Fall Cornucopia
The dark. As a child I loved the coming of the dark. I grew up in the desert and the sun was merciless until Fall came when it lowered its head and seemed to rest a moment. Because of this the Fall had a cozy, homey feel to me. I was very aware of the quality of light in the Fall, low and intimate. The sun was now mine, not some distant burn up high, far away being out of my reach. It was up close and personal. It warmed me instead of burning me. This made the whole world feel more like my living room, my home and I belonged exactly where I was. I too could rest. Settle in. Daily ritual kicked in as school held a steady pace of week in and week out.
This was a time of certain smells coming from the kitchen; baked puddings replaced the peach-y pitch of summer. Caramels melted in a big pot and round, red apples dipped in. A parade of holidays commenced beginning with Halloween and Continue reading »
Filed under From the Life | Tags: altar, Fall, holiday, project, season | Comment (0)El Día de los Muertos
Yesterday, November 2nd, we celebrated the Day of the Dead in San Francisco with the annual procession in the Mission. We dressed in our dead best with skeleton faces as is the tradition. Maya wore her special dead wedding dress that contains all the names of her dead and we wrote our hamsters names on the dress to honor their passing. 
Our altar at home was covered with sugar skulls, pictures of our dead, their favorite foods, and candles to welcome and honor the spirits on this day.
We arrived early at the procession to see the dancers and hear the invocation by our friend, Francisco Alarcón before beginning the procession which ended at Garfield Park. Zai handed out tiny drawings she had made to passers-by and also placed several on the beautiful altars in the park. We honored Continue reading »
Filed under From the Life | Tags: altar, day of the dead, el dia de los muertos, Fall, holiday, honoring the dead | Comment (0)
