Chapter 21: Lifeline, A Water Storytelling Project

Maps and Archives

Atlas Mountains, Morocco.

I often have rocks in my pockets.
I like their company.
Eventually they land on my studio window ledges, desk, drawing table, in corners…These ancient bits of planet and cosmos that have been transformed by water, weather and elements over such a very long time now dot this room and create a new constellation here. Each is a map, an archive, an epic story. Here together they tell my story too. When I place them among the lifelines in my palm I read them together, as they are meant to be.

My studio

Lake Ontario, Canada

I felt my life with both my hands
To see if it was there –
–Emily Dickenson

Hudson River, Beacon, New York

Reynisfjara, Iceland. One of my favorites. I call her my “seal rock”. Look at that eye!

A piece of ancient ocean crust from the Po River Source, Monviso, Pian del Re in front of one of my recent works.

In her book Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World, Marcia Bjornerud writes:

“Can we develop a clear eyed view of our planet in time, both the past that came long before us and the future that will elapse without us?

“It is a timely reminder to consider the fact that “we are all citizens of the planet whose tectonic, hydrolic, and atmospheric habits ignore national boundaries.”

“Geology is etymology of the world.”

My desk today

Do you carry rocks in your pockets?

Thank you for being here with me.
Warmest wishes XO,

MM

p.s. This chapter is really a continuation of my chapter about the Whole Ocean in a Small Pebble….click that title to check it out!