I’ve written about The Book Haven in Salida, Colorado, previously, but not since the store moved across the street. Its Grand Re-Opening happened on the evening of February 3. Owner Lisa Marvel hosted a gala event at 135 F Street. I and perhaps 80 others packed into the new digs, where the finger food was delicious and the layout, marvelous. I didn’t take my camera. I knew I wouldn’t be able to shoot decent photographs in that crowd. There were one-minute readings of prose and poetry by many poets and writers, and two people from The Salida Circus  performed a flawless gymnastics act right in the middle of the store.

The Book Haven is an independent book store, which is different from a big city chain store. Independent book store owners care about readers first, and making money, second. They have to make money to survive, of course, but they do that by enticing customers to enter the front door. Here’s a picture of Lisa Marvel, store owner, in her new space.

Here’s my book in the Local and Regional Author section, top shelf, second from left.

And here’s a photo of me toward the front of the store,  holding my book.  Notice the great lighting and beautiful alcoves. This is truly a peach of a bookstore.

One particular attraction, the “living room,” (shown below) provides a natural place for people to meet and visit, or simply curl up and read. Two groups congregate regularly in this area: a writing/critique group, the second Wednesday, and The Haven Readers, a book group, the third Thursday. (Check the Events Calendar online for specific times).

Another inviting nook is the children’s area.

Lisa hosts a monthly event for authors and book lovers called Dies Librorum (Day of the Book). In the new store, there is space to set up tables laden with food on the first Thursday of every month. Lisa loves to cook, and she prepares most or all of the food for this event herself in the new full-size kitchen.

Since she serves wine, people who attend Dies Librorum must make reservations. In the old location, the place was packed with little maneuvering room. I can’t wait to see what happens on March 1, when the second Dies Librorum is set up with a slate of authors talking about their books! Lisa has already announced the menu: Cassoulet, Salade Concombres vinaigre, French Bread, and Banana Sorbet.

In addition to womaning the bookstore on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Lisa cooks for Soup Day at The Stone Soup Café the first Monday of each month. The other days of the week, various people staff the store.

The Book Haven is indeed, as stated on the website, “a place to gather, to browse, to explore, to reach out, to find great literature and great reads.” To join The Book Haven emailing list for event announcements, contact the store: 719-539-9629.

We began by writing our intentions. My intention was to have my friend experience the spontaneous movement of her hands in an artful way. She claimed she was not an artist. One does not need to be an artist to do this. Touch Drawing (invented by Deborah Koff-Chapin) is similar to a six-year-old’s finger-painting, except that we allow the spontaneous movement directed by our subconscious to guide our hands. We sat at my dining room table and first wrote about what we wanted to get out of it. Then we each pulled a card from Doreen Virtue’s Healing with the Angels deck.  Next,  we wrote about what the angel message meant for us. Writing our thoughts set the stage for the art, because the drawing is guided by Spirit – one’s spiritual orientation doesn’t matter.

We moved into my art studio (our pottery studio cleaned up!). It’s pretty cramped in there and not the prettiest place to work. But the light is good and there are two ample work tables. Each of us had a masonite board to paint on, a roller, and water-based paints in an array of colors.

Yesterday was the first time I’ve used the water-based paint. I’m used to working with black oil paint or printer’s ink. Here’s one of my pictures from a previous day done in black oil paint on tissue paper. (I did not plan to draw a face–my hands made this spontaneously).

The process is a simple one – roll out paint on a board. Place a piece of tissue paper or newsprint on it, and let your fingers dance on the paper. After a while you get the hang of it–the hang of allowing your fingers to do what they want instead of making them move as you wish. Your body-mind knows what to do. Here is one of my friend’s finished Touch Drawings done on tissue paper. Each drawing has spiritual meaning for the person making it. Sometimes it’s the answer to a question. It can represent a release of emotion, or it can be given as a gift from your higher consciousness.

And here are some of mine done on newsprint.

After drawing for an hour, producing about 25 drawings each,  we took a lunch break. I told my friend how I discovered “automatic drawing”  30 years ago. It’s something my mother and I both did. I didn’t know other people did it and I was afraid of where the movement came from. Eventually I learned that many artists use this form,  and it has the dignified name, “Expressive Art.” This kind of art is used by art therapists to work with troubled clients. It has a healing component–allowing the subconscious to bring forth images that the person cannot express verbally. A therapist can interpret the images and guide the client to a healthier state.

I’m not a therapist, but I have discovered that drawing spontaneously can release my own pent up emotions. I like to use it for relaxation and to express creativity in a way that doesn’t require the skill of a trained artist.

After lunch, we went back to the studio and I showed my friend how I work with oil pastels using spontaneous movement of my hands. I demonstrated how I select the colors spontaneously, and then begin a picture. Many of my pictures are abstract. Below is an example of a recent one.

I had no idea what the picture above was about, until I showed Jim this morning. He said it looked like a bird. And then I saw it– a rooster!–the lavender eye, yellow comb and orange beak with colorful ruff of feathers below its head.  Nothing deep or mysterious here. We had been to The Rooster’s Crow restaurant for breakfast that morning, where I had admired one of their T-shirts for sale with a handsome rooster printed on it. I believe this drawing  arose from that experience.

I had suggested that my friend bring magazine pictures that spoke to her. Sometimes I look at a picture and that image translates into something quite different when I draw it spontaneously.  Both of us used magazine pictures to do our color work, and here are the results of my own. The image that captured my heart was a calendar picture of Canyonlands National Park.

The image I drew looked nothing like the photograph, but it felt emotionally like the Utah canyon country that I love so much, the twisting, winding canyons and a blue river running through it. That’s an example of how the subconscious can translate thoughts and emotions into something you can recognize, even though it is not representational.

We closed up shop at 2:00 pm yesterday, both of us tired after four hours of playing in the art. I’m planning to do another spontaneous session with friends  next Saturday.

A strip of thick fog lay against the western range of the Collegiate Peaks as far as I could see. And to the south, fog lay in the valley. Above, though, was clear air. I expected the fog to dissipate quickly, and so I grabbed my camera and started shooting.

The waning moon was dropping toward the peaks, while morning sun, still below the eastern horizon, painted gold on Mt. Columbia and Mt. Harvard. A house at ground level was reflecting the rays like a mirror.

By then, Jim was out on the deck with me, with only thin clothing and socks on his feet. It was Dang Cold out there–about 17 degrees.

Our cat Choula joined us. She loves walking on the upstairs deck, sticking her head through the rails. It’s a safe look-out for her to observe her kingdom.

I kept shooting, as the fog thickened everywhere. It was now rolling toward us, obscuring our vision to the south. Jim abandoned his camera to find shoes, parka and hat. He needed to be warm.

But by the time he returned, warmly clad, the show was over. You can see the dismay on his face. He was hoping to get some shots of the moon touching down at ridge level.

Within minutes, we, our deck, our views in all directions were engulfed in fog.

The beauty of those few golden moments were only a memory — captured in digital format on both of our cameras.  (Remember the days when we had to shoot a roll of film and then get it developed before sharing prints with friends and family?)

As I write this, at 11:00 am, the sun is high and has chased fog from our valley. In its place, thin overcast and mare’s tails. Way to the south, toward  Salida, I can see a fog bank, not yet banished. That’s where I’ll be driving after lunch. I’m making a run to Fabulous Finds, Beadsong and the Book Haven. It’s good to live in a house with an upstairs deck, like the prow of a ship in a sea of sky, mountain peaks, clouds, and sometimes fog.

It’s not that I’ll do anything to avoid working on my taxes, but given the present-moment choice — write a blog or open the tax packet and begin filling in those squares — I’ve decided to fix a cup of Raspberry Zinger tea and write.

Four days ago I drove to Denver to visit friends. I lived in Denver for 30 years and it’s still a second home to me. I love the smell of ozone in the morning and sign-flippers on the street corners – not. But frankly I don’t mind a day of bumper-to-bumper traffic if I can cruise through a Hobby Lobby store the size of Buena Vista. . . which I did.

On Thursday, I left home at 9:05 am and reached my first friend’s house at 11:30 am, which means I drove pretty darn fast on I-70. My normal Interstate speed is 70-75, but on Thursday my car was one of those obnoxious ones passing everyone on the left.  My friend Carol lives way out east toward Denver International Airport. Carol is the RN who sat with my mom and held her hand on the night she died in a nursing home. Carol does Therapeutic Touch and can see fairies. She showed me (years ago) where the fairies hung out in her yard. On this visit, we caught up with each other and ate our take-out Chinese lunch.

Next I connected with my friend Maureen.  I met Maureen while I was working at the Colorado Outward Bound School. She’s another vintage friend of about 25 years. She was studying  Jung, and when I was working on my book, she informed me that C.G. Jung himself did automatic drawing. Many (if not all) of his mandalas were straight from the subconscious. Back then, I was anxiously and eagerly researching the roots of my passion to learn if I were totally weird or just mildly so. I felt better learning that others had used the unconscious movement of the body to tap into the soul’s desires and messages for the conscious.

At 7:00 pm, I drove to my friend Lexi’s house. She and I have been friends since — egad — I left Outward Bound as a newly divorced woman — and started to work for American Television  & Communications. Lexi and I became fast friends there, regardless of our age difference.

I was planning to drive back home on Friday, but the snow moved in, dumping 10 inches on the I-70 corridor. I stayed a second night.

I had brought materials for a String Pull art exercise that I learned from Tamara Herl, art therapist, in Salida. Tamara  has written two workbooks on Invoking Intuitive Symbols, and the String Pull exercise is one of these.

Lexi and I used black ink, string, and a set of white index cards, as shown below:

And we created many “random” black and white designs by pulling string dipped in ink between two index cards that we pressed together with one hand while pulling with the other.  Each set of two cards produced an image and its mirror image. We examined each set to see what the pair evoked, and then we used colored pencils or chalk to enhance the images. Below, see a pair of mirror images, colored pencils and pastel chalk.

Some images spoke to us right away, while others were more obscure. Here’s the collection I came up with after three hours:

Each picture holds some significance for the artist. Lexi and I did not delve into the meanings of the images, as we could have by journaling about each one. But I can say that one or two affected me to my core. The blue face in the photo above was one of those.

Around 3:00 pm, we were mentally spent, no longer having the energy to create. We agreed it was the best fun we had had in weeks, but  it was time to switch gears. I plan to laminate my cards – the ones I colored. And I’ll see if I can finish the others.

Driving home was a piece of cake. The storm that had dumped snow in the central mountains, had moved out and left behind stunning winter scenery on the south side of Kenosha Pass. Mountains ring the valley. This was a view to the west as I came down from the pass.

The clouds were spectacular as well. I had to stop and take this photo of sun shining through a high cloud filled with ice crystals that refracted the light into rainbow colors.

And here’s the view from my upstairs deck at the end of the day. Not too shabby:

This blog is the third in a series, showcasing the people and places that carry my spiritual memoir, I’ll Be There to Write the Story: A Mother-Daughter Journey Beyond Death.

I arrived in Buena Vista in 1997 and met Karen in 1999, while she was going through a health challenge. It was Bio-meridian Body Scanning in Greeley, Colorado, that helped her get well—a three-year journey to heal the extreme pain she was experiencing. Alopathic (traditional) medicine was not able to diagnose or help her, so she turned to alternative medicine and found her life’s passion. She now helps others through a number of therapies, including spiritual counseling. Here’s a picture of Karen in the lobby of the wellness center.

Karen worked out of her home for eight years. Then she moved to a location on Main Street in Buena Vista for two years. Last fall, she purchased a house on Crossman Avenue in Buena Vista and moved the Alternative Choices Wellness Center into it, where she rents rooms to other practitioners. Here’s the Wellness Center’s new location:

And here’s a photo of the warm and welcoming lobby, complete with an aquarium filled with tropical fish:

I asked her to remind me why she carries my book. She replied that clients come to her who are distraught over losing loved ones with whom they have not cleared old wounds. My book, she says, shows that people can clear unfinished business with those who have died. She has encouraged clients to purchase and read it. Here’s a photo of Karen and me. I’m holding my book and Karen is holding some of her other products.

Karen sells, for example, the Ringing Cedars of Russia series of books and products. The Ringing Cedars books provide startling and profound spiritual life lessons that speak to the readers’ souls, she says. I’ve read the first one, Anastasia, and I would agree. The books lay out the pristine origins of our planet and why God created Earth and mankind.

I was one of Karen’s first clients when she was just beginning her practice out of her house. In her office (shown below) Karen offers the following services:

• Quantum Neurological Reset Therapy (QNRT) – Reprograms the brain to respond differently to physical and emotional stress.
• EmOtox – Uses Low-Level Laser Therapy to eliminate or reduce allergic responses.
• Bioenergetic Body Scanning – Using a SpectraVision machine connected to a computer, detects the body’s sensitivities to thousands of foods, plants, animals and environmental pollutants in only 10-15 minutes, and provides unique homeopathic remedies specific to the client’s needs.
• Auricular Laser Therapy – Using red, green and/or infared cold lasers (light beams that carry specific frequencies) energetic blockages can be released, guiding the body to heal itself. This therapy uses acupuncture points within the ear—but is totally painless.
• Spiritual Counseling – Karen is a minister of ADL ministries and qualified to add counseling to her alternative therapies. The two go hand in hand.

See the Center website for in-depth explanations of these and more therapies. Here’s Karen’s office:

In a separate room, clients receive Ionic Detox Footbaths following the previous therapies. The footbaths trigger the body to detox through the feet. Here’s a photo of the footbath room.

Karen encourages others of like mind to use her comfortable community room for workshops. In her previous location, I gave a workshop on automatic drawing—the kind of drawing I did while writing my book. Here’s a picture of this comfortable room available to groups.

Karen emphasizes that at the Wellness Center she (or other practitioners) do not diagnose, treat or cure. Only licensed physicians in the US can do that. As a matter of fact, I use the Wellness Center’s services in tandem with my regular allopathic Nurse Practitioner, who is fully aware that I’m using both. For me, this combination works well.

For more information go to the Center’s website at www.alternativechoicesbv.com or call 719-239-2007.

Mom was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. She took her nurses training at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia, followed by graduate training at the University of Virginia Hospital. She married my father, Bill Weber, in 1935, and they moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, where she became the first Operating Room Supervisor at Holston Valley Community Hospital.  Below is a picture of my parents taken in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

I was born nine years after their marriage, during World War II, and was their only child. Louise’s two sisters also had only-girl children. After I was born, Mom stayed home to raise me. Loving art, she took many art courses and was one of the founding members of the Kingsport Art Guild. Also a writer, Mom wrote poetry with a passion through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

A voracious reader, she devoured books and articles in science, philosophy, spirituality, religion, literature, art, and natural history. She always picked up Fate Magazine on the newsstand when we went to the movies. She was suspicious about what the government was covering up back then, especially related to UFO sightings. I inherited my metaphysical bent from her.

My parents brought me up camping in the summertime. In later life they bought a VW camper (one of the old orange ones) and camped their way from East Tennessee to Colorado several  times. Here’s a picture of Mom and me during one of their visits. We were headed to Oregon to run the Snake River.

My parents went river rafting with my first husband and me in Oregon and Utah. These excursions were their favorite trips, probably, ever, and they occurred when my parents were in their sixties.

As many of you know, after my mom died, I wrote a book about our relationship, and most of the story picks up after her death. Louise wished me to know that life continues. She is the one who reached out to me, and once she did that, I was on board, trying to glean as much as I could about her new life. . . in the Afterlife.

And so on her 100^th birthday, I’ll quote from a “reading” done by my friend Niki Brown last year, who is able to contact those on the Other Side. Mom is talking about the book and the process that brought it into form,  and she says, “I am the originator of this whole process that began after I died. I instigated emotions through you in order to get you to delve into your insecurities and feelings of lost love. I pulled it all together in the most astonishing work of art, being your book that you brought forth from your soul and my own poems of creativity that did not die with me but lived on to polarize the truths that I felt deep within. So we have accomplished the insurmountable truth that one never dies and that the connection between loved ones can always be attended to.”

It’s been quite a journey—the relationship with my mother. She’s been gone from the earth-plane for fifteen years. When I want to check in with her, I can do so by talking to her myself and listening for answers. If I choose,  I can communicate through Niki or others who have this talent. Below is  a picture of us in the early 1990s, taken when she was in her late 70s. Today I really miss her and yet feel her energy close to me because it’s her birthday date.

I first met the owners, Kathy and Owen Lentz, when they were renting a room to display their used books, in The Courtyard Gallery on Main Street, Buena Vista. They called it The Book Nook. I hung out with them one afternoon for about an hour just talking—not idle chit-chat, but fairly deep subjects that I seldom get into with first-time acquaintances. I enjoyed the encounter so much that I craved their friendship. They are the kind of people who warm up to whatever the topic of conversation is and make you feel like family. For this picture, I asked Kathy to show off one of the hats and handbag that she makes to sell.

A one-room bookstore was not their dream. To the contrary, they envisioned turning their Buena Vista home into a store selling used books and folk art. That dream became a reality in 2008, when they opened the doors  to customers. For three years they shared their home with the public. The downstairs served the book and crafts area, while the upstairs and kitchen were their living quarters. Books expanded into a barn out back.

In 2011, the Lentzes built a new house next door for themselves and converted the entire cottage, upstairs and down, including the kitchen, into Book Nook rooms. They specialize in quality used books.The business has grown and prospered. This is a picture of one book room on the ground floor.

Similar to a library, they have created sections for different types of books—fiction, religion, metaphysics, philosophy, arts and crafts, children’s books, and so on.

Kathy is an avid crocheter and has amassed a collection of wearable goods to sell. Here’s a picture of Kathy  wearing a hat and hand bag that she has made. I’m holding my book.

In that same room, you will find a rack of beautiful crocheted shawls and other hand-made folk art items.

Books written by local and regional authors are prominently displayed in the kitchen area. That’s where I found (and purchased) a great little cookbook (Chaffee County’s Finest: Delicious Recipes for Active People) a collaborative effort by volunteers of the Chaffee People’s Clinic. It’s also where you can find my book.

Kathy and Owen encourage book signings by local authors, and they have a cozy corner set aside for this purpose. If the group is too large for this area, authors can move next door to their home.

Upstairs are three specialty rooms: one displays the artwork of a Colorado Springs artist. Another houses vintage books, and a third is primarily set aside for handmade articles. The photo below shows the handmade folk art room, complete with antique bed (not for sale!)

Kathy and Owen do carry some new books. They also regularly order new and used books for their customers. It’s clear that they have a passion for showcasing the work of local folk artists. Such a combination as this plus two enthusiastic, friendly owners explains why more and more people are seeking out the Book Nook for gifts and specialty books. Ask Owen to play this antique organ, and he will gladly accommodate!

To find the Book Nook, go to the traffic light in Buena Vista and turn west toward the fourteen-er peaks. You are now on W. Main Street, Highway 306. Go three blocks west and turn left on S. San Juan Ave. The Book Nook is one block south. During winter months, they are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 – 5:00.

Jim and I arrived at 9:00 a.m. It took us about half an hour to put out our goodies.

I was surprised to discover that there were no other craft tables. . . only wall art. That was good and bad news. Being the only craft vendor, I had an advantage, but for those who were coming to buy last-minute gifts, they stood to be disappointed from the lack of variety.  I was expecting the entire floor to be filled with craft vendors. Here’s my friend Carolyn Rice hanging her paintings.

Jim and I left after setting up. I came back at 2:00 pm. Nothing really started happening until Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus arrived (Jim and Carol Sanford from Buena Vista). Children were in for a treat. The Sanfords must have talked to thirty or forty children who trickled in throughout the afternoon.

Many adults came by my table. Most were attracted to the cat pottery. Two of my friends examine the cat cheese dishes.

As the afternoon dragged and boredom set in, I went over and had my picture taken with Mr. And Mrs. Claus. Santa asked whether I’d been good this year, and it was a difficult question to answer. Good grief! I wish I’d had a prepared answer, but I blurted out, “As good as I can be.” (An inane answer.) And what did I want for Christmas? I should have said, “Snow.” I honestly don’t remember my reply. Santa reminded me that we were being videoed on local TV, and that made it even worse.

Around 4:00 pm, the bell ringers arrived and everyone perked up.

They were so skilled and played so beautifully. I could have listened to them for a long concert. Their program lasted about half an hour.

As dusk fell, a group of carolers arrived. They had walked several blocks from the Town Hall to the Community Center. Everyone present joined in singing a capella.

To wrap up the evening, for the children, there was a reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” and then the lighting of the outdoor Christmas tree.

AVAC’s part of this day was planned and orchestrated by Tim Jaster, AVAC Administrator. He is a ball of enthusiasm the likes of which I’ve never seen. Tim is also a town commissioner. In an interview earlier this year, he talked about his vision for AVAC.  He sees the Arkansas Valley Art Center as a catalyst to bring all kinds of artists together—poets, writers, artists of all media, musicians, storytellers, and so on. “My vision is to be the focal point for all the art forms in the valley,” he said. Here’s a picture of Tim (on the right with black cap) talking to artist Martin Bettin. He planned to stay and clean up the place after we had all cleared out. He assessed the day as a roaring success. Next year it will be even better, he said.

Dea and I met at The Book Haven bookstore (also in Salida) about a year ago. Dea had given a talk about her book, While I Was Out: My Near Death Experience and Soul Altering Journey, and I purchased a copy. I couldn’t put it down. The auto accident in 2008 that nearly took her life catapulted her into a spiritual odyssey that I believe all spiritual seekers need to read. In fact, in on January 9, 2010, the Biography Channel televised her story as part of their series on near death experiences.

Here’s a picture of the two of us holding our books. Mine is I’ll Be There to Write the Story: A Mother-Daughter Journey Beyond Death.

The response to Dea’s self-published book has been excellent for an unknown author. But Dea has a secret—she’s more interested that people read the book than she is in making a lot of money from it. She asks only for donations. If people would rather not spend the money, she gives it away for free. She has distributed over 400 copies this way. Her heart-centered marketing method has curried sufficient funds to pay for several printings.

Dea and her sister Sandy Lyles moved to Salida in 1997 with their families and opened Fabulous Finds that year. It’s a cavernous store with the feel of the 1950s.

Filled with vendor booths, it is tastefully put together by the two women who know how a store should be organized and run. The resident cat passed away this year, but at least one well-behaved dog is on the premises all the time. This could be your home away from home judging from the hearty welcome you’ll receive when you enter. Here’s a picture of the front door decorated for Christmas.

Dea invited me to sell my book in the store. She set up an attractive display area for both of our books plus another local author, directly across from the sales counter. Positioned thus, she can conveniently answer customer questions about all three of our books.

One last thing about Dea and Sandy that I didn’t know until last week—when they moved to Salida, they were feeling blue because their mother had recently died. In 1998, they started Holiday Park of Trees – as a memorial for their mom and anyone else who wished to remember their loved ones at Christmas by decorating artificial trees with mementos of loved ones. This gala affair with trees decorated by local families, and held outdoors at the Steam Plant (then, a Salida theater and park), became one of the town’s annual holiday traditions. It now takes place in Riverside Park as a fundraiser for charitable organizations.

This year I decided to use the two comment lines to create quasi-poetry. On some pages it worked. On other months, the comment was merely a statement of place. I’ll let you decide if the comment lines are better omitted and the photograph allowed to expand to its full dimension. Here’s a photo from last year’s 2011 calendar without the comment lines.

Below is a picture from my 2012 calendar using both comment lines. Clients have a choice of using one line, two lines or no comment lines at all.

I can tell you this–I am not fond of the type face or the font size. There does not seem to be any choice in either. I would have preferred a 14 point size, or even smaller, so that I could produce a haiku for each picture, and I would have preferred it to have been in script or Times Roman.

So here are the remaining pictures I took of the calendar about an hour ago. (The light was getting low and I can see that the pictures are slightly out of focus–sorry!) I welcome comments: Which look do you prefer? Are the comments useful? What has been  your experience making calendars? Does anyone reading this blog use and like Qoop?

That’s all folks! Feedback is welcome.