turtles | The Direction of Intention

Make Peace [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on May 17, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

Look closely. There’s a turtle motoring through the water, scooting along the muddy bottom of the river. Turtles always elicit squeaks from Kerri. We watched this shelled-wonder for a long time. There were a few others that caught my attention, heads rising just above the water, floating peacefully in a pose of suspended animation. Turtle tai-chi.

We went to a sound meditation at the Botanical Gardens. Singing bowls and rain sticks. I was transported. I felt as if I was gifted with a turtle-moment: floating in a calm suspended animation. I recognized that feeling of ease and vowed to practice it more often. There’s wisdom in non-motion. Non-resistance. Flow by another name.

We were awake deep in the night. She asked if I could remember the places I’ve lived in my life – specifically the apartments and houses. Mostly she wanted to know if I could remember living-in-them. Making dinner. Doing laundry. How they felt. The sounds and smells. For me, there have been many. Most were creative spaces. Most of my living spaces were also studio spaces. Sacred spaces. Quiet places.

I don’t remember the day-to-day. I remember the place and time that I decided I was going to learn to cook. It was a statement of self-care. It was a decision to make all the world my studio and not just the places where I painted. Moving out from a solid center, joining the world, rather than closing off from the noise. Making peace with my out-of-step-ness. It was a decision to move into the chaotic world, to crawl with abandon and explore the river’s muddy bottom.

That reminds me of a Flawed Cartoon.

read Kerri’s blogpost about TURTLES

like it. share it. comment? coffee (qr or link). thanking you for all.

Filed under: Awakening, Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, chaos, creative spaces, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, ease, home, joining, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, peace, Sacred, sanctuary, self care, story, studio, studio melange, the melange, turtles | 1 Comment »

Sense The Air [on DR Thursday]

Posted on March 23, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

In the summer, it is a place of frogs and turtles perched on rocks, drinking in the sun. We stop and watch until the wary turtles slip into the murky water, the frogs halt their croak-symphony. Respectfully, we move on. Behind us, the symphony resumes.

In winter, it is a different scene. Sienna and ochre rather than a million shades of green. Silent, the musicians are on hiatus. The turtles sleep, having disappeared beneath the earth some months ago. They will return in several weeks without fanfare. Without formal announcement we will spy them on a log. Kerri always marks the first sighting in her calendar. “Turtles!” Some winter days we cross the long bridge and look into the river at their usual spot. We know it is too soon but such is the way with hope.

I’m getting a taste of the life my grandfather lived. One place. He lived in one town his whole life. My dad’s dad. I was with him one bright sunny day in the park when he stopped, sensed the air, and said, “We’d better get in. A storm is coming.” I thought he’d lost his mind. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

The clouds rolled in. Thirty minutes later, safe inside, we watched the heavens open and dump buckets of rain. Somedays on this trail we love, I sense the air. I know what’s coming. Having lived so many places, until now, I never understood the power of place, the relationship with the reeds, yearning for the symphony, knowing in my bones that the sun is not quite right for the turtle’s return.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE MARSH

Filed under: Body, DR Thursday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, frogs, intuition, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, knowing, marsh, marshland, place, story, studio melange, the melange, turtles | 1 Comment »

Watch For Turtles [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 19, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

“The art of living… is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.” ~ Alan Watts

The ferns have returned. Last week they were sharp tendrils poking through the leaves and earth; little green aliens. A mere seven days later, they are over three feet tall, fern-flags unfurling.

Driving to our trail we saw a turtle crossing the road. Kerri whipped a u-turn and I jumped out of the car, picked it up, expedited its journey, moving it from the pavement to the grass. There’s something special about the turtles. Throughout March and April, while walking on our trail, we’d cross the bridge over the Des Plaines River, and look for the turtles’ return. The turtle in the road was our first sighting of the season. Later, on the bridge over the river, we saw a dozen. “They’re back!” she said and smiled.

Lately we’re given to walking the same trail. We’ve seen it change through several seasons. We followed our loop last week and I swear, this week, it’s an entirely different trail. The trees are flowering. The trillium are showing their purple.

I used to wonder how Emily Dickinson thrived looking at the same garden for years and years. How did she write such beautiful poetry with such a small window to the world? Now I know that her world was enormous and my question was too small.

“Hope is the thing with feathers…”

read Kerri’s blogpost about FERNS

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: alan watts, artistry, attention, changes, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Emily Dickinson, ferns, future, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, living, open mind, past, paying attention, poetry, presence, receptive, seasons, springtime, story, studio melange, tao, the art of living, the melange, trillium, turtles | Leave a comment »

Flawed Cartoon Wednesday

Posted on March 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

a bit of humor on this hump day from studio melange

I only need look at my prom pictures from the 1970’s to be reminded that what is “in” today will shock my eyes tomorrow. Apparently cranberry tuxedos and large lapels are not timeless. Who knew?!!!

My life in the theatre has prejudiced me to see all clothing as costume. Perhaps that helped along my current drop between the cracks of style. My closet is now filled with black t-shirts and jeans. I have a few black thermal shirts for variance. My move to black was not conscious. One day I realized that I’d simplified. I like to think of it this way: packing is a breeze. And, best of all, a future me will never look at a photograph, gasp and say, “What the heck was I thinking?”

TURTLENECKS ARE IN merchandise [cups, gift cards, pillows, wall art,…]