Dale and Sonja Hopkins
Anderson Island Arts
Media: Metalwork, Poetry
Poetry by Sonja Hopkins
“Love is Spoken Here“
I offer you this spark of what is light to me
To touch your soul from within my heart
Love is spoken here.
Learning in this school of life requires clarity.
Weaving threads of intention into possibility.
As we move into sacred space, of this you can be sure
The unconditional love I share is a priceless gift for you.
I offer you this spark of what is light to me
To touch your soul from within my heart
And not to tell you who to be
I offer you this spark of what is light to me
To guide you through the dark – not to tell you what to see.
Love is spoken here
I would not interfere with any creed of yours
Nor wish it to appear that I have all the cures
There is so much to know, so many things are true.
The way my feet must go may not be best for you.
I offer you this spark of what is light to me
To touch your soul from within my heart
And not to tell you who to be
I offer you this spark of what is light to me
To guide you through the dark – not to tell you what to see.
Love is spoken here. Love is spoken here
(Voice at the end is my 6 year old Granddaughter, Jessica)
“I’m not sure what my Grammy does.
I think she teaches people how to love.”
Moving to Anderson Island nearly 17 years ago has been the best decision we’ve made for our retirement years. We love being a part of this unique artisan community. Dale and I have created metal art for the past 7 years. I do the designing via computer and Dale works the magic on his plasma table in HoppyShop. After retiring from over 47 years as a master craftsman, i.e., welder/fitter/fabricator, Dale knew he wanted to continue doing the work he loved. If metal is magic, Dale is the wizard! His work in the shop evolved from doing various equipment repairs, to building utility trailers and handrails to finally purchasing a plasma table and creating custom art. The lamps in the McGoldrick Library at the Archival Building at the historical Johnson Farm were featured in Tanner’s Ruralite Magazine last year and are an example of our work. You will also see our metal art displayed at the Lakeshore Restaurant and the Community Center. One of our valued customers told us “you don’t create art, you create memories!”
In addition to teaching others how to prune the beautiful apple orchard here on the island, and creating the designs for our metal art, I am a certified life coach, a writer and, in addition to my blog, Sonja’s Safe Harbor, I’ve written several poems a few of which are displayed here. I also teach online classes on Emotional Resilience and Life Skills. Both classes focus on adapting to our changing times. While I worked at Boeing, I was a certified instructor for “Who Moved My Cheese” classes and I created and delivered classes on Cultural Sensitivity to expats that supported the airplanes all over the world. I’ve sung with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and have written a couple of songs which are on a CD. My genre ranges from sacred, to country western (the oldies), to ballads. If you have been to Karaoke night at the Lakeshore you may have heard me yodel! (“Sonja Lorrigan Hopkins won top honors at the Yahoo Yodel Challenge singing “He Taught Me to Yodel” – The Search for America’s Favorite Amateur Yodeler contest, held Aug. 28, 2003 in Seattle. She won $500 for her efforts and a trip to New York City in September to compete at the national level.”)
