REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

SoulCollage® Card - Orma Hammond

This is the third SoulCollage card I have made recently and I call it Orma Hammond and it is in my Community suit. Orma died on Nov. 22, 2015 and all of us are still reeling from her loss. 

"I am the one who first met Orma in 1990 through my good friend Kathy Barron. She was not only an artist, had had an exciting and unusual life, she was beautiful and we shared many spiritual beliefs. A relationship had recently ended and she was starting her “new life” as she had done at least 3 times before. I ultimately introduced her to my friend Rick Hammond and they instantly fell in love. Then she moved to Guatemala to do community service and regroup--and darned if Rick didn’t follow her there and bring her back home eventually--as his wife. Orma very unexpectedly died on Nov. 22, 2015, only a week shy of her 80th birthday. She and Rick were married for more than 20 years and I am the one (of many family members and friends) who tries to bring him comfort as he grieves. But, I am grieving, too. She was a larger-than-life kind of person. She leaves behind a large inventory of art. The background of this card is one of Orma’s paintings and her self-portrait when she was younger is on the bottom. I miss you so, Orma, and your sudden death has me thinking a lot of my own aging process and speculating on how much time I have left."

SoulCollage® Card - Natalie Wood

This is the second of three SoulCollage® cards I recently made. This one is called Natalie Wood and is in the Community suit. 

"I am the one who had crushes on several movie stars as a kid and adolescent and Natalie Wood was one of them. I first started my obsession when I saw her in Miracle on 34th St. I was 9 and she was 8. When I was 13, both she and Tab Hunter, another of my male heart throbs, were in our small town Sunland Tujunga parade and I got both their autographs. She rode in a convertible and was all made up and absolutely adorable. She got out of the car a few times and she was so tiny. I hand’t even started to wear lipstick yet. We followed our celebrities back then in movie magazines long before celebrity media hype was born. I gobbled up each tidbit, new boyfriend, husbands, children, and most fondly remember Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean, another hearthrob), Splendor in the Grass and Westside Story. I am the one who was shocked when she drowned off Catalina Island in 1981 under unusual circumstances. She and Robert Wagner had quarreled, Christopher Walken was aboard, along with the captain. In her autopsy they found excessive alcohol and painkillers and I felt very sad about that. I am the one who still sees Natalie as a beautiful woman, a coquette, mysterious, almost Goddess-like, and eternally young although she would be 77 now."

SoulCollage® Card: Mad as Hell, Tough as Nails

Our monthly SoulCollage® group met yesterday and I made three cards to my surprise. Today I'm sharing one with you I call "Mad as Hell, Tough as Nails," and it is in the Committee suit.

After we create a card, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with the process, you write "I am the one who" statements. This is what I wrote: 

"I am the one who directed anger inward until I was nearly 50. When I was first diagnosed with clinical depression in my 30s it was the first time I’d heard that depression can be caused by suppressed anger. I am still slow to anger outwardly, and only rarely explode and regret my behavior. That wasn't always the case.  Now I usually recognize anger rather quickly and consequently have become tough as nails when I need to be. I work out my anger in my written journal and the various types of art I create, and sometimes talking to my therapist or friends. I am the one who displays a pleasant “nice” face outwardly but inside I think I must sometimes look like a pissed off little kid Shirley Temple. My inner critic passes judgment continuously but the outer me looks like I have the most agreeable personality in the world. I am the one who is probably a phony sometimes, but I also strive to be a peacemaker and to try to look at things differently than I sometimes feel. From A Course in Miracles, “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be happy?” That’s a question I often ask myself when I’m tempted to get snarky or act like a know-it-all. I pick my battles carefully. 

Loving Lupita: Twelve Days of Mary Love

Artist and art teacher Rebecca Brooks of Recuerda mi Corazon blog started her annual 12 days of Mary posts beginning Dec. 1 that I have so enjoyed participating in for the past three years. This year she calls it Loving Lupita Twelve Days of Mary Love. I didn't realize this was happening until yesterday, so now I'm going to play catch-up. Rebecca posted: 

in 2010 i began a virtual pilgrimage.

i was very cheeky and called this 

a virgin a day.

my intention;

to begin each morning with a heart for mary, 

a way of igniting mine by honoring hers;

culminating on her feast day december 12.

i hoped this simple gesture would align the

scattered hurried days of december with an all prevailing light;

a stillness of devotion, a tide of love, 

a reawakening.

this morning humbled i begin once more;

loving lupita

i hope you will join me.

I personally have had a strong affinity for Mary ever since I converted to Catholicism at the age of 21, but the last 25 years the focus has become more on what I call the divine feminine or femmage. Both my Pinterest , SoulCollage® and Polyvore art and expression sites reflect this, and most of my mixed media art and art journaling has a feminine component.

So, for day one of Loving Lupita, I am posting a recently created Polyvore set I call “Every Woman is a Madonna.”

Visit Rebecca’s site to see what others are posting and perhaps you would like to post something daily yourself. 

I've been away from blogging so Loving Lupita is jump-starting me again. 

Memorial Day 2014: A SoulCollage® Card

Today a few friends gathered together to make SoulCollage® cards and I produced three, but this first one is the one I want to share on this Memorial Day. I am fortunate that the library I volunteer at lets me go through books that don't sell over time and will be recycled. I get some very good images from there. The background for this card came from an old book about the Vietnam Memorial which I did see in 1989. It was a very moving experience. This is what I wrote today about this card: 

I am the one who was young when the Vietnam war was going on--and I was vehemntly opposed to it. I even marched in a protest once with son Tony who was in a stroller. All of us who were opposed felt so angry and helpless; the newspapers and the television news gave the daily body count. I had long been an admirer of the work of the Benedictine monk Thomas Merton who was very opposed to the war. He went to an ecumenical conference in Thailand in 1968 and was electrocuted accidentally by a fan that fell on him. I am the one who later wrote her M.A. thesis on Merton and there were those who felt that Merton had been killed by "someone" because of his anti-war activism. I am the one who would later see Ron Kovic writing in the coffee houses in Hermosa Beach; he was the author of Born on the 4th of July. When I moved to Redondo Beach in 1988, I was utterly surprised to see Ron in his wheelchair cruising through the neighborhood. He would stop to talk and I've heard he occasionally still speaks at anti-war rallies. I haven't seen him for a long time, however. I hope he'ss OK. He lives only six blocks from me.

So, here I am smelling BBQ smoke from the party folks down at the beach on this holiday and feeling very grateful for those who have served our country. I am the one who is basically opposed to war, but still hold in reverence those men and women who were drafted or joined the military, and for those who have given their lives for our country. 

 

Spring Break Allows Time for Art, Reading, Gardening

One of the great perks of my part-time job is that I get two weeks off at Christmas and spring break, as well as eight weeks in the summer. That means doing "whatever" and trying not to feel guilty about it. This morning I took the time to complete two art journal pages I've been playing with for weeks. I'm also continuously organizing in preparation for the arrival of my son Joe, DIL Laura and grandsons Zach and Arlo on Wed. for a week's visit. I'm a bit of a packrat, I'll admit.

The focal image turned up on a SoulCollage^® card last week that I posted here and was featured on Daily Oasis and the SoulCollage^® Facebook page. I often scan or copy favorite images and use them over and over again. 

This page is called Triple Goddess and I am reminded of writer and poet Robert Graves "White Goddess" written in 1948. But, I always love art paired in threes independent of spiritual or symbolic meaning. My closest girlfriends growing up were Claudia and Dannie; I was Frankie. Everyone called us The Three Musketeers. Both of them are gone now, but I think of them so often and both are frequent dream visitors. 

Long posts don't work anymore our IT experts tell us and I suppose that's one of the reasons I post so seldom to Sacred Ordinary these days. I tend to get wordy because a writer is how I identify myself primarily. FaceBook has become my easier way to communicate on the Internet. But I do want to take time to thank a woman I'll name K. who has bumped up my art life considerably. When she destashed her own mixed media collage collection several weeks ago, I was the lucky recipient via Art Gang L.A., a list that local artist and teacher Kelly Kilmer facilitates. What a delight it has been to endlessly sort K's stash and divide it into boxes for other groups, as well as some boxes for just my art work. It's been like being a kid on Christmas morning -- over and over. Every time I use K's stash in my art work I just have to say, "Bless you." I love synchronicity!

Remembering Joe Spado's 2010 Our Lady of Guadalupe Dress Post

Earlier in the month, the blogging community lost one of its legends--Joe Spado aka Spadoman who wrote at Round Circle. This is a link to his last post on Nov. 22, 2013. He is greatly missed. 

I knew Joe only from blogging but many of the people who write at Rebecca Brooks site Recuerda mi Corazon knew him personally. Totally synchronistically, I tripped across a favorite 2010 Joe post about buying his wife a Our Lady of Guadalupe dress in Bakersfield while doing a Google search on Guadalupe fabrics. I simply had to link it here because looking back on his generous spirit. I remember this post so distinctly from 2010. In fact, I'm going to repost it here, not just link it. 

The Dress

 

A Virgin a Day
December 11, 2010
Day 11

Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

 

In 2008, I volunteered to help out in an event called The Longest Walk II. A March across the USA from San Francisco to Washington DC to remind Americans to protect Sacred sites and quit harming Mother Earth. I went to help out and support this effort. I brought my van and a trailer and hauled the walker’s backpacks from daily camp to daily camp. We went non stop at first, walking miles and miles every day. After a few weeks on the road, we finally got a few days off to rest and resupply in Bakersfield, California. It was on one of these days off that I took walkers that needed to get to a laundromat, bank, store or post office where they needed to go. I did some personal things I needed to get done as well.

 

 

One day, I stopped in downtown Bakersfield for a regular sit-down meal. After lunch, I walked around the downtown area and peeked into the windows of the shops. Passing by this one trendy little women’s wear boutique, I caught a glimpse of a very unique dress in the window. I kept going back and driving by that shop, looking at that dress.

 

Mrs. Spadoman looks fabulous in this dress

 

When I saw it, I thought of how I’d like to buy it as a unique gift to send back home to Mrs. Spadoman. The walk had me away from home for months. I was always thinking of all my family members and buying trinkets or post cards to send home. This dress was special. I had to buy it. 

 

 

It was awkward for me to walk into that store and talk to the two young black clad pierced goth women about buying a dress for my wife. I mean, I’m an old guy. I know I don’t fit the stereotype of someone that would shop in their little boutique. But I did take a deep breath and go in. I don’t know what I was thinking would happen. What? Would they laugh at me? Think I’m a pervert? I was just a little unsure as dress buying, especially an old gray haired Midwesterner dress buying at a trendy chic boutique in downtown Bakersfield, was a lot out of my character.

 

 

When I walked in, there were two women working there and no one else shopping. I had both sets of eyes on me instantly. I wasn’t going to shop around, I was gonna buy, so I walked right up to the front counter where one of the women, the one with the purple hair, was standing. The other, dressed in layers and layers of what looked like rags with sleeves that hung down past her hands that had holes in them for her thumbs,  stepped up quickly. The second one seemed inquisitive, interested in what the purpose of my visit would be. Dominatrix? I mean, just sayin’!

 

I told them I saw the dress and I wanted to know what size it was and how much. They helped me and gave me their undivided attention. They told me how cute they thought this dress to be. It was February, but it was a sun dress. It wasn’t going to worn that afternoon. I told them I was going to send it home to my wife. I did get some accolades for being so bold as to buy her a dress. I got the idea that it’s not too common a practice.

 

 

I’ll let the pictures describe the dress. What brought my eye and interest to it was the bold bright display of Our Lady of Guadalupe prints all over it. “Very colorful,” I thought, and the image of Our Lady on a dress would be very unique. I knew Barb would love its “kitsch” tendencies that bordered on the irreverent. I also knew we both liked the folksy colorful Guadalupe image.

 

I sent the dress home, but before I did. I had it with me when I returned back to base camp. While talking to some of the people I met on the walk about what we did that day, I was asked and I answered with, “I bought my wife a dress.”

 

I had to show people. Some thought it was so cool. I did, that’s why I bought it. A lot of the younger women, the ones with eclectic taste, really liked it. I sent it home after showing it off and returned to the walk.

 

When Barb received it, she told me she thought it was beautiful. It was fun to pull it out in the dead of cold wintry weather yesterday for the photo shoot, (we’re expecting a foot of new snow and temperatures to plummet down to below zero in the next few days). I think Barb looks fantastic in this dress, and seeing her wearing it made me wish the winter will speed by so we can be somewhere in temperatures where a sun dress would be appropriate attire.

 

Truthfully, I was so excited about this whole Virgin Business as I knew I’d have a depiction of Our Lady on a dress. The odds would favor the fact that no one else would have something like this. It would trump every Virgin object, painting, statue and what have you. You can see I am proud of it. But the posts I have seen this past eleven days have been nothing short of magnificent. The art, the reverence, the history and knowledge and the personal outpouring to each other and the blog readers about The Blessed Virgin Mary have reached us all.

 

Gracie Jayne had to have her picture taken for this very special fashion show. Isn't she beautiful

 

That’s my story for today, Day 11 of 12. Tomorrow, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the end of this beautiful, thought provoking inspiring Meme project. I am grateful to Rebecca for coming up with this fabulous idea. It brought so many ideas and people together. Coming away from this exercise, I found I have made some new connections and think about some things in different ways.

 

 ******

We are all thinking about you, Joe, and your wife and family and all your friends. I especially remember you today on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I hope your wife is wearing that beautiful dress you bought her long ago in Bakersfield. 

A Virgin a Day: Advent 7, Mood Indigo SoulCollage®

When I made this SoulCollage® card several years ago, I named her Mood Indigo. But, in drawing this card today from my deck, I think I would call her Our Lady of the Passion. She is in the Council suit and she reminds me of what a Jewish woman may have looked like in Mary's time. SoulCollage always begins with what we call "I am the one who" statements and ends with a question. 

I am the one who you are celebrating during this Advent Season as the mother of Jesus Christ. I was so young and though I am venerated now, then I was a first-time mom, all alone in a strange place. I'll never forget Joseph and I going across the desert into the town of Bethlehem. I am the one whose water broke even before Joseph was able to convince the inn keeper to let us use the stable. I labored for many hours alone with Joseph. He comforted me as best he could and helped when he could. The Bible makes my birth experience sound so magical and we are portrayed with angels hovering and animals braying, or maybe that's just what artists, musicians and writers have created. It's important for human beings to have a mystical story to help them get through their own peaks and valleys of life, and I accept that.  Believe me, however, it was painful and I was the one who was so young. But I knew my little baby boy was very special. When you were on pilgrimage in the Holy Land three years ago, you visited the place purported to be where I gave birth to Jesus. Touristy, yes, but you were deeply moved putting your hand on the star buried in the floor. It felt hot to the touch, didn't it?  I am the one who millions of pilgrims have venerated as the mother of God and I accept that I am a divine mother to you all. But, looking back, it was so painful then and I was so young. You are the one who needs to reminded that I was a fully human woman even if the story puts me on a pedestal. But I am the one who matured quickly. My little son was a handful! 

A question I would ask of Our Lady of the Passion, "I am old now, my children are grown and two of my six grandchildren are grown, and sometimes I long for those years I was a mother whose kids really needed her. I knew my purpose. They are busy now with their own children and lives, as they should be, and I am busy in my own life.  But can you help me list in my journal some of the blessed ways I can still feel motherly with my grown up babies and grandbabies?" 

This entry is part of Rebecca's Twelve Day of Mary leading up to the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. If you have time, visit the others whose names are listed here because we all relate so differently to the divine feminine in our lives. 

A Virgin a Day: Advent 6, Santa Muerte

I am reposting images from a November post about Day of the Dead to Rebecca Brooks at Recuerda mi Corazon Twelve Days of Mary because I loved this painting so much. 

 

San Pedro's annual Day of the Dead celebration has become a must attend event for locals and I found Reuben Portillo's Santa Muerte to be outstanding at the Nov. 1, 2013 celebration. 

 This creation wouldn't really fit in with my home decor except during the week I display my personal ofrenda for Day of the Dead his Mary so I didn't buy it. But, it fascinated me and I enjoyed speaking with Reuben and his wife. He owns the Paz Gallery , also home of Portillo Sign and Logo at 411 W. 6th St., San Pedro, CA. He said that Santa Muerte is acrylic and paper on reclaimed material that was part of an old door. If you would like to see more of his work, he can be reached at (310) 753-9194. He doesn't have a website, but does have a Facebook page. I'm going to check out his business next time I'm in San Pedro. He told me that he had a strong affection for this particular Mary.

 Today, I just noticed on Rebecca's blog, she is honoring the late Joe Spado as part of Haiku My Heart Fridays. Joe always posted there, so I'm adding this haiku for Joe who built a Day of the Dead altar every year--and the photos I saw were spectacular. 

Santa Muerte for Joe Spado

I never met Joe 

but loved his words, photos

My post is for you. 

 

Ten Year Anniversary of Blogging

I recently began a little clean up on my blog Sacred Ordinary and noted that I have been writing at this space for ten years. Ten years? It seems hard to believe. 

So many of us I still follow today (albeit sporadically) started right around that time, but most of us do know that tech times have changed. I'll be the first one to admit that so many new social media opps have presented themselves, that most of us also use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In and Instagram, just to name a few that I personally subscribe to. And though I long said that part of my daily writing practice was to post at Sacred Ordinary every day, now I post more often to Facebook. 

The IT people who advise me at work and in my volunteer posts tell me that the world largely communicates in very small bites now. I do cross post Sacred Ordinary to Facebook automatically, but I've noted that it is rare for anyone to comment on FB when I do. Too many words, too many photos, and no one has the patience or time. 

I hope blogs don't go the way of those handwritten letters we used to write to each other. But, I do say congratulations to myself for keeping on here as long as I have. What say you veteran bloggers? What has changed for you? 

This is what a blogger looks like on her tenth anniversary.