Winter Meditation 2016 "In Search of Jack Frost"

Jack Frost- Second Installment! I am still in search of him, who he is and where is he from.... He is the most eloquent of artists with crystal tipped brush and the swiftest most delicate strokes. His laughter crackles as though the thinnest layer of ice is breaking. For aeons he studied the world of nature. Tracing every shape in silver and in the process opening our eyes to every natural SHAPE. But I believe that his greatest joy came when we created windows. For at that moment we gave him his canvases - a place to create his original work.



This morning he did a quick sketch of himself on my dining room window, well at least a sketch of his clothing and his long and winding hat! You can see the hat twining up the left middle of the window. Curiously he left his face blank. Does that mean that he is invisible? Or is it that he prefers to remain anonymous? Ah, Jack, the search continues...

In Search of Jack Frost

Jack Frost Design 1_8_2016

Who is Jack Frost?? I've been wondering for some time. A few days ago Jack's first winter paintings appeared on our windows and I marveled at this dexterous and obviously brilliant A.D.D. artist. I began writing about him, imagining his crackly laugh that sounds like the rapid shattering of the delicate ice on deeper pools. I wondered where he lived, what he looked like.

This morning I was rewarded! If I believed in magic, I might say Jack knew I was writing about him!  My car was frost-designed with an intricate flowery pattern while all the other cars were a simple sheet of grey! Ah, Jack! It is going to an enjoyable hunt trying to pin you down!!

In Search of Jack Frost

Library as Labyrinth

Decided to take my own advice on rambling through books to see if fortune and serendipity would smile on me. I was in downtown Boston, so entered the Boston Public Libraries lions and marble staircase up to the research wing of the BPL trying to find my way to the "hidden stacks." The hidden stacks of books that you must call up into the light of day. I've long wanted to peruse the Ethnographic studies of the folktales and folklore of the Native American people- I know they are in the "stacks!" I was sent along from info desk to info desk - like hearing from the Doormen in the Wizard of Oz... deeper and deeper into the heart of the research area and then catapulted out into some other unusual area, led by the whispers of polka dotted librarians, past the research books on folktales and folklore. And finally, after scooping up a travel book that I hope will lead me to the Monarch migration in Mexico I found two writers who spoke to me. Nan Phifer's "Writing your Spiritual Autobiography" (she takes prompts to such an articulate level) and Thomas Moore "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life."  His writings on sacred space and nature were immediately close to my heart. When a book is well-written it is like meeting a kindred spirit who can shed light on your search and companion you in your work.