REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

My Grandsons and Halloween

Tonight I went to my son and daughter-in-law's home to be the candy lady while they took Henry and Fritz trick or treating--and I had as much fun as the kids did, I think. 

Henry, 8, is James Madison. Fritz, 7, is a ninja. What wonderful memories I have of Halloween both of when I was a kid and when my kids were growing up. I got to experience it again with my eldest grandkids, Whitney, 24, and Anthony, 23. And now these two guys. Below is a picture of my other two grandsons in Port Angeles, WA that their mom just sent. 

That's Zach, 5, on the left, and brother Arlo, 3, on the right. 

I got a Facebook message tonight from an acquaintance who said she doesn't like skeletons and not to post anymore scary Halloween photos. 

Well, there's a few more days coming up where I will as I celebrate Dia de los Muertos, so get ready to hit your delete button--or, just remember these four cute guys as a substitute for skellies. I will say, though, I certainly saw my share of gorey, scary kids tonight, however. 

 

The Art of Remembering: Won't You Join In?

The ofrenda is now complete for 2011. No more tweaking, adding or subtracting. This afternoon Mary Lou and I go to San Pedro celebration of the Day of the Dead. I'll hopefully have lots of photos to share later.

Here are other celebrations in the L.A. area, listed by the Los Angeles Times blog. 

Day of the Dead celebrations coming to Southland - October 29, 2011 | 11:33 am 

The Mexican Day of the Dead celebration takes place Tuesday and Wednesday.

In the holiday, Mexicans honor the dead by building altars to those who’ve passed away that include food, flowers, candy, candles and photos of the departed, as well as elaborately painted calaveras -- skulls made of paper mache or sugar.

The tradition has spread to parts of Southern California. Among the local Day of the Dead events over the next few days:

-- San Pedro holds a celebration Sunday from 3 to 10 p.m. The event takes place on 6th Street and Pacific Avenue. For more information, call (310) 832-5482 or go to diadelosmuertossanpedro.com.

-- El Centro de Accion Social in Pasadena holds a celebration Wednesday, between 6 and 8:30 p.m., at Villa-Parke Community Center, 363 E. Villa St., in Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 792-3148.

-- Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights presents Orale!: An Evening of Boyle Heights Stories on Wednesday, between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., at the Breed Street Shul, 247 N. Breed St.

-- East Los Angeles holds its annual Day of the Dead procession down Cesar Chavez Avenue and carnival that follows it on Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m. The procession starts at Cesar Chavez Avenue and Lorena Street. For more information, click here.

-- Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles holds its celebrations during the day on Tuesday and Wednesday, including processions. For more information, call (213) 625-5045.

This is my attempt at creating a Novia, or calavera bride.Thanks to the Dollar Store for the basic skeleton. 

Be sure to visit Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon to read and see how other people are recalling All Hallows, All Saints, and All Souls Day. 

 

Sophia the Art Mannikin Waits for Sweet Souls

Tonight I put the finishing touches on the 2011 ofrenda in my living room. Sophia changed into her witch costume and she donned the death mask loaned to her by Jessica, one of our Spanish teachers. She also loaned us the paper papeles for the front of the ofrenda. This is a close-up of Sophia waiting.

Preparing for Dia de los Muertos has been especially meaningful to me this year as several of us are preparing together with Rebecca and Stephanie and Dia de Bloglandia. It all started with their invitation to join them on September 5.

Instead of being macabre, it has been joyous as I have gathered my beloved family and friends who have gone before me. So many beautiful memories. I've even been dreaming comforting dreams of times when I was with them and I feel like I'm getting my yearly chance to be with them again. Last night I dreamt I was at Olvera Street where festivities were just beginning to happen, but even the renowned birthplace of the City of the Angels didn't have the supplies I was hunting for. So, in the dream, I decided my homemade skeletons, calaveras, Catrins and Catrinas would have to suffice. 

And in reality, it's pretty much been that way. 

Haiku My Heart Friday: In Search of Dia de los Muertos Goodies

After work I had an adventure in search of Dia de los Muertos supplies. Our Spanish teacher at school told me to try Northgate Market in Wilmington, and though I didn’t find pan de muertos, paper papeles or sugar skulls there, I found three of the friendliest butchers in town instead--and lots of other good stuff. I bought asada el pastor, shrimp ceviche, and pollo patties, which had nothing to do with what I went shopping for. I did take some pictures along the way, however. I love living in California. We have access to some of the best ethnic food in the country. Next week I’ll go to the Middle Eastern market. I did find piñatas, nopales, maize, asada, and some very nice people. I highly recommend this market. Double click the photos to enlarge them.

My haiku is after the last photo.

I found piñatas

Nopales, maize, asada,

No pan muertos.

 To read more Haiku my Heart, go to Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon.  

My Impressions on Songdo IBD: South Korea's New Eco City

For more than 20 years I have worked for Chadwick School on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California. For 16 years I was the Director of Communications and for the past four years I have continued to work part-time as the school archivist, or historian. Chadwick School was established as a home school by Margaret and Joseph Chadwick in San Pedro and moved to its present site on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1938. You can read all about Chadwick at the link above. A few years ago Chadwick was invited to establish Chadwick International School in a brand new eco city called Songdo, outside of Seoul and near Incheon. We have some exchange students this semester from Chadwick International and some of our faculty and administrators are helping to establish the school there so we hear wonderful stories about the new green city--and the new, state-of-the-art school.

At an assembly today at the Palos Verdes Chadwick campus, Stephen Gale of Gale Associates, one of the developers of the new city, spoke proudly to the students and faculty about Songdo; he calls it "city in a box." Thoroughly planned in advance, it is being built quickly; it is scheduled to be completed in 2016. Sustainable cities like this are springing up around the world, he said, and he encouraged students to Google and find out more about them. I Googled before the kids, I assure you, I was so fascinated. It almost seemed like science fiction. 

Dazzled as I was with the presentation, it also made me realize that I’m back somewhere in the 20^th century in my world of communication. The world is definitely proceeding globally and in a visionary way thanks to people who think out of the box. I'm not that kind of thinker. I'm one of those thinking globally-acting-locally kind of people, I'm afraid, but fortunately there are visionaries out there.  

I loved this description of Songdo as it appears on their website, linked above.

"Every country needs their own master-planned eco city. Germany will have aptly named ECO CITY Hamburg, the UK has Hanham Hall, Sweden has Super Sustainable City in Gothenburg, Spain has Logroño Montecorvo Eco City, and the UAW has Masdar. But South Korea seems to have two master-planned sustainable communities, we saw this super sustainable city by Foster + Partners earlier this week, and now we are taking a look atSongdo International Business District or Songdo IBD. This new eco-city will be impressive with its list of eco-credentials - tons of beautiful open space and parks, green roofs, solar passive design, mass transit and over 120 buildings built to LEED standards.

Songdo IBD, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, is located on the waterfront of Incheon, South Korea covering 1,500 acres. It is expected to cost over $30 billion and house 75,000 residents, and handle 300,000 commuters. Of the 1,500 acres, 40% of that will be open, green space, park and golf course, and the city will be easily traveled by foot and mass transit.

The first phase of the city has already been completed and Central Park, the large 100-acre green space, which was modeled after New York City's Central Park, has already been completed. Besides the expansive park, Songdo takes inspiration from many other famous attractions from around the world.  Songdo will also include Italianate canals, Savannah-style parks, Parisian boulevards, and a convention center modeled after Jørn Utzon's iconic opera house.

The impressive open space will do wonders for storm water retention and reduction of urban heat island effect, but that's not all the environmental tricks Songdo has up its sleeve. The whole city is based on LEED green building standards and over 120 buildings will seek LEED certification, which will make Songdo the largest private LEED development in the world. Songdo is also part of the LEED ND development program as well as Korean Green Building Certification System (KGBCS). The list of green design features includes, green roofs, LED lighting, co-generation, 75% of construction waste to be recycled, waste management system, low-VOC materials, expanded mass transit service, native landscaping and more." 

Further Googling brought me to several other links about the new eco cities under construction, but I especially liked this one called The Rise of the First Smart Cities.

If you take the time to read this post in depth, I'd be really interested to hear your reaction. I feel like I'm in a time warp, but I must admit, I hope I get to visit Songdo someday. 

 

 

A Powerful Example of Using SoulCollage® to Document the Journey Through Breast Cancer Treatment

When I took my SoulCollage® facilitator’s training in 2005 in Northern California, Anne Marie Bennett was also there from Massachusetts. She was so drawn to the method that she began giving workshops and set up a website and store on the Internet she calls KaleidoSoul. She also offers online classes on the method there. Like me, Anne Marie (although she is much younger than I am), was a breast cancer survivor when I met her and we shared SoulCollage® cards about that experience at our training. Both of us were obviously hoping we were home free. 

I belong to Anne Marie’s KaleidoSoul listserv, but have not been an active participant. Then I saw via a Facebook post that she is registered on Caring Bridge, A Nonprofit Connecting Family and Friends When Health Matters Most, which I am familiar with, and that she was re-diagnosed this summer with a rare form of breast cancer caused by the radiation from her 2002 treatment. Damn! What is so moving to me is that she is making SoulCollage® cards to milestone her diagnosis and treatment at KaleidoSoul. You can see all her cards and words to date here. 

I believe in this method as a powerful tool for spiritual, physical and mental health and healing, but her examples make the method crystal clear to those who might not be familiar with what can happen when SoulCollage® cards are created.

I had been forgetting two of the three powerful questions a card creator can make after the card is complete to deepen the experience, and Anne Marie's cards and words reinforced in me that I want to do this, too, and place more emphasis on that with the people I teach the method to. 

The question I do use and have shown examples of at Sacred Ordinary is what I call the “I am the one who statements,” personifying the meaning of the card. Seena Frost, the creator of SoulCollage®, calls this the “Who are you?” question. What I had not been doing are asking these two questions: “What do you have to give to me?” and “What do you want from me?” Reading Anne Marie's words are excellent examples of the power of these questions. 

This is National Breast Cancer month and seeing Anne Marie’s images and words at KaleidoSoul has truly moved me on many levels. Here’s to her complete recovery!

 

 

 

Queen Anne House in Redondo Beach Decorated for Halloween

This is the Pringle Queen Anne house just a half block from where I live on S. Broadway St., Redondo Beach. It is across the street from the fire house and next to Christ Episcopal Church, where I attend. The Pringle's decorate their house for all major holidays, but Halloween is my favorite. On Halloween night, when the trick or treaters come, a spectacular witch hands out treats and incredibly eerie sounds can be heard inside the house. People stop continuously to take pictures.

I've been in this house several times (including Christmas) and the interior is fully restored and decorated for the period. 

Skeleton Parade

The skeletons are out tonight,
they march about the street,
With bony bodies, bony heads
and bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
with nothing in between,
Up and down and all around
they march on Halloween.

                                                                -- Jack Prelutsky

Let's Hear It for Daryl Muncey and His Project Earth Gallery

The two weekend art extravaganza, Power of Art, hosted by the Redondo Beach Art Group, closed tonight and I will carry memories of it for the next 12 months, until the show turns up again in 2012.

If I had the space in my home or yard for Daryl Muncey's gorgeous tree sculpture, the centerpiece of one gallery called Project Earth, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Daryl always curates our collaborative project each year and it was Project Earth this year. Daryl's tree was constructed with lathe and the trunk of the tree was at least 10 feet tall, with its black branches spiking up at least another 10 feet. It is magnificent. I was shocked it didn't sell at the show as he was asking basically what he spent on materials--$1500. It even had a little door in the trunk where little kids could hide--and it smelled just like a forest somehow. Here's Daryl and his tree--and, by, the way, the picture hanging on the tree near his head is my contribution, "Our Lady of Sustainability." 

There were many magnificent and thought-provoking pieces in Project Earth, but Daryl's won my heart and soul. Hopefully his tree will find a temporary home in a Redondo Beach government office until it sells. I see it in the lobby of a huge company who supports the sustainability concept. As soon as it is placed, I will report where so that those of you who want to experience it can. Or maybe one of you who read here might want to buy it yourself. Just leave a comment and I'll pass it on to Daryl. 

And I want to say thanks to the dozens upon dozens of people who worked so hard to make the Power of Art as successful as it was. Job well done. And believe me, folks, if you live in Southern California, it's actually worth a visit to see Power of Art when it comes around again. Today is strike day, taking down the show, and everything has to be out by 5 p.m. Then all the worker bees can hopefully take a well deserved rest.

Out of my four pieces on display, I sold two of them, which amazed me. I gave another mixed media piece to my friend Mary Lou as a gift. I'll write more about this in days to come, but for now, I'm really focusing on the prep for Day of the Dead coming up on Nov. 1 and 2. 

Dia de los Muertos, the Art of Remembering - Week Four - Two Ofrendas

Below you will see two ofrendas, or altars, in commemoration of Dia de los Muertos. I created the first one in my living room, as I have the past several years. Each year is grows in grandeur and more and more images of departed relatives and friends adorn it. It also contains memorabilia of many of them and "stuff" I have continued to collect or make. Sophia, the art mannikin, joins us this year. On Monday evening our monthly journal group will come to write and they will bring photos to share, too. 

The next one was created on Monday by the women in our monthly SoulCollage® group when we gathered to make Community and Day of the Dead cards. Only one of the women was familiar with Day of the Dead and we provided lots of background information in advance to the others so they would bring photos to share and learn how sacred this tradition can be when created with intention. I even passed my iPad around with Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon's examples of her Art of Remembering pages. After creating our altar, we shared a Mexican potluck and then created cards, swapping memories back and forth. Every single person there said it was a very enriching experience. By the way, the altar is sprinkled with rose petals from Barbara's garden. 

As Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon wrote on Aug. 22, 2011, when she invited us to participate in the month of remembering:

"todos santos, all souls. dia de los muertos, "days of the dead".

doors open between the past and the present allowing the meeting of hearts and souls.

sacred time, when the wall between the worlds becomes so porous

the living and the dead converge,

for a sacred reunion that defies space and time.

you sit close to your loved ones.

sensing your own mortality in a sea of flickering candles,

in a tendril of copal incense,

an out pouring of love so comforting

it sweeps you away in its profound understanding that.....

life is sweeter shared, honored, treasured, exalted, cherished, heaped with flowers,

blazing with candle light, embraced with passion."

One More Weekend for Power of Art in Redondo Beach: Don't Miss It!

If you live in Los Angeles, you have one more weekend to see a wonderful and very unusual art exhibit hosted by the Redondo Beach Art Group in the old AES Power Plant in Redondo Beach as 1100 N. Harbor Drive in King Harbor. The dates for this weekend are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21, 22 and 23. To see the exact times and details go to Power of Art events page. To see a story, go to the Beach Reporter. 

Not only do you get to see wonderful art, the old power plant and all its 1940s turbines generators, and massive iron panels with dials, clocks and valves seem to be sculptures all by themselves. The building is huge and when the art is juxtapositioned with the power plant’s interior, it will take your breath away. There will be entertainment, food, workshops, an excellent gift gallery, and lectures—and plenty for kids to enjoy—and it’s free.

I took lots of photos this past weekend but I wanted to show you four enchanting ceramic sculptures by Redondo Beach artist Carolyn La Liberte. Double click to enlarge the photos. 

 

 

God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll post more photos as the week progresses.