Back to the garden...

Goofing around in the garden. The fig tree is so big this year. Tomatoes are luscious. This is all my brother's doing. Master gardener.
He planted sunflowers all over the yard. This one is a bud about to burst open. Nature is so amazing isn't it?! I am always so humbled by it. Probably why I feel the need to capture it in photos.

Nature's mandalas!

Water and Stone

I love to collect rocks. I ususally come home with a trunk full after our vacation, some get painted, some just hang out. Some are too big for me to carry, so I just take their picture.

I love finding heart shaped rocks.

The message of the water this year was it's healing powers. It's actually been a theme all year for me. One reason I wanted to go back to Peru was to go to Lake Titicaca.

Water has a message of persistance. It will gradually wear down anything in it's path... message to me and hubby.. "have patience and keep persisting"

It also takes the path of least resistance. Why do we feel we must always take the hard road anyway. As if it wouldn't be a real accomplishment if we didn't sweat for it. One day we wake up and realize it's better to work smart rather than work hard, use our energy more efficiently.

"In confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins, not through strength but through persistence" -Buddha

Grandpa Woodstock

Peace and Love is what he preaches... and repeatedly says he is blessed.
One of the few hippies left in Woodstock. He's cool :-)
All the times we've been here, I never met him, but he said to "google" him and I'll find hundreds of hits. I haven't tried it yet, but here I am adding one more.
After spending a week in the Catskills, savoring the fresh mountain air, meditating by the Esopus, and just relaxing and hanging out, I spent the majority of the day checking emails and blogs.
Just before I left, I participated in an artists survey done by Seth at The Altered Page where over 80 artists participated in it. Very cool! You must check it out.
The most wonderful thing is that it's amazing way to get to know other artists and their blogs and get to know them a little bit deeper if you already know of them or just find new bloggy friends:-)..... so Thanks Seth!!
Most of my art, Mandalas lately, are on the other blogs (links upper left hand corner :-)
Some of my vacation pictures will be here and the mandalas I've worked on at A Year of Art and more "deeper" questioning on it all will be at Roots 'n' Wings.
ok, now I'm off to google "grandpa"..........

Muchas Gracias!

ooooh, another blog award. I just put this on the A Year of Art blog and this one is from Shayla. Thanks Shayla :-)

I have so much catching up to do....... (seriously thinking of getting a laptop) although I must say, it was very nice not to have a phone, tv or computer for a week... just water, wind and my husband to converse with.

I'll get back to the "rules" part of this later.

The last of our trip, coming down from the top of Tequille Island, the sky changed from this beautiful blue to this..............
a little scary
but not as scary as being on a boat in the middle of a storm.

One of my fears? Drowning.

And yet here I was, on a boat rocking like hell and all I could think of was Silvia's words... Mai-Liis living to a ripe old age, me traveling with John... nope. not going to drown today.

still f**k'n' scary though.

But I felt a little bit braver afterwards. The weather cleared a bit as we went through the reeds. At least we could SEE. The rain had come down so hard, windows fogging up, there's no way the boat driver would have been able to see going through them... and NO WIPERS.

So, here I am sitting a my computer. Comfortable. Safe. After reading a blog which triggered a thought about traveling, leaving behind all these comfortable things we have stored up in our nests... how does one become comfortable, reaching outside the comfort zone and into the world at large. Reaching outside the comfort zone of anything for that matter. Risk. Taking a leap of faith off that huge cliff.

I jump between worlds. The safe and secure... rooted, comfortable, surrounded by all that I love..... and the needing to explore this vast, bewildering, magical world. Physically in the world, and emotionally in my art.

what the heck is safety anyway? isn't that just an illusion? a state of mind? it always calls me back to the big picture.. The BIG picture... that we are always safe, the whole entire world is our home, and what is there to be afraid of anyway... really?

It is the mouse, eyes to the ground, seeing the detail of everything and forgetting how to soar like the condor or eagle and seeing it all from above... the big picture.. the magnificent beauty of this planet....... I really miss Peru.

But we leave for the mountains next week. Leaving my honeycomb to explore :-)

Watching nature

I'm not sure what kind of butterfly this will turn into. I did see a beautiful black one with some color on the wing.
Two years ago, we saw a luna moth, big and green and very beautiful.
I'll have to upload the baby swans and Billy Quackers, the Art duck next.
Camp was filled with good "nature" experiences this year.