monday musings

What is the furthest you can imagine going?
Ask yourself. Honestly.
What's keeping you?

in love. trish

relevance

As we begin the final few months of planning and preparation for Australia departure I find myself asking questions about relevance.

what does it mean to be?
To whom does it matter?
To what group, entity, person or lifestyle am I relevant?

Tough questions to be asking amidst so much change and unknown....
Crawling under the covers seems like a very good idea more frequently than not lately....
(then the sun tickles the horizon and I can't wait to start new ideas in the new day!)
I get lost in a longing,
        far-away-looking
                   for 'normal'...
(oh how bored I would be!)
I wonder on my desire
to always
          seek to make myself uncomfortable....
(keeping myself on the edge of my seat!)

It makes me look at 'forever' a bit differently.
Such an arbitrary, intangible term;
forcing its way into full consciousness of late~

Forever is unknown.
Forever is scary.
Forever, if we are real,
 is just touching,
     butting up against,
           admitting to the relevance of the present place that is
                right here.

Friends forever.
Live forever.
Love forever.

We say 'we wont be gone forever'
This is not 'forever'

Yet, what if we are?
What if this is?
What if our forever is tied up,
     reached,
          packaged and sent,
here in this decision?
What if what I do,
     what you do,
          today
is your forever?

It is a question to ask oneself 

at every decision,

at every chance,
at all opportunity.

If this is my forever,
     will I want it to look like this!?

If this is my forever,

of what significance is it?

And, if this is my forever,

is it relevant to my 'forever'?

We do not live forever.

We are not on this planet forever.

We do not stay the same forever.

What will I leave behind?

What is my legacy for the forever that continues without me?

What is my relevance?

Can you ask that? 

Can you listen to the answer?

We all possess it;
value,
     purpose,
          relevance.
Ask.
The covers will be there again tonight.
Just leave me my share :)

in love. trish.

there's no other way to go!

how often do you get to fly on a mobile hotel?! Two stories of sleeping quarters and seats. Too much fun.

 Some of you have noticed the glaring absence of posts, pictures, information from my trip, life altering trip!, to Australia this past spring (US spring that is :)
Sorry about the delay. Stuff needed to be pondered. Things needed to roll around. People had to be consulted. I had to truly trust that God was not saying 'no' (nod to all my EncaustiCampers on this one ;)))) )

 'Queenslander' The traditional house of the norther tropical climate; they let in the air!

And now, well, I guess there's no time like the present now. Putting off the news at this point is simply a selfish savoring on my part...and that's just uncalled for!

I still think their outlets look like ghost faces- woooooooo :)

John said yes.
Patrick said yes.
My other boys said YES!
My parents said,
'how can we help?' (a parental YES of the best kind)

A view etched into my brain~

 So we said yes.
John, Patrick and I will move to Australia January 2013 to live for two years. Not forever; two years.

Amazing trees; roots that is!

 I will teach; inspire that great continent to encaustic and all it's possibilities. John will follow his passion of thoroughbred breeding (the #3 sport in AU as fate would have it!) and Patrick will complete high school online while traveling and assisting me at workshops, demonstrations and expos wherever possible. He proved to be an invaluable asset at EncaustiCamp and I expect this opportunity to give him a foothold into his true calling~

I don't know; I just thought they were cool! I'd use these at home :)

Are we crazy? Most assuredly.
Are we scared? Nearly every other hour.
Are we convinced? Undoubtedly; this is the way for us right now.
I look down that road of 'future' and what I see is more of this; traveling, teaching, inspiring, living. More of me; living.
I know it will be good.
So we shove fear aside when it rises, we take the next step as it opens up in all the 'stuff' that must happen to make this happen, and we trust bigger than ourselves.

It's a flower; really!

There is no other way.
Because, this is SO much bigger than our selves.

And my heart beats faster....

So once the Visa is secured (help anyone!?)
the house here rented,
our cars sold or stored,
the cats in a new home,
an AU home secured,
two suitcases each-only packed full,
and support from fantastic material suppliers guaranteed (more on this later!)
we will depart.
A whole lot poorer (whew, it costs to do this!) but
wow, exponentially richer.
in love. trish.
'Success, and a fair prospect of more, is a keen reason to stay and labor in a particular place. Matthew Henry~

next

EncaustiCamp 2012: finally, in my own words :)

 Collaboration. That's what life is presenting to me lately; opportunities to work and create with others to exponentially move forward. Banana chocolate chip bread is the latest investment opportunity :)

 I confiscated  Bridgette Guerzon-Mill's and Sue Stover's deliciously overripe bananas, drove them home in the stuffed-full car, and turned them into delicious bread just this morning. Quite the collaborative I'd say!

 Next year I have high hopes of achieving this level of bakerly talent! Bees and all mind you! Everything and anything bees, honey and beeswax is on the docket for 2013~

And I'm going to put Patrick on the task of creating a few of these buzzing beauties to mark the entrance to ECamp next year. I can't resist the fun! But as for this year; 2012!?~

The crowds gathered!

The instructors instructed....

The wine fermented....(hey! We were in the Willamette Valley after all! Pinot Noir country~)

The gallery space filled~!

 

The caterers catered...

The welcome goodie bags unwrapped~

And the infamous fountain shot happened once again :)

Nothing more to say. I am blessed. In love. trish.

It was once again an inexplicably amazing experience.  I hope each and every one of you with an inclining of interest will put in on their 'must do' list for 2013. It is going to be that good.

For more exposes on the experience, visit instructors blogs: 

Bridgette Guerzon-Mills contemplating the moon

Judy Wise art blog

MIA instructor this year, Crystal Neubauer's Other People's Flowers post in retrospective thought from last year

Jess Green and her Seek your Course blog

 as well as Michelle Belto and Sue Stover's sites as highlighted above and Sue Simpson's Earthtone Studios

EncaustiCamp more!

Another great EncaustiCamp 2012 sharing~!
 http://amandajolley.com/encausticamp-2012/comment-page-1/#comment-2457

Contemplating the Moon: EncaustiCamp 2012

More sharing of goodness from Encausticamp 2012~
Contemplating the Moon: EncaustiCamp 2012: Wow, so how do I write about an experience that is hard to put into words? Um, well, so, see, it's like this....no, I just can't sum it up...

Judy Wise: EncaustiCamp!

She did it better justice than I even can~ Hope you all can join us in 2013 Judy Wise: EncaustiCamp!: Mid-summer bliss. Nearly a week of camping in a dorm and sharing encaustic learning with some of the nicest and most talented people in...