JOY! JOY! JOY!

A happy report from the Waldorf School’s Winter Faire – which we still like to call the Christmas Faire! Such a happy ambiance with the magic of 4 cellos underlaying the chatter with the profound depths of sacred music. Ahhh! While booths filled with magic and hard creative work abound. We are so lucky to have this school in our vicinity, brooding over us all like fluffed up hen. So grateful for that!

A beautiful time was had by all and many books were sold. Thank you!

Wishing everyone a blessed holiday season!

WINTER FAIRE AT NELSON WALDORF SCHOOL

This Saturday, Dec. 6 we will be enjoying friends, atmosphere and shopping at the Nelson Waldorf School Winter Faire, 10 am to 4 pm. In my little booth, besides books and mounted illustrations for a child’s room, I have Nature Treasure plates, all to encourage ways children can connect to nature. (More ideas are offered below photo.)

We have either a sweet baby bird, or a little star child, and many tiny things from nature to to be examined and fantasized about (what is this? where do you think this came from?) and rearranged (and joined by other things the child treasures). The real value of such a little world on a plate, in my mind, comes from opening doors to invite more interactions with nature when the weather warms up.

Did you know, Rudolf Steiner teaches us that the young child’s reverence is for their environment? While playing outside as much as possible is wonderfully healthy and good, reverence is not really experienced unless the child is in solitude, or they are with an adult that models reverence and care.

“What’s this? A little ant friend. Where is he going? Let’s watch…What is he saying?…I’m looking for my home.”

“Oh, look. A little snail person…Look, she’s worried… What does she say?… Please put me back where it is shady and safe for me…There you go, little snail…Let’s see if there is another snail house around that is empty.”

“Oh, look. Another snail shell. How beautiful!…Where is the snail?…It has died. Its life has gone back to God, (or Creator, or the Universe). What did the snail say?… Thank you for my life, good-bye….But it will come back….We can put this shell on our nature treasure plate. Thank you for making a beautiful shell, snail.”

“Oh look at the beautiful flowers (or nuts, or strawberries, etc.) May we pick you?… Yes, yes we may!… Thank you, thank you!”

“Oh look at this piece of wood. It has a very strange shape. Should we take it home to our nature treasure plate? – maybe our star child can sit on it (or hang from it).

The value here is learning to connect with loving feeling and reverence for LIFE around us, and the givingness of that life. The exact scientific accuracy is entirely unimportant – the small child relates to living things according to their own model of self (person) and family and home. The beauty of this is to develop a feeling for the sacredness of life, the care we offer to that which lives around us. Reverence.

I hope to see you there!

COLUMBIA BASIN CULTURE TOUR

You are invited!

So happy to let Mother Earth look after my gardens now while I get ready to take part in the Columbia Basin Trust Culture Tour. My presentation will feature displays of original illustrations – some in books and some not, talking a bit about the whys and hows of my work (including on brain waves), an offering of a wet-on-wet painting experience, and hangable prints of illustrations for a child’s room by donation.

Happy Easter

Hello! It’s been a while! Much time has passed with other necessities of life being dealt with. A new book, a really new book, is on the way. It is a little untimely for me, as either the book, or gardening (two of my big passions) have to stand in queue.

My wondering lately has been about ‘reverence’. I wonder if there is any left in our world – where secularism and the scientific analytical mind has bulldozed every awareness of the unseen world. Can humans find their human way devoid of guidance from the inner worlds?

My Little Spot at the Waldorf School’s Fair

Dec. 7, a lovely time, not just in sales but also connections, at the Nelson Waldorf School’s Christmas Fair, shared with my friend Jenn from Maplerose. Thank you so much!

Aside from the new book, Little Star, and the previous book, The Star Children, you can see my ‘merch’, mounted ready-to-hang illustrations from the book, and my newest, little star babies sleeping on clouds. (Although one is awake! These star babies turned out to be a popular item!)

Book Reading in Nelson

Beautiful book reading event in Nelson yesterday at Maplerose’s pop-up anniversary sale, happily attended by children 4 years old to 10! It was commented that they had never heard a book that talked about such things. Said one, “I loved the book!”

Mounted illustrations were again available – children loved choosing one for their room. Thank you Jenn for such a lovely event!