Memoir in Six Words

Agave, in Bloom

Agave, in Bloom © 2012 Bo Mackison

Today is the first day of Cigdem Kobu’s Winter Joy Retreat. This year’s theme is homecoming — as in coming home to yourself. One of today’s prompts was to create a 6 word memoir.

These six words were my first thought:

Wandering the desert, I found myself.

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).

Row of Rocking Chairs

Rocking on the Porch

Row of Rockers © 2013 Bo Mackison

Turning a corner in Southport, I found this porch, home to a dozen rocking chairs.

There aren’t many inspiring quotes about rocking chairs. I found that surprising. The quotes I read insinuated that only those who could do nothing else would choose to spend time rocking in a rocking chair. Or that a rocking chair doesn’t go anywhere, just rocks in place, and why spend time going nowhere?

Ah, this row of inviting rocking chairs., filled with their own history.

I noticed the rockers as I strolled past the front porch of the Walker-Pyke House in Southport, North Carolina. The building, built circa 1800, is probably the oldest residence in Southport. It is a part of Southport’s Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Sites. That’s the historical part.

Here’s the part where this photograph becomes a metaphor.

The rockers are an invitation to sit down, slow down, relax. Enjoy the view. (Imagine the view from this front porch – across the road are a few wooden piers and the gently rolling Cape Fear River. Late season day – November – peaceful, quiet.  Blue skies, a bottle green sea. Breathe the fresh air. Ahhh.)

Perhaps it’s time to take a break.

Perhaps it’s time to turn from a hectic schedule, give your body a time out and your mind some space. Allow new ideas to percolate while you relax with the back and forth of the rocking rhythm. It’s amazing how new ideas can crystalize when the mind has some roaming time.

So many things to love about the rocking chair. An evening pause. A vacation moment. A creative spark.

Do you love rocking chairs as much as I do?

Glass House

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.” ~ Norman B. Rice

There is a glass house in Airlie Gardens.

The glass house is constructed with bottles of all sorts, all colors, all donated in honor of a beloved artist who was also the garden gatekeeper for 25 years. It was created by local artist Virginia Wright-Frierson in 2004 and is called the “Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden Bottle House”.

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Bottle Wall © 2013 Bo Mackison

There’s a well-known proverb. “He who lives in a glass house, should not throw the first stone.”

And as the saying proclaims, if one has faults of their own, one should not criticize the faults of others. My way of thinking, we all have our faults, and so perhaps it would be appropriate for none of us to throw the first stone. Or the second. Or the third.

Sounds like a peaceful way to live – accepting each other, no stone throwing.

Close Up of Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Close Up of Bottle House © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.
What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.” ~ Thomas Merton

Bottle House, Airlie Gardens

Half Full, Half Empty © 2013 Bo Mackison

“It’s not, ‘is the glass half full or half empty?’ It’s ‘is there anyone around who’s thirsty and needs a drink?’” ~ Cory Booker

A glass house – an interesting place for a visit with a muse.