Hello, my dears. Over the Fourth of July weekend we dedicated a carved stone for Val, on the ridge overlooking her family ranch. She built many cairns on that ridge over the years, and last year we climbed over the jumbled rock piles, rebuilding her tumbled cairns and raising new Continue Reading
memorial
The Valerie Garrison Art and Education Scholarship
My dears, Our much-loved Val Garrison left us one year ago today, a fact which still seems inconceivable. I miss her every day. Here is something good: the Valerie Garrison Art and Education Scholarship is launched! Miles and Sandy and I have chosen the very first recipient from Val’s hometown Continue Reading
sangha stone & huckleberry
My dears, A small sweet house in SE Portland has been turned into a meditation center, a sangha. Val used to meditate there, and when she couldn’t travel easily, her meditation group came to her at home. Nelly (Val’s meditation teacher) and the rest of the group wanted to Continue Reading
if time ran all at once
My friends, it has been almost six weeks. It feels like a handful of days. I have been having a hard time writing, but I wanted just to let you know that the memorial weekend in Eureka was complex and healing, and drenched in the beauty Val so wanted this Continue Reading
ranch light
Aw, Val Garrison. Dang it. The sunset at the ranch sure was beautiful tonight. There were baby elk at the edge of the alder wood. The bareback hills of the back pasture were flooded with golden light and crowded with invisible stories. I could see you on every hill.
order of service
My dears, For those of you who were not able to be there, I wanted to share with you the order of service from Val’s memorial. People came from all over: from Chicago, New York and Argentina; from Alaska and New Mexico, New Hampshire and Indiana; from California, western Montana Continue Reading
sometimes the best thing is to howl
My dears, One thing I shared at Val’s memorial on Saturday was this very abridged list of just a few of the things I learned from Val, or that we learned together. *** I spent fifteen years in the orbit of Val Garrison, friend of my heart. I learned a lot Continue Reading
a surprise against the light
My garden is full of rocks. They come from Montana, from Mexico, from Rhode Island, Texas, Argentina and New Zealand. They come from the Columbia Gorge and Alaska and the Black Rock Desert. There are knuckly geodes from my home in southern Indiana. There are glossy agates from the California coast. Continue Reading
Hazel Rand
I will tell you that today was Hazel’s memorial service. And that should impart some kind of information to you. So that you can picture the buffet table and the BBQ pork. The outside tables set up at a friend’s house. The cooler of Coors Light. The smokers over by Continue Reading