Creative Update Fall 2017
Fall 2017 Update
Cathy's Curated Creativity
WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE this fall has been. My dear mother-in-law died on September 21 after a long illness so my husband and I put the planned sale of our house on hold until next spring. Amidst the loss there have been gifts: I've explored and photographed the Olympic Peninsula with my soul sisters, written columns and blog posts, and taught at the Write in the Harbor writer's conference the first weekend in November.
Now we are on the cusp of Thanksgiving and I am grateful for the opportunity to share with you some of my words and images. And I thank you for being part of the community that sustains me.
There are moments when suffering drives me toward despair, days when bad news is continuous, and I turn away—from others, my true self, God.
How can I accept my powerlessness, while still trusting in a power greater than myself? How do I bear up under the great need of the world without collapsing under its weight?
Part of the answer for me is the Academy for Spiritual Formation where I come face-to-face with brokenness in concert with God’s unrelenting love, where, instead of turning away in fear, I come closer. I’m upheld in silence and sacred interactions, contemplationand community.
Listening with resonance, transformation is possible, for all of us. This is the Good News we need when the cultural news tells a different story.
It’s a privilege to be part of the 2018 Greater Northwest 5 Day Academy Leadership team; I invite you to join us April 29-May 4.
Thanksgiving in a Box
It was November 1993 when my husband and I undertook our first kitchen remodel along with the honor and responsibility of preparing Thanksgiving dinner.
My grandmother, who’d handed off her apron to me, would put every leaf in her dining room table to accommodate ten of us. She pressed her best tablecloth, set out the fancy china, crystal goblets, a myriad of serving dishes, and arranged elaborate centerpieces.
Read more at Key Peninsula News
Benefits of Off-Season Home Buying
One hidden benefit of buying a home this time of year in the Pacific Northwest is the opportunity to experience the house and neighborhood in the dark and wet before you buy it, something that’s nearly impossible in summer.
Read the full blog post I wrote for my office broker, Jennie Wetter >>
In Memory of Mama Honey
The gift of belonging is one of the most precious gifts I've received in my life, a gift that my mother-in-law extended to me and everyone who graced her doors.
Any friend of anyone in her family, or any friend of a family friend, was a friend hers. Friends and relatives could stop by my mother-in-law's anytime. No need to call first. And any occasion was a cause for celebration. No need for a fancy menu, or to send out invitations.
Canning Tomatoes
I'm delighted to have my short essay "Canning Tomatoes" included in Tania Runyan's book How To Write a College Application Essay, a great guide for high school seniors (and others) applying for college. My essay opens like this:
My mother and I crouch in a tomato field off Road 98, pulling and twisting red globes from thick hairy stalks, gently setting them into generic black yard bags that we heft down the rows, bumping against our bare calves, which are yellow from the tomatoes’ pollen sweat and the pesticide powder that pours in vapor trails from the belly of the crop dusters early in the season.
Find the book and my essay (on page 12) here >>
Write in the Harbor Benediction
Asked to give some closing advice to attendees at the writers' conference, I found myself writing a benediction instead (I suppose I really am a pastor and poet at heart). May these words bless you as well:
Your imagination is clamoring
for incarnation,
so keep creating, keep writing
and you will discover
wisdom long ago forgotten
waiting to be begotten
through your trusty lips
enfleshed by your faithful pen.
Language is our lifeline
our anchor, our buoy
our mask and fins
the oxygen that fills our lungs
and propels us into wholeness
as we paddle toward
the true thought
grasp tight the right word.
Swim far.
Dive deep.
Write in the Harbor Info>>
Our master bathroom looks even better than I imagined when designing it, thanks to the great work of my husband and our small crew at Yellow Ribbon Homes. Like us on Facebook for more before and after transformations.
Videos & Photo Haikus
Thanks to the Panasonic Lumix that fits in my pocket with it's 60x zoom lens, I've had fun taking short videos of birds and seals on the Hood Canal and a few other things as well. You can find them on my channel.
I add to my photo haikus whenever the mood strikes.
Find them on my website.