February 06, 2008

8:35 a.m.

Blood, Rain, Chicken Dishes

Got through 2nd class last night, after cramming heavily for a couple of days. It was inspiring. I like this branch much more than weddings. Right now we're looking at house blessings and leaving/moving in ceremonies. But we've talked about everything from menstruation ceremonies to combined families to baby welcomings. And more to come.

For example, one classmate wrote about a ritual her friend made up for her daughter when she got her first period. Some time before and in anticipation of this, they had braided a long, red cord together. For the ceremony they went out to the beach, and tied one end of the cord to the mother and one to the daughter. Then they ran along the beach as far as the mother could, at which point she cut the cord with a dagger and her daughter ran on alone. The ritualistic separation helped them accept that their roles and relationship were changing, that mom could let her girl grow up and go on her own, and that daughter would experience the loneliness, freedom and power of becoming an adult. This ritual was very moving to me, as my own menses had neither preamble nor celebration. I knew they were coming at some point, but had no connection to them other than their being a nuisance (and a way to get out of school if the cramps were really bad).

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I scrubbed the floors yesterday, which were very much in need. I also have created an arts and crafts nook in the living room so that I won't have to usurp the kitchen table every time I want to make a book. I went back out to Job Lot where I'd seen they had 20" x 48" card tables, which looked so cute and perfect for a project. They still had them, so I sprang for one.

On another note, I have a couple of new dishes:

TJ Maxx came through again. This lovely, rooster-motifed cereal bowl was only $2.99! I also got a dinner plate for $3.99. I immediately called to see if my brother in law's niece, Pearl, who loves all things Chicken, wanted some. Rose asserted that one could not have too many chicken dishes, especially at that price, so I will go and collect a few more today.

And what a wonderful day to not be rushed. Since coming back from FL I've felt overwhelmed, largely because of the class and having so little time to address the homework. But we have no class next week for some reason, so I can relax a little and get started on the first draft of our assignment without feeling pressured. Plenty of other work to do meanwhile -- preparing for recording, and I have to transfer our big PowerPoint presentation for the school show to a new software on the Mac, which will require upgrading all the transitions. I wonder if I should check my research, too, as some statistics may have changed from last year. This is something I could do at Kripalu this weekend, as we have a gig and will be there a couple of days.

But first, a big fat bank deposit, a couple of loads of laundry, a Netflix movie, a few arts & crafts... I've been working in small increments on the drawing, too, and have now redone my mouth about seven times. It looks vaguely like my mouth in the photo. I don't know what to do about the large dark background parts. How make it look smooth? I have to keep reminding myself that this is my first big drawing in a long time, and it's a learning process. I just want it to be a sudden masterpiece.

I did have an interesting dream Monday night, however; I'd been reading da Vinci's biography before bed, where it compares a couple of his Madonna and Child paintings to each other and to someone else's work on the same subject, and in class we'd also been talking about this whole menses thing. So I dreamed I was looking at Leonardo's Madonna and Child, only it was a living painting with living figures. The baby was moving around a little bit and suddenly I noticed that I could see the baby's crotch and it was wearing white undies. Then the baby was a young girl, and I thought how peculiar it was that this sacred subject was so almost pornographic -- that her legs were spread just enough to see the panties. Then I realized that there was a faint splotch of menstrual blood coming through the fabric. Of the panties of the girl Jesus. Wow.

Is the universe reminding me that bleeding is sacred, that menses are powerful and natural and cosmic and Divinely ordained?

Or is my brain just WAY too full?

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Rain today. I hear it; gray and fog, trees somber ghosts across the way. Maybe I'll use my "Six Feet Under" umbrella that Dar gave me for Christmas, which is supposed to have a magically appearing 6FU logo when it gets wet. Between that and the menses thing, I'm sure to be the most powerful woman in Willimantic today.