Stepping Out ~ May 11th noon ~ message reading

Spring in New England is pure magic. After long, dark months where the only color one sees is grey, or maybe shades of brown; all of a sudden one day you wake up and kaboom...! there is an explosion of greens, pinks, yellows and purples. Seemingly overnight the world is transformed from a dull, colorless vista to a wild parade of joyous technicolor, akin to what happens to Dorothy when she steps into the Land of Oz.

I actually have no right to complain about the long winter because I was away for all of it. But never the less, I am still in awe of the magnificent celebration that Mother Nature is putting forth this week.

Here in my studio I continue to celebrate being home and getting back to what I love to do ~ weave, make art, teach and build community. With the Woven Voices Project, I have messages to read and flags to be woven. Here are the details ~

On my travels across the Atlantic I stopped at St Helena, where I visited with the students and teachers at Pilling Primary School. I gave a dozen prayer flags with this sweet school who have installed the flags going up the inside stair way.

While at the school, I was given over 100 messages of hope and peace from the students and teachers. On May 11th at noon in Market Square, Portsmouth, NH I will read these messages along with dozens other beautiful messages. I hope that you will join me.

My other invitation is to come weave prayer flags. There are four looms in the studio ready to go. To entice you to join this community art project...here is what your prayer flag will do ~ bring a ray of hope, a moment of peace, a ray of sunshine to someone somewhere in the world.

Here is Sedick Davidson, curator of The Heritage Museum, Simon's Town, established in his family's house (built in 1858), which belonged to the Amlay family until they were forcibly removed from the town when it was declared a white group area in September 1967 under the Group Areas Act of the Nationalist Government. There is still much sadness and pain from this era of South African history. Sedick was touched to receive the gift of a prayer flag. I gave him two, one for his daughter who suffers from a debilitating disease.

If you have a couple of hours, I welcome you here to weave and spread hope and peace around the world. Email or call me to make a date to weave!

I will keep posting images of prayer flags from my recent travels, as well as share the inspirational stories. I hope to see you on May 11th at noon in Market Square! Peace and gratitude ~ Sarah

From sea to shining sea

I am home!! Yes, on March 18th we landed in Barbados after 51 days at sea. It was an amazing trans-formative passage that allowed me to spend many, many hours just staring at the horizon, contemplating the "meaning of life".

clouds that kept unfolding into heavenly patterns

No, I do not have it all figured out. It is still a giant mystery, a complicated web. I do know that I am an incredibly fortunate person to have been able to spend weeks at sea living closely with the natural world, sharing a small boat with three other people, and to have had the unique experience of observing a landless/human-less horizon for  nearly 8 weeks.

There is so much that I want to share about this voyage, that I will have to take a few posts to reveal the stories and images. Please be sure to check out my website and my Macomber Looms blog for other points of view on this same voyage.

The Egg Man in Green Market

 While on this whole trip I was mindful of dispersing the 130 prayer flags that had been so lovingly handwoven prior to my departure. I will share in a series of blogs where those flags landed.


Just to begin, here is the Egg Man a street performer in Cape Town's Green Market. He is an colorful vibrant ambassador for South Africa, even though he hails from Benin. I tied a blue prayer flag to his right shoulder in honor of his work as a community artist. At the Green Market, I also met a Senegalese priest dressed in a brilliant celebratory costume. He was handsome and regal. I gave him a prayer flag also. Sadly, I lost a few photos when I transferred the images from my camera to a thumb drive. The photo of the priest was one of those lost.

Jackass penguins

penguin waddling away from his nest

The boat that I sailed on, Bahati was at a marina in Simonstown, False Bay, just south east of Cape Town. In this village there is a park where the Jackass penguins live. They are adorable, quite tame and rather entertaining. I decided that these penguins should get a prayer flag. So while this guy waddled away from the shrubs where his nest was, I stuck a prayer flag in amongst the shrubbery.

prayer flag in penguin nest-shrubbery

So for today, that is where I will leave you. There are many more images and many more stories. These will get unpacked over time. Thank you to all who have supported this passage, most especially my family and loving husband Ben who held a steady vigil for my safe return.