a morning of examinations, probes, tests and anxiety envelops my soul...

I can spare you the details and yes Miss Technician I do BRUISE very easily. I made a few small trips on the way home and immediately hit the bed with my warm and much loved quilt top. Both the dog ..Miss Rosemarie and my faithful companion of 18 years Miss Desdemona ... my black cat kept vigil over my bruised, tired body as I allowed myself to recuperate from the needed trauma from my morning's experiences. I had wanted to interview one of my ladies from the community who has given back many, many to our YMCA and the local campus of OSU here in Licking county. She understood I would have to reschedule and next week works better for her also.

The afternoon was what I needed and with the preparation of fresh wild salmon with long grain unprocessed wild rice and steamed fresh broccoli plus a fruit and spinach salad I visualized myself fighting back with proper rest and good nutrition. Now I am catching up on emails and with every tap of the keys on this keyboard I realize I can make a connection to another artist "out there" making their sacred marks. I look forward to working in a quiet meditative state without the interruptions from unsolicited phone calls for things I don't need and can't afford. I did get a call from an organization that is attempting to help me pay my every growing hospital bills...maybe there are fairy god-people out there who understand that even with some health insurance the money soon runs out for most middle class Americans... I am not complaining but stating the fact that we all are so aware of ...health care is not for the ill or weak. Please...government people listen with your hearts for our nation's future and the promise that every family needs and deserves adequate compassionate care. I have an artist friend whose father is fighting cancer and may face amputation of his arm...he is entering a clinical trial for the oncology research so I asked him to touch his father as often as he possibly can. Human touch is so powerful as is a good hearty laugh when you are with the ones you love and love you back without restrictions.

The sky was a soft flannel gray covering the hillside outside my bedroom window this afternoon. I cherish the whispers on the wind as the last falling leaves tapped on my windowsill as if to reassure me the new cold snow flurries will make the landscape sparkle in a clean, crystal sheath of pure heavenly light. The earth is fragrant with aroma of the solemn ground readying for a long quiet sleep and yet with the promise of rebirth in a matter of time. Patience the tapping repeats in a poetic rhythm that blends with the last of my sparrows songs The moon is still aglow on the treetops and touches the bending bows as they dance in the soft wind as evidence of a lullaby for us all to embrace. I am off the work now and I appreciate your kindest of words and support during these sometimes dark chapters we know as living a Life. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

p.s. Feel free to click on the quilt to see my form of praying with my sacred marks.