° Mornings with Checo
° A house built for piano
° The Princess sauna, built from cob and beer bottles
° A view from the barn-house house
° The kitchen-house, decorated with pieces of Layna’s father’s rocking chair
° The barn-house and alarm-clocks on the doorstep
° Layna
Today I share illustrations of a special story that has given me the strongest push for travelling with no limits and starting Stories in Drawings with the exhibitions at San Francisco Decompressions.
Teachers come in many forms and the only thing they really teach is that one does not need a teacher at all. Some people, animals or things give a bigger, some smaller impact for truly and constantly understanding and trusting this otherwise pare knowledge.
It took some time to clearly see, that one of the great teachers I have had luck to meet, is Layna Joy Rivas. Instead of being an old guy with a long beard who lives on top of a mountain and observes a plant growing, it (he-she, does not matter) disguised itself into an attractive, strong, straight-forward and truly loving woman-human being. When we first time played together, it was on a construction site of building a 32-meter tall Man just for it to be burnt down in three weeks. The next time I saw her at Ravens 7th Haven. I wrote about this place a year ago:
“In the World there is a wonderful place called Ravens 7th Haven. It is created by Life-artist Layna Joy. The place is located on a little hilltop, overlooking a spacious valley. Its a home for musicians, artists, Tigre the King (cat), other animals and of course the ravens.
I went there for one weekend, which ended up being 2 months. All mostly because we got an idea of building a sauna out of cob and beer bottles. And this is how it is there (and could be anywhere) – ideas get realized and tested out. No matter how crazy or ridiculous they may be.
Raven’s magic power is to fall into unknown, trusting to be caught!”
Now, when the structures and things at Ravens 7th Haven are burnt down during the wild fires in August 2015, I see Layna even more clearly. How wisely she deals with it all and how she always stays true to her words. She may have lost a lot of things and environment she had built, but she never lost herself-itself. The true home.
And she still does everything for others, without asking anything back. At least for Ravens 7th Haven she created a fund, so anyone who would like to support this place to rise again, there is a way:
https://www.gofundme.com/ravens-haven
The only structure that survived the fire and is there to stay, is the bottle-cob sauna wall, that we built together. Otherwise the whole land is a clear canvas again.
°
While writing, I’m listening incredible YokoO
Oh my!! You are truly so special Eva! Thankyou for seeing me and sharing your story. I’m so so grateful we found each other on this amazing journey and that you touched that mountain with your grace and love. You are so much apart of Ravens 7th Haven and it of you. I love you with every ounce of my being. And ps: I’m crying as I’m writing this… Ohappy, joyful, loving, nostalgic, healing tears!!
Reading your words now, love, I have no thoughts, my words have ended, only a feeling stronger than any language, keeps on flowing inside