me say, first, that classical dream interpretation is not exactly my professional area of expertise. What you’re about to hear is the noticing & wondering perspective that’s way more me.

I remember tossing and turning a lot. One of those can’t get settled experiences.

And, then, scraps of a story in my head. A dimly familiar story. So dimly, I had to look it up. And, yes, the title was a clue!

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina, was first published in 1938.

Born in Siberia, in 1908, the author immigrated to the USA on a student visa and attended New York’s National Academy of Design. Eventually, she illustrated books for Margaret Wise Brown, which may be why Grandmother Moon knows her!

Ms. Brown was the author of the classic, Goodnight Moon!

There’s more, though.

You see, my task of this moment is a photo shoot for adding my bespoke hand-knitted and felted hats to FierceArtWithHeart! (Purses, too!)

This is less straightforward than taking photos of paintings. Hats don’t seem to want to just hang on the wall. (At least mine don’t!)

Kudzu was my obvious next move.

Not the enthusiastic plant. The famed neighborhood vintage and collectibles store I adore, which is also a great place for a stroll with air conditioning! I’ve missed them during the stay-at-home spell we’ve been having.

My challenge quickly changed from, Will there be anything that will work? to How will I choose?

And so I wandered. Walking stick. Magic denim vest, complete with MOO cards, measuring tape, and a Good Trouble button!

I made the first loop, you know… noticing and wondering.

And doing math!

The answer to my favorite question – What am I trying to accomplish? – was kind of complicated.

Props for a mythical photo shoot.

Things that would still be welcome and useful after the pics were taken!

And, the big one… Something that would help express the real me. The learning, growing me.

A bit like being naked with a hat on!!!

And, I was truly surprised by what followed me home!

But, with apologies to Ms. Slobodkina, no monkeys! (Though, if I had a sock monkey handy, I might make an exception!)

Now, in case you’re wondering, this isn’t a parable!

I really do want to find homes for a small collection of divine hats and purses.

More than that, I want to set their energy loose in the world! You see, they were knitted with prayer knots, back before I knew about prayer dots!

Knots for hope. And peace. The power of voice. And choice. Of being who we are!

Round and round.

Meditation.

Steps on my path to now. And, I hope, into my dreams for the future, which have gotten a bit bigger and more adventurous just recently!

It may seem like an odd business strategy, but it’s real for me! And, quite possibly, for a very few special folks with the vision to really see something magical out of almost nothing.

I’ve made a whole lot of progress… with huge help from The Legendary Husband! Not quite enough help, yet, to have all the fabulous listings active tonight. So, a hint!

Hats and purses with names! Sophia and Diana and Iris and Frida and a couple of less familiar ones like Garsenda – or Garsinde – depending on where you’re from. Named for several of my grandmothers!

And huge thanks… You inspire me!

ps… not sure what’s next for you? I can help! Start here…

pps… there’s lots of very exciting art ready for new homes, already! And, in honor of some up-coming Red Thread Circle practice groups, great mugs for a cuppa! It’s Christmas in July and everything is 20% off!!!

When silence meets loud & change happens!

Or, a reason for listening…

Yesterday was more of a zoo than usual around here. You know how it goes…

Meetings moving. Favorite Fix-it guy doing homework before magic. Matting prints. (Lots!)

Plus, the latest January 6 hearing.

And, after that, a much needed massage!

I won’t bore you with all the parts that hurt, or don’t do just what I ask for.

I will claim, from the roof-tops, that taking time out from the chaos to intentionally let somebody help is a good thing!

So good, that – after our fine dining experience and a bit of Finding Your Roots on PBS – I actually made it to bed before midnight. (Colbert is still on vacation!)

And, as you might imagine, Grandmother Moon had some things on her mind!

Blessedly, she let me sleep a while, first.

Then the batch of maybe-sort of-lucid dreams.

One of them with sound AND pictures, which is a bit unusual for me. AND, I can share (most of) it with you! All you have to do is CLICK… (If this is not familiar, be brave, please. I’ve got you!)

Frankly, this is NOT the version I sang around the campfire at summer camp. And that’s probably the reason it showed up last night!

THIS MOMENT IS NOT SUMMER CAMP!

There is a connection, though, deep in my soul.

And, yes, you may have heard this story here before, but please hang with me. It’s my first Red Thread Circle memory… with a few twists.

Imagine, please, a big circle of girls sitting in the midst of a Florida State Park.

Our fearless leader, Jean, has handed each of us an index card with the name of a living element of the local eco-system written on it. Pine tree. Gopher tortiose. Poison ivy. Owl…

Then, Jean brings out a huge ball of red yarn. Like basketball sized! And she shows us how to toss it, from one to another, across the circle. Weaving, really, a web like our neighbors in the forest – the enormous banana spiders – made for their homes.

Then, the challenge!

Each of us was to explain how the element named on our index card was dependent on the element from the card across the web, on the other end of our thread.

For example… how was my gopher tortoise dependent on a turkey oak tree?

And, yes, it involved lots of thinking new thoughts!

Kind of like how things such as art and 1/6 hearings and massage and vivid dreams of that Disturbed video are interdependent…

Well, I have an answer, but I’m a whole lot more interested in what’s hatching inside you! And I really hope you’ll reply to this and let me know!

For now, just a bit more Red Thread wisdom…

We all have a piece of the Red Thread. And we’re responsible for our piece. Not all the pieces, but ours! Because they are all woven together and we all matter!

ps… need some help with YOUR piece of the Red Thread? The next right thing is simple! CLICK HERE!!!

pps… concerned about “this moment,” too? Gorgeous poster copies of The Grandmothers Manifesta are 20% off at FierceArtWithHeart, along with everything else! It’s Christmas in July!!! Lots of great gifts… and a grateful artist!

Sue Boardman, Certified Intentional Creativity®
Color of Woman Teacher & Coach