Where's Home?

Published 18 May 08 05:10 AM | Beth Patterson 

Taking off on  Anthony McCune's View from Your Window , Virtual Tea House is hosting a contest or exercise, for you non-competitive types, about where's home? (Thanks, Tony, for the idea!)

This is probably not a simple exercise. This is not necessarily about your house, although for many of us, it is. 

It is about a sense of place or 'site fidelity', and a feeling of safety or comfort.  It can be a wild and harsh place, like the edge of a desert canyon, or a more yielding place like a mountain meadow or stream.  Or it can be people-related, like your grandmother's garden, your sewing room or your father's workshop.

Tell us about your sacred space called home: physical, emotional, spiritual, or a place in your memory. The winning entries will be sent a packet of heirloom, hand-selected wildflower seeds that I will locate, just to fit the environment where you live or where you call home. 

Winning entries will be short: 750 words or less. They will give the readers the feeling of you at your core place--centered, expansive, safe and joyful!   Pictures will be extra credit and gladly accepted!

My favorite entry (or entries) will be posted on the Virtual Tea House by the end of June, 2008. 

Send your entries to: beth@virtualteahouse.com  Make sure to include a way to get in touch with you--email, phone or physical address.  

To get you started, here's some pictures from a part of my feeling of home:

   Edan_smilin grandmother weeping birch IMAGE_177

 IMAGE_139 IMAGE_142IMAGE_174

Comment Notification

If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here

Subscribe to this post's comments using RSS

Comments

# Beth Patterson said on May 19, 2008 9:09 AM:

Carl over at Anamchara, kindly posted a note about this contest--thanks, Carl!

www.anamchara.com/2008/05/18/wheres-home/

# Beth Patterson said on May 20, 2008 9:50 PM:

Patti over at 37 Days has posted an invite as well--thanks, Patti!

By the way, getting some most wonderful submissions--this is fun!!

www.37days.typepad.com/37days/2008/05/where-is-home.html

# Beth Patterson said on May 21, 2008 2:14 AM:

From now until the contest is over on June 25th I'll be doing a series of photos and other stuff that

# How to Save the World said on May 22, 2008 2:10 AM:
# Beth Patterson said on May 24, 2008 9:01 AM:

I had the honor of helping present Toni Ryan, Executive Director of Saving Grace (formerly COBRA: Central

# Beth Patterson said on May 29, 2008 2:57 AM:

This is the next post in the series, "Hi Honey, I'm Home", as we work with the contest, "Where's Home?"

# Beth Patterson said on June 1, 2008 11:10 PM:

A link to the contest on Abbey of the Arts...

Thanks, Christine!

http://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2008/05/23/brief-blogging-break/

# Krayna Castelbaum said on June 3, 2008 1:10 AM:

Editorial note: This is one of Krayna's submissions to the Virtual Tea House contest " Where's Home?"

# Beth Patterson said on June 3, 2008 11:55 PM:

Karen Crone at Everyday Memoir has posted an invite to this writing exercise on 'where's home?'.

www.everydaymemoir.com/?p=41

Thanks, Karen!

# Beth Patterson said on June 4, 2008 10:03 AM:

This is my 4th posting in the 'Hi Honey I'm Home' series for the 'Where's Home?' contest here on the

# Beth Patterson said on June 5, 2008 10:44 AM:

Here's some more questions to get your juices going:

Is home the place where I was raised? Where my family and old friends live?

Is home the place where I spend the most time?

Is home the place where I have clothes, a studio setup, familiar haunts and habits? If I have more than one place with those things, which one is home?

Is home the place I find most beautiful? Most stimulating? Most challenging? Most relaxing?

Is home a place I’ve never lived but have dreamed of living?

Is home a place I’ve not yet seen, but yearn to discover?

Is home where I lived during certain key experiences of my life?

Is home a place or a time? Is it both?

Is home a place where I "live" while I’m traveling from one home to another? Familar airport, train station, airplane route, train line?

Is home the place where I want to be buried?

Even if I can arrive at a specific answer to the question, "Where’s home?", does the answer stay the same? Or does it change, depending on the moment in my life when I’m asked?

Thanks to Susan Bilenker from her now defunct website 'Provocations' for these questions.

Come, let's explore these ideas!

Remember to send your submissions to my email, not necessarily post them here in the comments.

Beth, VTH Host

# Karen Crone said on June 12, 2008 11:14 PM:

"Sometime, if any of you ask, I'll tell you a dream I had once about Callie Ann, in which she was a guide for me during a long, dark night on what seemed to be the dark side of the moon. "

Ok, Beth. I'm asking about the dream.

Karen

# Beth Patterson said on June 13, 2008 2:05 AM:

Ok, ok, Karen!

Stay tuned for the post about the Callie Ann dream!

Love having you as part of the VTH community--

Beth

# Beth Patterson said on June 13, 2008 10:52 AM:

Some may think of a great trip as going to Bali or Greece.  Those destinations are fine--but a road

# Beth Patterson said on June 18, 2008 9:53 AM:

5th Journal Entry in my 'Where's Home?' series for the writing contest. Sunday, June 15, 2008 the Central

Leave a Comment

(required) 
(optional)
(required) 

About Beth Patterson

The Virtual Tea House website became 'word-ripe' when, over a cup of jasmine green, I realized that the web has an expanding part to play in the communal aspects of spiritual growth.
One of my favorite hats, among several is: initiated firekeeper in the Sacred Fire Community. Hosting a monthly community fire circle, I'm being taught that the simple act of sitting around a fire with the intent of holding open-hearted space makes for some soulful community!
With a master's degree in religion, my career spans 20 years in end of life care and I currently work in the field of child abuse intervention and advocacy.
Here in beautiful Central Oregon, my spiritual homes of the high desert and the mountains are both in proximity. And for good measure, four hours away is Grandmother Ocean and the stunning Oregon Coast.
I'm making decent progress on the goal set by my mother early on: she taught us that the goal of humanity should be to become ever-more eccentric, i.e. more fully human.
Entering the 'forest-dweller' phase of life, I am honored to host the Virtual Tea House for all who wish to explore how our lives are enriched and made new a thousand times each day by the spirituality we embody. Exploring this engagement together is the purpose of the Virtual Tea House.
Welcome! Let's have a cup of virtual tea together and share what brings us joy, what we are being taught by life, how we are leaning into the Big Questions posed to us each day in sometimes 'distressing disguises'.

Search

Go

This Blog

Syndication