STONE CARVER, Part I

Posted on by March 17, 2023

I’m a self-taught stone carver.

I had been a studio potter for 15 years when, in late 1981, my car was struck right behind my driver seat by a guy running a red light through an intersection as I attempted to cross. My car did a 180 into a parked car, which slammed into my passenger side.

I felt OK when I finally got home from the police-hospital-check ordeal, but awoke the next day unable to move my legs.

I was told I’d never walk again. A single mom with 7 and 9 year old boys — right! Never walk again? Seriously? Who’d take care of them?!? ‘Never’ was no option.

I was referred to 3 different osteo docs by the hospital. All they could do was sigh heavily, wring their hands, and look self-important as they strutted across the exam room, each one hanging a long face Continue reading →

GIVE IT UP!

Posted on by March 15, 2023

Spinnaker

Since my parents took me sailing almost before I could walk, being able to sail is like being able to breathe. It’s more than second nature — maybe more like a second set of senses.

I can tell right away if someone is a sailor — there’s just something about them — the way they walk, the look in their eyes, the trace of wind on their skin, the strength in their backs. And how they watch the water, if we’re near a harbor or ocean.

You can shrug and say, “Eh! No big deal — it’s just a skill!”

But sailing is more than ‘just a skill.’ It’s a life-and-death Continue reading →

MAKE ART, NOT WORRY!

Posted on by March 12, 2023

I was stunned when the first lockdown was announced. Like most, my first thought was, “I can’t go OUT?” But then I realized – I hardly go out anyway!

I’m an old fart, so I don’t walk well, and I’m deaf as a post with failing hearing aids, so interactions are difficult to start with. Pair that with people wearing masks so I couldn’t lip read made it so I found myself begging people to step back and pull the mask down so I could get what they were saying, or seeing them be really uncomfortable shouting way louder than they wanted, just so I could hear.

I gave up trying to socialize after only a couple of weeks. I felt like I was in my own isolated prison.

Then one morning I realized – Continue reading →

SHE’S NOT THERE!

Posted on by March 8, 2023

Love Yourself First

You’re writing a book! That’s great! You’re going to help people, entertain them, introduce them to something new and/or innovative, or even change the world with your ideas.

Let’s say you’re a therapist or health or emotions specialist, and you want to help a person get past unwanted memories of trauma.

You’ve gone to school, gotten degrees, certificates, masters certs. You’ve done years and years of internship, clinical and practical trainings, and more years experience in your own practice.

You know the ins and outs of this person’s problems, why she is struggling, the logical reasoning and the emotional structures under and behind it all.

What’s your biggest problem, right off? Continue reading →

PRACTICING PEACE

Posted on by March 8, 2023

Practicing Peace

Many years ago in the mid-80s when I lived in Honolulu, I had a psychic reading with a gal named Alice Anne, who was well-known and very popular.

At the time, I had a fairly large house with a living room that had enough space to seat 20 or so people. I hosted classes and workshops for her and others who were channels, psychics and healers.

I’d been struggling to make a living as a sculptor. I had two fast-growing teen boys who ate the entire house down to the foundations every day, and I was hard-put to meet expenses. I asked for this reading to see if there was any input that would help.

I signed up for a reading with AA because she seemed to be the least influenced by her rational mind during her readings. Continue reading →

THE ANCIENTS

Posted on by March 1, 2023

When T and I moved into the little one-BR house on Maui near the beach, no one thought to mention it had been built over an ancient Hawaiian burial ground. It had been covered up in the late 1800s to make room for a white-man’s housing development, rows of little plantation houses for the cane-field workers.

I suppose that knowledge was long gone from the minds of the people who had subsequently built up the place, but it certainly wasn’t long-gone from the locals’ minds.

On a casual stroll around the neighborhood soon after moving in, a little old local man came up to us and told us we should ‘skit’ as soon as we could. That because of the nature of the land, it was dangerous in that house, and Bad Things would happen to use if we stayed there. Continue reading →

UNDER THE ORDERLY NIGHT SKIES

Posted on by February 27, 2023

The Dock

We finally got to Huntington Beach, and stayed with T’s mom for a couple weeks. After our snowy misery back east, the good weather seemed just this side of paradise. T got to bliss out surfing every day, while I filled drawing pads and played in the sand. But soon it was obvious we were outstaying our welcome.

We bought an old car and headed north, back to Santa Cruz. By the time we reached Capitola, a quaint little touristy town just south of SC, we were too tired to go another foot. We found a funky old motel down by the water and got a room.

We liked the place – it was cheap, cozy, and near everything we needed, so we booked for a week, to see if we wanted to just stay there. I liked that idea, since we’d be farther away from T’s old crowd.

My perceived sense of safety from them wasn’t to last. Continue reading →

THE CORNER THAT ALMOST KILLED US

Posted on by February 26, 2023

The Corner

The rest of our visit with my folks was blah-normal. At last it was time to go back to California.

After about a nano-second of deliberation, T and I decided that finding a hire-car to deliver to the west coast for someone was a much preferable idea over hitching back. We had had enough of risking our lives with nutty drivers and crazy truckers.

I’m sure the percentage of ‘nice’ or ‘good’ truckers far outweighs the ones who are stoned out of their minds on speed or just plain crazy, but we were’t taking any chances.

Now, remember I keep saying how un-street-smart I was? Continue reading →

A HARD-WON PEACE

Posted on by February 24, 2023

In the air around us, a huge, heavy burden lifted.

Our drive from Des Moines to Long Island was flawless. I was almost shocked at how easy and fun it was, after our two almost-fatal encounters with truckers. Our ride, Harley, was a delightful man who, instead of leaving us off in Des Moines as we had planned, invited us to stick with him all the way to the end of his route. So we did, ending up in a town only a few miles from where we wanted to go.

He told us all about his enormous family, pointing out each person in the tiny photos on his dashboard, each one coming alive as he recanted their unique personalities and hilarious antics.

Since my folks lived on a narrow country lane, it would have been impossible for Harley to squeeze his giant truck through all the tree-lined roads to get there. So, sadly now, we parted ways at the Huntington train station. Continue reading →

BILLY’S 18-WHEELER

Posted on by February 23, 2023

Terror in the Truck As Billy Slept On…

We left the thrift store wearing every single thing we’d bought. They may have been new-old clothes, but it was beyond description how heavenly it was to be warm again.

Now we were seriously hungry. Good fortune was ours — there was a diner close by, so we trudged over, lugging our heavy back packs and the little bag holding our clothes from Hawaii.

We sat at the counter, wondering whether to stay the night in Las Vegas or not — we couldn’t afford a motel, so we’d have to find a park or somewhere we’d be safe from being robbed, beaten or arrested..

We got to talking with a guy sitting next to us, named Billy, who eventually said, “You guys need a ride outta town, right? I’m driving through to St. Louis, want to join me? I could use the company.”

keep reading!

DONNER PASS

Posted on by February 21, 2023

Beary-Bear’s First Snow

T and I came back to California in the middle of January. Being used to the weather in Hawaii, I forgot all about how wet and cold San Francisco was, and was wearing short-shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.

By the time I got off the plane and over to the baggage claim area, I felt as if I had walked into a deep-freeze unit in a cryo facility.

My friend Walt, who had published my Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds poster, picked us up, and kindly gave us a couple of extra jackets he had on hand. After spending the night at Walt’s, he drove us to the nearest freeway on ramp so we could hitch across the US – we were going to go visit my folks, who lived in New York. Continue reading →

SNOW BIRTH

Posted on by February 18, 2023

The Miracle of Birth…

“Nurse! Hand me the scalpel, please, it’s 9:00 and my dinner is waiting!”

Nurse hands scalpel to doctor, and my first live birth, my first son, Aaron, comes screaming out into the ice-cold delivery room air.

“Nothing wrong with the lungs on that one!” the doc declares, as he rises from his chair, gloved hands dripping blood, a streak on his cheek marring his perfect-doctor look. He says nothing more, just leaves. Continue reading →

ALL CONNECTED to AI

Posted on by February 18, 2023

…partner with AI, welcome its limitless stores of information, deep resources, and surprising turns of idea…

Recently, we have suddenly been inundated with the ‘introduction’ of new avenues of access to various types of AI, Artificial Intelligence, software.

I say ‘introduction’ because ironically, we have actually been using it for years, without it being called “AI” outright.

Do you use spellcheck? Alexa or Siri? Siri’s voice recognition and is powered by artificial intelligence AI.

Do you use TikTok, with its AI-driven algorithmic personalization? Do you use FB? Facebook (now Meta) is heavily into AI. Do you use YouTube? Instagram? Zoom? All use AI.

Zoom virtual meeting enhancements — virtual background images and background noise detection — rely on AI. Continue reading →

MA’S GARDEN

Posted on by February 18, 2023

She wouldn’t be who she is without her garden…

I didn’t want to write this. I’ve been back and forth, afraid to post it. But I have this feeling I Have To. Know what I mean? Not for me, but for Someone Out There. I hope it somehow brings you peace, whoever you are.

So to preface the story:
It’s been a hair less than half my life now, since my ma has been gone. For the first five years, I was so pissed at her for dying that I couldn’t — wouldn’t — grieve. Never shed a single tear. Never said a word.

Yes, I have written about her before, but nothing like what happened today. I guess my new habit of getting up early and writing in the raw early hours every day has allowed me to reach depths I wasn’t able to get to before.

Because suddenly today, 38 years later, the wee-est hole in my stubborn, selfish brain cracked open, and it was so obvious — she had never chosen to die! She was too strong, too wayward, to determined, to want to leave. Something had to have creeped in and sabotaged her cosmic ship for her to give it up. Continue reading →

IT’LL BE FUN, HE SAID…

Posted on by February 18, 2023

…the jasmine scented air; the mangoes, papayas, guavas and pineapples…

Seven hours, crammed in with T’s squiggling, wiggling 2 and 4 year old boys in a narrow, silver tube, flying across the 3000 miles stretch of treacherous open ocean with nowhere to go to escape. I thought I’d go mad.

Finally, Honolulu Airport. I was so ready to dash out the door and board the plane sitting nearby for the other flight — the one going back. But no, that would be a disaster.

It’s September 19, 1967. At the time, Honolulu Airport only had one small terminal. No busy crowds, no lines and lines of security checks, no expensive airport shops.

No passenger loading tubes — we had to climb, stiff-legged, down the outside stair and drag our exhausted bodies over to the smaller plane for Maui. Continue reading →

LET’S GO TO MAUI, HE SAID…

Posted on by February 18, 2023

Faces Watching…

Hurrying, stumbling, trying to get our packs and jackets out of the car as fast as we could, we knew our Ride would drive off without even waiting for us to close his precious bright turquoise 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air’s thick, heavy doors.

And he did, the doors swinging shut with a clomph as his momentum drew them closed.

Shaking, still watching him slowly merge with traffic, we unbent, stood up, sighed together in relief, and looked around to see where the heck we were. We had demanded our Ride “stop! Stop NOW,” and he had. We shook with relief.

We thought we were in Ventura, but weren’t sure. We’d both been trembling with unrelieved nerves ever since San Luis Obispo, and could hardly put one thought after the other, now that we were free. Continue reading →

MAKING LOVE UNDER THE SLINKY STARS

Posted on by February 18, 2023

I met my second hubby in Big Sur.

I had been working at Dancer, Fitzgerald and Sample in San Francisco as a junior art director. My very conservative boss, Sam, had a firm hold on the department. Despite the restraints, my co-workers and I spent our days rocking out to the Beatles, the Stones, Van Morrison, and other rock n roll eventual greats as we dreamed up ads for Skippy, Foremost Dairies and other big name brands. Continue reading →

ALIENS OVER MY NEIGHBORHOOD

Posted on by January 17, 2023

1966. I was living in a flop house with ten other hippies in Santa Cruz, California, with my brand new boyfriend, T, who would eventually father my children.

I woke up when the morning paper slammed to the porch. I went outside, picked it up, and read: ALIENS TO GET GREEN CARDS

The article went on at length about the controversy…

But I was halted in my tracks by the headline. Aliens? Get green cards? Wow! Amazing! For years, the gov doesn’t even tell us there ARE aliens, and now they’re issuing them green cards? Continue reading →

SEND LOVE, NO MATTER WHAT

Posted on by December 20, 2022

This was a hard lesson for me. I grew up in a family that loved to sit around after dinner and make fun of, criticize and totally shred politicians, celebrities and other people in the news. It became second nature to be arrogant. You can imagine how many friends I lost, one by one.

I was in my 30s by the time I really ‘got’ the harm I was doing by acting so superior. Not only was I not superior, I didn’t really feel that way, and I hated myself every time a hurtful thing slipped out of my lips.

It was at a self-improvement workshop around that time that I decided that things absolutely had to change, in a very, very big way. By that time, I had friends, but I had been holding them at arm’s length – both because I didn’t want to hurt them with my nasty tongue, and because on some level, that Arrogant Superior Bitch was still quite alive and very willing to use the blade on just about anyone. And she did NOT want to die. Continue reading →

EYE LIGHTS

Posted on by November 24, 2022

I have this weird thing that happens if I’m looking straight ahead, and there is a shiny thing on either side of me – the shiny thing makes light rays that go out and catch me – kind of like strings that pull my attention.

Hard to put into a drawing – this is as best as I can do. The light is sharp and bright, in long, tiny lines.

Like right now I have a vest on that has a shiny zipper fastening – it catches my eye and makes those lines. Weird, eh? I hope it isn’t precursor to some strange medical thing. I’d be devastated to lose my eyesight!

text & image © Angela Treat Lyon 2022
LyonArtandDesign.com

RAMEN YOGA

Posted on by November 23, 2022

When I first moved to Hawaii in 1966, I was introduced to a local oriental dish called Saimin. It was a rich chickeny or maybe fishy broth, with thin slices of roast pork, chopped green onions, long, skinny, squiggly, tangled rice noodles, and seasonings rich with ginger and other spices I didn’t know of at that time.

Nowadays, it’s been adopted into every day culture here on the mainland, and we call it Ramen. It comes in many flavors and variations.

So of course since it was one of my favorite dishes in Hawaii, I buy it here a lot. And what’s better to have after yoga than saimin, with green tea and a ginger cookie?

text and image © Angela Treat Lyon 2022
LyonArtandDesign.com – prints and originals

CRUNCHY YOGA & AUDIO BOOKS!

Posted on by November 23, 2022

Recently I’ve been creating a 1-2-3 systems webinar for teaching authors how to make their own audio books. Why audio books, you ask? Because although it’s easy to publish kindle books on amazon, you can get your audio books onto 47 other platforms! Imagine you have one book, and you put it for sale on all those venues – think you might get more sales? Uh-huh. Yup!

Did you know the average total sales of books for most authors is 250 or fewer books? For someone who has spent possibly years writing their book, that’s a devastatingly low number. Might as well have never taken the time, energy, blood, sweat or tears to do it!

I just published my own first audio book. I’m going to continue to learn where I can place my books – it’s an important read for anyone suffering from anxiety – I want it to go out to as many people as I can get it to!

If you’d like to check out the audio book, click the link to go to my Turn Your Anxiety into Creativity AUDIO book! https://amzn.to/3VbVO02

What’s that all got to do with Crunchy yoga? Nothing! Hahahahahahahaha!

text and image © Angela Treat Lyon
LyonArtandDesign.com – prints and originals

UPWARD DAWG

Posted on by November 23, 2022

I loved Downward Dawg that I designed yesterday, that I figured I should-oughta make Upward Dawg, too. This one’s one of my favorite poses – I have a funky congenital glitch at the base of my spine that makes this position really difficult – so of course I enjoy it, right? Snort! When I come out of it, the pain I usually feel in my hip is reduced significantly. What a relief!

I believe that if yoga was introduced to kids at an early age – along with the meditative practices it assists – what a different world we’d have!

I think we all need to stop moaning and groaning about how bad things are. That just perpetuates the ‘bad’ energy.

Instead, let’s dream up cool stuff, go about DOing cool stuff, saying I love you, singing sweet songs – how can our world not change for the better if we all did that?

Fido, Felix, Birdies and I are here to help!

text and image © Angela Treat Lyon
LyonArtandDesign.com – prints and originals

DOWNWARD DAWG

Posted on by November 23, 2022

I remember the very first time I ever saw anyone doing yoga. I was 21. My then-hubby bought a huge how-to book that had big in-your-face photos of the yoga guru posing in all these wild contortions.

I was aghast! I’m supposed to twist my body into that shape? Nope. Won’t. I did do the most basics, and still do, 56 years later. But boy, those feet-behind-the-ears ones, and the stand-on-your-one-hand while elevating your entire body with crossed legs over your head? Nope nope nope.

Maybe you can spot what happens to me when I do this pose…

My yoga mat is in the middle, with crystal sounding bowls and sticks, and my buddies the chirpy birdies, sweet doggie and climby cat – who could ask for more!

text and image © Angela Treat Lyon
LyonArtandDesign.com – prints and originals

The OTHER OTTER

Posted on by November 23, 2022

I birthed my younger son at home. Labor had started at 10 pm, but I went to bed anyway, exhausted from canning tomatoes all day.

I awoke with a bang at 3 am, though, and somehow, as daddy went to get the midwife, I clambered clumsily and carefully down our loft ladder and crawled over – in between intense, doubled-over contractions – my huge belly in the way all the way – to the bedding we had set up by the wood stove. I climbed onto the mattress, got ready, and waited for daddy and doula.

Continue reading →

CAVE CANEM

Posted on by November 23, 2022

When my parents built their beautiful self-designed house, they embedded a 4-tile Italian design of a growling dog, in lovely ceramic colors, into the wall next to the stairway.

It wasn’t just a regular stairway – oh no, can’t have that! It was a curved stair, open, with huge, thick wood steps made out of African Ekki wood. Which apparently is a hardwood that’s over 3 times stronger than white oak. They liked that it was naturally resistant to insects, non-porous, and doesn’t rot.

Continue reading →

TWO for TANGO

Posted on by November 23, 2022

When I first moved here to California, I went through a bit of culture shock. The air is grey, not yellow; people wear mostly dull browns, greys and blacks, not bright aloha shirts, sarongs and bright-colored clothing; friendly greetings in stores on the street are regarded as suspicious and either ignored or given stink eye; gruff answers to questions of store employees instead of aloha-friendly help – and the worst, the ugly conversation with one of my landlord’s managerial staff.

I’m not sure how we got off on the wrong foot, but boy, did we! I think it started when he sent a text saying the AC guy was coming over to do his annual inspection. I asked a question, and we continued back and forth.

Continue reading →

FREEDOM BIRDIES

Posted on by November 23, 2022

You know how when you watch a movie and you end up rooting for the little guy?

Well, I do, anyway – such a common theme – well this is the little guy who’s fed up with the shenanigans being pulled by the supposed ‘good’ guys (in this case, the all-powerful, ever-present moon, supposedly benignly watching over us, protecting us – hah – not.).

Little Freedom Fighter Birdie, his little heart beating right out of his chest he’s so scared but so pissed off that he’s transcended his fear, stands on the backs of all those little gathered-together hurt people who aren’t brave enough to say ‘stop hurting me!’ and screams at the Bad Guys, ‘stop hurting us! Go the f away!’

I know, you may not agree with my take on things, but that’s OK. I’ll stand for the helpless any day.

text and image © Angela Treat Lyon 2022

REBEL

Posted on by November 30, 2022

What happens to kids who just don’t fit the square, round or even triangular holes in society? They end up like I did, seething inside, wishing for friends, afraid of the certain mockery when I opened my mouth, envying the easy friendships others had.

Finding solace in art and reading; always alone, always wary of sly, scathing, scornful words. Not trusting a single person. I studiously and purposely developed a razor tongue after my dentist did The Bad Thing to me when I was 13 – after a very short time of intense practice, I could have cussed a sailor into taking notes.

Continue reading →

How to GET YOUR ENERGY BACK

Posted on by November 23, 2022

During this last two years, I’ve watched closely as I and many others have lost income, gained way too much weight, lost our health, got horrifically off track in biz, and felt generally unfocused, exhausted, uninspired and discouraged.

I decided I’d had enough!
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I was tired of feeling tired, too exhausted to do a single thing. No matter what, things had to change, or I might as well give up and go be a Walmart door greeter.

A MONUMENTAL SHIFT

Since being a door greeter is very definitely not on my list of desirable things to do in my life… instead: I set up an experiment, and I set a time frame of one month to see how it would go.

Here’s what I did (am doing):

Continue reading →