Dear Adele, I'm starting week two at the Banff Centre for the Arts. What an incredible life-enhancing first week I've had! So many amazing experiences. I couldn't have dreamed up a better learning adventure for myself. It is deliriously wonderful.
Today I want to share with you a more playful and intimate story. My good friend's children, Morgen and Lillian, are out here in Banff. They are moving back to Ontario tomorrow but today I got to spend the whole day as Aunty Nicole. Oh the play-stories we wove! In the morning we were acting out stories about all kinds of magical creatures and Lillian said she wanted to be a magical creature that had never been known before - had never been named before. She called herself the magical nothing. Later, we were sitting outside by the beautiful Banff forest and I began the kind of story where they can fill in the blanks. Kind of like, "Once upon a time there were... what are we?" Or later in the story something like, "And they knew they had to ask for help...So who did they ask?" This is the story we found together. On the deck there were some random pieces of broken plastic that ignited the beginning of the story. Who the characters were and the crux of what the problem in the story was and how the characters worked to solved the problem of the story really came from the girls themselves. They began to act out the characters and to tell the story themselves. They spontaneously created a work of art with found objects to go with the story. Curious about the story now? I'll share it. So here goes.
Once upon a time a group of magical nothings lived in the forest. A little magical nothing found something small and broken in the forest and she called to the other magical nothings for help. Together they studied the pieces. They felt the pieces belonged to something very important but they didn't know what it was or how to fix it. They knew they needed to ask for help. So they danced and sang and called on the deer to come and help them. The deer had forest knowledge different from that of the magical nothings. The deer recognized the broken pieces. It was something that had broken a long time ago when the forest stopped being loved. The magical nothings vowed to work to put it back together. They looked at all the shiny pieces and try to puzzle them together. They worked late into the night. As the pieces fit together they began to glow. The moon saw this and it smiled. As they worked the found some of the pieces didn't fit back together so well anymore, so the the little magical nothing suggested that they add in gifts of nature such as bark and flowers and leaves to the grand design. The stars saw this and they began to dance. The deer came and helped the work until the almost had every last piece together in one beautiful design. The insects saw this and they began to sing. But even with the moon smiling and the stars dancing and the insects singing they found that there was one piece left that just did not fit. And do you know why it did not fit? Because the forest was still unloved. Try as she might the little magical nothing could not make that one last piece fit. Her sister magical nothing had an idea. She flew around the whole world and collected love offered from all of the living creatures on earth. Her plan was to carry that love back to the forest and to breathe it out onto the broken pieces. But did it work? Did the pieces finally fit back together? Did the forest finally feel love? I don't know, cause that sister magical nothing is still out there collecting love. Better offer some of your love to the forest today. I'm sure it will help.
Once upon a time a group of magical nothings lived in the forest. A little magical nothing found something small and broken in the forest and she called to the other magical nothings for help. Together they studied the pieces. They felt the pieces belonged to something very important but they didn't know what it was or how to fix it. They knew they needed to ask for help. So they danced and sang and called on the deer to come and help them. The deer had forest knowledge different from that of the magical nothings. The deer recognized the broken pieces. It was something that had broken a long time ago when the forest stopped being loved. The magical nothings vowed to work to put it back together. They looked at all the shiny pieces and try to puzzle them together. They worked late into the night. As the pieces fit together they began to glow. The moon saw this and it smiled. As they worked the found some of the pieces didn't fit back together so well anymore, so the the little magical nothing suggested that they add in gifts of nature such as bark and flowers and leaves to the grand design. The stars saw this and they began to dance. The deer came and helped the work until the almost had every last piece together in one beautiful design. The insects saw this and they began to sing. But even with the moon smiling and the stars dancing and the insects singing they found that there was one piece left that just did not fit. And do you know why it did not fit? Because the forest was still unloved. Try as she might the little magical nothing could not make that one last piece fit. Her sister magical nothing had an idea. She flew around the whole world and collected love offered from all of the living creatures on earth. Her plan was to carry that love back to the forest and to breathe it out onto the broken pieces. But did it work? Did the pieces finally fit back together? Did the forest finally feel love? I don't know, cause that sister magical nothing is still out there collecting love. Better offer some of your love to the forest today. I'm sure it will help.
