Garden Party – White Coneflowers

Coneflowers in Olbrich Garden

White Coneflowers © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…” ~ Susan Polis Shutz

This array of stunning white coneflowers makes ME want to go dance in the sun!

The coneflowers are abundant this year in the prairie spaces of Wisconsin. Perhaps one of the gifts that comes with the record-breaking rainfalls we’ve had this spring and early summer. Every prairie space is white and purple with the waving, dancing, bouncing cone flowers, their bright orange heads bobbing, their brilliant rays fluttering.

It is nearly impossible to walk among hundreds of coneflowers and not dance and sing, if not with your body, then surely with your heart and soul.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.   Today is the opening for her exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin. There are coneflowers dancing upon one of the walls in the children’s area!

Back to My Roots – Prairie Grasses

Little Bluestem

Little Bluestem © 2013 Bo Mackison

I like to think of landscape not as a fixed placed but as a path that is unwinding before my eyes, under my feet.  ~ Gretel Ehrlich, in introduction to Legacy of Light (1987)

Redtop - Wisconsin Prairie

Redtop in Wisconsin Prairie © 2013 Bo Mackison

I must confess that I have a weakness of empty places. ~ Tony Hillerman in Travelers’ Tales American Southwest (2001)

I don’t think of prairies (or deserts, for that matter) as empty places.

I see them as open spaces, places where the eye can travel without abrupt barriers, where the land offers opportunity for connection, not a dis-connect.

Little Bluestem - Wisconsin Prairie

Little Bluestem in Wisconsin Prairie © 2013 Bo Mackison

. . . Fitting floor / For this magnificent temple of the sky. . .  ~ William Cullen Bryant (1866, “The Prairies”)

I like to walk in the prairie landscape, in the desert landscape, and be able to see in the distance.

Not distance from a mountain top – there is no easy access to walk the landscape spread before me from a mountain peak – though the view from mountain top is exhilarating, awe-provoking.

No, my preference is to see the distant landscape, and know it is under my feet as well as beyond my gaze.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is getting re-acquainted with the prairie and grasslands in preparation for the next set of Wisdom Cards.

Generosity – A Desert Wisdom Card

Completion - A Desert Wisdom Card

Seed Pod © 2013 Bo Mackison

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
  ~ Kahlil Gibran

The four chambers of the seed pod are empty.

The seeds are scattered, and the earth is gifted with the possibility of new life. The seed pod has done its part.

Nature supports us with no request for thanks. The seeds open. The sun rises and sets. Plants grow, flower, set fruit, set seed. The seeds are dispersed, the cycle continues.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” St. Francis of Assisi

When we give of ourselves, when we give from our heart, we pass on our gifts and in doing so we also are the recipient.

The gift to oneself is in the giving — no expectations, no reciprocity, no keeping score. How our gift is received is not within our control, nor is it the reason for gifting. True generosity is unconditional generosity.

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own. ~ Lao Tzu

GENEROSITY offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art activities, calls for action:

  •  Time is a precious commodity, perhaps even more so than money. The pithy advice from Ben Franklin – “Time is money.” – encourages us to value productivity. But sometimes wasting time is exactly what we need. Thich Nhat Hanh offers this life recipe: “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” Consider stretching a five-minute walk into a ten-minute walk simply for the experience. No reminders to smell the roses, practice mindfulness – simply walk at a slower pace and notice what happens. A tiny gift of generosity to oneself primes the pump to practice generosity.
  • Generosity with one’s thoughts requires no planning, no financial encumbrance. Mental gifting of a blessing, a prayer, a kind thought reaps benefits for both the giver and the recipient. A simple Buddhist teaching, the Metta Chant, offers generous thoughts for all. “May all beings be well and safe, may they be at ease.” It is easy to remember and repeat frequently, although it can be a challenge to apply this gift to all equally.
  • Consider adopting a practice of generosity. Abandon a gift — a handwritten copy of a poem, an uplifting message, a small piece of art — where someone will unexpectedly find it, perhaps on a bench or hanging from a low branch of a tree. Attach a note of explanation that this is a gift for the finder.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

Reflections and Celebrations

IMG_6764

Reflections in Pond

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”
~ Angela Schwindt

Six months ago I got an invitation I couldn’t refuse. My younger daughter me asked if I would like to go an a destination birthday celebration. That kind of question only has one answer, as far as I’m concerned — an unqualified YES! And to double to fun, we invited her sister to meet us. And so we are celebrating — reminiscing, laughing, walking ourselves silly as we try to hit the favorites at DisneyWorld, Epcot, and Universal Studios. (10+ miles each day, so far…)

I will resume my more regular schedule of posts once we run out of energy (and vacation days) and return to our respective homes!

Until then, there’s more celebrating to do…

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is still celebrating and will return after Memorial Day.

Transition – A Desert Wisdom Card

Rolling Mountain Ranges

Twilight over the Mountains © 2013 Bo Mackison

Feel ecstatic that there is no end to life, that when you have reached one peak, suddenly another peak starts giving you challenges — a higher one, a more arduous climb, a more dangerous reach. And when you have reached the other peak, there will be another peak; peaks upon peaks. ~ Osho

Each evening the sun slides from our view, yet its brilliant light show lingers in deep hues of oranges and reds.

Gradually, so gradually, the darkness deepens until there is only dark sky. The day is over; night is upon us. From experience, we know that twilight passes into night, night lightens into dawn, and dawn brings forth a new day.

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” ~Henri Berson

 Our life is filled with transitions also. Life is change, no part of life is constant.

We live, passing through transitions, firm in the knowledge that when shadows settle on us, and when night makes all dark, faith reminds us that the darkness will gradually lighten into a glorious dawn and then transition into the light of day in which we can clearly see.

Transitions are often difficult. It is easier, more comfortable, less anxiety-provoking to live in the false illusion of constancy, yet nothing in nature is constant, and we are a part of nature. Once we open our minds and hearts and souls to the acceptance of change as a constant, we are better able to transition, to ride the up and down roller-coaster of living a full, authentic life.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out…  ~ Maya Angelou

TRANSITION offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art, and a call for action:

  •  It is human to resist change, to fear transitions, but life’s forward movement is unstoppable. When facing a time of transition, know and accept that this time may be one of increased stress, anxiety, fear. When you know you are working through a transition, your first step is to plan extreme self-care. The basics: are you eating the right foods, getting enough sleep, moving your body, making time for quiet and solitude.  All are essential – when you are in a balanced space, you can more easily keep your footing through times of upheaval and change.
  • At a time in my life when I was developing the skills to successfully negotiate transitions, I created a mini blank book, about 3″ x 2″ in size. It had about 12 pages. I carried it in my pocket so I could easily refer to it. Each page was a visual reminder for a life-skill — methods for grounding, dealing with difficult or challenging times, for problem solving through transitions.
    • These books are super simple to create, with just a few pieces of folded paper.  I made the cover of my book from an old map — a symbol for having the directions to find your way. Each page had a skill – a simple line drawing, a few words. Make a book for yourself.
    • Among the skills I included in my book were visualizing a safe place and repeating a simple mantra for calming. Fill your mini-book with the techniques you find most beneficial when dealing with transitions. Use as needed!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.