Quotes
Super Blue Blood Moon
The life blood of photography is a kind of holy curiosity, where life is viewed with reverence and awe and some measure of understanding as to the transience of it all.” —Donna Hopkins
Did you hear? The “supermoon,” “blue moon,” and “blood moon” put on quite a show this morning. Lucky me, I had an unobstructed view of this celestial event. It was an awe-inspiring performance—a magic trick, unparalleled. The supermoon hung low in the sky, a luminous pearl against a backdrop of black velvet. As it passed through the earth’s shadow, it turned blood red and then vanished.
When I first spotted the oversized moon, it was peeking through my picture window—a bright orange orb, nestled into a cradle of shimmery white. I ran outside, cell phone tilted upward, and did a celestial show-and-tell with my friend Donna.
We talked a while longer, but the moon had already cast its spell. As soon as we said goodbye, I tossed a jacket over my pajamas and grabbed my car keys.
By 5:35 a.m., I was enjoying an ocean-front view of the eclipse. There were other people there, of course: pros, lugging fancy equipment into position; and casual observers, snapping selfies with their smart phones.
Most, however, peered up at the moon through their windshields, windows cranked so they could listen to the ocean’s lullaby.
I stood alone on a sand berm, wrapped in a cloak of silent reverence. Salty mist stuck to my lashes; bracing winds tousled my hair. No need to be shy about having tossed a hoodie over pink ostrich pajamas—everyone was sleepy-eyed, anyway.
The moon shone down on all of us…
…eventually fading into a rusty glow.
It winked at the rising sun, and then slipped into the ocean.
You’ll find better pictures elsewhere, of course. I don’t own a high-powered, fancy-pants camera, and I’ve got lots to learn about manual settings. But you know what? I sincerely doubt that any camera (pen or sketch pad) in the world could’ve captured the deep-seated joy—and the wide-eyed sense of wonderment –that came of saying yes! to the magnetic pull of the moon this morning.
#ThankfulThursday: Everyday blessings and another birthday
“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful.
They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness —
Just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breathe it;
Just warmth and shelter and home folks;
Just plain food that gives us strength;
The bright sunshine on a cold day;
And a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
(Words of wisdom by Laura Ingalls Wilder, photographs from my grateful heart.)
#ThankfulThursday: Finding wonders
Human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders. –E.B. White
Turban Snail shell in Goff Island Cove, Laguna Beach.
Hope as antidote for suffering
Very few Monarch eggs survive to adulthood–mortality rates hover in the range of 90% or even higher! And still, the female Monarch lays new eggs every day–an average of 500 in her lifetime.
I’ve learned to respect Mother Nature’s ways, even when I don’t fully understand them. Even so, I do what I can to help offset those seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s how I’m wired, I guess. I’ve replaced our thirsty grass with drought-tolerant milkweed and nectar plants. I shield their nursery from weather extremes, and I guard against aphids and pesticide overspray, carried into my garden on ocean breezes.
Here, the story of Hope itself: struggles, persistence, endurance.
Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” We see this in our daily lives: hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, diseases, natural and man-made disasters. A microcosm of this truth is borne out everyday, in my little Monarch Waystation.
Because I’ve witnessed firsthand their potential for suffering, I appreciate each wriggling, hungry little caterpillar as a marvel unto itself.
Because I’ve wept over the sweeping losses caused by predators, I greet with joy each new chrysalis–perfectly shaped jewel boxes, housing secret transformations within.
And the metamorphosis of a microscopic, pearlescent egg into this Monarch butterfly? Nothing short of a miracle.
#BeLikeFreckles
Life isn’t a pailful of herring, you know. Not for Freckles the harbor seal, any more than it is for the rest of us.
Not for nothing does Freckles have this spindle-shaped sleekness. He forages the Pacific Ocean for hours at a time every day, grabbing snacks on the go because he’s also got to keep an eye out for predators. Manmade dangers, too–like gill nets and ship propellers.
Freckles navigates rough waters every day, so no surprise! When he finally hauls ashore, he’s exhausted. But as leader of this pinniped posse, it also falls to Freckles to defend their onshore habitat.
You might be wondering: How does he manage?
Look deep into those liquid brown eyes, and you’ll find your answer. There’s wisdom in that sleepy-eyed gaze of his, not fear. He’s been around the tide pools a few times, our Freckles. He’s earned every one of those grey spots.
He’s not afraid to go nose-to-nose with his problems, but he also knows when and how to chill.
You’d never guess, for instance, that he’d just squared off with Clancy, the interloper up front. Once Freckles laid down the ground rules, he nestled himself into the algae-softened rocks again, angled strategically between his long time friends and this brazen newcomer. Peaceable kingdom, restored.
That’s how Freckles rolls. He just takes care of business, tra la la, and then settles in for another nap.
We could all take some cues from Freckles, now couldn’t we? Tuned in, blissed out…finding our happy place, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
Rainy days and Mondays, included.
Art Challenge of the Week: Showing the LOVE
Welcome, everybody, to this week’s art challenge. In honor of Valentine’s Day, our theme is–you guessed it–LOVE.
Meet Wendy and Peter, affectionately named for two of our most beloved storybook characters. They’re nesting in a fuchsia, alongside our front walkway. At 19 and 20 days old, they’re still too young to fly; but within a week, they’ll take to the skies on shimmery wings, as hummingbirds are wont to do. Love, ongoing and everlasting.
Vincent van Gogh once said, “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” That quotation goes to the heart of who I am: a child of God who views the world with a wide-eyed sense of wonderment. It also speaks to the joy that comes of taking field trips with my camera.
Loading InLinkz ...Are We Our Brother’s Keepers?
For those who choose to bang the drums of war, slam shut the gates of compassion, and greet the hard issues with false bravado…
I offer these pictures of Syrian refugees, alongside sacred texts from the world’s major religions, all of which speak to the idea that we are our brother’s keepers, beholden equally to some version of the Golden Rule.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. — Christianity (Luke 6:31, King James Version)
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. –Taoism (Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien)
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary. –Judaism (Talmud, Shabbat 31a)
This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you. –Hinduism (Mahabharata 5:1517)
Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not. Also: Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. –Bahá’í Faith (Baha’u’llah)
[A] state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another? — Buddhism (Samyutta NIkaya v. 353)
This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. –Brahmanism (Mahabharata, 5:1517)
None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. –Islam (Number 13 of Imam, “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths”)
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self. –Jainism (Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara)
Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others. –Zoroastrianism (Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29)
Tse-kung asked, ‘Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?’ Confucius replied, “It is the word ‘shu’ — reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” — Confucianism (Doctrine of the Mean 13.3)
This is a terrible problem, of vast proportions. There are no easy solutions, and platitudes won’t wash away the horrors. I’m not suggesting otherwise…just asking that we step away from our reflexive fears, and quiet ourselves long enough to contemplate how we might respond with compassion, instead.
Sources:
“The Golden Rule (Ethics of Reciprocity): Passages from Various Religious Texts”
Loosening the string on your kite
You will find truth more quickly through delight than gravity. Let out a little more string on your kite. —Alan Cohen
Yesterday’s highlights: A last-vestiges-of-summer picnic, and a kite that danced in the shimmery clouds at sunset.
This, at the tail end of a decades-long genealogical search that came to a sudden, dark conclusion. The shadow’s reach is long. But it’s all for the good, because when secrets are exposed to sunlight, their gravitational hold is lifted and the healing process begins.
Day 30 of the #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. Today’s prompt is smile. It’s out of sequence, because…vacation! I’ll upload my retrospective snaps to a single post, before this month is over.
Living on the Edge
Crescent Bay (Laguna Beach, California)
We live at the edge of the miraculous. — Henry Miller
These cottages are nestled into Crescent Bay, at the western edge of the North American continent. When the sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean, they are bathed in its afterglow. I couldn’t quite capture that effect with my camera, but I’ll work on it. Until then, it’s a fixed image in my mind’s eye.
I love that this photography challenge is encouraging me to reach past my current limitations. and to venture into the realm of possibilities. “The edge of the miraculous,” as Henry Miller says–where magic lives, and light.
#AugustBreak2015 photography challenge, Day 11. The word for today is edge.