We Have Come to be Danced


Not the pretty dance 
Not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance 
But the claw our way back into the belly 
Of the sacred, sensual animal dance 
The unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance 
The holding the precious moment in the palms 
Of our hands and feet dance. 

Not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance 
But the wring the sadness from our skin dance 
The blow the chip off our shoulder dance. 
The slap the apology from our posture dance. 

Not the monkey see, monkey do dance 
One two dance like you 
One two three, dance like me dance 
but the grave robber, tomb stalker 
Tearing scabs and scars open dance 
The rub the rhythm raw against our soul dance. 

Not the nice, invisible, self-conscious shuffle 
But the matted hair flying, voodoo mama 
Shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance 
The strip us from our casings, return our wings 
Sharpen our claws and tongues dance 
The shed dead cells and slip into 
The luminous skin of love dance. 

Not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance 
But the meeting of the trinity, the body breath and beat dance 
The shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance 
The mother may I? 
Yes you may take 10 giant leaps dance 
The olly olly oxen free free free dance 
The everyone can come to our heaven dance. 

Where the kingdom’s collide 
In the cathedral of flesh 
To burn back into the light 
To unravel, to play, to fly, to pray 
To root in skin sanctuary 
We have come to be danced 

WE HAVE COME. "

Herb Shops




















here are some photos of the herb shops within the super mercado in san jose, costa rica.  what's labeled is in spanish but most of it is not labeled.  you just have to trust that what you ask for is what you get.  i read the book sastun: my apprenticeship with a maya healer in the first few days of our trip and i wanted to see if i could find some of the herbs mentioned in the book.  also, being a community-centered pnw herbalist myself, i had a small list of items i wanted to see in this setting, like copal, palo santo, wild yam, linden, and so on.
these shops were amazing with all manner of flower, leaf, root, bark, seed, tinctures, potions, dried, fresh, concoctions galore.  i could spend a whole day, especially with a translator, asking questions and stocking up.  that would be a good business for someone to do there: bilingual herbalist guide to white herbalist tourists eager to spend dollars in the herb shops!
i came home with some crazy looking hairy twigs that don't match anything on my list.  everyone thinks they look like nasty dreadlocks but they don't smell like nasty dreadlocks.  believe me.  i would know.  chad had them. not nasty ones. but some big fatties that could get a little ripe, let's say.
the second to last photo up there of chad and jasper came about when i asked one of the herb shop keepers, who i bought copal and hibiscus from, if it was ok to take a photo of the shop. he grabbed chad and jasper and shoved them inside and said "yes yes, take photo" all jolly and friendly like.  chad and jasper were a bit stunned i think but we all thought it was really funny.
the last photo is one of the nutmeg/mace we found on the property we were staying on in puerto viejo on the caribbean coast.  we rode our bikes back and forth through a jungle garden several times a day and there was a nutmeg tree, apparently.  if you stood where we found the nutmegs and looked up, you couldn't see anything that look liked nutmegs.  i couldn't tell what tree they were coming from.  but there were a few during our time there that we found on the ground with the mace still intact.  they smell amazing and are stunning to behold.  the first time i saw one on our path i thought i'd won the lottery!  i was fascinated.

the new year is in full swing around these parts.  i am hosting a weekend retreat in february for 15 women at my house.  that will be a blast.  half are flying in from out of state.  we are gathering for imbolc and to share creativity and entrepreneurial insights in support of one another and to simply commune and fill up on each others wild woman love. a few weeks after that i will head to san francisco, big sur (for matrilumina) and the santa cruz mountains for a week of 40th birthday bliss (it was january 1 but this is THE gift!). so it's busy, as usual.  life is full.  and life is grand.  2013 is going to be amazeballs.  i can feel it, and i have systems in place to ensure it!

what do you have planned for 2013?  in what ways are you looking to expand?  do you set goals?  resolutions?

i am currently exploring and researching the intersection of post traumatic stress from adverse childhood experiences and the healing of it that can emerge from a daily creative practice of hand-making. this is my "new" work in the world and i will have a lot more to share about as i birth it.  watch for a due date near you.

escaping with the family fang,
xoxo
jennette





















Doors & Gates















this is a small sample of the many gorgeous gates and doorways to be seen in the areas of costa rica and panama we were in.
you know i have a thing for doors.
here and here
i even have a pair of tiny door earrings that i made from tiny miniature doorways i found over 20 years ago while treasure hunting in vancouver canada.  way back in the day. 
junker for life.  but that's beside the point.

doors, gates, doorways, gateways:
access, discovery, opportunity, opening, transition, transcendence, a veil between the worlds, mystery, the unknown, enlightenment, surprise.
i sense all that symbolically in doors.
do doors do anything for you?
there are more negative connotations as well but i choose the light-filled ones.
do you have a favorite symbol?
and what does it mean to you?

opening the double, arched, wood frame, french doors of my heart to let in some love, light and gratitude today.
if your heart had a door, what kind would it be?

seeking effervescence,
xoxox
jennette


















Food







come on.  you know you want some of that tasty green jello pie stuff up there!  it might be the most electric green food i have ever seen.  what about you?
that meal in the middle is the best, cheapest meal you can get inside the super mercado in san jose, costa rica, and it is delicious.  serious.
i did not try any of those colored drinks up there but they were offered to us.  everyone else was drinking them.
as for the fish heads and chicken feet mix.  well. i would be super stoked to have access to that here, at home in washington.  imagine the bone broths you could develop!
the spices too.  all kinds.  wish they were sold like that here and so readily available.

eating the way we like to eat was not easy in costa rica.  they are not known for their food and every meal is served with rice and beans, neither of which i eat.  it was difficult to get fresh dark leafy greens, even in the super mercado.  by the time i got home i was craving kale so bad i ate a whole 1.5lb bag in two days! i think having a "special" diet was the only thing that made traveling truly challenging.  when i get hangry, watch out. its not pretty.  and yes, it did happen a few times.  i admit it.  

suffice to say, i am happy to be home and back full swing into my no sugar, no alcohol, no beans, no grains routine.  it feels good.  my body likes it.  my gut loves it.  and i have so much energy i feel like i can leap tall buildings in a single bound!

what foods do you miss when you're not home? and do you take food with you when you travel?  is there a food you are never without?

  i took a large bag of homemade grain-free granola with me but i ran out a week in.  granola is one of those things i take with me everywhere.  its quick protein and an easy snack.  i will be heading to Esalen in early march for a week and you can bet i will tote along a gallon zip-lock bag of grain-free granola.  just in case.
although i am told the meals at esalen are outta this world.
i'm hopeful they go beyond rice and beans...

last night i made a nettle pesto that was outta this world. we had it over spaghetti squash with crumbled bacon, grilled chicken and kale that was braised with sun dried tomatoes. divine.

i am one amateur paleo foodie who loves food.

you had me a "dark leafy greens,"
xoxoxo
jennette







Central America Street Art & Signs

i have a fascination with painted signs and art.  it's not a medium i can do with any sense "goodness" at it.  although that didn't stop me from taking that one painting class back yonder.  still, its not my medium of choice but i am so drawn to it.  so i photograph it.  whatever catches my eye.
here are some painted signs and street art i saw in costa rica and panama.  








































what do you think of street art?
do you like it?
is graffiti cool?

i like it when it's pretty.
i don't care for the random name tagging that isn't pretty.
i like the pretty, bring me the pretty.

ok, slurping down my tom kha gai then off to watch handmade nation.  its a documentary about the rise of diy, art, craft, and design in the u.s.a.  and its by faythe levine who i have had a major girl crush on for years.  years, i tell ya.
i'm kinda in love with her.
just so ya know.

nom nom,
xoxo
jennette



























Travel Channel

well, we made it back to the pnw.
what a blast this trip was.
three weeks goes by so fast when you are having fun.
costa rica and panama are beautiful, gritty, humid and on the caribbean. perfect.
we promptly got mega sick when we arrived home so i am going to start with a photo montage to break the ice.  i will have a few more posts of photos coming up: street art, herb shops, food, doors, etc.  i will also start talking about the small changes coming for this lil blog-o-mine.  for starters, it is shifting again, away from being SR store centered, toward being SR lifestyle centered.  you will get to see more of what i do in other arenas of my life and if you stick around you'll get to know a lot more about me too.  bonus.
how is your new year?
did you pick a guiding word for your year ahead?
i did.
~ unfurl ~
just watch me.
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the farm we stayed at, caribbean coast, puerto viejo de talamanca, costa rica

the adults bedroom

the porch

our favorite place to eat on the coast: bread & chocolate

caribbean sunset

fishing boat

sticker


natural sculpture

rusty blue slide lock


green poison arrow dart frog

nutmeg/mace

twins

playa cocles

broken

one of many moonlit bike rides

curing cacao

playa negra


lunch

caught smiling

gorgeous wandering horse at yoga each morning

green snake

tropical mushroom

speechless

playa negra

ubiquitous toucan 

red eyed tree frog

tropical deer

our grocery store: old harbour

fishing boats

ads wrapped in plastic wrap to protect from rain

"shake down street" huts

gus, punta uva

finca gate lock. every. single. time.

she can hover

1st in family series, playa negra

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

photos of taking photos

we came. we tried. we got our asses kicked

hippie

another hippie

daily

power anyone?

lick it

my vacation yoga go to.(chocolate bar downstairs)

more power to ya

lil holiday helpers

a waterfall near the farm

another waterfall

readying to jump

will she do it

i did it

biking to yoga

breakfast after yoga. at the chocolate bar

stellar day
gus, soaking wet, panama boarder
jasper, soaking wet, panama boarder

bocas del toro, panama

coral and fish

ubiquitous trash heap

colorful pain. everywhere

grotto

they found a turtle on zapatilla cays

and shells

and moody clouds

just made it more hot and the water more refreshing

sea unicorn

brotherly love series, #1

#2

#3

#4

#5, the end

near crawl cay

seriously

room with a view

tired baby #1

tired baby #2

curious

hands on

red frog beach, isla bastimentos, bocas del toro, panama

detail

layers

true blue

san jose, pension de la cuesta

datura

breakfast place

fake flower place

paintball beauty

health drinks

a clown

her make-up kit

a real woman

a brothel

i wrote a lot while i was gone.  i read a lot.  i biked a lot, did a lot of yoga. i laid in the hammock and on the beach and napped a lot.  i have a lot more i can say about it all. the traveling with family and being together 24/7 for 3 weeks when we are never together that much in real life, the belly laughs, the tears, the discovery, the joy, the longing. and how it all stretches you, grows you, cultivates your unique you-ness. all of it.  and i will say more.  little by little, some here.  some there.  it will come.  deeply thankful to have this space to document and preserve some thoughts around it all.  swirling and percolating. thankful.  and full on filled up to the brim with gratitude. overwhelming gratitude.
my life is fucking awesome.
word.

wild love,
xoxox
jennette