A Love note to Mom

November 21, 2020

Cave Creek Canyon, Southeast corner of Arizona

Ritual for my Mom

My mom died here in our home in Tucson on 8 /20/ 2020 at 8am.

Part of my grieving process is making art, doing ritual, remembering.

This weekend David and I traveled down to southern Arizona where we stayed in a remarkable place and did 4 different hikes.

I brought some personal items of Mom’s and gathered some other items from nature to assemble into a reliquary to leave in this beautiful place for the natural world to incorporate into its daily life.

 An ephemeral love note for mom.

A metal butterfly with an Indian head penny, both from her collection

Some of her ashes wrapped in the last piece of the homemade paper David and I made from the cards and flowers we received after Bianca died.

Three silk roses, for Moms 3 children.

Some Lichen and an Autumn sycamore leaf, mom always loved the fall leafs. I sent them to her for years when I lived in places where we had them.

2 pine cones, Douglas fir and Ponderosa.

A key to her house and a Kennedy 50 cent piece, all wired together in a very old, very fine wire.

In the afternoon, we found a place off the beaten path to the east of two massive monolith cliffs covered in lime green lichen. Worn down from ancient volcanos, now their geology explained as Cave Creek Rhyolite, Silver peak Dacite and Horseshoe canyon tuff.

I hung the piece on a Sycamore tree which was embracing a Juniper.

We said goodbye yet again.

I think this last parent of mine will require many more goodbyes.

Cantrell