week sixty nine >> "transmission"

Sarah Kay

in a most compelling transmission of transmissions,
spoken word artist Sarah Kay tells all about telling....
of story, and how we can discover our value through
uncovering and releasing the nuanced facets of our
own unique ways of tasting life. >> click video below

"transmission"   click to view

Mz Kay is doing some of the most important work 
on the planet, I feel.  thank you Sarah.

∞  ceci



 




















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week sixty eight >> "transmission"

"transmission"             click to view

back in los angeles for a few days now, decompression underway, transition from a major transmission. my trip, a couple very intense weeks, intensely beautiful, and intensely shifting as I come face to face  -like in every visit for the past few years, this one more than ever-  with the genes, the roots, the core tendencies, and the beauty of myself, my mom, and my Tata, with curious clues to what likely was for her mama and hers and...  reflections abound and choices make their forking roads clear; which threads do I regenerate, and which end now with me?  I am presented with the opportunity to step wide and observe the tight knit patterns in a different way than ever done before, without judgment, releasing shame and blame and regret, all with reverence to the pain, the loss, and the gain, not denying it, facing and feeling it through -as dark as the shadows may get, clearing the bounds, freeing myself to observe my roots and myself clearly, with love instead of animosity, and choose from here,   in this clearing, perhaps the first one vested with the liberty to observe, to choose, and to change.  vested because I choose to receive it, to step into this clearing, this freedom to free myself and my lineage, to choose how to live fully; and it is undoubtedly a golden privilege to do so. this visit comes at a critical current juncture of my life with major awakenings and transformations, and O yes transmissions, taking place through me.  I didn't even know I was pupa for so long. I'm dying now. surrender. and a "gloriously winged creature"* is busting through as we speak.  
ready for take off.

∞ 6 


* Chris Stevens ~ Mosquito Spring episode, season 4: Northern Exposure

week sixty seven >> "Fiesta"

Hello from Cartagena! I have the great privilege to be here once again visiting my grandma Tata, continuing to enjoy her in excellent health and sound sharp mind, and this year we are celebrating her 100 years alive! She is truly "una maravilla." She is outlasting a century! 

And in that century the entire world has turned over a billion times over. How can she even recognize it? Mostly, she doesn't, and as humans do she sees only what is real for her and all the rest is like a mirage that passes over her like a weather system, like a parallel universe. isn't it though? all of time happening at once makes for untold parallel universes all operating in one woven fabric of life. she certainly lives in hers, her own world. no need to time travel, I can touch another time by touching her, and being touched by her stories. ~ after experiencing the advent of electricity, telephone, radio, and film, how crazy that we are now showing her slideshow movies of her life on an ipad. she tells me she has no idea how it is happening, and the truth is neither do I! Heck, I don't even understand the complete workings of electricity. But we enjoy the experience anyhow. Everyone asks me "how does she do it?" referring to my Tata's age, and health to boot. Again, it's not something to figure out or be understood, it is something to enjoy and experience. I am so grateful that I get to enjoy her still. And that is what Tata does, she's living in a future world, she doesn't understand it, but she continues to live it well.

me and Tata at 230am, night of her 100th birthday

We had a huge elegant celebration for Tata on her birthday… FIESTA!  When we got home at 230am, she still wanted to hang out and eat cake.  My Tata, she loves to party.   

"fiesta"        click to view

∞ 6


ps(l): Thank you Hemphill for the Bday love, for both me and my Tata!  

week sixty six >> "Fiesta"

Fiesta

mysteries revered

Happy Birthday Auntie Ceci, We love you and celebrate you!  May life's great mysteries be revealed for your clear heart to receive!  What is the phrase your family sings to you where you are visiting?

And Happy Centennial Tata - Increible!  May the Wisdom of life's experience beam forth unto the glory and blessing of all who surround you, reflecting back unto your own shining soul.

Be well and Blessings,
Love Hemphill

week sixty five >> strength ~ Expect Big Changes

EXPECT BIG CHANGES
play, growth, love, strength

Cec Darlin,  The words of contact have been wanting to shed out for days, here I am now!!!  For a few moments as I balance on a ball holding computer court stable on one foot, while the other props on a pillow.

'Deep sea baby' - I love this song playing in the room, 'Run deep, run wild '-L.Li (really lik'in Likki musically)

CHECK THIS THING OUT
Future Present Past

My wound is immense - i'm debating flashing a close-up before they took out 10 staples, which was every other one.  I'm wearing this removable boot thing now - specifically for achilles- and it weighs a ton and I'm supposed to sleep w/ it on - right now, it's off for a spell.; just the bandaged wound and wrap... two crutches perched..  This is my first attempt at computer work since the 9th.  Thank heavens for my phone and my car, and my right legs strength and health, and supportive meal-making community, and fights, and visions, and quiet moments, and couches, and coolness, and breezes... so much to be grateful for, aye yayay!

Actually, as my red tent time commensed this week, the tears seem to be flowing particularly.  Mostly in communication relationships...meaning, T. and me.  We are breaking through some shit, but man, the misunderstanding is thick, and battle lingers in the air poised, ready to drop in any moment.  And then, there are these immense patches of inspired collaborative visioning.   Phew!

chef strength

extended

Did I tell you Clark street  is practically ready, we'll be moving back during September?  When are you off to Colombia?  I'm in Pasadena at school for faculty meetings next week, at least what I'm able to manage... some days I may leave meetings but will need to rest in the area till kid pickup time.



lady swirl love



Is ur rest stop open? 

Love you, thinking of your healing words and vibes.

KIT, -J.

week sixty four >> "strength"

I remember writing the words "Expect Big Changes" in ZBOOK while living in New York in the year 2000.  I was 26, it was the fall.  I was having some major personal epiphanies, and emerged with this thought, this declaration, voiced through ZBOOK, where all other trains of our thought traveled through btwn 1996 and 2010.  It was a moment of tuning into my strength, and I at once wanted to share it with Jennifer, through our treasured portal, this book where we communicated on other plains and dimensions, so very often without ever discussing them off the page.

"strength"            click to view

Strength. In the tarot it is the card of the Leo, the card that tells the story of our ability to not only have power, but to Fully own our power, harness it, and direct it with our CHOICE, using our power to determine our domain and create greatness of our lives, in lue of being at the mercy of unmitigated power, impulsive, explosive and ultimately expulsed to a loss.  We are in the time of Leo right now in these early August weeks. This week we celebrate the birthday of Jennifer's husband Tony (8/16) and my dad (8/20). 

It takes strength to handle the Big Changes of our lives. To face them, handle them, heal through them, learn from them, and become them.  This week while on an "extended visit during an extended stay"** with my family, I have been experiencing my strength through major changing dynamics within relationships within my family.  On both sides, in new and unexpected ways.  How else does change come?  I must be strong for myself, and strong for them.  Perhaps I will share about this sometime. And this week Jennifer is expereincing her huge strength as she is undergoing the huge change of venue of forging through a surgery and the embarkment of recovery of her Achilles.  Perhaps she will share about this sometime.

Godspeed Hemphill.  It is your strength that has been an anchor of inspiration since the day we first converged.  I only hope to reflect it back to you. 

love you dear sister. Tajada.

∞ ceci

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**written in New York as well, during Jennifer's "extended stay" visit to me & Vinh that fall of 2000, during which we handed off ZBOOK in person :)

week sixty three >> "invited"

We chose this spread of "Invited" to present in this celebration week, as it bears remnant reminisces from the hand of our brother Nate whom we honor and uplift in light as he enters the covenant of Marriage this week.  Blessings to you and your beloved sweet man - Love well and prosper!

A long time ago, in a land not so far away, two young women were working away through night and day, painting and drawing, creating and playing.  Energy was sparking and dawn was emerging when they found themselves drawn out of their studio cave into the fresh air and light of the middle of May.

Inspiration caught their scent and called to them to climb to the tallest tower.  Thus they found themselves scaling steep ladders toward the pinnacle of Harder stadiums observation peeks where views of the surrounding lands abounded.  To commemorate this wonderous occasion, when time and space had expanded and contracted within their experience, the two companions unwrapped a gift from another beloved soul friend, Father Hutch.  The green genie inside unleashed his powers of wish, bestowing unto the girls an unforgettable and magical celebration filled with dancing and singing and loving.

Forevermore will we commemorate this holy ignition, this flame of light set fire into all time, hee hee haa haah !! -J.

week sixty two >> "invited"

 July 2011:  HIGH ATE US

"invited"                                     click to view

We didn't announce our July sabbatical because it ultimately came as news to us as well :)  ...it pretty much announced itself: a time of rest for ZBOOK 4EVER ....as our attention was pulled fervently into travels and other creative work vital to the impending launch into a new year.  Jennifer has a new year opening up with the school year of her children and of her work at Waldorf ...and as my birthday approaches I am entering my new year ...as always restorative, regenerating thresholds are emerging, inviting me to renew and refine my vows, my course of action and availability for opportunities and growth.  We have been winding up like the high wind, harnessing our energy for the launching of so many ships.  This HIGH consumed our July, or you could say, ATE US.  (haha, we love words.  and boy are there a lot of words on Z page we pulled for this week, "invited")  We honor our time of hiatus as a needed ebb to fully activate the next flow of ourselves, our work, and ZBOOK 4EVER in this new year now igniting.  we are entering a season of invitations.  Calls to action from visions lit up by the summer sun.  Wonder (soul sister) twins ACTIVATE.

∞ ceci

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week sixty one >> "whistle"

What!!??  Are you crazy!!??  

So, it's nearing midnight, and I'm in a funk of tiredness as I struggle to push through finishing round one of end of year reports when I decide to take a breather and hey, yes, check-in on zbook page of the week; when what to my wondering eyes should appear,

but two bad-ass, rock-solid, mega-women on steroids, streaming their boldly flowing juices to one another...

and I am reminded that I have resources to tap, pools of strength to dive into for refreshment and nourishment and rejuvenation! 

Thank you Ceci for over-riding and selecting a sweetly delicious and firey spread for this uber flamin week / month / life. 

This is a fave fabulouso! One of our Oh YES spreads, as it flashes into the noggin memories galore... times of superhero status when nothing could get in our way and dogs with keys were our allies... must be time to start whistling, as it is hot hot hot... was this not one of our Hot pages?  should a been; callin us now back into the fire.

MUchas besas bella, love you ~J.

week sixty >> "Z cover" S.BOOK in San Francisco!

Right now and through tomorrow, S.BOOK, the book we made in participation with The Art-HouseSketchbook Project and is currently on touring exhibition with thousands of other books made from scratch, is now rolling through San Fransico!  SF is dear to my heart for I grew up around the city in the Bay Area and it continues to be an extension of home for me which I routinely visit, along with my family of friends that live there.  Oddly enough, I am not there now!  Unfortunately I could not make it up there this weekend.  If you are in SF, please go visit this amazing exhibition and check out our book!  You will find it under our artist name ZBOOK, from Los Angeles,  and under the theme: Trading Forever.  On the cover you will see the familiar title: ZBOOK 4EVER, as our S(ketch)BOOK shares the story of birth and life of ZBOOK, most specifically two friends who traded a book and discovered the power and magic of collaboration. 

If you go please take photos of your experience and send them to us... we'll post 'em here!

Madrone Studios   June 16, 17, & 18   12pm - 5:30pm
1417 15th St
San Francisco, CA

http://www.arthousecoop.com/sketchbookproject2011 

Since this week we are looking at Z cover of ZBOOK let's also look at S.BOOK....

ZBOOK

"ZBOOK 4EVER" our S(ketch)BOOK

Thanks for your love and support!

∞ ceci

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week fifty nine >> " z cover" ZBOOK at LIB !

It's been a week now since I got back from LIB, and I'm still not quite back yet.  You may remember my post from last year about Lighting in a Bottle, a GEM of a festival created by The Do Lab which happens annually every memorial weekend.  I was again honored to be a live painter this year, as well as show piece in the LIB d i a l e c t Gallery.  More on that later... for today a story...

This year I brought a companion with me to LIB... my good ol' friend ZBOOK.  The ever weathered traveler, ZBOOK wanted to soak up the magic and splendor and ever expanding creativity of Lightning in Bottle.  ZBOOK wanted to be a part of it, and as always, a witness.  Here are some shots of ZBOOK up at LIB's Temple of Consciousness, the space up on a hill at LIB where countless speakers, teachers, visionaries, musicians, and artists share their gifts with us. 

O so silently, ZBOOK stood upon the alter and stage and spoke its volumes.  Perhaps next year ZBOOK will bring Jennifer and I to this prolific space at LIB to voice the teachings of creative freedom and the power of collaboration that ZBOOK has revealed through all its years and travels.

In the spirit of this set of weeks we are sharing Z cover of ZBOOK, we are celebrating the object of zee book itself, this book that has mutated and grown and weathered and traveled in our satchels for so many years of our lives.  And still, it lives!  Still with us as we travel through life, the consummate witness to OUR continuing mutation, growth, and weathering... in the ever expanding composition that is our lives. Always reminding me that I am always free to create and discover who I am.

∞ ceci

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"z cover"    cover of ZBOOK       click to view large

week fifty eight >> "z cover"

Z book cover spread

Hello Ceci Love,  I'm so thankful that these older images of us holding zbook in the roses were available to make this post... must have been spring last year.  I just spoke to my mom, construction at 1420 is well underway, which is slightly shocking because we were just there over the weekend harvesting fruits from the backyard.  On Sunday, we pulled 50 lemons from the tree outside Hallie's window, and apparently that tree is now gone, as is her window.  We also gathered a huge bowl of delectably ripe boysenberries and the most delicious apricots in the world are blooming on our apricot tree.  Did I tell you that we've had to pull back on parts of the deconstruction because of budget - and that the part we are pulling back on is the garage re-doing...so my mural will stay as well as our apricot tree and the majority of the garden... it's a good backing off from our perspective;as lovely as a two car / studio space garage would be.
    We are really getting to observe the interior spaces - the bones of the house... it's exciting.  Speaking of interiors... in these two weeks when we are sharing the exterior of zbook, ie: the cover... isn't it interesting to ponder what's inside something based on what you see outside... the cliche being 'don't judge a book by its cover".  But then, isn't it a part of perceiving things and people, to take in impressions of the outside, to drink them in.   Our beautiful, well-handled book, passed so often from my hand to yours and yours to mine - our hands are such an integral part of this spread... so lovely!!!!
 I love you and wish to see you soon and hold your hand -Jennifer

week fifty-seven >> "friendship caught on fire"

ZBOOK front inside cover          Click to see pretty & large

Quotes spoken on this spread... "Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins, which of the two has the grander view? - Victor Hugo  and :Love is like friendship caught on fire" - Bruce Lee quoted by Chris in the morning.

My man and my boy are in the vehicle awaiting me to join them to head on our first of the summer weekend to the Houseboat... yeay!  i will be in awe of nature's beauty, absorbing both the macro, as the mountains and the lake provide incredible vistas for the soul, and the micro, as every rock, nook and cranny teams with the veins of pulsing life, we are so enraptured of feeling our synergy with.  Happy St, John's all, let the green of the summer, take you on a journey. Cheers, -Hemphill

week fifty six >> "friendship caught on fire" Happy May 16th!!!

In the spirit of anniversaries, cycles of seasons, and full circling thresholds, we go from the back inside cover spread, which we shared these past 2 weeks, and now turn to and open up to the front inside cover spread:

ZBOOK front inside cover          Click to see pretty & large

Of course this spread was made just as all the other pages, bit by intuitive bit, in layers of spontaneous whim and response, never first, never last, always in the state of becoming, touched upon in non-linear spirit, birthed throughout 14 years. It's fitting that the back cover should lead to the front as they neither indicate an ending OR beginning, but rather BOTH... as such threshold points truly are, like how every change is an end and simultaneously a start, how death is a close that in the same instance is a birth to new life.  How the end of one year begins another. 
Like today! Happy May 16th Hemphill!  This is our special day, the celebration of our "friendship caught on fire" as Bruce Lee described love to be (as quoted here on Z page by Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure :)  

"love is like friendship caught on fire" Bruce Lee
quoted by Chris the Morning, Norther Exposur

And as ZBOOK is also a tribute to our soul kinship and collaboration, it feels great to share this page with you on this day.  Up in the right corner it says "This is a Book of Lives"  In the bottom right corner is a photo sticker of us taken in a sticker machine on the Santa Cruz boardwalk in spring of 1999, seems to me that you were quite possibly observing a celebration for May 16th that day.  This page soon peculated into an homage of our synergy and gratitude for each other. 

The quote Jennifer wrote on on the left is perfect tone setter for our flip from back to front or end to start.... I would answer the question posed with a singular yet all encompassing YES.

love you Hemphill!

∞ ceci

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PS(L):  love the echos of PSL on both inside covers,
            YES our posse is truly anchored in our hearts

week fifty five >> "made daily"

zbook back inside cover

Backing into the past months double double of two week spreads, we take this 'made daily' spread into its second posting week- with the potential that it burst into a triple week, just to keep the salad tossing. 

hook us up!

Inside Covers are huge metaphors... they are the first thing opened to or the last thing viewed before closing.  They are major strength points for the physical structure of a book itself, such as zbook.  In our case, this backside inside cover contains no less than condensations of our story, such as the excerpt depicted above spouting, "youth and early travels, has become something of a legend since", followed by our chronicling of year dates. and our vision for ourselves, with publishing notes, seen at the side,  and the below Northerns quote which speaks so deeply to our beliefs in the process of sharing and expressing our work with and into the world,  "an artist needs obstacles; he needs to contend, to find out what he's made of".

Ruth Ann, Northern  Exposure quote

It's all a journey, every relationship, every experience, every piece of work and play.

Here's to three clicks of all our ruby red slippers to stream the prayers ever closer to home, to the core, to the inner pulsation, to the heartbeat.

Feel my love blast to you, as I feel yours come flooding through.  Be well, -Mamma Jennifer

week fifty four >> "made daily"

aka :  "WE CANNOT WALK ALONE"





As my household goes into upheaval this month, engaging in a move, I am uber grateful for the support of friends and family in so many ways.  Shout out to PSLr, Coach Brian, who hooked us up with smartbox galore - woop woop!! 

This spread, our back inside cover makes me smile because it feels like it is smiling back at me - in a way it gives me a summer time feel too - like the gang is hanging out.  I'm reflective of both myself and my children, with our circle of buddies in surround all around.  Hallie took off this week for a two night campout with her third grade class.  They're working on a biodynamic farm and bonding over smores and campfire songs - too fun!  After kissing her goodbye, I worked at Jack's school, digging up the ground in preparation for some chickens who are going to move in... little ones played and worked alongside me in the hot sun, digging, climbing, imagining, laughing, struggling, lifting... so beautiful to be in the midst of kids in dirt.  Now, I'm at work, prepping a letter for parents of 4th - 8th graders so that we can get wet with water games in the coming weeks during our PE classes - water balloon tosses - oh yeah!
Keep Cool and sane and keep your possy in your heart. - J. G.

week fifty three >> "access points" ZBOOK4EVER CELEBRATES ONE YEAR !

"access points"      click to view LARGE

A year ago today we launched ZBOOK4EVER, this here interweb site and blog, celebrating and sharing Z pages created in traveling collaboration during the first 14 years of our friendship and creative correspondence, which birthed ZBOOK!  Z page this week, "access points," is the last spread in ZBOOK before turning to the back inside cover spread, yet as one feels close to exit, this page speaks of entering, and the questions that surface when stepping into the unknown beyond the threshold, or rabbit hole as it so often feels.  The making of ZBOOK came to a close in 2010, yet in that very moment the sharing of it via ZBOOK4EVER began.  A fresh access point was born, this time for all the world to enter our world which only Jennifer and I had shared through ZBOOK for all these years since we entered our friendship and creative mayhem together back in school. And also for us, to explore our own exploration, to commune with our own stories and mythologies, to connect what we have created with what we are creating today.

Today we enter a new year as we continue to share Z pages of ZBOOK, the development of our other books such as Xbook, Ybook, and the traveling S.BOOK as it exhibits all over the U.S, and engage in collaboration with YOU via Z.POSTCARDS, a project we are officially launching this summer.   

Thank you for being a part of ZBOOK4EVER!  We are grateful for this extended forum with which to share with you our ever growiing creative rhythms... and we are ever grateful for your loving attention and support.  We would LOVE to hear from you, please feel FREE to leave your comments or email us.

see bottom right of Z page:  "input expression... re(garding): our reception of the calling to let go & begin crystallization of zee book" at right ----->
written, I'm guessing, year 2000

Happy New Year!




∞ ceci
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PS(L): happy Apirl 20 to our PSL family! we love you dearly.