It's here.  Some call it a "Heist."  Some call it "The Way."  Some say it's rocking the Earth's axis.  So go.  Do what you love.  Be who you will be.  And rock your own zebra jammies..  

See you along the way!!

You all did it!  You broke that fear of creativity that often keeps me holding my ideas in my own head and heart, not setting them forth to light the world.  I am truly inspired today and so thankful for each of you.  If you weren't chosen, don't fret...I'm totally doing this again.

Congratulations to Lisa Daley with the winning entry.  Lisa keep an eye out for an email from me to get a mailing address for the illustration at the right.  For brevity sake I left off a couple words from this fabulous caption that made me laugh out loud.  So here it is...in its final glory:  

...only one dry "hare" left...

It has rained every day for at least a month in this rainforest of Grandfather Mountain.  I swear!  So, as I sketched this little scene I posed the question to my partner, "What's the caption?"  His reply was a fantastic idea.  Ever enter the caption contest in the New Yorker?  If you haven't then I'm sure you're like me...the winning words have toiled in your head again and again.  So here's my sketch, posed for you and awaiting your fantastic caption. If you're chosen I'll hunt you down and send one of my favorite original paintings. PROMISE!  So...get the juices flowing and help me out!

Go.Give.Love.  These three words have stretched me lately.  Perhaps even more since re-watching the TED Talks of Brené Brown. 

I used to think that giving love, giving back, giving in service was all something that I planned, like a dental visit on the calendar.  I’ll volunteer on this day.  I’ll call my neighbor tomorrow.  I’ll take this big service trip over the summer.  Then, thanks to seven-year old Serena, it hit me.  I give every single moment of the day.  I can choose how I give and why I give and of course to whom I give, but perhaps the biggest chance for truly fostering a little human connection comes by just being, by swallowing my self-absorbed fear and trading it for that gem of presence.

And this is what I do each day.  I traded the academic and then the corporate world for that of service.  Simple service.  Food service.  And I see the light it can bring by being present and being kind.  The same people come for lunch day after day and I know the meaning of the old sitcom my dad plunked down to watch at night.  It was about that place where everybody knows your name.  And isn’t that what we all want – that kind of connection to each other?  Saturday at lunch two women celebrated a birthday.  About sixty years separated them, but you’d never know by their chats and celebrations one for the other.  The birthday being celebrated was beyond candles.  She was turning ninety-two and I thought yeah…Go.Give.Love.

Thus, as an inspiration for this week’s journey here is my warrior on her own mission to Go.Give.Love.  And if all emerges on the paper as it fumbles through my heart, she may have a full adventure to share soon.  I’ll let you know. 

Have a great week and keep an eye out for my Facebook page to come soon.  Plans are to create a venue for sharing my latest sketches and illustrations.  May peace truly be with you this week! And if not peace…well…may you be able to practice presence in the journey of what is.  Namaste.

There's no better place than in front of food to let it all out, to be that daring self and chat and learn and grow together.  Thus, instead of being a giant paragraph of snooze-fest words, I'm proposing we take it to the table every Monday.  You grab your drink and I'll grab mine.  I won't force you to eat your carrots or tempt you with homemade chocolate cream pie (at least not every day).  Writer and Reader.  Reader and Writer.  B.Bold.B.Brave.B.You. 

Stay tuned for reviews of books inspiring me lately and for upcoming works that trudge down the pike.

In the words of one of my British heroes...friends let us go forth and come fifth...('Cause not everyone can come first. Right?)