Author Archives: Kate

For the holidays, I have new plaques listed in my shop here: https://katemcphee.bigcartel.com/. These are a new version of wooden plaques that can hang on the wall or stand up with a little peg that comes with each one and fits in the back. I am listing the plaques as they are made to avoidContinue reading “New Wooden Plaques”

Perseverance seems like a dowdy old Victorian word and concept, without much flash or appeal.  To be sure, the idea of just keeping on isn’t as glamorous as the idea of “Joy” or some other kind of delight. But perseverance is the steady helpmate of anyone who has ever achieved anything in life.  Sometimes justContinue reading “Perseverance”

We often think that the word “prosperity” means wealth, but actually it means to look forward, or to hope for something in the future. When we look forward we make choices in the present that will benefit us in the future, and we prosper by doing that.  To be a farmer relies on this forwardContinue reading “Prosperity”

I wrote the following paragraphs about “Community” a year or more ago. It is ironic now in the time of social distancing that the coronavirus has caused us to practice that by staying apart we are helping each other to be healthy. We are really getting some good lessons about community by having it turnedContinue reading “Community”

In seeking to live a good life for ourselves, we inevitably come to the place where our own good is inextricably tied to the good of all others.  No matter how well our own lives are, if there is war and strife on the planet, we are not really living a good life. Therefore, inContinue reading “Peace”

With dignity, one never forgets ones own value.  Remembering that, one remembers also the value of all others. This little cat taught me a great deal about dignity.  When I found her living on a city street and eating from a dumpster, she still nonetheless spotlessly cleaned herself.  Once she let me bring her insideContinue reading “Dignity”

This is a simple image of food.  The bowl is full with colorful, sensuous fruit and vegetables.  Herbs hang above and nuts sit beside the bowl.  The tile and the checkered table are kitchen decor, and hint at the concept of comfort, a hearth to gather at, and a place to cook.     In dream symbolismContinue reading “Plenty”

Happy Easter, Passover, or Spring, whatever you celebrate today, or not. Today the idea of “Openness” seems appropriate. We are in lock-down at home because of the Coronavirus but it is still spring and a holiday to many. To be open has a double meaning: it can mean empty as the image above implies, orContinue reading “Openness”

This image of “Simplicity” is my favorite of this whole “Illumination” series. Over the years, I have had to add a daughter, a dog, a horse, other versions of cats but the basic sense of being home with loved ones, or alone, or with pets, or occasional friends or whatever has remained constant. This imageContinue reading “Simplicity”

The word “gratitude” is related to “grace” and to “gratis” which means free.  To feel gratitude is to become conscious of all the abundant grace that freely comes to us and to feel thankful in that recognition.  Our hearts are full to overflowing, and are opened by this feeling of thanksgiving. In this image, theContinue reading “Gratitude”