Plans, Changes – and a Discussion with My Inner Gremlin

Yucca - Boyce Thompson State Arboretum

Yucca Tree © 2013 Bo Mackison

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. ~ Lao Tzu

Recently I’ve been working with change.

This season is already a bit too hectic for a hardcore introvert, with the approaching holidays and much anticipated visits from relatives traveling to the Midwest from “sea to shining sea.” After the holidays, there will be whirlwind packing, cross-country travel, and then a transition from snowy Wisconsin to sunny Arizona. (Yes, though I am looking forward to Arizona, it is still change, and even a much wanted change requires time for adaptation.)

And if this wasn’t enough for a busy December, I also chose to take big steps in my business. I launched my new website, one that feels in sync with who I am, and what I want to offer. I announced my intentions for the coming year – Focus Sessions, workshops, and a Desert Wisdom Retreat.

And then I heard my inner gremlin say, “Just what the heck do you think you are doing?”

It was a perfectly understandable question from my gremlin. (Her name is Miss Patsy, by the way, and she is a re-incarnation of my third grade teacher who had very high standards, never to be met in this world or the next.)  Yes, this was a typical response to lots of changes, to stepping up my game, but it caught me off guard and threw me far off-balance. I felt as if I were staggering everywhere I walked.

Eventually I stopped and took a great many deep breaths. Then I invited my inner gremlin to join me at a local coffee shop, pen and paper in hand, and I began to free write, letting Miss Patsy take turns when she had something to say. While Miss Patsy kept flinging words at the paper, like “imposter” and “too big for your britches”, I explored my present, where I have been, and where I want to go. And finally, my inner gremlin quieted. And so did I.

I re-affirmed that I am on the right path. This is indeed my journey. I will journey on my own timetable, but I will journey.

And as I squirmed in my seat and got myself comfortable, I settled into the changes. It felt just right.

I discovered new energy and creative determination, and yes, a lot of excitement and grand anticipation, as I take my next steps, one baby step at a time. Hope you will be joining me!

Welcome to My New Home on the Web!

Torch Cactus - Pink Flower

Torch Cactus © 2013 Bo Mackison

Welcome.

Seeded Earth has been officially been re-christened. Though my website has a new name,  seeded wonders and desert wonders will continue to be featured as I post my photography. I’ll also be offering online and in-person photography workshops beginning in early 2014, and a Desert Wisdom Retreat is in the planning stages.

I hope you’ll subscribe to my website, and receive my complimentary 5 session mini-course, the Gifts of the Desert. You’ll also receive my monthly newsletter, Love Letters from the Seeded Earth, which will keep you up to date on all the happenings in the desert and beyond.

It is with great excitement that I embark on the next part of my journey. I do hope you’ll join me!

Limitless Vision

Orange Bumper

Orange Bumper © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” ~ Albert Einstein

It is a foggy day in Wisconsin, and when I peer out the windows I see only thick clouds hugging the earth. The streetlights are specks, the world is at a hush. As I paused at my window, taking a break from the last bits of my new website that still need writing, my mind wandered. I reflected on the many places I have traveled in 2013, and truly paused with awe as I recalled the wondrous sights held lovingly in my memory.

My most memorable visits were ones were I stood on the edge of two of the coasts – in early July I stood on the very edge of gritty shoreline, where the tip of Long Island extended far into the Atlantic. I was mesmerized with the waves, infinite. Six weeks later I stood on the shore near the Redwoods, coastal northern California, and watched, again, as the waves pummeled the black sands. This time I stared into the vast forever of the Pacific. And a month ago, I once again trekked to the Atlantic Coast, this time landing in North Carolina. I walked the beaches there, the sand cushioning every step. And again I stared into the vast waters, the seemingly never-ending ocean.

I have such fond memories of those hours looking into the spaciousness of the sea. Staring out into the ocean requires great imagination on my part. There is nothing but the relentless pounding surf, and yet an entire world exists in its depths. And as long as my feet are solidly upon the sandy earth, I feel a deep connection with that which I can only imagine.

In a couple of days – December 5th – I’ll be moving from Seeded Earth to my new website. It’s been in the making for nearly half the year as I gathered together my passions — my photography, book making, and writing, my love of nature and of travel — and gently wrapped them together into new offerings.

Every day is an opportunity for learning and exploring.
The new and mysterious are just beyond.
(click to tweet)

Memories of Grandma’s Pie

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Grandma’s Pie © 2013 Bo Mackison

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.” ~ Laurie Colwin

I remember the tiny dough birds.

It was a grand day when I was big enough to stand on a wooden chair and reach the work surface of the kitchen counter. I was perhaps 4 or 5. As my great-grandmother rolled dough for her pies, she would give me bits of pie dough and I would make tiny sculpted birds. Then we’d bake my dough birds on a small tray, next to her fruit pies.

Whenever I make a pie crust, I make a tiny bird.

They were a bit grimy from being shaped and re-shaped, and they certainly were not flaky, considering a light touch is necessary for a light crust. But they were delightful treats, especially when shared with my grandmother.

Simple activities filled with kindnesses, a patient teacher, and lots of loving – memories.

A Change and A Move

Blowing Seeds © 2012 Bo Mackison

Blowing Seeds © 2012 Bo Mackison

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.” ~ Elizabeth Lesser

I’ve been blogging on Seeded Earth since 2007.

I chose the name quickly one afternoon, as I was setting up my blog for the first time. That autumn most of the photographs I took were of landscapes, gardens, prairies, flowers, all growing things. Since these all had their beginning as seeds in the earth, I determined that Seeded Earth would be an appropriate name for my new blog.

Seeds are, indeed, good beginnings, and Seeded Earth took root and grew.

It began as Seeded Earth Photography, morphed into Seeded Earth Studios when I added new products and services, and eventually became my official, government approved, business name, Seeded Earth Studios LLC.

The name served me well as I embarked on the art fair circuit and traveled in the Midwest and Southwest, showing my macro-photographs of botanicals. It worked less well as I photographed fewer landscapes and more desert-scapes. And when I added stories about the arts and healing, and more personal writing, it lost even more of its cohesiveness.

While I still love the Seeded Earth moniker, it’s time to step up and re-christen my soon to be launched website Bo Mackison.

The seeded wonders and desert wonders will still be featured as I continue to post my photography, but I am expanding. I’ll be offering online photography workshops beginning in early 2014, and adding Desert Wisdom Workshops and Retreats later in the year.

Seeded Earth has grown, flowered, given fruit. Now the fruit’s seeds have burst from their container.

In a few days, my new website will be launching at BoMackison.com. Please join me soon in welcoming my newest venture (and adventure).