Journey with my brother Wallace at Hennepin Healthcare 3/27/25

 

Wallaces Beautiful and Important Paintings

Ode For Saint Patricks Day

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY MUSINGS for March 17, 2025

Even though I am full of visions and inspirations from a Journey South...I pause to remamber

my Irish Island Past with this post!

Three drawings done in the moment at URBAN FORAGE CIDER HOUSE 

Minneapolis, Minnesota. 31st and Lake Street.

. .  

So Memories gather round as they do on Saint Patricks Day when I recall my solitary life

on the small island of Inisheer so long ago...almost 50 years ago now..when donkey's roamed the

grasses of the hand planted plain...when I lived in the thatched cottage of the old storyteller 

Joe Mairthain and came away with so many stories to tell...and so I remain a storyteller today

weaving tales and drawings from my every day life...but stopping to remember my island past..

when the islanders wore home spun and how weather was forecast by the wind direction.

And there by my lonesome introverted hearth with the fire warming my knees

dreaming of a life I did not know I would have...as mystical sparks flew from the flames

I imagined the stories told around this fire and perhaps sensed some Jewish mystical sparks

flying about that would shape my future some 28 years hence...and did I know or not know I would teach...and that I would marry a very tall man who would visit the island with me in 1987..

and that life would bring this and would bring that and after a long illness he would pass away in 2019...and I would grieve him a long long time...before my heart took flight again.....

It is all a mystery and here is my sacred hearth that still warms me in memory

 

And so the island remains..so large and so small that

now I can hold it in my hand and write out the story to you.

Happy St Patricks Day to ye!

 

Meditation in Tough TImes

   Come, come whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshipper

lover of leaving. It doesn't matter

ours is Not a caravan of despair

Come, even if you have broken

your vows a thousand times...

Come yet again,

Come              Come

-Jeladin Rumi

Several Times a Week I tune into the Institute for Jewish Studies Meditation Room

It is always rich and inward.  Full of Jewish text and guidance.

Full of insights from many wise and insightful rabbis.

Always it is nourishing and always 

I draw and document some inner aspect of it.

Come! Come! Wherever you are!

This was for the parsha text called BO from about two weeks ago.

Bo means Come!!

All the more meaningful!

The Peddler: Honoring my Great Grandfather Isaac Marion

The Peddler: Honoring my Great Grandfather Isaac Marion

Once upon a time a long time ago...before my memory was formed

Before I was born..my ancestor Isaac Marion was a peddler

who sold Seltzer Water in the town of Cimplulong Moldesvec

in Northern Romania.

Once upon a time a long time ago I started my inner search 

to connect to my Jewish ancestors 

ignited by the mystical sparks I felt 

as I taught in the Jewish Day School

in St Paul Minnesota.

Guided by my dreams and inner ruminations I was able

to flounder and find my way.

A 1998 trip to Romania including a visit to 

Cimpulong Moldesvec illuminated my search

But it would be 5 more years until I made 

my way to the mikvah under the guidance 

of Rabbi Allen...

 so now in this present moment

 I am 72 years old.

Sipping seltzer water as I write.

Here I am peddling my wares.

My cards, my Romance Zine

my prints, my paintings.

This week it has been small

meaningful endeavors. 

I put my Romance Zine out into the world

in two shops to Nokomis Gallery by Lake Nokomis

and The Art Shoppe at Global Market on Lake Street.

Just in time for Valentines Day!

I have larger ideas and larger works

but these humble attempts 

somehow connect me to my great grandfather Isaac

the peddler of seltzer water.

I realize my DNA is to be a peddler

of my wares and is who I am.

A peddler watches and tries to peddle their wares

wherever they can. 

It's hard work...but they keep pushing 

their wagon of ware along

Shouting!

Here is the inner work of my imagination, Soul and Heart!

Please buy my creative wares!!

It takes Courage! and Chutzpah! and Charm!

 

My Homemade Romance Zine Displays!!!

 

Dealing with Tough Times: Becoming a Mountain Goat

 

Metaphor of the Mountain Goat

                     This late afternoon as I swam in the pool and watched the light fade I thought back

six years to precisely this time of day when my life was so very different.

As the light faded and the wind picked up I would arrive at Cardio Renal at Hennepin Healthcare to attend to my late husband Josh and see what the day's needs were. I tried to arrive in time for supper. Even if it was just a tray of mediocre food perched on a small table at the end of his bed. Sometimes I would go for a treat down to the cafeteria.

               There he was in that existential hospital time with tubes hooked up and various machines beeping. We talked. Sometimes argued. He was often exhausted. It was all uncertain. Questions gathered around and filled the room and clogged the doorway. What next?

               Death was all too evident and a somewhat distant at that time...but its shadowy prescense filled the room as well.

              I drew him stretched out on the bed. All seven feet of him. 

The Yellow gladiolas I brought him and those who came to our side.

              So it went on day to day....until one day I had a creative inspiration that carried me through the weeks ahead. As I turned onto  Hwy 55 going north through the ice and snow I thought to myself. " Why I am a Mountain Goat!" I can manage these difficult situations Just Fine. I can even hang upside down!"

And thus I found a Creative Emotional Template that I drew through for the next six weeks.

This time taught me that I could come Close to Difficulties and instead of backing away embrace them with an image that gave me clarity, compassion and Humor.

Here are excerpts from that 65 drawing series:

   

             I allowed the Plucky Mountain Goat to guide me and help me navigate difficult  Territory

   Josh died April 10th 2019 and I drew through my years of Grief. 

    But the wisdom of the Mountain Goat comes to me now in these difficult Political Times.

I know I can come Close to what is hard and draw it. With gratitude I perceive that the hardest

times often hold the most insight and silver linings.

My late mother's Courage and Immigration Court

 For Today

Inauguration Day January 20, 2025

I turn to face my late mother Emily's courage as she did not salute at a
rally in Berlin in the 1930's when everyone was raising their hand
"Heil Hitler" Her status with her father in American diplomatic circles
gave her immunity. Nonetheless her Courage shines through.
Later she became a Conscientious Objector.
I turn to face my late mother Emily's Courage at these difficult times.

Months and Years later I am asked to draw in Immigration Court.

Amid all the complexity I turn to The Statue of Liberty and pray

her words remain for these struggling immigrants trying to make their way.

.   

   "Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe,

free the wretched refuse 

of your teeming shores

send these, the Homeless 

tempest tossed to me.

I raise my Lamp beside the Golden Door"

Drawing in the Lowly Places

 

Drawing in the lowly places:

Listening and Drawing people and Visiting Hennepin Healthcare again

Honoring Tracey who works as a check out clerk at Cub Foods.

For the blessed memory of Studs Terkel who listened to working people.

 As the new year drew nigh I rummaged through 

a book shelf and an old favorite book appeared. 

WORKING by Studs Terkel  

"People Talk About What They Do All Day 

and How They Feel About What They Do"

    I read this book deeply years ago after it came out in 1972. Some books are eternal and speak to us beyond the perigrinations of the Internet and the fast age of texting, Instagram, Tik Tok and emails.

       This deeply human book is about what people do all day. Work. I resonate deeply to Studs Terkels

very receptive work of listening to what people have to say about their lives and work. I resonate to his work and am grateful I had opportunities to dwell in the lowly places and draw those not seen.

With few words I let my drawings stand for themselves.

Here are the four Hennepin Healthcare workers at the front desk in the lobby of

the Specialty Clinic on Friday January 10th, 2025