Happy Mother's Day...

I am sort of melancholy today because I am missing my mother Rosie even more than usual today. I still have the urge every evening to pick up the phone and call her to have a quiet chat at the end of the day. I know she is guiding me with each new day ...my daughters have had sick little ones so our celebration will have to be postponed for right now. Every day is the real Mother's Day...when you hear a small child awake in the evening...a fall off the front steps... to give of a kiss for a boo boo....the answer to the call "I am hungry". In this moment... I have a PBS Nature special on "Bears of the Last Frontier" part 1 , watching the Naturalist/ Bear ecologist Chris Morgan capture intimate documentary films and describe the raw prehistoric feelings he felt as he came up close to the mothers with their cubs. The circle of Life is played out as the bears all await the arrival of an early salmon run...breeding and searching for foods and raising their cubs safely to adulthood. I am reminded that there are many parallels between the wilds and our civilized family units we have here in our communities. In many ways I remember the courage my own mother demonstrated as the six of her children grew in young adults. My Mom knew when to assist...and when to remain calm ...and finally when to step in when she saw we were in some type of difficulty ...a broken dream or marriage...the miscarriage...the loss of her own parents...I hear the whispers of her love each night when I finally place my head on my pillow...tomorrow will be a new day...sleep now and know you are so loved.

"Animals in Nature always have a message for us, start noticing when they show up in your life."

I took this day to recover from an artistic mishap... I was almost done with my commission for Hospice open house this Thursday... when I smeared the calligraphy inks for the list of the original foundation members. I could and I did cry. This is a heart felt commission I wanted to do my very best works for such a gracious organization. I retrieved some new papers, inks and the design elements I need to start over. I will gesso over the Arches watercolor paper and use it for another project...the process is the journey and at times my own critical eye sometimes can get me off the right track and frustration prevails. Cross you fingers and toes...tomorrow I will begin slowly to create a new clean work.

I need to finish my "fancy" Inchie tonight and dry the last load of laundry. Remember all the mothers... young and old who are still blazing a new frontier for us all who might have a better life. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart


Enjoy the whispers from the brilliant greens flourishing in the rebirth of the soil...the birds have their own melodic songs as the eggs burst into life...