Dragonfly Cottage

This is the online home of Dragonfly Cottage. Sampson, below, is only one of three pugs from Mid-Atlantic Pug Rescue and is one of my many animal companions and Muses. Sam has stolen the heart of everyone who has met him, and he is joined by six parrots, two other pugs, one big lab-doby mix, and 1 beta fish named Vincent! Most of my beloved animal companions are rescues and are the great joy of my life.

When I started Dragonfly Cottage in the autumn of 1999, I had no idea what it would become. I have gone through many stages and phases as the cottage has grown and now it is a place of rest and respite, solitude, and a life that is made up of animal companions, my writing, my fiber art, and communing deeply with the natural world around me, as I continue to work toward spreading compassion and loving-kindness, through my work, to the world. Each one, reach one. I have been touched by many, and blessed by all. I invite you all to join me here, and hope you will feel at home in my little cottage.

The cottage will continue to grow and my work in animal rescue grows with it. Little did I know, last fall, that in that short space of time three pugs from pug rescue and one Greater Sulfur Crested cockatoo, another dear rescue, would join the mix, but all are welcome here, in this gentle place and I do my work surrounded by the feathered and furred ones, often with a snoring pug on my feet and a bird on my shoulder.

In 2005 I took the name Maitri as my legal name, inspired by the Buddhist teaching of maitri. There is a page on this website that talks more about why I did this and the meaning of maitri, but in short, it is about loving-kindness and compassion, and how we must first find it for ourselves if we are to have it to give to another. I took the name to be a constant reminder to work toward the goal of infusing all of my work and life with the teachings of maitri. I live very nearly the life of the anchorite, leaving the cottage seldom, but the work here is never-ending and it is in silence and solitude, surrounded by my companions here and doing my work that I can best reach out into the world and do all that I can. If we each do what we can, even if it feels a small act, we could move mountains. Every day of my life I take another step up the mountain.

My work and my life have all become finely woven into a tapestry where birds fly around a woman or rest on my shoulder, dogs lie all around me, books sit in piles everywhere for research and writing, and there are always fiber projects in process. There is a donations page on this website and if you are so inclined, and the cottage has come to mean something to you, any donation is greatly appreciated to keep this work going. I am one woman doing a lot of work alone and needing support. Donations are never required, just a blessing if they come. My view on donations is like the Zen Monk's Begging Bowl. You can read more about the bowl and a link to Paypal for a donation here on the site.

Finally, there is a book in process about life here at the cottage. There has been a lot of interest, and as I have written since I was 9 years old (I am now 54.) it is a natural venue to express my work and life amidst this very special little place that is full of love and magic, wonder and spirit. I am long overdue to finally write this, but then, everything comes in the right and perfect time, and as Dr. Seuss wrote, "The time has come, the time is now, Marvin K. Mooney will you please go NOW!" Dr. Seuss is telling me to get off my keester and write that book and so, finally, I shall. Each of you value every moment of your lives. Tell your stories. They matter.

Blossom, the cockatoo, another rescue, came along and turned my world inside out and upside down, and then shook it all up so there have been many changes here, and there will continue to be. When you live with the natural world, it doesn't follow you, you follow it, you let it lead the way, whether the animals, the garden, or the multitudes of things that are part of my daily life. And these things will be expressed here on the cottage site, the things I support, the things I cherish, the things I want to share. As we travel through 2008, the ninth year of the cottage, I shall be growing and expanding the work here, revising old pages, adding new ones, and sending love out into the world in any way I can. Cherish yourselves. I cherish you. "Celebrate yourself, sing yourself," as Walt Whitman wrote. Let's all sing together.