There is a big basket of nothings here and I continue to build with them. Something from nothing is the most amazing happening. Mountain Self emerged. As I realized, I am my biggest challenge.
Soul-o likes the chair by the window. As I struggle with how to continue, to be useful without worry, my old self listens to him purr and imagines how one thing might just become another because that's the way it goes.
So in this lead up to my next journey around the sun, my goal is simply to get over myself.
Good morning,
I feel so lucky and grateful to the times we are living… we have the opportunity to be all connected through new technologies, regardless of age or of where are we from.
So, I am from Barcelona, living in Rome and traveling today to Paris for a business trip. In my luggage, simply the strictly necessary to stay overnight and a small piece of cloth with my work to keep stitching in the hotel tonight…
my feeling is that Jude’s spirit or presence is accompanying me to Paris today. And reading the comments from all of you at 5:30 while going to the airport… makes me feel so lucky to live in these times that allow me to be connected to all of you by our passion for stitching
I wish you all a wonderful day!
When I was commuting to NYC everyday for 35 years, well that is how spirit cloth started, a little thread and cloth in my pocket everyday. How wonderful to connect through this thread. Thank you for your comment.
What a thoughtful comment. I often feel the same way about this group but don’t say it out loud. I think in this busy and confusing time, it’s a good thing to do, so thank you for the kind words and the reminder to share them
😀
❤️❤️❤️
Happy Birthday Jude! It seems we all move forward in time together.
Big smile for you.😊🎈
yes, we😁 are all just travelling companions
I believe in birthday months so let the party begin! 🙂 The liquid puzzle, so much to look at…
I think I am actually going to have a party!
I really like your writing, I find it thoughtful and thought-provoking, and your posts inspire me to keep making art. Thank you!
mountain self becoming a party hat… purrrrfect! love this almost b&w portrait of u2. magical…
what if everything is magic?
Because I am notoriously late with birthday wishes, I’ll add mine a little early. Here’s to another trip around the sun…may it be glorious.
actually, it’s not my birthday until the 19th, so you are early!
I do computer in late afternoon maybe you do not see comments then. but a very good birthday.to youth carry out guy at store asked me how I was. my answer was I am ok his response was only ok I am vertical sun is shining and my cat is healthy. wow he was in my class we are both 82 now I must be at peace
ok is wonderful because it is solid somehow. to me.
Happy birthday, Jude. And look at all these wonderful gifts of wisdom and supportive friendship being offered here. I’ll be 85 next week, and even at that wobbly age, there’s still much to learn or be reminded of when I come to this home you have created with your cloth whispering. Weaving fabric and threads, yes, but even better, sharing knowledge and weaving friendships.
85! yay!
Since turning 71 my mind has opened to allow my death some space. It has opened to allow my priorities to change and I have been increasingly more available to my husband and son and home. I used to be very focused on me and my quilt, my photographs, my painting, my making. Now I find myself sitting quietly and listening to distant butterfly wings. The old ways have passed, and I feel like I’m floating inside my future and there are no plans. It’s lonely.
L0ve.
I have embraced it all somehow, making it into one thing. Thinking of them becoming one another. It has simplified something.
Please send a postcard from the other side, with directions.
maybe I will grow wings and deliver it myself. ❤️
A much needed post for me to see/read! Love all the comments. xo
I used to play this on the guitar. Oh gee, I think I need a guitar again!
Jude you are in good company as the philosopher said, “But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caverns and forests. Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself! And your way goes past yourself, and past your seven devils! You will be a heretic to yourself and witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and villain. You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame: how could you become new, if you had not first become ashes?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
So, no problem eh? Happy Birthday to all the angels, devils, wise witches, and mischief makers inside you.
Wow, if THAT doesn’t say it all…..‼️ Thanks for that, Sharon.
Happy Birthday Jude 🌼
Love the photo 💚 your great just the way you are 🙏🤩
Enjoy
Maria
enjoying!
all the stray selves come home eventually!
The older I get the less things matter. I think as we get older we learn to weed out the unnecessary and superfluous and just enjoy life in spite of what troubles it brings.
meaning shifts with time
Happy, happy celebration of your Day of Life, dear friend. May this next trip around the sun bring delight and time to fully enjoy every day in whatever way it presents to you.
I’ll take any trip…
“To be useful without worry” – that’s the challenge, isn’t it? At this point in life (age 67) I feel so blessed to have some time to move as the spirit moves me. Yet I know that I still have a lot to give to the world, creatively & otherwise. I’m trying to sort things out, too, and not get stressed out by things that don’t really matter in the long run. Thanks, Jude, for sharing your thoughts & art! I love the mountain self & it’s nice to see a photo of you. Enjoy the day!
Hey Beth O, are you any relation to Soul-O😊?
No, but that would be nice if I was!
age offers so much in terms of living experience. The stories are worth sharing. we know.
Well, almost Happy B-Day, Jude! Moving on up as the song says. I am in my 80’s so you seem young!
ha, right?
Thanks for saying this Rae! I’ll be 65 soon, which is feeling old after a hard year+ …. but really, is it?
February birthdays come at a time of year where everything is still dormant for winter but we’re halfway through the dark days and can feel the tension of spring underneath and inside everything. It’s an interesting time to be reflective because there’s an underlying urgency to everything, we’re still resting but are ready to GO already. I turned 55 on February 2. Yes 55 years of groundhogs day jokes. I no longer fear aging because I have been given bigger things to be afraid of. Time is precious though, thank you for spending so much of yours sharing with us.
oh isn’t that the truth about fear…
This sounds like the perfect challenge for me as well. Thanks for putting it into words, which so often fail me.
I struggled, but then…poof! 😎
Well no wonder I saw a party hat instead of a mountain. Happy Birthday Jude!
I’m glad u saw that, partying already, but the year turns on the 19th.
A very blessed birthday!🥰
Not today but soon…Thank you…
Nice portrait of you and Soul-o 💙
and you’re going strong 💪
I feel good. I want to hold on to that.
Well done! Enjoy the journey and Happy Birthday!
A journey is a privilege at this point…
wouldn’t it be lovely to get over oneself? it’s hard for me to even imagine for myself. and how entwined that all is now with social media. love the portrait, PS
Twould be, ha! We are certainly woven in…
I was trying to take a pic of cloth on the wall and accidentally reversed the camera. Funny really, I needed to look at myself.
The Journey of the Birthday Month! Today is my day
Sixty one!
I look in the mirror now and begin to see my mother. I never looked like her before!
I’m discovering at this late date that life is always full of challenges, we can pick them up, like flowers, and hold them to the sun, or leaves them a scattered along the wayside.
And there is freedom in that.
I love your Mountain Self and this lovely portrait of you and Soul-O😻
happy birthday 2u…and many more… hugs
They just keep coming, I gladly welcome them.
Hapoy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
💐 and many more 💙
I’ll be 63 next month! One year older than my grandma lived, and it seems strange.
One grandma was 83, the other 96!
Happy Birthday!
OK, I’ll date myself….and mean it…….”You Go Girl”‼️
just going as always…😂
Reading and resonating with all these special words and pictures…. Heart opening to all the common ground. I asked myself how to express my nearly 78…. It’s like, once I was a bright sparkly wave breaking on the shore, lively, bursting with energy. Gradually I have moved out into deeper waters, less drama, calmer swell, slower, deeper wonder, rocking gently. Just going eh? Lovely selfie Jude, thank you for sharing …
“[…] my goal is simply to get over myself.” Oh, I had to chuckle out loud over this one. So, so true. Has always been.
Love the mountains and saw the peeping little brown one as a dog … two faint ears, big snout, black nose, one eye showing.
Thanks! My birthday month, too. It’s a good one (the Chinese New Year of the wood dragon is spectacular for creative thinkers and makers).
So many Februarians!
I like the photo of you and your cat. Whilst playing Scrabble recently I learned a new word – nek – which is apparently a mountain path.
Oh thank you, I remember…South African origin I think. The man here is so into language, and how they cross over. He worked at the UN for so long and most of his friends are from all different places. There is always a word party! I like this photo too, it was how it was.
I wonder how many of us that visit here are feeling thoses exact feelings.
Reaching new levels of “push” on what feels like a downward slide.
Struggling within oneself with the fight to find a new middle ground to land.
A new learning curve .. one where the flesh is feeling the need to just let it go..
but, then we know that is not our nature .. to push on in some meaningful degree.
Just another way.. you have taught or confirmed our own journey of discoveries.
Thank you for everything you share .. so openly.
You expressed it so well.
Common ground comes to mind.
Go for it, Jude. The landscape is clear when we reach our pinnacle…enjoy the view!
Certainly can change your perspective