Of Hearth and Home

Phshew!  I am pleased to announce that I've found the floor in my studio!  Whenever I'm involved in a major art project, I completely trash my studio, to the point where I move out of there and start messing up other parts of the house.

I'm happy to have my project finished and very happy to be able to turn my attention towards the Creative Every Day theme of "home".  I love home.  Home is my very favorite place in the world.  My favorite concept.  It's not just a place, or a pile of bricks and planks of wood.  It's a feeling.  It's the safety and security, the bliss, the nurturing mental and physical space.  I am always amazed that here, after half a century on this planet, in this very strange world called Utah, the house I live in is finally a place I can truly call home; it's finally a place I feel safe.  There is no one yelling here or being mean or passive aggressive.  It is a peaceful place that I love like another being, because these walls of stone do shelter me from the storm outside, and enclosed within these walls I find love and warmth, a happy marriage, and freedom to be.

While playing around on the internet this morning, I found this Flickr pool called Home as Art.  As I intend to approach my home as a work of art this week,  I will find a lot of inspiration in these photos here.  While they may not all be super professional photos, they do show that loving attention to detail that we give our homes, sort of in repayment for giving us shelter.  I find the act of running a dust cloth across the mantel, or arranging my bric-a-brac just so, to have a feel of spiritual practice.  Sort of a chop wood/carry water thing.  It grounds me.

Up above is a new addition to my home this week.  My friends and I made corn dollies on Saturday.  Gathering with friends to make things with our hands is another interpretation of the feeling of home.  I had such a pleasant afternoon with my girlfriends.  My dollies will be placed in the kitchen to remind me of Brigid, the Goddess of the Hearth.  And hopefully she'll watch over some good meals being prepared in there.

And on that note, I have a kitchen to clean and some aromatics to saute in preparation for a soup.