Blog - Margaret Herrick

A Hanging Container

peggy — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:24:49 +0000

I have been working on a few projects that help me resolve several months of personal study and discernment.

I am fascinated by containers, especially boxes, and I have been working on creating a hanging box in the shape of a fish. This one, made from a model of a French cornet has a fish head and added fins and a tail. Of course, the box is covered with collaged journey daybook pages. This one is intended as a gift, but I have several others in the works and I will add them to my other decorative boxes in the gallery.

Please stop by to see them all!

Journey Daybook Retreat Weekend

peggy — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:47:41 +0000

Today I rest. We had a full weekend at my home. Our board assembled here for a retreat on Friday and an JDB Adventure on Saturday. At our retreat we assessed our personal and board intentions and joined each other in a special corporate communion - sharing meals, hopes, and joys. My friend Mary Anna, our board member who lives in Durham, N C, stayed with me - great fun for me since we got to visit and catch up after the others left for the night. Mary Anna is perhaps our most extensive traveling journey daybook keeper, having recently returned from a three-week trip to Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos. Her journey daybook pages from that trip are posted on the Notes and Journey Daybook page of our Journey Daybook blog. Mary Anna brought these beautiful gerber daisies to me which I will continue to enjoy in my front garden. Thank you, Mary Anna!

The Cedar Key Arts Festival begins this morning

peggy — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:23:34 +0000

Greetings on a beautiful sunny day - perfect for the spring Arts Festival in Cedar Key. People amble down the street. A friend calls. Shoppers stop by and I give my introduction to journey daybooks, illustrated travel journals, and the concept and practice of the Journey Daybook, the non-profit that I founded several years ago. What an easy method of “putting myself out there.” I sit in the shade on the porch, writing on my computer. What activities could be better on a spring morning in this technological age?

Boxes

peggy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:34:31 +0000

For some time, I have been exploring the notion of creating boxes that, by their very nature, carry meaning. If you look at my site and blog, you will find some evidence of some of these that I have made in the past. Lately, I have considered making them for sale, and I plan to create some during the next few weeks that I will sell in the gallery at the Cedar Key Art Festival on the weekend of April 28 and 29. Below is my latest box, a church box. You can see that it has been formed from collaged journey daybook pages and other ephemera. I would love your response to these boxes. Would you buy one? Please let me know.

Encore in Micanopy

peggy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:59:27 +0000

Last Friday a group of 7 of us went to Micanopy again for our monthly JDB Alumni Adventure. What a glorious day I had! I had been suffering from doing more left-brain work than I normally like, so drawing in the open air was a perfect prescription for me on this quiet Friday. I worked simply on the village green and was inspired by a home under the large Spanish moss-covered oaks at the end of this area. What joy it was to spend time in this sleepy village, enjoying good friends, wonderful, organic snacks, and the restorative practice of working in my journey daybook. Below, you can get an idea of my process as it unfolded in Micanopy.

International Women’s Day Gathering in Cedar Key

peggy — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:35:31 +0000

We staged our peace gathering at the entrance to the Public Pier in Cedar Key from 11 AM until 1 PM today. The weather was perfect and the turnout was full. Our Patty was dismissed from school to join us. We had several men in attendance and women of many ages. Nearly everyone wrote a message of peace that was displayed on the banner that was posted on the pier. We were all in solidarity with women in other parts of the world who live under difficult and unsafe conditions. We took donations for a nearby women’s shelter which serves our area.

This grassroots effort was organized in just 4 days but it seemed to come together in a very professional and yet a heartfelt way. To the right is Jean, the lady who inspired this group effort. I am posting some of my own pictures as well as a link to Rory Brennan’s Picasa album. Enjoy our day and please visit visit www.joinmeonthebridge.org.

Meet me on the Bridge

peggy — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 03:03:56 +0000

Meet me and several other Cedar Key ladies (and men) to celebrate International Women’s Day and lend support and solidarity to women across the globe on Thursday, March 8 in Cedar Key. We will be gathering on the bridge to the dock at 11 AM for two hours. The gathering will be fun and yet it will present a serious side by our acknowledgement of the plight of many women who are subjugated, tortured, and disrespected throughout the world.

I hope to see you there!

Carnival Week in New Orleans

peggy — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:18:53 +0000

Well, I am back here again, happily ensconced in the Baffes’s little carriage house for multiple celebrations next week - my birthday and Mardi Gras next Tuesday (February 21.) Just two days ago, on Sunday, Mimi and I arrived. Immediately, I unloaded my bike, assembled Mimi’s little caravan, and changed my clothes. My friend, Sandra Burshell, and I rode our bikes to the Marigny for a hand-made costume sale and this is where we locked our bikes and the cart. We then walked to the Bakkus Parade in the French Quarter - the Parade of Dogs - which is a spoof of Bacchus. It was cold but it was fun. Here, Mimi watches the revelers.

Doggy “floats” are wagons and carts. Everyone dresses up, including the canines.

Anne Seraphine

peggy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:47:12 +0000

One of our Journey Daybook alums and a board member, Anne Seraphine, is an artist practicing in Gainesville. Anne began a photography project on January 1 which she calls Project 366. (This is a leap year!) Each day she posts a new image on Facebook that she makes during her daily activities. If you are interested in seeing more these photos, ”friend” my friend, Anne, and admire samples of her work - anne.seraphine January 30 Olives

A New Year’s Gift

peggy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:17:43 +0000

As 2012 begins, I wish each of you a blessed and beautiful New Year.

I received a lovely New Year’s gift yesterday - a bright red hermit crab either “walked” from the sea to my yard or else was dropped by a seabird - maybe a bird roosting in the 500 year-old oak tree that covers much of my yard. As I was walking in the yard, I noticed the large, upside-down snail shell which looked like a 4 inch grey baseball in the pine straw, and when I picked it up, Voila . . . there was the bright red crab “reaching” out of its home. Unfortunately, the crab was dead but it was freshly dead since there was little odor and the color was still intense. I researched and classified the animal and discovered that it is a Giant Hermit Crab which is common and native to the Gulf. It lives in deep water in grass. My friend, the waterman, Johnny Squires, speculates that a bird may have grabbed the crab and its moving shell from one of the many piles of discarded clam shells in Cedar Key. However, Johnny reminded me that this big, strong crab is capable of moving on land. Ah . . . behold the first magic moment of 2012!