maria wulf

A New (Green) Friend Joins Joyful Pause Cottage Studio

Posted by Barbara Techel
Baby ric rac cactus

She made the trip all the way from upstate New York. A sweet offering from Maria Wulf of Bedlam Farm. 

It was about a week before we were set to leave Arizona and head back home to Wisconsin that I read a post on Maria’s blog about her ric rac cactus. 

It was a year ago that she received a cutting from a ric rac cactus that her friend Emily has. Look how that cutting has grown in one year!

Photo credit: Maria Wulf

I commented on her post how much I loved it and thought perhaps I could find one in Arizona – since after all, we were in the cactus state! I’d never heard of this type of cactus and it brought me back to childhood and how my mom used to sew many outfits for me and my sister. I can’t say as I recall specifically any rick rack on the outfits she made for us, but seeing the shape of the appropriately named cactus brought to my mind cherished memories of my mom sewing.

It was about a day later I received an email from Maria offering me a cutting of her ric rac cactus if I couldn’t find one. Well, I jumped at the chance and the kind offer.

Not only do I admire Maria herself, and her artwork, but I love how she shares about the dogs, cats, and animals on Bedlam Farm. She definitely is also a Nurturer extraordinaire!

So to have a cutting from her of the cactus that came from her farmhouse at Bedlam Farm, that came from Emily, who is a collage artist and a baker, and I enjoy reading her blog too, well, it feels like a lovely trio of online connections that for years have brought me joy.

And now I have the ric rac cactus to remind me not only of the kindness of others I’ve never met in person, but also a reminder of the special connection we share all because of the internet and our love of animals, writing, and art. Plus the special memories of my mom sewing when I was a little girl are what I will think of every time also when I look at this sweet cactus.

XO

Barb

    

The Patient Wolf with a Big Heart

Posted by Barbara Techel
Patiently Waiting Inner Wolf potholder by Maria Wulf and wolf card as represented in my Animal Reflections upcoming oracle deck.

Three days had passed since I’d read the post on artist, Maria Wulf’s blog sharing she had some new potholders for sale she’d just created. She named them, Inner Wolf.

I couldn’t get them out of my head. Wolf spirit kept nudging me to go back and see if any of the designs were still available.

I believe that our spirit animal guides speak to us in a variety of different ways as I’ve had many different experiences over the years. And this time, though it may seem unusual, Wolf spirit, a guide who has been with me for quite a few years now, was trying to get my attention once again through Maria’s new creation.

With a final nudge from Wolf I revisited Maria’s post. It was the potholder Maria had named Patiently Waiting that spoke to me and actually brought tears to my eyes. I was happy when I reached out to Maria to find that particular potholder was still available. It was meant to be.

It was later, after receiving it in the mail, and had it sitting on my writing desk for a few days, that I’d realize why this one spoke to me. I reflected on when the spirit of a white wolf came to me during a guided meditation about seven years ago. She came at a time when my heart was shattered from the ending of a friendship I’d given a big piece of my time and heart to. The friendship ended abruptly feeling like it came out of nowhere, though looking back since then I came to understand with more clarity why it had to end when it did.

Wolf spirit was reminding me at that time when my heart was deeply hurting that I still had compassion in my heart, even though I wanted to shut it down so I’d never have to experience that kind of pain again. But white Wolf, while honoring the pain I was experiencing was encouraging me to keep my heart open because it would not only hurt me personally going forward if I didn’t, but could negatively affect my current and future relationships.

Reflecting back on this time and then thinking about the patiently waiting wolf potholder, I realized I was being reminded again about keeping my heart open and not protecting it so fiercely I don’t allow anything in. I felt such love and compassion coming from the image of the wolf on the potholder.

While I don’t wish to share personal details, I realized Wolf’s appearance in this way was about a friendship that is changing in the near future with a friend that will be moving many states away next spring or early summer.

I’d been struggling with my feelings about it, but Wolf spirit, as she has always been for me, was standing patiently by my side, loving me through every emotion that was being stirred within me. I felt her big heart radiating love to me encouraging me to be gentle with myself as I process what will be a new change in my life.

I took note again of the fact that Maria named the post, Inner Wolf. We all have a fierceness, protectiveness, and a loving aspect of ourselves. It’s important to acknowledge all of them and honor each of their processes in order to move through difficulties. So howl when you need to, but also be gentle and loving toward yourself, too.

So in honor of Wolf spirit I’m happy to also share that I have a card in my upcoming Animal Reflections oracle deck to represent her wisdom. You can see the card in the photo above with my now treasured patiently waiting wolf potholder. 

Another way I thought I’d also honor this recent reminder from Wolf spirit is to share an excerpt from my book, I’m Fine Just the Way I Am and the chapter about the white Wolf that came to me and how she eventually shared her name with me.

You can read that excerpt and see the collage card I created to honor that experience here.

XO

Barb

    

Connecting with my Inner Tasha Tudor?

Posted by Barbara Techel

We had a summer storm go through around 9 pm last night. At one point there was such a loud crack I sat straight up in bed. The first thought that ran through my mind when I heard it was, “Wake up America!” Not an unusual thought with all that has been unfolding in our world which has been so prevalent on my mind.

After that loud crack, I expected to hear sirens thinking surely something was hit, but fortunately, no sirens sounded.

But this morning there was evidence of the thrashing the trees took with many branches down that I saw on my early morning walk. Plus the many branches that fell from trees in our yard too.

I actually enjoy the ritual of gathering up the fallen twigs and branches. I used to put them in the garbage can to be hauled to the dump, but then last summer I started to save them to use for kindling in our chiminea. I like the idea of repurposing them.

John knows my love of Tasha Tudor, the children’s book illustrator and writer who I learned about in 2008 just as my first children’s book was published. Though that was the year she passed at the age of 92, I’d become enthralled with her as a woman with a gypsy-like spirit and her love of home and animals.

When I latch onto something as I did with Tasha, I have to learn all I can and it will be something I will talk about pretty much non-stop for quite some time. And John has endured.  🙂 

This led to John catching me in moments such as gathering twigs and branches, or weeding or walking about in my garden, etc. that he’d say, “You are Tudor-ing.” And it’s always said with such affection that it warms me all the way to my toes.

It has often made me think of how the author, Jon Katz often calls his artist wife, Maria Wulf (someone else I greatly admire as a free spirit) his Willa Cather girl. Willa Cather, a woman much like Tasha and a pioneer spirit, plus a writer, and a woman who walked to the beat of her own free spirit.

It’s this connecting to what feels like such a simple life as Tasha and Willa lived that gathering the fallen twigs as I was today that makes me feel grounded and grateful for this precious life.

I couldn’t help but see the image float across my mind of one of Tasha where she is gathering up twigs on the property she lived on in Vermont, that I have framed and is in my writing cottage. I have that image, plus two others in my house that are reminders to me that this is the life I love, and to not get influenced by the outside world that can be persuasive of making me think I need ‘more.’

So as I walked up the steps onto the deck I was grinning thinking of that image of Tasha. I could feel her spirit alive and well in me and just had to get a photo of my ‘inner Tasha’ that was now evident with my arms full of twigs….just like she was so many years ago.

xo,

Barbara