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these are only a few.  the original is in the foreground,  with the odd but interesting face.  but…is it the face for this Cloth?  they are very very small.  almost any mark is too much.

 

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this face,  that might be The One,  is maybe too big.   i could counterbalance that by making her body bigger…will try that tomorrow.  OR maybe i'll go back to the original Very small strange face.

 

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today's face from printer with pencil hair

 

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began digging first hole for first Native Plum to go into the Earth.  only some.  the thumb and wrist need one more night of Arnica.  but…it's begun.

 

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fire wood

 

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a small planet in what will be the Woad garden this year.

 

and i got the book,  Preparing to Die  back from who i'd loaned it to before ever beginning to read it.

Preparing to Die   Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition.

A guide for those facing death and for their caregivers, including teachings from the great masters and useful advice on navigating end-of-life issues      by   Andrew Holecek

it is GREAT.  it is very very very GREAT.   

 

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and for the second day i am working with this image.   it's taking it's time.,  the thoughts, the feelings.   taking their time.   this is Good.

 

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22 responses to “moving slowly, stopping to feel”

  1. jude Avatar

    i gave mom that book. i like the many faces of you.

    Like

  2. grace Avatar

    this Surprises me. and makes me feel really really good.
    we have many faces, yes?, yes.

    Like

  3. Valerianna Avatar

    I, too, love the many faces of you, Grace.

    Like

  4. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    All good VERY very good. Exactly.
    I would fill a cloth with faces creating my own Sangha,
    IF I were making a cloth. Your faces are wonderful, the planet is too, and the fire wood, well–everything here.

    Like

  5. grace Avatar

    i have always grieved a Sangha. i took refuge. the third is the
    sangha. i never have had one, i thought, because of how i live,
    where i live.
    but
    i
    do.
    this thing, this writing here…is it my Sangha? i think Yes.
    i think YES it is.

    Like

  6. ² Avatar
    ²

    be shure it is
    sangha
    faces… cloth
    the thread
    connect
    life
    in the past is the future born
    accepting
    inhale
    exhale
    the youmeus
    the love keep it thogether

    Like

  7. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    …when i saw the small square of this post it appeared as shards of something curved and lovely..a bowl? a cup? and then i clicked and the shards became faces..individual and full of life..it was quite wonder full…
    and the cloth,the earth, the tree the planet..the considered space… all so beautiful
    but the faces are haunting and i keep returning to look at them…

    Like

  8. donna wilkinson Avatar
    donna wilkinson

    I AM — new to your blog and first thought what the hec=======but then i read on and I thought oh my if only. Keep on keeping on. Keep the goats or one or two, goats are really wonderful. they tell more with their eyes than any animal i have known. you are special and i will talk to you again, but most important i will know you again. Donna

    Like

  9. Deb G Avatar

    I really like this cloth you are making Grace. The story I see…
    I am planting red twig dogwoods, native to here, in many of my empty holes where I need something. But a plum, there is a plum that is native to this area, that might be a good idea too…

    Like

  10. patricia Avatar

    had the same experience

    Like

  11. patricia Avatar

    woad. yes. i have one in my garden. didn’t do anything with it last year.

    Like

  12. beth Avatar

    “a foot”… Yes, because there is also the earth.
    Reading back through several days of comments. I am filled with emotion. A Sangha…

    Like

  13. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    you know first time ’round I read preparing to dye, rather than die, whew quite something else and then I looked at my bookcase, the one in my studio with my ‘philosophy, art, poetry and miscellaneous’ collection, looking for my ‘the Tibetan book of the dead’ to see if that was by the same author (nope) and noticed another book ‘The spritual medicine of Tibet’ which I haven’t read and am now browsing through, to see if there is anything in this book that might offer comfort and/or insight….one thing in particular struck me, in this post’s context: how they are focused on the death-to-birth experience, rather than our Western conditioning of viewing life as a birth-to-death journey; our consquent fear of death leads us to turn away from anything to do with death and dieing, instead of preparing ourselves for the inevitable…..(whether we choose to believe in death being a passage into something else or an end)
    and then a little further along in the same chapter 7: how fortunate we humans are to be born as a human for then you have the precious opportunity to dispel the ignorance and end the continuing cycle of life and death.
    it also brings to mind the very intersting conversation I had last week with the artist Henk van Dalen, who explained his artwork (the Shadow of consciousness) to me, as it represented his thoughts on how all living beings return to the collective consciousness after death and therefore continue in a manner of speaking…
    this is a long comment, and muddled thoughts and feelings running through me, anyway, thanks Grace for I am now reading this immensely intersting book which was waiting for the right moment!

    Like

  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    maybe interested in the most minimal of marks that might
    indicate
    face
    kindof like the Grass People

    Like

  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. this is so. the youmeus inhale. exhale.
    just the being. and the love within that being.

    Like

  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    the faces.
    today, Friday, i looked long at the faces….
    don’t know where this looking is going….
    but as i write this, i think how you first saw shards…
    this is a beautiful thought…yes.

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    Hey, donna…..hello and welcome here.
    do you have Goats? now? tell me about THIS, then…
    Tell me everything

    Like

  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    a Plum native to your area would be GRAND. they are strong
    and their fruit small be so so sweet….

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    woad and your marigolds which will zip up through the soil
    in their re seeding zeal…

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    well…after working today with such a SMALL bit of cloth…
    the foot will need to be a dream
    yes. i have not stopped thinking about that…Sangha

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    how any of us chooses to receive these Teachings is
    so individual to each. but they are ancient and so
    distilled.
    i got the Holecek book because it’s almost certain that i
    will sit with Alz.B as she makes the transition. she
    has no background for her death. and i needed to come to
    some place of understanding how to be with her.
    i’ve not read the book that you have but looked it up.
    I hope you find it Good.

    Like

  22. handstories Avatar

    love the planet. and that there is so much inside of you, including so many faces.

    Like

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