Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sea turtles








The Seris are an ethnic indigeous group of the Mexican state of Sonora. They were historically semi-nomadic hunters/gatherers who maintained an intimate relationship with the sea and land. Today they live in two villages on the edge of the Gulf of California. The songs of the Seri tell the stories of creation. This is part of the story of their sacred "relative", the sea turtle.
After the Great Flood, which covered the entire earth, the majestic sea turtle swam down in the ocean. With powerful strokes of her graceful flippers, the sea turtle swam deeper and deeper until she reached the bottom of the ocean.
There, she collected earth and swam back up to the surface where she formed new land.
That land is where we live today.
That is why the sea turtle is our sacred relative
To purchase any of the turtle paintings, email me at dvrbon@wi.rr.com

Monday, December 22, 2008

Making it through the Christmas season

As much as I love Christmas and all that goes along with it, there is always that fleeting moment when I just wish it was all over with.

I used to be a visual merchandiser for large department stores, and every September, we would start putting up the Christmas trees, wreaths and garland all over the store despite the customers who would make it known very loudly that it was "just too early to be thinking about Christmas....its not even Halloween for pity sake !"
Then I took a job as a floral designer and again in September, along with making autumnal floral pieces, we would start our Christmas seasonal designs. So you can see that for years my holiday seasons would seemingly go on forever and ever !

Even though I felt I had Christmas up the ying-yang, I would always make sure at home that the tree was up and that my two sons participated in decorating the house and baking the cookies, and now I am thankful that I forced myself to do these things, because these traditions have now been passed on to my grandchildren. To see the look in their eyes when the tree is decorated and lit means the world to me.

I know that the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas can get very daunting at times. The shopping, the baking, the wrapping of presents, etc etc. Just take a deep breathe and know that somehow you will get it all done. Keep it all in perspective and don't bog yourself down with trivial tasks.

We must keep in mind what the real meaning of Christmas is: it is the celebration of the birth of our Lord; the love and coming together of family and friends.. Just for one magical day of the year, all seems right with the world. Remember the reason for the season.

Friday, December 19, 2008

White Christmas



Ok, who wished for a white Christmas this year?? Well, thanks to whomever that was, we got blasted last night with 14" of the fluffy white stuff.
Revved up the snowblower and dusted off the shovel and my husband and I had it all cleared off in about 2 hours time. I hear we are expecting a few more inches on Saturday and perhaps Sunday.

This should give Santa a good base to land on our roof.