Ensoul Arts

blooming

Spring Break is coming to a close for us, and we are ready to slip back into our usual rhythms tomorrow. Dear friends from Minnesota were in town for a wonderful visit, which helped us to feel that we "got away" while staying right here and keeping things simple. All the touristy fun of downtown Seattle and island beaches felt new to us as again as we showed our guests around these parts. What a treat it's been to re-connect, get some sun, and have a break.

Can you feel summer on the horizon? Goodness, I cannot believe it, but I certainly do. I'm thinking ahead to enriching camps for the boys and family travel while seeking to be present with what's here in our lives right now as we move through each day. The fragrant blossoms and sunshine are absolutely intoxicating, and we're just getting started with this long awaited breathing out. 

Happy changes!

pink!

Whether skies be grey or blue, I am grateful for this color right now. 

spring kitchen action

I'm still taking this seasonal purification diet one day at a time and tuning in my own personal needs. For over a week now, I've been reaching for the green, raw, living choices. It's pretty amazing how the taste buds adjust after the initial few days of a raw diet. In the mornings, I am actually *craving* some variation of the lemon/lime, parsley, pear, apple, and ginger juice. I blend it all up in the Vitamix and then strain it because I don't have a juicer. I'm not sure I need one because the Vitamix does such an amazing job of liquifying everything. I do green smoothies too, keeping the "pulp" in the mix, but some go down best for me as juice.

happy spring!

body wisdom

 

I'm noticing how my body has already started to crave purification. As I groove with the natural encouragement of the seasonal shift, I am choosing to explore my body's unique needs right now. I am not, for example, choosing to follow advice presently (however great it may be). I will not be joining a 30 day challenge, fasting, or consulting a nutrition guru any time soon. Those adventures have been part of my learning curve in the past, and I'm especially grateful for what I have learned about nourishing gluten free, raw, vegetarian and vegan choices. Right now, I'm simply waking up each day and re-affirming my intention to listen to and trust the intelligence of my own body. 

While I find it noble to eat strictly according my ethics, I've learned it isn't always what my body needs me to do. In other words, sometimes my body needs some animal products. When I feel this way, I make my choices with care. Currently, I am not eating any animal products, because that feels right for now.

I like it this way. It's a great reminder that I can really only have control over my own choices. Having flexibility and opennes with my choices is allowing me a more harmonious and responsive relationship with my body. Not only does that feel right, but it feels good. 

As for my boys, I do all I can to offer them a solid nutrititional foundation at home. Then, I let go of how they eat outside of our home. Especially during the teen years, they just want to blend in with friends. I find it's better to continue leading by example rather than launching into foodie lectures. Thankfully, they have huge appetites and enjoy eating veggies. I'll call it a job done well enough! 

The handmade recipe book here was created recently by my son Indigo in a class at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. I love it. He has a couple of his very own recipes in it, complete with hand drawn illustrations. Last summer he invited me to fill it with family recipes, to keep a record of the meals we all enjoy. I'm finally getting around to that. Five (more or less) Bean Soup with gluten free cornbread hit the spot this week, and I managed to scribble it in. 

If you're on a similar path with body wisdom, I'd love to hear about it!

 

ephemeral dusting

What we opened our eyes to this morning...

 

Happy Lunar New Year

Finally, I'm finishing a painting that had been put away for too long. I wasn't always sure I'd finish it. Definitely, I will. Almost there. The sun came out today, which shifted the energy here dramatically. Following a long walk in the sun, and dinner with friends, I am home cleaning up my studio and office spaces while thinking my life forward. I'm taking a lot of deep breaths today. The office and studio have been been unpacked since September, but the last of spaces in the cottage to be organized with intention. It feels good to be working on this today, and I hope to share this corner of my home soon. 

 

ensouled new home

Our life hurdled over the mountains toward the ocean in three parts. It's been about five months since we arrived just ahead of our life-in-transport. Churling through the air, we were leaving behind everything familiar. It was an enormous transition, and though we were nervous, we were ready for it. I knew in my heart and soul we all needed to land right here to start new chapters. Doubts and worries did creep in, but a steady faith washed over those, and what I really wanted to do was just sink myself into the other side of the leap. I closed my eyes and visualized warm nesting and resting on a winters evening in our new place of home. 

We deplaned at SeaTac on a cloudy September day, exhausted, with a few suitcases and one freaked out cat. Within just a few days, both boys were experiencing brand new schools, which was quite a switch from quiet homeschooling in our ultra comfort zone of South Minneapolis near lakes, parks, friends, family, favorite food co-ops, happy cafe haunts, and so. much. more...  Sweet Seattle friends ferried out to meet us with air mattresses, bedding, and a few pots and pans for the indoor camping. Our car was cruising its way through Montana, packed tight with precious kitchen goods and all of our musical instruments. Lastly, and at last, came the gargantuan portable storage unit that hauled the rest of our belongings. Hello new chapter of life. 

Though all three of us have felt settled in for quite some time, today felt especially groovy. It was so good to walk through our cozy cottage door after being outdoors at a festival most of the day. I turned on the fireplace and twinkles, put away some delicious groceries, pressed some coffee, and cuddled up on the new chaise. Placements keep evolving in every room here. With the clear goal of achieving ensouled simplicity in this sweet cottage, I'm gradually tweaking each room to find just the right fit, function, and flow. Here is a peek at the evolution of a cozy living/dining/kitchen area. There are a few placements I know I will change up again soon to accommodate more visitors, but right now we're enjoying the near perfection of everything just as it is.

Here we are. It is indeed a restful warm evening in a newly nested nook of our world, and we've unfurled a lovely chapter so far. It's good to be home.

back to the future

With both boys back in school this week, I've savored slow sips of coffee and quiet productivity. Every last holiday thing is packed away and space is made for a brand new calendar year. As always, there were so many responsibilities to carry and expectations to fulfill last month, but for so many reasons the recent holiday was...changed. Electrified sounds emanated from behind closed doors. Unplugging used to be our thing. In between flashing back to early 90's mosh pits and threatening to set a kitchen timer, I wondered if I would ever be able to focus for five minutes again! Indeed. I can. I did not actually lose my mind in the dark chocolate covered almonds, brie, and wii, yet this I can declare: Last year was nothing short of a disorienting catapault into the future that can only be defined as time traveling...

I landed in a teenager's room today. It's his first room of his own. I folded his new green comforter and I stripped the sheets to launder them too. I had been careful not to vacuum up the little colorful plastic bits in the rug, because I know those are oh so important, and parts of something I'll never know how to pronounce. I was careful and grateful. He's a pretty tidy creature for the most part, and very helpful. I won't complain. It's just that the vacuum cleaner cord can hardly compete with an amp cord, a laptop cord, an alarm clock cord, an ipod dock cord, a cell phone cord...and when did all these cords arrive in our home?!

 He turned 15 last week. Fifteen.

If you've heard it once, you'll hear it again: It goes...sooo fast. Long gone are the days of wooden play stand magic shows and knight costumes. The once high pitched voice of a sweet little boy has slowly but surely transformed into an ever deepening manly kind of sound. The other side of the wardrobe and Neverland seem to have slipped right through my hands. You know, I can hardly open my eyes when I think of looking directly down any road at a driver's permit, but it's coming. The future is here. Things just don't feel as "someday" as they once did.

I decided to sit down for awhile. Breathing. What else could I do but breathe, smile, cry, and gaze around me?

I guess I could hold a little green gnome that appeared, mysteriously, from the past...and just feel as proud as I am. This is the room of a young man I will love throughout all of time...however lame that makes me.

 

Love ya kid.

~Mamarazzi

warm :: soft :: snug

Living on an island certainly makes it easier to resist any temptation that may creep in to join the shopping mobs. When I do head down to our little mainstreet, it's simple and enjoyable, even when the ferry "crowds" are in. In this small town you can see the main bakery from wherever you are on the main drag. Most everyone running errands lands there for treats, and there is plenty of chatting going on in the long line (and gossip, yes). There's time for it. 

Plenty of time is such a very good and rare thing. There's been plenty of time for us to be home near the twinkles and the fire this season. There will be a bit of travel in our plans, but we'll land right back here for the best parts. My work and business will creep in early next year, but for now...it's all about the warmth, the softness, and the snug.

Happy twinkles.