The Gifts of Friendship

Before I take it all down and put it into boxes.Every gift tells a story - a diary of objects. Friends, past and present.


Hare card: Is from J for a birthday. Sent to me after she saw my work, because she felt it was similar to the work of Catherine Hyde, and believed I should be selling for far more money than I was. We spent many wonderful weekends in her little cottage in Devon together. She in the end wanted me to come live with her there, and join the Devon art community and promote other artists as well as myself, and I just couldn't do that. So our connection petered out, as I was in france by that time, married.

The beaded deam catcher, stone animal fetish, and Native American sand painting: All gifts from D, my friend/teacher in New Mexico USA. I met D when she was lecturing at the festival of Mind Body And Spirit in London. She had travelled alone through Afghanistan during the Russian invasion and had writen a book about it. She speaks fluent Farsi, and is an expert on Sufism and Buddhism. Over time, she trained me as a distance healer, energy system tracker, and we became the closest of friends, for years writing to easchother nearly every day. I visited her in the USA once, shortly afer 9/11 and it coincded with her breast cancer challenge.The roles reveresed as I became her healer, and she emptied her grief out to me of how her country had blighted her "homeland", Afghanistan. Literally the mother organ of the breast just turned upon itself as her birth country invaded her home.

The fetish traditionally has to be symbollically 'fed', hence the rice.

Wooden carving of sun and moon From S, my dear friend, former student and healing partner.We share the same birthday, and for a time we were such a pair. He is absolutely gorgeous - black skin inked with indigo tattoos, dark soulful eyes. Healer in his spare time, he spent his working hours as a teacher's assistant for difficult and disturbed kids. I taught him healing, and ended up taking him on as a healing partner ,he was so good. So much between us was unspoken. I think we were always waiting for the other to Just. Say. The. Word - but we both knew what a mess it would be if we did (both with other people;he had kids). He subtly disappeared from my life after I married, but we came back to eachother again, briefly on a visit I did from france, around the time I was trying for my second IVF. As always, he was a pillar of strength and understanding and care, and we held eachother tight and said good things...but we both knew we were really saying goodbye. We never saw eachother again after that.

Carved wooden bowl is from R, a carpenter, who carved this from local wood here on a visit. R is my husband's boss/partner for the longest time, and if anyone has ever been close to a father figure for me, it is him. We hardly ever speak, but I know if i was down on all luck, and had nowhere to go, I could go to him, and he'd be there. Jenny, his partner, is like the aunt I never had. Both extraordinarily loving people.

Inside the bowl in the nest are two carved eggs. One is Agate and is from M, a student of mine and person I took through a huge healing process as she transitioned through the menopause into a new life. The Howlite egg is from K, my beloved and precious K. Someone I value greatly without even seeing them in real-time. Who, as the song says, is so much better than he knows, and a writer/poet whether he owns it or not. I wish I had been able to share a car ride with him.

A card from K, for Halloween. Beautiful and fun water colour.

Candle holder is a wedding present from T, who is actually the governer of all waterways in Brisbane Australia. She also one of the most accurately clairvoyant people I have ever known. One of those people who truly does not hav a bad bone in their body, and a friend I know will never leave, no matter how little we are in touch. For our wedding we wanted to do a candle lighting ceremony, but didn't have a candle holder that meant anything. Without knowing this, around 2 weeks before the wedding, I get a phone call from T saying that something should arrive for the wedding that she had a feeling we might need. And this turns up. Perfect. The tulle bag is full of shamanically blessed juju, that she collected and empowered herself.


The hand printed sepia card is from E-J. She is so funny- a fiercely intelligent woman, a great friend and brilliant artist. She overwhelms me with her technique and effortlessness. This is one of her "doodles" printed onto card. I think it's like a beautiful surreal dream of holiday, and I absolutely love it. Her handwriting is something, too - so tiny and perfect. So unlike mine.

The carved box with cherubs was given to me by J. We were born in the same town, and never knew eachother when we were in England, but met up here. Small world. She is a quality person of the highest order, despite having one of the bluest mouths I've ever heard on a woman. This gift came out of the blue, too - ha! and was such a lovely surprise. Inside I keep amongst other things, an engraved silver ring on a chain, sent to me by another wonderful friend.

The angel in the glass orb right at the end is the only odd one out. It was a leaving gift from my mother when I came to France. She wanted me to have an angel looking over me, and I know I always do - it's her.

::I realise I have nothing from Sue, my dearest online friend who died. We sent eachother stuff in the early days, but it was mainly paper and card that has got mislaid. When she was going through cancer for the last time, she told me she was going to send me something - something I could keep. I never received it, and I never pressed her about it, in case it was something she had just not got around to due to the endless onslaught of her life at the time, and it would put pressure on her to have to keep to what she said. I'd give anything to have it now, though. I clearly didn't realise how quickly life can steal away the things that are so precious. So I hold on dearly to all these things: this love, these stories. ::