-our amazing staff,

 lovely models, frisky photographer and Emma!

This is Peg.

Co-creator in all things Directions, with a classic elegant style that translates into our  website and emails and stunning window displays.  A way with words, a quick wit and a heart of deep compassion.

A great lover of animals, who with her husband Todd share their lives with six very lucky special needs dogs.  Her website, www.shastacovedogs.com is delightful and a universal reminder of the joy of living in our simple, most happy natures.

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This is Lillian

With her background in art and textile design and her own innate sense of beauty she accomplishes any project with grace and ease.

Thank goodness – she keeps us organized!  Nothing slips by her, and she gently reminds us to follow up on those ever present details!

Traveler, cook extraordinaire,  master gardener and lover of fine food, she, along with her husband Kent, grow and share with us the most wonderful organic garden with the first fresh produce of the season!

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Nadine

Owner of www.nadineaiellographics.com for 28 years, creator of her pearl jewelry line  www.shasta-organics.com, fine artist of mixed media with many shows to her credit, poet and photographer.  Her love of books inspired her to co-create www.covertwocover.org, an organization dedicated to raising funds to support our county public libraries.

She brings to Directions her enthusiasm for community, her unfailing artistic eye and her deep commitment to honoring spirit and celebrating life.

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Here is Margaret

With a wonderfully grounding presence, she brings a straightforward approach and gentle matter of fact wisdom to our working world.  A jewelry artist who designs with beads, pearls and precious stones, she also enjoys drawing and painting, and brings this lovely design sense to all her displays at Directions.

She loves gardening, learning Italian, playing kitten mother, and is enjoying a rekindling interest in playing the harp.

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Meet Lisa

Lisa graciously agreed to model for our fall/winter photo shoot on the Directions website.  It was her first time-  she is a natural, and we are delighted with the results!

She’s lived in Mt. Shasta with her husband and 2 year old daughter Iva since 1998.  She runs an environmental consulting firm, focusing on managing water quality improvement projects for non-profit organizations.

This is Robyn

You may have seen her on our website before. Her natural grace and sophistication are always reflected in her photos;  we feel so fortunate that she has joined us many times in the past few years.

She grew up in Mt. Shasta and has been a medical transcriptionist at Mercy Medical for over 10 years. Mother of a teenager and wife of an outdoor enthusiast, she considers a perfect day to consist of a hot beverage, British television, snuggling up to Lorenzo, her long haired chihuahua, and “buying herself a new purse at Directions!”

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Where would we be without Taryn??

Vivacious, energetic, talented and so much fun, she is the photographer behind most of  the images you see on our website and in our emails. Her website, www.photographybytaryn.com, has a wonderful portfolio of her prolific work.

A loving, caring soul with a great work ethic and strong family ties, she and her husband are joyfully raising  two young boys.

Oh – this is Jane (me)

I’m  the owner of Directions. It’s my great good fortune to work with these wonderful women.  They fill my daily life with laughter, love, wisdom, artistry and grace.  As the year 2011 draws to a close, and I look ahead to 2012, I’m filled with such gratitude for each of them and all of you. Thank you, thank you!

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And let us not forget….

To see more images, go to our website www.directionsmtshasta.com/

great big snowflakes drifting down and settling in the  garden

on the last of the red and gold leaves,

on the deer that make their way tentatively across the creek

and pause, frequently, adjusting  to their new reality.

This week I find that my earlier reluctance

to let go the gloriously warm, lengthy fall

just slipped away.

Perhaps it was completing the outdoor tasks of tending the garden,

putting away the lawn chairs, cushions, the tomato cages.

Nature responds to the season,

changing in its own dignified, fading way, settling into rest and renewal.

So, I too, now know that it is time,

it feels just right!

Let’s all relish the beauty, stillness, depth and celebration as winter begins.

Not I!

The mountain greeted me at about sunset one evening as I was coming up

the Sacramento River canyon from the south.

The clouds parted and I pulled over, grabbed my camera and wow!

The sight was so spectacular

that one driver came to a near standstill on the freeway,

one hand on the wheel and the other aiming a camera/cellphone

to capture a picture of that breathtaking moment.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Doesn’t it seem that frequently

we are generously gifted these moments in clear unmistakable ways?

Other times, the gifts are more subtle, almost invisible, but palpably felt,

and ask us to pay very close attention in order to bear witness to them.

* * * * * * * * * *

How fortunate we are to live close to this mountain,

this constant, wondrous expression of nature’s  immense power and beauty!

Just what is this April Fool’s Day fooling around? The history  of this day is unclear, which somehow seems fitting to the spirit of the day:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0401/April-Fools-Day-history-Be-wary-of-those-who-say-they-know.

In any case, I started thinking about the word “fool”.  The Oxford Universal Dictionary defines a fool as:

1)      One deficient in judgment or sense

2)      One who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, such as a clown or jester.

3)      One who is made to appear a fool.

How does it feel to be the “fool”?  Unless it’s by our own choosing, as in definition 2, most of us don’t readily take to the notion of doing or saying something foolish.  And if someone has made you appear foolish, as in def. 3, well, that can be downright embarrassing.

Feeling the fool and being mortified at its discovery have to do, I suspect, with our pride and ego.  Defining who we are, or want to be, gives us a way to distinguish ourselves and isn’t that what pride and ego are all about?

In an effort to protect our backsides and spare ourselves the loss of pride and dignity, we are capable of concocting all sorts of preventive strategies, such as:

It’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool

than to open it and leave no doubt.

–Mark Twain

Or:

So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now. William of Baskerville in ‘The Name of the Rose’

But wait -Hold on!  Being “foolish” can humble us, and goodness knows I/we can benefit from a good dose of “humble” now and then.  Humble gives us a chance to remember we are, after all, imperfect members of our shared humanity and drop this silly striving for a prideful separateness.

Looking foolish does the spirit good. — John Updike

So in that spirit, I joyfully share this wonderful poem by my friend Nadine Aiello.  May we all have a wonderfully foolish day!

Today (and everyday)

be a fool for love
a fool for dreaming
a fool for beauty
a fool for magic
a fool for seeing
a fool for trusting
a fool for feeling
a fool for believing,

and for all the fools
too many to mention,
blessed be.

Nadine
4. 1. 8.

here it is the day after St. Paddy’s Day-

what happened to Spring?

Rain, snow showers, rain, snow showers, rainy snow showers, snowy rain showers

I see….

But last week look what I found:

And this, which on merely sighting

so many of us hold our breath, trying not to inhale!

I dance between impatience and delightful anticipation of spring.

Yet look, I say to myself, at what is right here before you, right now!

Nature reveals her own patient, surprising unfolding.

And I remember-

All is well!

Here’s a sampling of some colorful bowls that have arrived-

The large turquoise/terra cotta color bowl is a good size for salad, or fruits, a hearty soup, maybe pasta…

and the folkart inspired multicolor bowls are perfect for individual servings that will surely delight you, your family and your guests.

How would a simple floating flower be?

* * * * * * * * * *

We’ve opened up the back of Directions to create a bright new space

for our e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d kitchen area.

We love the excitement that comes

with any new beginning and creative endeavor!

Here’s a sampling of the products that are arriving daily:

Do you have ideas about products you’d like to see us carry?

Share them with us!

We love to cook! My kitchen comes alive in the evening and cooking is an entertaining, creative pursuit we enjoy both solo and shared.  My most recent discovery is how much more fun and satisfying it is to cook with well designed, functional and artful kitchen tools.  This morning I tried our new burr coffee grinder. It’s great, but, I see that to clean the grinding mechanism I need a small brush.  Where, in the kitchen, do I have the perfect sized brush??? Nowhere.  So this morning, paper towels and a too large mushroom brush sort of accomplished the task. As you might imagine, a brush designed just for this purpose will be my next find!

but…

the music was accomplished, sweet, and soulful

the food splendid, the wine served with flair…

the support for the library astounding and the

the  great spirit of our community so apparent!

Many, many thanks to all who attended our Open House

in the midst of the storm,

as well as those who came in the days after to support the library.

Through the generosity of all who contributed

we raised over $1100 for Mt. Shasta Friends of the Library!!

Winners of the 2 raffles were

Jane Cohn -  $100 Directions Gift Certificate plus $25 Sereni-tea Gift Certificate

and

Jill Gardner – $100 Directions Gift Certificate plus $75 Sacred Mt. Spa Gift Certificate

* * * * * What a community!* * * * *