finished stitching the frame for a print of Mom’s 77th birthday card that I sent to her 20 years ago… it had several truly ugly moments when it almost ended up in the trash … took 2 months to stitch and knot that photograph … a ridiculous amount of Time… madness really but learned a lot about colour in the process, like painting very very slowly dot by dot
Full Moon in Capricorn
Sun in Cancer
Zodiac revisited 1999-2026 © Mo Orkiszewski
a lot has happened this century… still feels like the future in a science fiction story!
The Karma Chameleon!!! found this rhinestone cowgirl brooch in the Blue Mountains Cat Rescue op shop last week, purrfect for the Instant Karma that keeps happening in this wild year of the Fire Horse… back in the saddle again!
So much has been happening I lose track of Time which I hoped would happen one day when I retired but gosh! it does fly by… I really don’t know what day it is quite often… yikes!
A tree man came to Dunmovin and cut down all the hedges to 2 metres so I don’t have to climb ladders any more. I was getting giddy on the tall ladder so decided it was time to do something about it before I start breaking these old bones…
a bit too neat for my liking but it will get messy again soon enough
a friend turned 77 this month so I resurrected Mom’s 77th birthday card
PS needs more of that dark blue cord stitched right round the three edges …
playing with colour, love how red jumps to the front
A Portal of Intoxication 2011 by Mike Worrall: In and Out of Time 2023
my best friend Penny visited recently so we celebrated with lunch at the fancy Carrington Hotel in Katoomba love the marble lions!
Last week I had a dream about selling up here at Dunmovin to buy a Gypsy Vardo along with a black & white Gypsy Vanner pony to get me on the road and start travelling again! I would have two black & white companions with Rake coming along to travel in comfort & style. The very next day I saw a beautiful Black & White Gypsy Vanner pony online on two websites & it felt like Destiny… Romeo looked just like the horse I had dreamed of as a young girl hoping to buy a pony one day when I was grown up. Romeo was written in the stars just for me! So I made an online enquiry and after a day or so a man answered my email saying he thought Romeo was the perfect fit for me but his name had changed from Michael to Robert… I thought hmmm… oh that’s odd but didn’t want to jinx the spell so when he asked for a deposit before letting me see Romeo I thought okay but then he asked for the full payment before sending me the Agreement to Purchase contract to sign and return. At this point I thought Whoa! no way, $4500 is a lot of money to spend on a pony I hadn’t seen yet but nervously sent the money and accused him of being a scammer. He reassured me it was all just legalese and Romeo would arrive the very next day but he didn’t … The transport company asked for more money to cover the travel insurance to be fully refunded when Romeo arrived safe and sound… I wrote back saying no way you’re scammers ! Robert wrote back again reassuring me that he had talked to the transport company and it was all going to be fine, Romeo would arrive at my house the very next day in the early hours. Meanwhile I had bought in 6 bales of oat straw for bedding, high quality lucerne hay and horse pellets, a 3m x 3m tarp and a shade sail as a temporary stable next to the back shed for shelter from the Westerly Winds, big flexible feed & water buckets and rang the local council for permission to keep a pony in my backyard. Also talked to Jim of Centennial Glen Stables down in the valley to get the phone numbers of the best local vet, farrier, horse dentist etc . He was very helpful, I felt wild and all prepared for Romeo’s imminent arrival but he didn’t arrive and thank goodness my bank stopped all payments and returned the money to my account under the proviso that I never speak to the scammers again or they would have to freeze my account. I contacted the police a few days later, the detective was very patient, made sense of my story and worked out what documentation he needed. So I have learned my lesson, I was a mark, a daft old woman dreaming old dreams from my youth & was very lucky to have such a good bank!
Here’s the only two photos I have of Romeo, the rest have disappeared online… for now
PS The oat straw and lucerne hay have given all the garden beds a fragrant thick blanket of high quality mulch for the winter, the feed buckets are handy for carrying tools and collecting weeds round the garden, the tarp and shade sail will come in handy when I have a 5 years after garden party on the Summer Solstice in 2027. So there is a silver lining to this wild tale and if a good pony ever shows up in my future needing a home he can live with me & Rake here at Dunmovin!
PS must write a post soon about Clara Hali’s Midnight Shifting 2000 !
PPS https://www.youtube.com/embed/xMz01jD1634?si=YauJR2W3HqJgzgI-
https://www.facebook.com/bowtopwagons
Dorothea Dauter’s pennant is with Paul & his wife Becky in the UK
Hi Dot,
the beautiful pendent you gave us is hanging in Becky’s practice room where it oversees her viola practice most days. I knew it was dear to you but didn’t realise the connection at the time. Typical of you to give away something so precious.
Miss you
Paul and Becky
Glenda Chamberlain wrote
The charms of Laugh, Love, Live, and Hope have tarnished over the years. I was going to polish them but decided not to…. we all age and perhaps tarnish a bit but underneath the sentiments are still shining brightly. 🙂
Also, I bought these Mid Summer Eclipse moon pieces from (I believe) Jude Hill many years ago thinking I would do something with them. I have finally admitted that I probably won’t and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather give them to than you. If you’d like to have them let me know your address and I’ll send them.
I love your posts and photos of Dunmovin.
All the best, Glenda
Bronwyn Berman ‘Love is the answer’
Ninth Elegy
by Maria Rainier Rilke
Why—when we might have been laurel trees,
a little darker than all the other greens,
with tiny curves at the edge of every leaf
(like the smiles of a wind)—why, then,
did we have to be made human, so that
denying our destiny, we still long for it?
Certainly not because happiness really exists,
that quick gain of an approaching loss.
Not to experience wonder or to exercise the heart.
The laurel tree could have done all that.
But because just being here matters, because
the things of this world, these passing things,
seem to need us, to put themselves in our care
somehow. Us, the most passing of all.
Once for each, just once. Once and no more.
And for us too, once. Never again.
And yet it seems that this—to have once existed,
even if only once, to have been a part
of this earth—can never be taken back.
And so we keep going, trying to achieve it,
trying to hold it in our simple hands,
our already crowded eyes, our dumbfounded hearts.
Trying to become it. And yet who do we plan
to give it to? True, we’d rather keep it all
ourselves, forever. But into that other state
what can be taken across? to the ability to see,
which we learn here so slowly, and not anything
that’s happened here. None of it. And so,
the pain. And so, before everything else,
the weariness. The long business of love.
Only the completely indescribable things.
But later, under the stars—what good would it do
anyway, then, to describe these things?
For the traveler doesn’t bring back
from the mountainside to the valley
a handful of earth, which would explain nothing
to anyone, but rather some acquired word, pure,
a blue and yellow gentian. And are we here,
perhaps, merely to say: house, bridge, fountain,
gate, jar, fruit tree, window—at most,
pillar, tower? But to say them, you understand—
to say them in such a way that even the things
themselves never hoped to exist so intensely.
Isn’t the sly earth’s secret purpose,
when it urges two lovers on, that all of creations
should share in their shudder of ecstasy?
A doorsill: the simple way two lovers
will wear down the sill of their door a little_
they too, besides those who came before
and those who will come after . . . gently.
Here is the time for what you can say,
this is its country. Speak and acknowledge.
More than ever things are falling away—
the things that we live with—and what is replacing them
is an urge without image. An urge whose crusts
will crumble as soon as it grows too large
and tries to get out. Between the hammerblows
our heart survives—just as the tongue, even
between the teeth, still manages to praise.Praise,
but tell the angel about the world,
not the indescribable. You can’t impress him
with your lofty feelings; in the universe,
where he feels with far greater feeling, you’re
just a beginner. So show him some simple thing,
something that’s fashioned from generation to generation
until it becomes really ours, and lives near our hand,
and in our eyes. Tell him about the things.
He’ll stand there amazed, the way you stood
beside the rope-maker in Rome or the potter on the Nile.
Show him how happy a thing can be, how innocent
and ours, how even the groan of sorrow decides
to become pure form, and serves as a thing
or dies in a thing, escaping to the beyond,
ecstatic, out of the violin. And these things,
that live only in passing, they understand
that you praise them. Fleeting, they look to us,
the most fleeting, for help. They hope that within
our invisible hearts we will change them entirely into—
oh endlessly—into us! Whoever we finally are.
Earth, isn’t this what you want, to rise up in us
invisible? Isn’t it your dream to be someday
invisible? Earth! Invisible! If not this change,
what do you ask for so urgently? Earth, loved one,
I will. Believe me, you don’t need any more
of your springtimes to win me: one
is already more than my blood can take
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been yours
completely. You’ve always been right,
and your most sacred idea is that death
is an intimate friend.
Look: I live. But from where do I draw this life,
since neither childhood nor the future grows less . . . ?
More being than I can hold springs up in my heart!
Translated by Gary Miranda
Saskia van Herwaarden made a beautiful talisman that was very hard to send back
Hazel Monte aka Handstories ‘Love can mend‘ was full of exquisitely stitched details
Nancy Erisman aka Pomegranate Trail ‘s pennant is a book full of Love
Louise Watson sent this photo of her bird pennant framed
so I’m asking everyone to send photos of where their pennants and talismans are now in this year of the Fire Horse,
dreaming with the ripples expanding, lighting the path for Love to find the Way through
I love how we all spark each other, riffing on expanding the ripples Louise suggested making new talismans of Love for our beautiful broken world. Let’s do it, with no size restrictions this time.
I am doing a talisman making workshop next month with Gabrielle Bates who made this home protection amulet for the Dream back in 2019
“Home Protection Amulet” by Gabrielle Bates timber, nails, bone, twigs, twine and iron oxide protection and grounding for the dream North East South West the gathering see more of Gabrielle’s powerful art on her website, instagram & facebook Mystic City May 2017 Tree Shrining March 2018 AnimismS at Mothership Studios May 2018 “Bone Broom” by Gabrielle Bates blessing our home May 2018 namaste Magic Days
Liz Ackert’s pennon for the dream
Liz Ackert’s pennon for the dream traveled all the way from Texas, with a crow card! and the mended shell she made in Jude Hill’s Considering Weave class when we first met, the weaving is so fine I hung the pennon on the line in the afternoon sun to relax from the journey Old Man Crow was blown away seeing all the words of his song I dream of a world where love is the answer stitched so beautifully into the pennon here’s the pennon, shell and card happily settling into the studio space, the dream is real, I can hold it in my hands and read it! hanging out on the front door this side of the cloth holds words from Old Man Crow, Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, John Lennon, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Dee Mallon, Marti in New Mexico, and me! delicate asemic writing across the top of the pennon the other side of the pennon holds all of the words to Old Man Crow ‘s song the beauty of Liz’s stitching combined with Deb Lacativa’s ‘dirty threads’ you can read more about Liz making this dream come true over on her blog (((Liz))) stirring the pot, magic is afoot!
and now here it is in the lounge room at Dunmovin, I sent Liz’s beautiful shell back to her but kept her pennon & the beautiful memory of Old Man Crow reading every word…
Marti’s Pennant was later taken apart and reconfigured
Marti ‘s pennant for the dream is changing with the elementals
“Thought you might like to see what has become of my pennant from I Dream of a World Where Love is the Answer: When I received it back from you, I hung it in my pear tree and sent you photos but over the past few months, it has taken a beating hanging out in our pear tree. Winds have buffeted it, rain has soaked it and that is all to the good but it is our fierce sun that has faded the cloth bits to a delicate patina, if I can use that word when describing cloth! What doesn’t fade is the fact that love while at times, fragile, holds. and is always the answer to helping our world.
I love the idea of keeping the pennant outdoors but it was becoming fragile; I didn’t want to deconstruct it so I did some thinking. As much as I love dyeing with the foraged natural gifts that I find in the land, now and then, I get jazzed by the alchemy of creating rusty cloths. The magic that comes from using steel wool strands, rusty pipes, horse shoes, clamps, files, old nails, is terrific. Recently I worked with all of these rusty bits and came up with a cloth that while industrial looking is also reminiscent of the cliffs and markings here in New Mexico. As I looked at this cloth, a light bulb went off in my head! What if I enfolded my fading pennant in this tough cloth. The idea that it would be intact but hidden also appealed to me. Rust takes a long time to fade, I’ve had rusty cloths outdoors for several years and so, I did just that; tucked it inside the rusty cloth and stitched a new cover for my pennant. Sadly the winds tore away the tree and peace symbol talisman, made by Barry Smith, that I had at the end of the pennant but on a positive note, I like the idea that someone may find it on a sandy trail, on the sidewalk or in an arroyo. I did stitch the little piece of blue armature and of course, the star that you sent to the front of the pennant cover. It holds so much joy and connection from the Gathering. I had dyed the lace and tulle bits that you had sent in tea so added a few pieces of lace also to the new pennant cover. The juxtaposition of the delicate lace with the tough rusty cloth I find quite sentimental and I love knowing that the original pennant that shared so many connections with the Gathering flies once again, free in the New Mexico wind, sending its vibe of connection and caring.”
love holds for our beautiful broken world keeping The Dream alive
here’s links to
ripples post 1
ripples post 2
ripples post 3
namaste
& Jude Hill’s was lost in the mail
Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth‘s pennant arrived today!
Love Takes Time
the exquisite point of the needle left in place
the trail of red dots
through the heart of the matter
the depth of detail
weaving time
with so much love
view from the other side
settling in for a good yarn with the gathering
Jude Hill has quietly created a revolution with her Spirit Cloth, inspiring a wonderful circle of women from all around the world with “just going”, stitching through all the thicks and thins of life, generously sharing her process with deep integrity and heart.
this gathering of love for our beautiful broken world is inspired by Jude’s Magic Feather Project when I first met this magic woman and her circle of cloth conjurors
(((Jude)))
namaste
This is such a poignant way to feel the love growing
Today is magic, just got the most beautiful poem from Wendy who works with traumatized children
The many children, who looked at this particular project: “I dream of a world where love is the answer”, on my computer…were forever inspired. We did not make flags or talisman, and yet the children would move more deeply into their own process of “where love is the answer”.
I am getting ready to move into a new home. While I was sorting through boxes, I found this piece written by a child who visited the studio for more than two years. She was nine when she wrote this. Elena had just finished looking at some photos of your project on my laptop…. and here is what she wrote:
If love is the answer, then my foster parents are wrong.
rules are the answer they always say.
I want to have a Mo flag as a cape. I want to run around Toronto with a big sign that says:
“I dream of a world where love is the answer”.
I think that artist named Mo understands about softness.
But also hardness. Not that she is hard. But if you know what love is,
you also know what being hard is. to protect yourself. I love coming to Wendy’s studio to learn about love.
about loving myself into Mo’s world. I would line up all the art that Mo makes and pass it along to
all the children in the world. And the energy from Mo’s art love
would heal all us kids who don’t know how to love ourselves.
But looking on the computer. At Mo’s ideas. Gives me ideas. That maybe other people are wrong who say you gotta have power and that is what makes you happy and grown up.
But i know now, that Mo has got the real answer because Love is starting to seep into me.
And I actually dreamed of a world where love is the answer. It was a really good dream.
Thank you Mo
from Elena
age 9
Shine On Beautiful Dreamers!
Old Man Crow’s musical compadre Barry Ferrier is making an AI assisted Trickster Coyote & the Roadrunner cartoon, it’s getting very funny & lots of fun
It's Crow Time 
