Butterflies Bring Healing

Butterflies

Large Crimson RED Butterflies in January...

Today is June 1st. We are fully into the Spring Season now.

Spring time here in Pennsylvania  brings with it a myriad of flowers. They  begin to scatter over the meadows and fields and along the roadsides, 

I remember one special day in January 2008 when I watched  two butterflies playing in the stillness of an afternoon. 

But, it was not spring time. 

There were no flowers. 

It  was not over a field or meadow.

When I see a butterfly it brings back a memory for me.

It was 4 1/2 years ago, and I had just lost most of my sight. I had not yet had any help, and did not yet know about technologies that would help me, nor did I yet know of rehabilitation for the blind. I had no white cane, and no way of doing just about anything I had done just a couple months before. Overnight, my entire life was transformed into something that was new and unexpected. I could not use the elevator because I could not see the buttons to press, or know what floor it had landed on. Simple things like that, we took for granted, but those simple things were now a mystery to me.

It was at this very time that my second daughter, Heidi Melinda, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Now, I stood at her bedside in the IC unit in a Pittsburgh, PA hospital. Her surgery to remove the tumor that had spread to a stage 3C cancer was completed a few days before. But nothing had gone well, and within a couple of days she was near death. They had put her in an induced coma to try to give her sick lungs the opportunity to begin to heal.

Day after day, it was one step down after another.

Even though I could not see very much, I was staying at the hospital day and night. I could find my way from the waiting room, to the bathroom, and to my daughter's room. I slept for short periods during the night, sitting in a chair in the waiting room of the IC unit. Then, I would walk back to her room, to sit by her bedside.

She was kept in a coma for over 2 weeks. Nurses and doctors were at her side or directly outside her room working on the monitors and computers continuously, monitoring her, searching for the right mix of drugs to help her. We waited there in limbo as the days went by. There was nothing we could do but pray and wait. Family members came and went, all helpless.

One afternoon I sat in the chair at the bottom of her bed with my eyes focused on her laying there with tubes and apparatus all over her body. The hospital staff had named Heidi, The Sleeping Princess. On this afternoon, the Sleeping Princess had two unexpected visitors. They did not come in through the door.

As I watched Heidi, two enormous butterflies were there. They emerged from the base of her feet and they flew back and forth, playing with each other as butterflies do when you see them in a field. The two butterflies were a deep red crimson and they were the size of my hand. They were bright and very large. As I watched them, it was the most normal scene I could ever have seen. Heidi's body was the field over which they were zig-zagging back and forth over as they moved towards her head. It seemd like I watched them for quite awhile, but I believe it was probably only seconds. It was like an eternal moment, when time did not exist, and I had been a witness to timelessness.

The butterflies made themselves visable to me. They gave me new hope for my daughter. I knew they were the Holy Spirit, made visable.  I recognized that the Holy Spirit had come to visit the Sleeping Princess that afternoon and that this would be the afternoon when Heidi would begin to recover. I was assured at that moment when I saw this vision that my daughter would heal and that she had experienced a miracle.

Today, Heidi remains free of ovarian cancer, even though the tests done in surgery had shown that the cancer cells were throughout her entire body. She undergoes tests and scans all the time in Pittsburgh. She has an entourage of doctors who are keeping a close watch on her. She has side effects from her surgery and her long recovery time. Her body remembers the trauma, and her body is still responding to it. Our bodies carry memories, and those memories in the entire body continue to have a response to the trauma it went through.

         Heidi with one of her art works, May 2012

Heidi is an artist who has a studio on a mountain top, in the woods of Pennsylvania. She actively works at her art, and is in exhibitions including an international invitation one that her work is in right now.

Shortly after she recovered,  she organized The Sleeping Princess Team with her friends. The team raises money for the Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Pittsburgh. This is the fifth year that the team and Heidi's family will walk with her at the Walk to Break the Silence in the fall.  Our little team has been able to raise over $20,000. in funds to contribute to the cause.

Heidi wearing her SURVIVOR T-Shirt - Sept. 2011

Yes, butterflies are harbingers of renewal and transformation, and healing. 

They are a reflection of the Creator.

Butterflies come to bring us joy and healing.

Like God, they are right on time! Every time!

Lotus Blossoms, Ideas, and Time

Good Morning Poetry  Lovers and Writers,

This morning I was thinking about how we come up with the myriad of ideas that we gather for our poems and our writings.

People always ask:

"How do you gather ideas and images for use in your poetry?"

First of all, 

Ideas are everywhere!

Ideas and inspirations  surround us all day long when we are actively engaged in the mundane chores of our day. 

Ideas and images are:

Overhead in the night skies,

Sloshing down in the pouring spring rain,

Romping like a child with a sand shovel and bucket in the sunshine on the beach,

Found on the front page of this morning's small town newspaper,

Sent  in a letter from a dear friend,

Articulated over the phone when I am talking with a friend who is meeting challenges,

Hidden in  the bushy ruffled wag of my little  dog's tail as he dances to  beg for treats, 


Packed away in great grandma's old metal trunk with bands of wood and brass


 forgotten in the darkness of your dusty attic

Buried deep in the rich black earth in the woods beneath the stately Hemlock tree where we have buried all our pets through the years.

Search through your MEMORIES

Can you recall the ivory blooms of Queen Ann Lace in the early fall fields?

They are often intermingled with the periwinkle stars of the Chicory, just before the first frost. My heart skips a few beats just to think of this delightful sight, right in my back yard every year. Last year, the meadow was alive with cone shaped mushroom. They were scatterd about like a magician had come through and waved his magic wand there, and from the dust of his want came the brilliant white mushroom reaching up to the sky.

How about that dragon- fly that landed on your shoulder as you sat quietly along the edges of the brook when you were a small child? Did you hear it  rattle around in the back seat of your car yesterday?

What idea was blown by the winds across the foggy surface of asphalt in the parking lot at the strip mall?

Are you remembering some things right now that just might be the stuff of a poem?

I think I could sit here for hours on end writing about where I have been surprised and delighted  by  the quickly fleeting sliver of an idea, or softly echoing lyric of a soulful idea for a poem. I think I spotted the leg of a new poem this morning, lurking there inside my new pair of Reebok cross-trainer shoes! I saw that slender strip of yellow zig-zagging across the bottom of the shoes - calling out to me to pay attention and not be in such a big rush to get going on my journey today.

 I sat down to look over new messages on my Face Book page today, 

I found a gem of an idea there.

Delight was right there in print on that page. 

 And, there was a picture, too! The picture there was of a Lotus Flower, all in violet, lavender, deep greens, and periwinkle blue colors.

An idea for a poem  came to me as I scanned through this  new FaceBook message.

One thing you eventually find on social media are like minded individuals who share a world view that can be similar to your own.  

 These are the "friends" you always look for because they often post messages that lift you up and encourage you, and give you new insight - a little glimmer of some truth that rings true inside your body.  I had one of those moments this morning!

~ I choose  friends who ~

 love the arts 

care about the earth

work to find homes for animals 

 restore others  to good health

friends who love dusty old things

cherish small things

some who love flowers - gardens - birds

those who love to travel and enjoy the culture of other places 

friends who respect other people who live in very different circumstances

Think carefully about the kind of people you call your friends.

What kind of energy do they give off? Is it healing, helpful, encouraging, and positive? I avoid negative people because their energy will bring you down to where they are and that is a place where there are no poems and no marvel. Choose friends who love life and who are life-bringers in this world. A negative person is an empty shell of a human person. 

Just a few months ago

I joined a group of writers who talk about their work and put up their writings for the rest of the group to discuss. There, I have found three strong women poets who are absolutely amazing writers. Like me, they have experienced sight loss, yet they live a full and complete life with no boundaries and no regrets. 

The poetry folks I have met recently at the National Federation of the Blind on the NFB Writers Division list have been talking about saving some of the comments and poems they find so they can return to them and read them again. What a good idea this is! I have a couple of files started for this purpose, too. I have read some poems that are so nourishing, rich, memorable that I want to savor them again and again. I also want to see more poems from these people, and watch their path unfold as they write.

I, too, have a  folder  for saving "ideas" for some future works for myself. 

An idea will come to me and I like to record it and save it to my files. I will collect information on that idea until I have sufficient material to begin the work on a new poem. I gather ideas and put them in my files before they fly off to become someone else's poem!

Another place I find inspiration is when I read some of the FaceBook pages posted by friends I have never met.

Today's find  is the message  I will post below. The message uses the metaphor of the Lotus Flower. It is a keeper and is now in my folder. My folder is  called "Poem_Ideas"  and at some point I will return to this message and begin the work of writing a poem. The idea has been captured and saved for me to return to another day when I am able to put the work into the idea.

What do YOU need to do to enrich your ideas for working with words?

You need to SLOW DOWN, first of all.

Pay attention to your surroundings.

Listen to what sounds are there. Close your eyes and smell the air. 

Reach out your finger tips and touch something. How does it feel?

Is there a taste in the air?  Do you hear the music?

Patience, my friends, patience. That is the KEY to getting in touch with your own world. It is YOUR WORLD and YOUR LIFE that is your motif.

As you begin to feel, hear, taste, see, touch, smell your world, you will now be ready to begin your poem. 

The poem is your life!

  

"The lotus flower sits upon one of it's leaves, having risen to the surface as the sun, held in the hand of God, invites it upward to the light. This unique plant is rooted in the mud and muck at the bottom of a body of water, it's stem reaching up to the surface, where the leaves rest quietly. At night, the flower closes and sinks below the surface, only to rise with the daylight and once again, gradually unfold it's petals. 
What we learn from this amazing plant is how our own spiritual path unfolds and opens to the light, then at times gently folds in on itself for a proper rest when the daylight fades. 
Your spiritual unfoldment is occurring at all times, whether or not you are aware of it. It is inevitable as long as you put your trust in the hands of the Creator, the One who holds the Light. 
Like the Lotus, your soul is always reaching for the light to fulfill its karmic destiny, but even in that process, there are periods of darkness and times to rest. It is a natural cycle, one that cannot truly be coerced or halted. 
It has an innate rhythm of its own, one that is unique to the Being that is you!"

~Earth Magic by Steven D. Farmer

 

Art is God's Voice

Pay attention to poetry.

Pay attention to music.

Pay attention to paintings and sculptures and photo exhibits and ballets and plays.

Why?

Because art is God's way of saying hello. Your world is shouting out to you, revealing something intrinsically glorious about itself.

Listen carefully.

Love art, the way art loves life.

Don't let all this go unnoticed. _Neale Donald Walsh_

I have a page on Face Book. You can find me there by typing in my username:  Lynda McKinney Lambert. I use this page to keep in touch with friends mostly. It’s a place where I can chitchat with friends and family. Lots of times, I post interesting things that I like. I share them with anyone who might visit my page that day.

You can also find another page that I have on FaceBook. It is the business page where I keep my friends and clients updated on my upcoming exhibitions and show photos of that is going on in my studio. That page is:  River Road Studio


http://www.facebook.com/pages/River-Road-Studio/175785105811956

You can visit this page and when you do PLEASE click on the LIKE button there. This way I know there are friends who like my work and like to hear about what is happening in my artistic professional life. Please visit me there soon. And, be sure to leave a comment for me!

I like to check my two FaceBook pages every morning. Often I see some gems  to  enjoy. Every now and again, I find something that makes me sit up and pay attention. Some things rise above the usually mundane. Today is one of those days. I found the quote above, posted by Neale Donald Walsh. I really love this post today!

You know, it is in the ARTS that we can LEARN what is really going on in our world.  

The evening news does not have a clue as to what is really going on. It is through the ARTS that we learn about our world. The arts give us insights into the future as well as understanding of the present. The only things is, you have to be willing to STOP and take a LOOK. Stop and LISTEN. STOP.  


The ARTS make us THINK and thinking takes TIME. The ARTS stop us in our TRACKS.

I have often heard from a philosopher friend that when he wants to know what is going on, he looks to ART to give him the SCOOP. The inside information. It is hidden. Art REVEALS. Through ART we can actually SEE OUR SELF.

Neale Donald Walsh has it right.

“Pay attention to poetry. Pay attention to music. Pay attention to paintings and sculptures and photo exhibits and ballets and plays. Why? Because art is God's way of saying hello. Your world is shouting out to you, revealing something intrinsically glorious about itself. Listen carefully. Love art, the way art loves life. Don't let all this go unnoticed."  Neale Donald Walsh

Read it again.

“Art is the WORLD saying HELLO to you!  ART is God’s way of speaking to you. Say HELLO to GOD. Go look at some art. Go listen to a musical performance. Go.  Let God have a WORD with you soon.” _Lynda Lambert_

Artists Continue to Make Art After Sight Loss

Question: What does an artist do when she loses her sight?

Answer: She makes Art!

I love reading about how other artists deal with loss of sight. I often wondered how an artist would cope with sight loss. I had read of many artists who lost their eyesight. When I was teaching and lecturing on art and artists, I would often note when an artist would be blind, after years of making art. I wondered how that transition would be made by the artist. I never suspected that it would happen to ME! We seldom ever see ourselves beyond how we are at the moment. And, I believe, we seldom ever imagine that WE would some day have a disability or a challenge like the one we read about that someone ELSE has. .

Making art was something I did most of my life. I cannot remember not making art. When confronted with my own challenge of sudden and profound sight loss in 2007, it meant that I shifted from making painting and woodcut prints, to making pottery.

I have always been a very optimistic person - mostly. After the initial shock and months (now 3 1/2 years) of rehabilitation, I viewed my sight loss as an entry into a new world and took it as a chance to make a new life for myself - one I would never have chosen to make.Sight Loss marked a new phase in my life - I celebrated by switching to a new art medium instead of trying to resurrect the former ones I had worked in for over 30 years. Sight Loss meant a New Kind of Life - New Paths to explore. New Adventures - New Friends - and New Ways of Doing EVERYTHING.

It's nearly the end of April! It's a nice sunny day. My travels for the month of April are now behind me, Bob and I had celebrated our 50th Anniversary on April 14 in Puerto Rico. Our daughter Ilsa and her family was there with us for the week. Then, we traveled to Ilsa's home for our annual family celebration in Kentucky.

Upon our arrival back home yesterday, I started cleaning my studio for the season. It is a kind of ritual that I have to do every spring - Spring Cleaning of the River Road Studio. Once I have it all in order, then I can begin to work there.

Today, I will finish it and be in there working on my pottery and bead work creations from mow till December when I close it for the winter months. SPRING is HERE in PA, Officially.

My studio is now OPEN and I am IN IT AGAIN. But now, there is not the smell of paints and inks, and stacks of canvases. Now, it is CLAY and POTS and a table with a CCTV on it so I can work away at my intricate encrusted bead worked pieces. I have one-person gallery show that will open in September, so I have lots of work to do from now until then.

Art truly is for everyone - even blind people. this blind photographer inspired me today!

My Thanksgiving Wish for 2010

A little girl, Isabella Daley, was adoped a year ago by a loving family who already had three children. "Bella" was born with multiple birth defects due to an assault on her while she was still in the womb, and drug use by the biological mother. The Daley family has given Bella the love that all children need. They have been with her through many hospitalizations, and other things that we would never know about when raising a normal child.

Isabella is now in need of therapies for the next year. These therapies will cost more than most any family could ever pay for and I thought that perhaps I could help Bella and her family our by getting the word out so that people know about the needs for Bella.

I have written about Bella on my FaceBook page. I have sent out a letter today to everyone on my E-mail address book. And, I am writing about Bella on this blog right now. As a blind person, this is something I can do in my way to help this family. I cannot help them by drinving them to doctor or hospital appointments. I would if I could. I cannot help them by going to their home and doing whatever needs done. I would have no way of getting there as it is too far away and I would not have transportation to get there. But, what I can do, is to tell YOU about this family and ask you to help by giving whatever amount you can give to the Isabella Daley Fund.

Here is the address to send your donation:

Isabella Daley Fund

P.O. Box 31

North Washington, PA 16048

When you send a gift, you can ask for the number that you can use to get your tax deduction if you need that.

I hope you will be able to give a gift of any size at all to help make MY Thanksgiving Wish come true for Bella this coming week.

Thank you for your generosity and love for children with special needs.

Be Sure to add your name as a "follower" of Bella on her blog so you get the updates every time they are published. And, if you are on FaceBook, type in "Saving Bella" in the SEARCH bar and you can "LIKE" this page and get updates daily there.

While you are at it, put yourself on as a FOLLOWer of mine for this blog, too!

Getting the Word Out

I have become a missionary. My mission is to get the word out on sight loss. It's time to put the myths to rest. Find out what sight loss really means these days. Rehabilitation is available and you can live a good life AFTER sight loss.

I have a message to share with people. the message is not about what happened to me, or to any other person who has lost eye sight. How we lost our sight is really not as important as how we continued to life our lives AFTER we lost our sight.

Recently, I have done a number of interviews with regional newspapers and a TV station because I am an ARTIST who lost my eyesight three years ago. The "story" really is not that a I cannot see, but the story is that even though I cannot see I can still make VISUAL ART. Yes, it is amazing. I know now that anything is possible for those who want to move forward regardless of the losses we have had.

Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Homestead, PA was the place where I went to get the help I needed to begin to learn how to live my life in a new way. This non-profit organization is celebrating 100 years of service this year.

My story was one of the success stories published recently. The story is on the link that I have added to this article.

If you, or anyone you know needs some help in adjusting to personal blindness, why not give the BVRS a call and set up an appointment. You can arrange a visit the facility and SEE for yourself what you might learn to do. Getting help is a big first step towards your new life. Find out what you just might be missing.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_701676.html

Organization Makes Sense to Me

Careful Organization Helps Me Make Sense of My Life

My move into my new office bagan to take place in my imagination last January. It was only an idea, but it seemed to be a good idea. When we thought about it, it was almost overwhelming sometimes. But now it is a reality.

It would be a big step forward to move my office to a space where all my adaptive technology could be in one place. Bob and I have worked diligently the past few weeks to make that happen. What an enormous undertaking to move my office from one floor to another. We had decided that my office should be on the main floor of the house, just off the kitchen. It is a terrific place because now I have two walls surrounding me with large windows so that I am connected to the space outside the house. The trees, the weather, the sounds of people and traffic, birds, and wild creatures. All the things that motivate and stimulate you when you are working in a solitary space. I feel like I now have my own "command center." I feel in control.

There have been many days of sorting through my files and whittling them down. What do I need? What do I no longer use? What makes sense to keep? What should I do with this? or that?

I had to make some hard choices, but I did it. Boxes of things I can no longer use or need were taken out of the office and trashed, recycled, or given to someone else who could use something.

One artist friend walked away with an enormous box of slides taken over a 30 year period of all my art works. She will make them into art - they have become found objects now, for my friend. Lots of binders, and papers - all gone now. What a good feeling to purge your life of clutter. I highly recommend it to anyone. It gives you as sense of being in control again.

Our dogs Rocco and Mitchell have adjusted well to the new office. Rocco has two places where he can hide away by the hour as I work. Occasionally, I hear him snoring or moving about to stretch. Mitchell brings in her bones and lays in the center of the office on the new carpeting. She is in heaven when she has a nice big bone to chew on. It can last for weeks and she is content being here with me.

I am posting some photos I took today to show some slivers of the new office space and my collection of technological adaptive equipment in it. And, in one you can see a glimplse of Rocco in one of his new safe places, under the antique chest by the window.

Learning Life Lessons From Your Dog

When I lost my vision in October 2007, I lost my career in academia. I was a college professor. I had gone through the Personal Adjustment to Blindness program, a fifteen week in-residence experience at the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation School, Homewood, PA. I lived there on the campus for a fifteen week period. I had to re-learn how to do most things that I had done most of my life, but in new ways. I had to learn how to read, using adaptive equipment instead of my eyes. I had to learn how to walk, using a long white cane. I learned simple things that we take for geranted, like how to put toothpast on a toothbrush when you cannot see it, and how to cut your nails again, or how to apply my make up when I caould no longer see my face. I even learned how to use a sewing machine again. It was a long and painful process at times. I got frustrated sometimes. I even got angry some times. But, all in all, it was the best experience of my life in many ways.

My next bit of training would be to learn how to operate computers and technology once again. As a professor I was very computer literate. Now, I would have to begin again and learn new ways of doing things I had done for years. Before that happened, though, my college decided to terminate me. It was the most shocking and humiliating experience of my life. It was far worse than dealing with sight loss, for I had been a very active scholar all my life and academia had been my life. I had a great career in my field and now it was ended because I had lost my sight. After this devestating situation with the termination of my professional life, I was determined to go on and to build my life anew in spite of my challenges. Though my teaching career was brought to an end, my real life began once again. I had many more life lessons to learn.

Living a guality and successful life once again, after sight loss, takes time. It is not a quick fix. I will never "get better." You cannot just go to get some rehab and be on your way. You have to learn how to live your life again and how to find value in your life when you can no longer do many things you once did with ease. And, most of all, you soon learn who your true friends really are. There were some disappointments when people I thought were my dearst friends literally shunned me. But, others stepped up and showed me love and support and gave me encouragement. It is great to really know who it is that truly is your friend. I know that now.

Bob and I had not had a dog for 17 years because we were not home very much to take proper care of a dog. I traveled in the summer to Europe, taking students on trips that lasted a month. Then, I gave lectures and presentations at conferences which took me out of state many times. My work schedule at the college was extermely harrowing at times. On many days, I was gone before 7 am and not back home before 9 pm. My hours in the classroom were intensive. Not only did I teach studio art classes which are three hours long, twice a week. I also taught Humanities classes and did art history lectures for them. In addition to all of this, I was in the English Department and I taught culture specific courses in literature and poetry. There would have ben no room in our week for a dog.

After sight loss, we began to think again about getting a dog. I did not want to get a guide dog because I did not want to have to take a dog with me everywhere I went. I live in the country, and do not really need a dog to get around. My white cane is just fine and all I need for traveling about when I am alone.

Our first dog was from a shelter. He is Rocco, a mixed breed dog who was 6 when we adopted him. He is Pomeranean and Shetland Sheep Dog. We got Rocco in January 2008. He was such an easy dog to have. He learned everything so quickly, and Rocco took me on as his special project. I am never out of his sight. Rocco became my personal companion. After 10 months we began to think about getting another dog. We thought Rocco would enjoy another dog and we had room for another one in our home and hearts.

Before we could really go looking for another dog at a shelter, a dog was abandoned near our home. Bob found Mitchell in the woods near our house, dropped off at the beginning of the cold winter frost. People had seen her running about for 2 days before we found her. We got her home and decided that she was the perfect dog for us and Rocco liked her immediately. They became best friends.

In order to be a better dog owner, I recently read the book_Caesar's Way_ by Caesar Milan (The Dog Whisperer). One important thing I learned from the book is that a dog lives "in the moment." I began to appreciate this in my dogs. I saw that every outing we take during the day is delightful to them regardless of the weather or conditions. They are filled with enthusiasm at the idea of a walk and the weather does not matter to them at all.

Today, I watched as they romped through the tall spring grasses along the creek where we walk. Rocco loves to lay in the warm sunshine, sniff the flowers, and just be contented as we are outside in the spring morning. Mitchell romps through the tall grasses. She likes to nibble at it, etating flowers, and other plants along the way. She stops to roll on her back in the grass. She smells it, rolls over, and gleefully rolls about on the grass. Time stands still as we experience the spring time here in western PA.

Dogs have so much to teach us humans about what makes life have quality. It is that they can enjoy the moment. We are often thining about the future, or the past, and worring about things that might or might not be...but the dogs are just enjoying their sunshine and grass.

I have come to appreciate the moment myself. Often throughout the day, I now sit and consciously think about the moment and try to stay in it and keep in in my mind and heart. The dogs have taught me so much more in such a short time. It was just a matter of learning to watch them and be aware of the moment along with them each day.

In the photo Mitchell pauses to have a look out the window at her backyard.