Mattie’s Pillow is a virtual retreat for writers, artists, dancers, horse lovers, gardeners, and those on the path to individuation.
When I was in my twenties, I had a dream of a farm with red outbuildings trimmed in white–the classic picture-book farm. I saw myself as an older woman who had chosen to live on her own terms: driving horses rather than a car, gardening, writing, cooking for others, and converting barn space into artists’ and writers’ studios. In this dream, I was surrounded by like-minded people, younger artists, and my extended family.
(Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org)
Life happened. Now, I am that woman I dreamed of–at least in part. I teach writing/composition at a university, have raised and launched a ballet-dancer son, and co-own two acres with horse corral in interior Alaska. I write poetry and short stories, I garden, I am re-learning horsemanship and dressage, I dance, I cook. A few summers ago, I began dreaming again of a place where I could bring all these things together into one integrated life project.
At the time, my son, Ira, was dancing with a small modern dance company at Jacob’s Pillow in upstate New York. As I thought about what I wanted to do and what to call it, I was inspired by Jacob’s Pillow–an old farm property dedicated to the art of dance-and decided that my imagined retreat would be Mattie’s Pillow, after my mare, Mattie, whose face at 15 below zero, heads this blog.
After scanning real estate want ads, I have decided to start this project as a virtual farm, kind of a family farm of ideas and inspirations, including links and musings on the different elements of the dream–and rto others that seem supportive of the dream.
My hope, at first, is to begin to refine and clarify the dream and, once I figure out how this blogging thing works, to invite others to participate in it. One hope I have for this blog is to connect those with similar interests and to encourage synchronous connections between things I think are linked because I’m interested in them, but others may not automatically think are linked.
If you have found Mattie’s Pillow, I hope that it will provide fertile ground for the growth of your dreams–artistic, horsey, gardening, or just, well, dreamy. Leave a message to let me know you’ve found this blog.
Mattie's Pillow 