i left kansas during a 16 degree freeze-a-thon and arrived back in LA around 1 am last night to 61 degrees.
i didn't take a camera, but carol captured some good moments of us together. while mama moss dozed, the moss sisters got in some sketchbook time. excellent food, arty pleasures, and good company combined with new developments that bring about intense worry. thankfully the mosses have a weapon against anxiety. it's called humor. good wine doesn't hurt either. as my friend suzanne says, aging is not for the faint of heart.
my sister dottie sent me this poem some months ago. i read it from time to time and it is calming and may explain my recent compulsion to draw from nature.
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
BY WENDELL BERRY
Beautiful poem… thanks for sharing! Have a fantastic, inspired and wonder*full* 2014…and I think we need a Santa show off blog from sister!!
It is so hard to lose a mother. We lost ours several months before she left this world. It was difficult physically as well as emotionally. The poem that Dottie sent, though, feels like slipping into a lap and being covered with wings(it’s cold here today and covering is comforting).
Whenever I put my mother to bed I blessed her: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
There. I just put my hand on your forehead and blessed you, too.
XOXOXO
“For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” Sweeter, more true words may not exist. It makes me exhale just to recall those moments spent in the stillness of nature and how it connects me to what matters most. Thank you for this lovely poem.
And hello to my neighbor Ginny who posted b/4 me once again! We are connected in the blog world once again!
Happy New Year to all!
Thank you for the Berry poem. It is very universally soothing and comforting.
I so want the sketch of Momma Moss on my wall. It is perfection!
Happy New Year, MA. Adventure and humor and the ‘peace of wild things’ be yours in 2014.
XO
Go humor. Go good wine. Go poems. Go Mary Ann. Happy New Year.
Adoro le tue storie, i tuoi segni e i tuoi colori!!
Ti auguro un meraviglioso anno nuovo!!
This poem was lovely; perfect for my mood at the moment. Thanks for sharing, Mary Ann. Peace be with you in 2014.
Oh Mary Ann! That poem! Takes my breath away and one I’ll keep close. And that orangey red you’re using makes me want to doodle and paint like nothing else has in recent days.
Not only because I’m enamored with my your art but because of our shared love of a lovely poem (The Peace of Wild Things), I’m certain we are kindred spirits.
Thank you, Mary Ann. That is just what i needed to hear right now.
Don’t you just love some good poetry. Words strung together in a balm for the soul.
Happy New Year!!
Next to “snickerdoodle” my word for 2014 (which I wasn’t going to do this year) seems rather plain jane: “balance”. I’m feeling the urge to peruse my thesaurus which still sits by my computer…. yes, indeedy. A word should delight the palate as well as inspire the soul.
Courage for dealing with the aging of Ms. Moss. And thank you for the kick ass poem.
I spent most of today trying to come up with my “one little word” for 2014…and then, BAM! There you are with “snickerdoodle”…REALLY!
I think I’ll go in a different direction! You always make me laugh at just the right time!
Happy New Year Mary Ann!
Nature is so healing…lovely post…
Nature is a wonderful balm for the soul. Being an avid birder, my world revolves around the natural world and the creatures who live their lives in perfect harmony with their environment. There is wonderment happening daily at my birdbath beneath my living room window. A robin graced us with her presence yesterday. Lovely.
If you can find a copy of Hal Sundials of the Seasons, grab it. He was a naturalist who wrote a column about nature in the newspaper. This book is a compilation of those columns.
Your art has evolved, well done.
Beautiful, soothing poem. I have been where you are, your in my thoughts and prayers.
Beautiful poem. Nature is solace.
What a beautiful poem. I will try to commit it to memory for those wild thing moments that break open in the night. In the meantime, your journaling is surely a balm for your soul and my eyes.
i just love your sketch of your mama….i checked carol’s blog and got to see the three of you together. glad that you were able to spend part of the holidays with them. i am so jealous of your palm springs trip with pam. some day i will do an art retreat there.
happy happy new year to you. i hope that 2014 will bring you joy.
love these and love SNICKERDOODLE as a word!!