The Bead and Rock Project of AustinI

...or maybe the Beaded Rock Project of Austin?

I had a dream.  :)  People who know me know that when these words come out of my mouth, there's a story about to follow.  It may be a significant story, something of a premonition, simple mind wanderings over a concern of the day, or some ridiculously surreal and rather random Alice in Wonderland style adventure where nothing makes sense and you spend the entire thing wondering why you followed that silly rabbit down the rabbit hole.  One thing is for sure, though.  All of my friends know when I say that, they may as well just shut up and listen.  ;)  I'm not going to stop rambling about it until I get it out there!  :P

In the dream, I walked around the corner (it seems this could be any corner in some of the more unique sidewalks in South Austin... maybe similar to South Congress somewhere?).  It was a street with little shops, and to the side was a small (maybe 8 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide) archway.  On the ground beneath the archway was a little plot, maybe 5 sq. ft.  In it were small stones.  All of them had been "crafted".  They were all beautiful.  Some were carved.  Others were painted.  They laid next to each other in the plot.  Some were exquisite works of art.  Others appeared to be more simplistic and made by children.  I reached down to pick up one.  It was purple.  (Of course!  Everyone who knows me knows that I would go for the purple one.)  The actual rock was sort of purple, and the painting on it was mostly purple.  The paint accented face-like features of the rock.  I held it for a minute, and a little boy (hispanic, maybe?) came up behind me.  He whispered, "Remember you can only take one."  I nodded my head, remembering that I'd been told about this place.  I lifted my gaze and there was a handpainted sign at the top of the archway.  It said, "The Bead_____ Stone Project".  I couldn't see the middle part because someone had painted something there.  It was a ladybug, or some flowers, or something.  Suddenly, I remembered being told that there was a place where people made art and just left it.  Anyone could come by and pick up a piece to take home with them, but everyone was encouraged to leave something as well.  It was sort of an "art" exchange.  I sat the purple rock back down into it's place, and I looked around some more. The stones in front of the plot were a sort of sandstone that had been carved into smooth curves and shapes of faces, animals, etc. To the right side of the archway were several large geodes.  One was a brilliant pink color banded along side some quartz.  I picked it up and looked at it, and then noticed all of the other stones, rocks, and crystals.  I picked up one that I thought I might take with me.  It was flat silver, circular silhouette of a tree.  The tree was sort of on the side of the circle and it's branches arched over the top, while it's roots curved around and up the bottom.  It had small beads and stones hanging from it, and a cloth butterfly with additional beads on top.  I was drawn to it (even though it was in browns and neutral colors... instead of purple!).  :)  As I looked more, there were rows and rows of things people had created to give away.  It just felt like a place of sharing.

When I woke up, I felt "connected" and "centered".  I've been feeling spiritually "off" for a few weeks, and it just feels so good.  That place had such a good vibe to it.

Anyone know a location where we can start one?  :)