6 Week Update

Hello my friends!

How are you doing? Things here are going very well. I'm knee deep into my Readers Studio presentation. Today, in fact, I worked on the Powerpoint presentation. Putting together Powerpoints is such fun for me. I figured out how to include movie clips and gifs, which makes me happy. 

Before the Powerpoint, I make a very detailed outline of the presentation and rehearse it through a few times for flow and for timing. Now that the Powerpoint is done, I will continue to rehearse and edit from now until the grand event. It will change a lot over the next few weeks, but it is all refining. The heavy lifting is done. 

When I'm not working, I've been continuing to work on art. Tomorrow is the last day of a six week watercolor course I am taking through Wet Paint. So far I have nothing that I am willing to show anyone, but that doesn't matter. There is a great, eccentric YouTube video teacher who says, "Relax, you aren't necessarily making art that will change the world, but the making of it just might change you." 

Speaking of watercolor, Lisa and I saw the most wonderful and unusual watercolor exhibit at the American Swedish Institute, the Watercolor Worlds of Lars Lerin. If you are in the area, the show goes until May 22 and is highly recommended. If you go, do make sure to watch the video...so interesting. Part of what is interesting about his work is the size. It is hard to do watercolor so large, so his huge pieces are unusual. 

Here are a few examples:

​Making marks on real paper is a theme lately, as evidenced by my letter writing. I've written to almost everyone who sent me their address and have gotten some wonderful letters in reply. It's kind of funny how much I look forward to the mail these days. I love the intimacy in letters, both the writing and the receiving of them. It's such a pleasant way to visit with people. I enjoy it so much, I even joined the Letter Writers Alliance. For $5, I got a lifetime membership, a nifty patch to sew on my backpack, and two new pen pals. 

Art is becoming an important theme in my life lately, even more actively than it was before. In fact, it is spilling over into my professional work. I can't share all the details yet, but a friend and I are getting ready to launch some awesome workshops that incorporate art and tarot starting in May. I'll announce them first via my newsletter, so if you are interested, don't forget to sign up. 

Some people said that they are interested in the next Through the Looking Glass Retreat, I'll have news on that soon as well. All kinds of wonderful, in-person, fabulous tarot experiences are in the works!

Finally, how am I doing not being on Facebook or any other social media? Great! There is one small hiccup. When you deactivate your account, to reactivate it, all you have to do is sign back in. I've not signed in but my account still was reactivating. I'm not sure why but I think it is because some websites say "Sign in with Facebook." I used to do that, so I think that when I go back to those sites, because I originally created my account with them through Facebook that it somehow signs me back in. I don't know for sure. So I've had to go in a few times are re-deactivate it! Even though I saw all those notifications, I didn't check anything. The first time it happened, it was hard. But the last time I had to re-deactivate, it was not tempting in the least. 

I don't feel like I have tons of extra time now...because I'm busy reading and writing letters, making art, living life...but I feel less distracted, less stressed. I'm not as upset about the world or about people being mean...because in my actual life, the people I interact with aren't mean. It's nice to have the space to breathe and be. 

May you, my friends, have the space you need
to breathe
to think
to create
May you, my friends, have the peace you need
to enjoy your space
to breathe calmly
to think deeply
to create richly.

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