This Quilting Mama: Synchronicity and Bears!

"Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see."
Carl Jung (1875-1961)

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous."

(Quoted by Carol Lynn Pearson in Consider the Butterfly)

I don't know about the enlightenment part, but I do like it when things just come together.

The "Bear's Paw" quilt pattern, which I featured in last week's post regarding my Christmas Bears, is "the traditional name for several patterns in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, where bear tracks were a common sight. The same basic pattern also goes by the names of Duck's Foot in the Mud, Hands of Friendship and Hands All Around." (Source: "America's Beautiful Quilts" by Zaro Weil)

Since my last post about all those little bear paws, my friend in film released the Seventh Movement of his Ode to the Motorcycle at the website Opus Badass. (NOTE: There is also a Facebook page with the same name you can reference if you prefer.) Called "The Bear and the Motorcycle," it is (in the artist's own words), "the story is about a bear who is tired of being a circus act and just simply wants to be... a bear. The problem is, when he attempts to live like a bear in the woods, he becomes frightened of the elements and threats (i.e. the hunters), and he hauls ass out of there. When on the side of the road in despair, the little girl who saw him at the circus notices him again and observes how sad he is and gives him flowers to let him know he is loved and always has been." Be sure to have your volume up as the music is the beautiful third character in the piece. Enjoy!

The next day, while out to lunch with a girlfriend at a local tea house called The Tailored Tea, I looked up and saw the most fun acrylic and oil paintings of bears camping, canoeing, eating S'Mores and WOW-- riding motorcycles! Here are some photos.

The art of Roger L. Dowse, local Schenectady contractor by day and artist by passion, fills the walls (and is for sale) of the tea house. "All I want to do is see people smile and laugh." That is how Mr. Dowse explained his art to me in a phone call to gain permission to share his work. Yes, laugh I did as my bear paws, my quilts of friendship, Opus Badass Mvt. 7 "The Bear and the Motorcycle," and finally Mr. Dowse's artist statement all collided in my brain. It seems that, like me, Mr. Dowse finds his art therapeutic. He writes, "Nineteen months ago my father passed away, and I needed to paint more. It became my healing therapy to soothe my intense grief and loss. My usual subject of work involves landscapes and wildlife. By happenstance one night I started to paint bears engaged in human activities. The result was whimsical, comical and seems to make everyone giggle. The laughter was healing and I finally felt that sense of fulfillment."