The Farm at South Mountain

This is how the mountains look at about 5:45pm, on my way to my pottery class, which is held at The Artist's Studio at the Farm at South Mountain.

The sun is getting ready to settle down for the evening and the wind is starting to kick up dust.



As you can tell in the photo above,
we don't have many vegetable farms around these parts!

The Farm at South Mountain is a rarity.



It's become a retreat from the city, within the city.

There are cafes, restaurants, a healing arts retreat, an artist studio, outdoor yoga, shops, gardens, weddings, pecan groves, fresh air (well, we imagine it is),
and the sounds of birds chirping.


Once inside the Artist's Studio, this is the centerpiece that drives creativity.














This is my work of art.
I wanted to make a candle holder that created beautiful shadows on the wall. I didn't have a solid design in mind- just thought I would play around and see what happened. During the process, it started to dry out quite a bit. A piece chipped off at one point. A very important piece. So, I decided to go with it. We are going for the aged effect, so I started ruthlessly chipping, allowing the process of decay to unfold.

And so here it is, the final product. I can't wait to see how it looks after it has been fired. Mostly, I want to watch the shadows dancing on the wall!

Prom Night

Saturday was Prom Night at New Samaritan High School.

This is the beautiful cake that Stephanie Wiczynski's mom made:)

Here is the Prom King and Queen.
No, not really; it's just Swede and I, on the red carpet.

I had to include this picture, because Shannon has excellent taste in prom dresses. She and I both wore vintage pink lace dresses.

Ah yes, the real King and Queen.
Oops, another false alarm!
It's Dr. Miller, our Principal, and his lovely wife, KC.
She owns SWIHA, the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, where I did my Yoga Teacher Training. In fact, our prom was in the YTT room! It's going to need some serious Feng Shui after we're done with it!

No need to worry about getting spiked punch with the
Punch Patrol
on duty! Mrs. Alvis, Mrs. Fierro and Mrs. Fierro's Mama.

This is Tasha, our Registrar extraordinaire. Without her this prom night would not have been so special. She did all the organizing, shopping, and decorating. I am sure there are a million other details left unmentioned. Oh yes, the guy misbehaving- that's Robert.
You can pretty much expect this type of thing from him.

Our newest addition, Brittany, who is going to teach in Indonesia next year, and Mark, our greatest asset and DJ, who will be teaching in China.

I guess Mr. Alvis is our newest newest addition, yet it seems like he has been with us forever. He is the English teacher who takes our students on amazing intellectual adventures every day.

The boys.
Daniel, our Math teacher, Mr. Canfield, Social Studies, and Mark again.

Drop it like it's hot.

Well, we are all dying to know who will be Prom King and Queen, right?

Alas, the jury is in. Desiree Perez and Robert Gonzalez. This is the first time Robert has ever behaved.

Pratyahara

"Pratyahara is the process of directing the senses inward to become aware of the subtle elements of sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell. Ultimately, all experience is consciousness. When you look at a flower in your garden, your eyes receive frequencies of electromagnetic radiation that trigger chemical reactions in the rods and cones at the back of your eyes. As a result of these chemical changes in your retinas, electrical impulses are generated that eventually reach the visual cortex at the back of your brain. The interpretation of these fluctuations in energy and information takes place in your consciousness. Although you imagine that you are seeing the flower outside of you, you are actually experiencing it within you on the screen of your awareness. "

- Deepak Chopra

Ingrid

This is my friend, Ingrid.

I love this picture. Long ago, Swede had this cute little apartment, and Ingrid and I would come over for coffee and reading. Here we are reading Swede's favorite Martial Arts Teacher, Hatsumi's book, Understand? Good, Play! It looks like Ingrid has been busted by Hatsumi doing something naughty, not that Ingrid has ever been bad a day in her life! I guess that's what makes it so much funnier!

This picture is nice, too. The Three Musketeers:)

Remember, I said Ingrid has never been naughty a day in her life. Swede on the other hand is another story. On this special occasion, Ingrid and I have patched up Swede's eyes so he cannot see. He went blind the whole weekend, while Ingrid led him around town on various adventures. Swede was testing out his five-dollar-dance moves with his new perception on life, while Ingrid is clearly taken by surprise!

Ingrid took our blinded Swede to the Mill Avenue Taco Del Mar. I don't know what Swede is doing in this picture, but we are all cracking up!

Ingrid joins us for holidays when she is not out of town visiting her parents in London. Here she is making cider on Halloween with Zabrina.

We all just love Ingrid.
She is peaceful and kind.
She is a music therapist.
She plays Celtic music on the harp.
She used to live right across the street.
She lives on the ocean in California now.
She is far away.
She is still in our hearts and thoughts.

BTW: She has a blog, too- and her poetry is beautiful.

Good morning all, and Happy Birthday Cousin Lesley!!! I love Mondays. I don't have to be to work until 10, so I can check all my favorite blogs just as the early morning sun comes through the office window. I didn't want to stay away too long for those of you who are checking in:)

This is what the view looks like from inside my office. There is a Swedish super model practicing Manuel Ponce on his Guitar as I write this blog.

The picture below is of Swede and I on our last journey to Utah. We hiked in the Timpanogos Mountains with our lovely Roxanne, searching for snow, and snow we found! We eventually came upon some Moose tracks and heard some heavy breathing far off in the woods, so decided to head back to civilization.


We ran the whole way down the Mountain and snuck up on a couple of Mountain Goats, an extremely rare find up here. So rare, Walkara, Chief of the Utes, used to call them White Buffalo. They escaped so quickly, it was obvious they didn't want to be seen. Rocks fell from up above, alerting us to their presence just seconds before they disappeared.

Wild Nights

Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile the winds
To a heart in port,
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart!

Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in Thee!

This is my first blog posting. So, where does one begin... how far back should I go? I decided to start with one of my favorite memories, which honors a couple of great friends. As the poem suggests, wild nights are our luxury! I met Lynn at the Arizona School of Massage Therapy, where I used to teach Anatomy. We one day discovered that we had so much in common. She used to teach Anatomy, too. She is also an artist. And before you know it, she was no longer working at ASMT, because she got a job teaching Art. I missed my friend, but no worries, I, too, am teaching Art now, not to mention, Yoga and Anatomy, my other two favorite subjects:)

So, it all starts here, at my favorite place in my house... the fireplace:) Yes, I live in the Valley of the Sun, but who can resist a warm cozy fire every now and then? On this very special evening, Swede and I invited Lynn, and Jason, Lynn's son, over for dinner in front of the fire.

Would you believe, Jason is another anomaly? Swede is one to begin with, but that Lynn's son Jason shares also so much in common with Swede, I can only sigh, "Sadu, sadu," to the universe for such a strange twist of fate. By the way, that's our dog Roxanne with Lynn and Jason.

Of course we needed someone to chop the wood I'd foraged from the neighborhood refuse for the fire. Swede thought it might be an insult to hand our guest an ax, but we soon found another thing these boys have in common, they are both Mountain Men.

Lynn and I cheerfully chatted, and stacked the many many dishes from the evening's festivities a mile high into the sink... to be washed at a later date. It's hard to capture the vibrancy that emanates from the four of us when we all get together. It's like we are all children again, lost in the moment, keeping no track of time. We all went for a glorious walk in our beautiful historical Maple Ash Neighborhood of Tempe, AZ. We are shaded by fifty-year old trees. Lynn and I noticed many palm leaves had been blown to the ground by a monsoon wind storm from the day before. We wondered if they burned well. There's only one way to find out... so we snuck across the street and plucked a fran from the neighbor's yard. Sure enough, the palm fran was extremely flammable, as we suspected and provided a delightful glow:)

Keep the frans away from the fire!!!

In between nursing the flames, we told stories and laughed. The time ticked by effortlessly. I found myself performing Yoga tricks for my guests. Swede played the flute at one point. And then it was time for Swede to show off his Ken Sword. Swede and Jason both have studied Martial Arts extensively, so Jason was familiar with the ritual.

How cool for Swede! It's not very often that he meets another person of his caliber!

Jason was not up for sparring with Swede, but I'm always game. I have been working on sticky hands now for about two years. I am starting to develop my own style and strategy. I've got game. When I am ready, Swede will train me in Ninjitsu. Would you believe that when all was said and done, this wild night didn't end until 4:30 in the morning???


We weren't surprised, though. That's what happened the first time we were invited for dinner at Lynn and Jason's. So, whenever we plan to get together, we are really careful about picking a date. We have to pick a day of the week, and week of the school year that will allow us a couple of days to recover from our slumber party!

Before we met Lynn and Jason, I thought wild nights were gone for good! As we get older, we depend on getting to bed early to make it through our hectic lifestyles. It's fun to know that when Swede and I feel like throwing routine out the window to kick up our heals, we've got two great friends to share the festivities with. When is the last time you pulled an all nighter because you lost track of time?