September 11, 2001 affected us all profoundly. How could I calmly sit at a loom and weave when such violence and terror was possible? But I am a weaver. So how could I not continue to sit at a loom and weave, when to let fear contol my life would be to surrender to it?

Shortly after September 11th, I went to the Denver Botanical Gardens. Among all the beauty there, my soul started to heal. A tiny desert succulent caught my attention. It was less than three inches across, and it was growing all by itself in a sandy desert soil near the walkway. I was amazed that it hadn't been trampled under unseeing feet. It was a survivor.

I photographed the little succulent and blew it up to become this tapestry. The weaving of it was an act of defiance for me. I will not allow my love of beauty and of creation die in the face of fear and spiritual draught. We will emerge from the threat and be stronger for having done so.

While my other tapestries are of wool weft on cotton warp, this tapestry is wool and silk weft on a cotton warp.