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Girl With The Red Umbrella Poetry: Celebrating the beauty of the Lake Superior Coastline and 
that wonderful and fragile Life Force that exist and sustains each and everyone of us.

(This is the poem that came with the first painting.)

The Girl With The Red Umbrella

Sheltered from the elements
under my umbrella
here at Old Woman Bay
I gaze out on the water 
and see something 
way out on the horizon.
I can't quite put my finger on it
but I know it's something that
we are all looking for:
Tenderness and Love
there's Hope just around
the next point.

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Full Moon

All poets sleep
under the same moon.
It shines in our dreams
illuminating our way
and guides us 
to the same campfire.

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Girl With The Red Umbrella Has A Dream

I'm wide awake now 
three thousand miles away
from the biggest freshwater lake
in the world.
I can still hear 
the sound of the waves 
crashing on the shore.
I think it was the cold water 
of Lake Superior lapping at my feet
that made me leave the most
incredibly vivid dream
I've ever experienced.

A campfire was burning
on the sandy beach of
Old Woman Bay and a 
red canoe was pulled up on the sand,
away from the surging waves.

There was a man standing on the shoreline
way down the beach.
I could hear him yelling: ..."this is the most
beautiful place in the world"...(over and over
again...like a mantra.)

I have to write this before the feeling leaves me
and I roll back into my dream:
Under a big moon and a blanket of stars
I will sing the praises of this fragile creation
Like a mother holding her newborn
she caresses me with her wind
and her gentle rain
washes away all my tears 
and memory of pain.

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Campfires and Marshmallows

I never want to leave this place...
I've tried several times today to 
leave Old Woman Bay and continue on my journey,
but I found myself walking on the beach
and gathering firewood and building a campfire.
Later when the fire was just right
roasting wieners and a few marshmallows
for an evening meal.

I never want to leave this place...
I can hear her whispering to me 
the old woman that lives here
in the shelter of this bay.
Was she once like me ....a wearer traveler 
looking for a place to rest and reflect?
Perhaps she couldn't bring herself to
leave this beautiful place.
Her Spirit lives hear now...
mine travels to this sacred place
that's only a moment away
in my dreams.

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 Note: ...." the girl with the red umbrella popped up again on a small canvas I had just started. I was well on my way to a nice little Lake Superior landscape when I decided to make room for her. I ended up scraping most of the paint off the canvas....and smeared a bit more paint for a backdrop and voila the lady started to appear standing next to a tree...I scratched a small poem on the back of the canvas for her. (It feels kinda weird painting and blogging for this lady but believe me I'm in total control and she's just along for the ride...I hope!)

Memories

She haunts my dreams
with her memories...this 
girl with the red umbrella
whispers words I can barely hear
sweet familiar words.
Another wave breaks 
on the shoreline
as I roll back into my dreams.
I see a light on
the horizon.

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The girl with the red umbrella made an appearance in my "Hole in the wall studio" again this afternoon. The girl just pushes me around and I can't help myself.
What would you do with a lady that demands to be painted and puts words in your mouth?
(I kinda of like it!) here she is:

By The Light Of My Soul

Creaking Spars 
wind in the sails
I'm sailing in a land 
way beyond my dreams
at the edge of the world.

I'll never be lost
I'll never be afraid
and this dream will
never end.
My destination is always
guided by the compass
that's built into my heart.
I can read it in total darkness
by the light of my soul.

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