Metaphor | The Direction of Intention

That “Something Bigger” [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on June 26, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Sun through chives. I found myself staring at this photo-prompt this morning. Normally I would catch a spark from the prompt and be off and writing. Not today.

My thought-void is not the fault of the photo-prompt. The exhaustion from the news of the day has caught up to me. It happens. There is nothing normal about deporting black and brown people who’ve fled violence and found a safe home in the USA. There is nothing normal about stripping people with disabilities the support that affords them a life at home and meaningful integration into society. I could go on and on. I wonder if we-the-people are even close to grokking how far we’ve descended in normalizing the violent rhetoric spewing from this administration? It is not only the rhetoric that is violent.

And so I stare.

Sun through chives.

When I am stuck I generally stir my pot by investigating symbology. When asking about symbolism, one is actually asking about a relationship between people and their “something bigger”. For instance, I just learned from the Old Farmer’s Almanac that, historically, bunches of chives were hung around homes and gardens to ward off evil spirits or negative energy. How did people from our past come to associate chives with protection from the likes of Stephen Miller? I’m contemplating sending a ton or two of chives to Washington D.C.

I also just read that in ancient times to the Chinese, chives were associated with spring festivals and represented vitality and the cyclical nature of life. Renewal. Purification. Roman soldiers ate chives because they believed chives could “conjure courage”. Do you suppose the republican congress would gnaw on chives if I sent them personalized bundles?

Now I’m contemplating sending chives to every corner of the nation, to every household. I’ll include a note: For courage and renewal. Place this between you and your television, wave it at your phone when watching the news of the day.

We would do well to revivify our relationship with our symbology. The Liberty Bell. The Eagle. The meaning sewn into the stars and stripes. E Pluribus Unum. The Statue of Liberty. The Declaration of Independence, after all, is much more than a document.

There is great power in the symbol of the simple chive. There is great power in every symbol if it still connects – in a real way – in a meaningful way – to that “something bigger”.

The sun through chives.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes or streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blog about CHIVES

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Filed under: Identity, KS Friday, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, chives, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, protection, purification, renewal, story, studio melange, symbol, symbolism, the melange | 1 Comment »

Embrace The List [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on June 25, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

The rain was a visitor that stayed too long. In the evening we walked to the lake shore to wave goodbye and to make sure it was really going this time.

Earlier, when the rains came, we built a channel of towels to guide the river in the basement toward the drain. It’s protocol. The towels were stationed in their basket, freshly washed after their last call of duty. The fans were also ready for quick deployment. I was amused at our automatic response to the downpour. No words needed to be exchanged. We knew what had to be done.

A raccoon pulled back the roofing material on the sunroom roof and ate the tar. At least I think it was tar. It did not look appetizing to me but I am not a raccoon or an expert on raccoon dietary choices. I admit that a tar snack surprised me so I’m adding it to the ever-growing list of things-I-do-not-know. I did, however, know the storm was coming so we clamped the loose sheeting back in place. We need a sunny day or two and a YouTube lesson to make a full temporary repair. Our quick fix mostly worked. Mostly.

We live in an old house. In a few years we will celebrate its 100th birthday. When I first moved in I thought I should try and make everything perfect. I’d never owned a house before. Kerri was patient with my efforts-at-impossibility and finally convinced me to relax. “There’s always a list,” she said.

It turns out that it’s a great life philosophy, too. Relax. There’s always a list. Do what you can do when you can do it. It doesn’t hurt to have the towels and the fans ready. And, a few clamps and a few boards. They just might keep the rain out of the sunroom or the raccoon at bay. And then, enjoy the rain. Above all, remember to expect a sunny day.

Nap With Dog-Dog & BabyCat, 36″x48″ mixed media

read Kerri’s blog about RAIN

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Metaphor, Random, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, ingenuity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lists, old house, rain, relax, repairs, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

There Is This [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on June 19, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Trees breathe. In the daylight hours they “inhale” carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere. At night, they breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. “…trees absorb vastly more carbon dioxide over their lifecycles than they emit.” (AI)

The leaves of our aspen tree, Breck, pull water up from the root and release it as vapor through her leaves. Transpiration.

It is everything that climate change deniers do not understand. The rain is not separate from the tree or the soil or the sun. It is a single dynamic breathing cycle of life. Human beings, no matter their opinions or hard-held-belief, are part of and not separate from this cycle.

Interconnectivity is a reality that we seem unwilling or unable to comprehend. Our resistance to this interplay, this relationship, this inhale and exhale, is recursive, a fractal that runs through and through our identity. It is our Achilles Heel, our greatest vulnerability. We story ourselves as superior, separate, above it all.

This morning I read this from Jame Baldwin: “It is so simple a fact and one that is, apparently, so hard to grasp: Whoever debases others is debasing himself.” What we do to others, what we do to our environment, we do to ourselves. Do we not see this simple fact demonstrated on our political stage and in our public discourse each and every day? We are witness to a debasement cycle that seems to have no bottom.

And, as I write, I realize it is also true, perhaps more obvious but somehow not as visible, that we are witness to a community coming together, working hard to upright itself, a community reaching to fulfill its ideals, even in the midst of the authoritarian ugliness, a community forged (again) in the fire set by those who desire to melt down our democracy.

There is this, perhaps the central promise of democracy: “If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving. And, after all, one can give freedom only by setting someone free.” (Jame Baldwin, The Fire Next Time)

Isn’t it beautiful, this promise of democracy? We can be free only when we set others free. We can only prosper when we prosper others. This earth supports us when we support this earth. Is this simple truth capable of opening our eyes?

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE LEAF

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Filed under: Identity, KS Friday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, freedom, interconnection, interconnectivity, James Baldwin, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, the melange, transpiration | 1 Comment »

Perhaps The Sun [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 16, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

These soft petals belie the harsh thrumming that they survived. Most of the peonies did not fare well in the wave after wave of storms. Petals on the ground, stems and leaves drooped, heavy from the rain. It was mere happenstance that this peony was a late bloomer. Unlike its fellows, it opened to the world in the aftermath. The sun returned and it stood tall and responded. A single witness to the wreckage. Compassion made it gentle.

We took a walk in between the storms. Most of the neighborhood was out, ostensibly to survey the damage but I know better. Storms bring people out. People who ordinarily do not think to stop and talk will spend hours after a storm or quake comparing notes, sharing experiences. Witnesses to the wreckage, many people in our neighborhood, people we did not know but who seemed to know us, stopped us to expressed condolences for our tree. We swapped stories. We expressed concern for each other. “Do you have power yet?” Politics were nowhere to be found. Compassion made us a community. Gentle. Caring.

When we arrived home I asked Kerri, “Why does it take a storm to bring out the best in people?” Like me, she had no answer. I’ve experienced this tiny miracle before, after 9/11, after the Northridge earthquake…many times. It is in our nature to help one another when mother nature shakes us awake.

But what of the times when we wreak havoc on each other? The same rule does not apply. The daily mass shootings divide us. Our leaders offer empty thoughts and prayers. We make war on each other; is that not an unnatural disaster worthy of bringing people to the streets? Ukraine. Palestine. The Sudan. On and on and on. Age after age. Man made disasters seem to anesthetize us or at the very least to confuse us. They evoke the opposite response: they numb us. Divide us. Instead of compassion they conjure antipathy. Madness. Is that in our nature or is it unnatural?

It seems we return to our senses when the scale of our man-made disaster takes on the scale of a storm sent by mother nature. Is it the scale of destruction that at last wakes us up? An earthquake or tornado is out of our control: is that why we soften and take to the streets to find each other? Wars and guns and supremacy-fantasies are within our control: is that why we harden and turn our backs on the pain until the wreckage is so undeniable that we are forced to say, “Enough!”? We awake, at least for a short time, from the fantasy?

Doesn’t it feel as if this nation is at long last waking up? Is it finally – finally – too much? Perhaps the sun is calling us out of the maga-fantasy-storm, to witness the wreckage, to reach out our hands and ask, “Are you okay?”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE PEONY

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Filed under: Identity, Metaphor, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, community, compassion, concern, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, division, human nature, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, nature, story, studio melange, the melange, unity | Leave a comment »

One Of A Kind [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on June 15, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety…” ~ Maya Angelou

The house shook. “What the hell was that?” she asked. Later, I noticed bits of plaster on the black couch, fine white dust on the hardwood floor, shaken loose from the ceiling. Our great old maple tree split and fell.

“Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us…”

It was the first blast of wind, the leading edge of a storm that lasted no more than a few minutes. It was enough. “My children climbed in that tree,” she told the crew boss sent to clear the mighty limbs from the road. The crew cut a piece for her to save. These burly men were kind.

She told me stories over the buzz-roar of many saws as we peered out the window, witness to the quick dismantling of her guardian. Heartbroken. The crew was methodical, efficient. The storm had taken more than a few of the old guard trees and they needed to beat the next wave of incoming storms. To them our great tree was one of many. To us, it was precious, one of a kind.

It is serendipitous. Maya Angelou wrote her poem, When A Great Tree Falls, to process the loss of her mentor and friend, James Baldwin. On the day our tree fell I was reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; a book about our nation’s inability to deal with its history. He was a mighty voice, a giant tree. On the morning our tree fell, I read his prophetic words: “The subtle and deadly change of heart that might occur in you would be involved with the realization that a civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

The end of an era. A methodical and efficient dismantling of our great nation made possible by the spineless. To them our great nation-tree is one of many, easily disassembled. To us, it is precious, one of a kind. Democracy.

Our tree shook the earth. “What the hell was that?” Plaster fell like snow from the ceiling.

“Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.” ~ Maya Angelou

“We can be. Be and be better.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GREAT TREE

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Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, civilization, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, James Baldwin, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, maya angelou, spineless, spineless republicans, story, studio melange, The Fire Next Time, the melange, When A Great Tree Falls | Leave a comment »

The Third Line [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on June 10, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Our first guess, a Yellow Breasted Bunting, was inaccurate. It was an American Goldfinch. Our honest mistake did not short circuit a haiku.

Seven syllables, the second line of a haiku: A Yellow Breasted Bunting. What might be the first line of this haiku? A shock of color? Harbinger alights? An Omen arrives? What reconciliation or insight might this omen-Bunting bring to the third line? The messenger sings? Chirping the future?

An omen arrives/ A Yellow Breasted Bunting/The messenger sings.

All of this ran through my mind after scrubbing out the birdbath, refilling it with fresh water, only to find a few moments later a shock of feathered yellow perched on the rim preparing for a swim. The fourth line of my haiku, if such a thing existed, would be: Gratification. Or “pure bliss”. Or perhaps, “The oracle takes a bath”.

Canary in the coal mine. Their song an early warning system.

Maya Angelou wrote, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”. The song of the caged bird is one of hope in the face of oppression. The song of a bird yearning to be free.

And what is the message of a mistaken Yellow Breasted Bunting/American Goldfinch perched on the rim of a newly refreshed birdbath? A new beginning perhaps? A fresh start? The necessity of chirping from the heart?

Or, perhaps, it wasn’t a messenger at all! Perhaps it was just an American Goldfinch, not an oracle, who simply stopped in to take a cool bath and sing.

American gold/finch, not oracle or seer/Singing just because.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GOLDFINCH

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Language, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: American Goldfinch, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, freedom, haiku, hope, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, maya angelou, omen, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

The Force of Flowering [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 2, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you’ve been following our posts you will have noticed – as we have noticed – that we are lately schizophrenic in our writing. One day we are blistering critics of the abuses of the current administration while the next day we write about the peace and presence of our lives. Utter discontent and sublime contentment all in the same week. I doubt that we are unique in our split personality. I believe we are reflecting the split-personality that is contemporary life in these un-United States. It is my bet that you are as whiplashed by the struggle for equilibrium amidst the daily dose of chaos as we are.

What we write is supposed to come from the image at the top of the post, thoughts inspired by a photograph. Lately, however, what we write depends often upon the circumstance of the moment. For instance, last week we sat down to write and Kerri said, “Before we start I have to read you something.” What she read to me was so upsetting that I wrote a rant about what she shared – and found a way to sense-squeeze it into the photograph.

This morning we laughed at our schizophrenic writing. And, we acknowledged that it is exactly what this autocratic administration desires to create: a populace that is reactive and so under assault that it doesn’t know where to look next.

During COVID we intentionally transformed our backyard into a sanctuary. In an unsafe world we needed a place where we felt at peace. This spring, although we haven’t discussed it, we are doing it again, we are creating a sanctuary, cultivating beauty and quiet, we are creating a space where we can rejuvenate, where we can unplug from the brutality. A space to breathe.

We’ve been watching the peonies bud and are taken by the sheer force of their flowering. You can almost see the pressure building in the bud, ready to burst into blossom. It has become for me a harbinger of hope. It is the same pressure I see gathering in my friends who, like me, have had enough of the chaos and corruption. It is the same energy that fills our conversations when we talk of voting in the fall. It is the pressure-driven transformation changing reactivity into intentional positive action: the reclamation of democracy and decency and sanctuary, a safe and productive home for all.

read Kerri’s blogpost about PEONIES

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Filed under: Metaphor, Perspective, Possibility, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, decency, democracy, force, intentional, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, peony, reactive, sanctuary, story, studio melange, the melange, writers, writers process | Leave a comment »

A Purer Music [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on May 29, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Education in the true sense is helping the individual to be mature and free, to flower greatly in love and goodness.”~ Krishnamurti

I like to think that Barney-the-piano’s flowering-in-love-and-goodness began the day he was moved into our backyard. For decades he was held captive in a dark church basement boiler room. Not only was he forgotten but the dry heat from the boiler destroyed his soundboard and, therefore, destroyed the purpose he believed was created to fulfill. We caught the junk man just in time. Instead of hauling Barney off to be dismantled and discarded, we paid him to bring Barney to our house.

Barney lived into a second purpose. It took a while for him to settle in, to learn that making music was not his exclusive talent or destiny.

As he lost his keys to weather, as his veneer curled and fell away, he became a refuge, a safe spot for birds and squirrels and chipmunks. The critters rest on his lid, build nests in his sound box. Each day the birds mingle on Barney and sing. Although he himself is not making the music, he knows that the sanctuary he provides gives the birds reason to sing. He inspires a purer music.

We have watched Barney flower-in-love-and-goodness. We have had the good fortune to witness his transformation, no longer resisting the forces of nature but moving in harmony with them. He is free and most certainly mature, no longer bound by a too-narrow definition, no longer invested in how he looks or what others might think of him. He is content. The dark times no longer define him nor does he bother to hold onto those memories. They get in the way of the birdsong. They distract him from enjoying the moment. He knows that distractions of the past interrupt his other newfound purpose: teaching us, his students, the power of letting go of all that we cannot control.

Kerri’s music is available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about BARNEY

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Filed under: Gratitude, KS Friday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, education, goodness, grateful on as it is, Gratitude, Jiddhu Krishnamurti, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, music, purpose, story, studio melange, the melange, transformation | Leave a comment »

The Daisy Path [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on May 25, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Sometimes life gives you a second chance. My second chance met me at an airport. She was holding a daisy so that I would recognize her. Wouldn’t it be lovely if every time life opened a heart-door, a second chance, “the right path”, it was marked with a daisy so that we would recognize it? I saw the daisy. We skipped out of the airport.

That day was thirteen years ago. The daisy has lived on the dashboard of LittleBabyScion since the day she held it at the airport. She held it when we skipped to the car. She put it on the dashboard for the drive from the airport where it remains to this day. It is now a very fragile shadow of a daisy but no less of a talisman. It heals. It inspires. It connects. It reminds us how very lucky we are.

The quote at the bottom of my 1440 newsletter today was from Martha Washington: “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” The daisy on the dashboard is both a thread that binds us to our origin story and a gratitude-marker reminding us each and every day that we have nothing to complain about, that his big ole universe extended an abundance to us that few people ever enjoy. We do not take that gift lightly. Our circumstance over these 13 years may have been rocky but our happiness continues to grow greater and greater because we never take the daisy-path for granted.

My sister-in-law once commented that Kerri and I work hard to keep the magic alive and it is true. We work hard but we also know a secret about the magic: the harder we work the easier it becomes. Cultivating wonder is a feedback loop; wonder cultivates us in return. Wonder is the hallmark of the daisy path and I am more than astounded that one day, thirteen years ago, I stepped off a plane and met my destiny holding a daisy.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THIRTEEN

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Filed under: Gratitude, Love, Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: abundance, artistry, daisy, daisy path, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, destiny, disposition, happiness, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, magic, second chances, story, studio melange, talisman, the melange, wonder | 1 Comment »

Ideal Stewards [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on May 22, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

To me it is perfect that wild geranium grows at the foot of Barney-the-piano. The “wild” in wild geranium refers to something that grows without human intervention. Barney has aged without our intervention so I hope he feels wild in his decline. We find him beautiful in his absence of human intervention. Ours is to witness and appreciate. The wild geranium serve as the ideal stewards for Barney’s reclamation of his wild.

Isn’t it ironic that human intervention in nature has been so extreme that we are now in the throes of existential climate change – and the only thing to be done is to intervene on our intervention. Do two interventions cancel each other? It’s possible that our intervention on our intervention is too late and will eventually restore the wild to the planet.

We had a “wild geranium” conversation with 20. It wasn’t about geraniums. It was about human intervention on humanity. How might we protect ourselves from the ills of human intervention wrought upon our fellow humans? How might we protect ourselves from the ick of humans that bomb a girl’s school or round up into concentration camps other humans because of the color of their skin? It is fundamentally inhuman so we cannot claim it is wild. It is certainly is not tame. Perhaps shameful?

Wouldn’t it be wild if we, like the wild geranium, could figure out how to be ideal stewards with and for each other?