dispatches from the garden of broken things

A remarkable conversation about the work and why of shrouding with documentary film maker Jan Sturman.

Like most of us navigating the troubled waters of 2021, I am struggling to stay afloat. Today I am pulling myself out of the roiled...

A stone can be held close to the heart before being buried. You can whisper your truth to it and it will carry your blessing into the earth.

Today's day at the office... was thought provoking. After a year and a half of Zoom funerals and a few small or hybrid gatherings...

I put together a short slideshow of still images from a video taped conversation between myself (in my Last Dance Shrouds hat) and...

Resolve obstacles ~ reduce suffering. In this way the world is mended.

A wind phone booth is one of those magical places that, without fail, is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

In which a hospital stay reveals a new and hard earned evolution of emotional intelligence. We must heal the healers.

Resolve obstacles ~ reduce suffering. In this way the world is mended.

I wander out and bend into mercy, pushing away leaves to find a purple coyote amongst the detritus.

Some things just cannot be fixed. The trick is finding a way to let off the steam, learning to heal without a cure.

... he was hanging something up on a wall, pounding a nail, laughing, he looked over his shoulder at the camera. There was a spark.

Radical kinship, acting from the heart of our relationship with all things, is the best way I know to wake myself from numbness.

A curated selection of videos, information and resources about the decision and experience of VSED at end of life.

Even in hospital settings our rituals after last breath can be tuned to be in harmony with simple and available resources, bringing solace.

... and then figure out how I can best support the peculiar both/and physics of holding on ~ so you can let go.

... when getting home feels like a matter of life and death.

I am watching a winter sunset and welcoming the evening after a big snow. More than a foot fell. The woods are quiet. I woke up with my...