As I write this, a gorgeous snow is falling in the soft grey light of dawn. This is the second of two snow storms to move across New Mexico this week: The first arrived mid-morning of the 26th blessing us with four inches of snow. This storm arrived last evening, and...
musings from the studio and beyond ~
dawn chandler’s reflections on art and life. . . .
gratitude
solace in the spaces where spirit is found
I had in mind sharing something different today. But the response from so many of you to my post “we can only hold so much” was so great, so compassionate, so heartfelt, that I wanted to acknowledge your tremendous big-heartedness. Thank you. So many of us are now at...
we can only hold so much
I'd been on the verge of tears all day. I didn't know why, for the day before I'd felt fine. But then, later, at the grocery store checkout, my bag of bulk lentils snagged on my shopping cart and exploded in a shower on the floor. I lost it. Not there — no; I...
of car crashes and thwarted resolutions
I've always loved the turn of the new year. I know some who people eye it with dread or sadness with the reminder of the passage of time. Their sad focus is on aging, and regrets. But for me the turn of the new year is a time of excitement and cheerful anticipation....
where art lives . . . .
What art offers is space — a certain breathing room for the spirit. ~ John Updike Who doesn’t love venturing into an artist’s studio? Even I — myself an artist — love visiting other creative’s studios. I delight in seeing the...
my hard new year heart
Walk along the Santa Fe River, and most of the year you'll be walking in dust. Either that, or on pavement. I don't know if its ever been a continually flowing stream, but I do know that human intervention has changed it considerably from what it once was. When I...
of walking meditation
Has it really been a month since I hiked off the trail? 'Seems impossible that one month ago today I was lying in a tent on a frosty morning deep in the northern Vermont woods 5 miles from Canada.... As I said, my thoughts these past four weeks...
lost and found in the [un]real world
Last year when I came crippled off my backpacking journey, I left the trail two weeks earlier than planned. The frugal thing to do would have been to change my travel plans and return promptly home to New Mexico. Fourteen days earlier and just five days into my Long...
falling, gratitude & why i want to return to the trail
It’s been two months now since I came off Vermont's Long Trail. I can finally descend the stairs in my own home without holding my breath and having to ease my legs down step by step. The golf-ball sized swelling over my left clavicle has abated. I can almost kneel...
where a walk across vermont ends
Where does a walk across Vermont end? I can’t tell you. But what I can tell you is where it does not end. It does not end on the first day in the first hour or two or three or four with gnats spinning dully in your eyes and ears during the greatest September heatwave...