Do you read your horoscope? You don't need to answer that. I believe many of us do and won’t admit it. I'll confess to reading those snippets of monthly predictions, and of course at the time of the reading, my horoscope (Gemini) always seems spot on. Then I forget all about it and get on with the month.
Today I clicked onto the February horoscope from The Sister’s Project, a companion blog to A Way To Garden…
"We live in very modern times and many of the old rules no longer apply. One of those changed rules is a very important one for you to remember—“it’s OK for an artist to be an intellectual and it’s OK for an intellectual to be an artist.” In other words, do acknowledge and nurture the many wonderful dimensions of yourself and allow your creative and intellectual energies to work together."
OK, knowing that my month will now be in sync, I deleted the post and headed down my long, snowy driveway to retrieve the mail. I grabbed a packing envelope that I immediately knew held the dimensions of my creative and intellectual energies.
A Twilight Zone moment?
A celestial success story?
An alignment of the stars?
A serendipitous coincidence?
Whatever the reason, the Spring issue of Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces Of Extraordinary Women hit the newsstands (and my mailbox) today, and I am elated to be one of the profiled women that will "nourish your soul and inspire the creative process."
Now, you may ask…How did an environmental writer/blogger end up in a magazine about the work spaces of creative women?
The short answer is…A fateful phone conversation with the fabulously energetic and passionate editor, Jo Packham led to an invitation to submit my story of reinvention with pictures of my work spaces.
My thoughts about it at the time…No way this will happen. I may be creative, but I'm an "armchair creative." It's not that I sit and watch others work, my work takes place within the confines of a chair and a computer. Where Women Create profiles famous (and not so famous) artists and crafters.
An Armchair Creative's Story
Reinvention is a buzzy word that seems to coincide with life shifts. In my case, a bunch of eco "re" words like: reinvention, recreated, reworked, renovated, repurposed, reimagined, were playing out simultaneously in my life. I did not lose my job. I chose to leave it. That is what I wrote about.
Three photo shoots later with the talented Jen Kiaba, which included many images of my work spaces (dining room table, couches, one of my kid's repurposed bedrooms, comfy chairs, a window seat…), I can now share with you the humbling acknowledgement of the convergence of the creative and intellectual.
Thank you Jo, it is a true honor to be among the creative women profiled on the pages of Where Women Create.
It would make me so happy if my lovely readers picked up a copy of the magazine and read my story.
Photos: Jen Kiaba for Where Women Create
There is a simplicity to winter when a snowstorm casts a shadowy blanket of calmness onto the woods around our nests. Its quiet stillness is like the insulated caress of living inside a dome of snow. The storm at my home arrived right after the barreling in of far-flung children, presents and all the holiday festivities. In its wake, the storm left us a winter wonderland, but no chance to fulfill our travel plans to drive to my mom's on Sunday. Instead, the four of us 
