joy – Page 5

Hummingbirds as Talismans

August 10, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Anna’s Hummingbird, male

Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. Hummingbirds open our eyes to the wonder of the world and inspire us to open our hearts to loved ones and friends. Like a hummingbird, we aspire to hover and to savor each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate the joy of everyday. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation. —Papyrus

It’s difficult to capture their shimmery wings in flight; harder, still, to frame their magical essence. But when handed the challenge word talisman, hummingbirds came instantly to mind. Take a look at the word cloud to the right of my blog entries–it’s among the most prominent topics of conversation here, by far!

I snapped this photo at a backyard BBQ, last night. It’s not my best hummingbird image to-date, but the wonderful thing about creative challenges is they encourage you to work with what you have, instead of chasing down that elusive (if not impossible) thing we call perfection. (#AugustBreak2015, Day 10)

Love your Mother, Earth

August 9, 2015 by Melodye Shore

The Earth is not just the environment. The Earth is us. Everything depends on whether we have this insight or not. –Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to the Earth

Day 9 of Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge, and the phrase of the day is Earth. This was my most difficult project so far, because my subject kept melting! I shot this picture outdoors and used PicMonkey to add a starry background (via universe-beauty.com). Whew, it was a whole lotta work, but I sure learned a lot! For that reason alone, I’m happy with the results.

Five Facts about Me

August 7, 2015 by Melodye Shore

1. I never dreamed I’d live so close to the ocean, but I’ve always felt its pull.

2. If Nature is a magician, I’ve fallen under her spell.

3. I can’t explain this #NanaLove any more than I can count the stars.

4. Happy is my default setting.

5. “Your home should rise up to greet you,” says Nate Berkus, “And at the end of the day, it should ground you in a sense of peace.” I’m not an interior decorator by any means, but I think my home is comfortable and welcoming.

Day 6 of Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. The phrase of the day is 5 Facts about Me. Ask me again tomorrow, and I’d probably create a wholly different collage. Maybe I’d adjust the zoom lens, crop the pictures a little tighter. But this is pretty decent selfie, for a first attempt.

#TBT: My Writing Notebook (Looking Back and Moving Forward)

August 6, 2015 by Melodye Shore

For who will testify, who will accurately describe our lives if we do not do it ourselves?
–Faye Moskowitz, And the Bridge is Love

My friend Emjae created this mock book cover for me a few years back, as a loving gesture and gentle prod. “Keep writing,” she told me. “You have a story to tell, a song to sing.” I tucked one copy into an antique church bulletin display box, and slipped another into the clear front pocket of my writing notebook. I’ve spilled many ~~tears~~ drafts onto the page, emptied and replenished several notebooks since. Lucky me, I’m represented now by two, top-notch agents at D4EO Literary Agency, and CAN I GET A WITNESS? is under consideration by several editors. I’m so looking forward to that magical day, when the contents of my writing notebook become a published book, graced with a reinterpreted cover image!

Day 6 of Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. In case you haven’t yet guessed, the word of the day is notebook. In this overlaid image, my father’s revival tent serves as backdrop. I’m standing in the foreground, facing my future.

A Sea of Numbers

August 4, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Day 4 of Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. The word of the day is numbers.

A sea of numbers, under the lifeguard stand

How do you translate numbers into real-life experiences? I snapped a few pictures, to help sum things up.

Paddle boarders venture into the waves, beyond the reach of the rip currents.

A friendly dragon with a birds-eye view.

Family fun–not a cell phone in sight!

A singular tribute, left untouched

The Dalai Lama’s Birthday Mandala: Coming Full Circle

July 31, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Awareness of impermanence and appreciation of our human potential will give us a sense of urgency that we must use every precious moment. –Dalai Lama

It took nine days for two monks to create a sand mandala, in honor of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday. My friend Karin and I were fortunate enough to watch those artisans at work, and to share tea and conversation with them a few weeks back.*

Earlier this week, the Center for Living Peace provided a short video clip of the private dissolution ceremony.

https://instagram.com/p/5vC-qDvfVp/

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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/5vC-qDvfVp/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">"Impermanence" was truly the word of the day. • • • After spending 9 days of tireless work creating the Sand Mandala in honor of @dalailama's 80th birthday, the monks dissolved it this morning. Such a beautiful display of #impermanence @ucirvine</a>

A video posted by Center for Living Peace (@occlp) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-07-29T21:26:49+00:00">Jul 29, 2015 at 2:26pm PDT</time>
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(For still images of a dissolution ceremony, click here and scroll down. A more detailed video is available at this link.)

In witnessing these ancient Tibetan Buddhist traditions, I am reminded of the simple joys available to us in each moment. Beauty. Unity. The healing balm of sacred rituals. Too, in watching the attentiveness with which the monks go about their tasks–the physical endurance and mental discipline required to create and then dismantle the sand mandala–I see illustrated the concepts of detachment and impermanence.

The metaphor is deep and wide, with a special resonance for each of us. I’m appreciating it anew this morning, as a memoirist whose book is currently out on submission to publishers.

When we contribute our stories to the collective, we spare them from the dustbin of history, albeit temporarily. Pages crumble; interests wax and wane. So we aim for the transcendent, more so than permanence. We stay in the room with story, despite any temporary discomfort. In writing about past events, we remain fully present. And we try to remember that who we are– in this moment; in light of our experiences, and despite them–is the heartbeat of our memoir.

*Oh my goodness, I’m remembering now that I teased a second blog entry about that! I’ll post it next week, I promise!

Announcing #SweetSundayBrunch, with Harlem Gospel Choir

June 15, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Remember the lively conversations we once shared around the family table on Sundays? If you close your eyes, can you also recall the delicious aromas that wafted from the kitchen? Fried chicken and cornbread, syrupy pancakes and scrambled eggs…food so tasty, its closest rival was the toe-tapping, tambourine-waving music you heard in church that morning? That’s the feeling we’re going for with #SweetSundayBrunch, a weekly Twitter chat that I’m co-hosting with the Harlem Gospel Choir.

In 140 characters: #SweetSundayBrunch is soul food, served fresh every Sunday morning via social media. Join our global conversation every week, starting 6/21.

Share snaps of your Sunday gatherings (Image copyright Harlem Gospel Choir)

#SweetSundayBrunch is also inspired by the incomparable joy that came of singing with the Harlem Gospel Choir. I still get teary-eyed when I think about the day I blogged about being a “caged bird” who trembled at the very thought of singing out loud, even in private. I challenged myself to take a workshop with the world-famous gospel choir, at the Escondido Performing Arts Center. It was definitely outside my comfort zone, but it stood at the very top of my bucket list, and I was ready for the challenge.

To my great surprise, I was invited by the lead singer to join the choir onstage, and to stand next to her in the spotlight. To my even greater amazement, I sang a full-throated version of “Oh Happy Day” at center stage, without fear or inhibition. When the final grace note dissolved into silence, each of the choir members came forward and hugged me. The lead singer ushered me offstage, but not before saying (loud enough for all to hear), “We’ve been friends for a long time. But we are more than that… we are family.” It was one of the most authentic expressions of love that I’ve ever experienced, and I (along with the Harlem Gospel Choir) want to share it with all of you.

Me, shortly after singing onstage with the Harlem Gospel Choir–oh, happy day!

#SweetSundayBrunch is an interfaith, nondenominational, toe-tapping, tambourine waving, guilt-free gathering that’ll make you wish you could scratch-and-sniff your Twitter page.

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Whet our appetites! (Sunday Brunch on Lummi Island, copyright Nina Laden)

Our first Twitter chat is this coming Sunday, June 21st. Since we’re expecting guests from around the world, it’s not tied to a certain time zone.

FIVE GUIDELINES:

Connect with us every week by adding the hashtag #SweetSundayBrunch to your Sunday morning tweets. Got extra characters? Add @MelodyeShore and/or @HarlemGospel.

Share a good word, choir pics, song lyrics, snaps of your Sunday gatherings…bring what you’ve got to the table & invite your friends to join us.

Tweet and retweet people who use the #SweetSundayBrunch hashtag, and ‘follow’ those whose interests you share.

No copy/paste advertisements, rants, or porn.

Mention Sweet Sunday Brunch by name—as much as you’d like, much appreciated! But please save the hashtag [#SweetSundayBrunch] for our weekly gatherings. [#SweetSundayBrunch is our registered hashtag, and we’ve also created a @SweetSunBrunch Twitter profile.]

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Post pictures of your Sunday gatherings! Image copyright Harlem Gospel Choir

THREE SUGGESTIONS:

Follow the Golden Rule. Meaning: be generous of spirit & open-minded.

Give and you shall receive. Extend the hand of friendship, take away an encouraging word.

Make a joyful noise. Jump in, speak up, give a shout out…have fun!

Sound fun? We hope so! This is our first foray into the hashtag world, so we’re hoping you’ll help boost the signal.

Art Challenge of the Week: Something from the Ocean

June 14, 2015 by Melodye Shore

“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.”
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

Laguna Beach at low tide, height of tourist season

“Wanna go the beach?” I ask my sister, even though I already know the answer. I love walking along the windswept beaches of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives; and she loves exploring the tide pools in the calmer waters of Southern California, equally so.

It’s the height of tourist season–no matter, save for the bumper-to-bumper traffic. As my roadster crawls up PCH, we catch up on the latest. We land in Laguna Beach at low tide, and the waves have long since receded. Clumps of seaweed line the shore.

A sea anemone fills her purse

We clamber over rocks, poke our cameras into rock crevasses. Little by little, the ocean reveals to us her treasures.

The ocean’s jewelry box, tide pool at Laguna

When I spot my reflection, mirrored in the ocean’s shallows, I reposition myself and refocus my camera lens…slowly, carefully, so as not to to disturb the creatures that inhabit these small spaces.

A crab forages for food in the tide pool

Waves froth and then fold in on themselves. We linger in the tide pools as the water drifts lazily toward the shore.

Frothy waves at low tide, Laguna Beach

Salty breezes whip our hair into messy curls, and our shoes fill up with sand. The ocean rewards our patience. Quietly, and without fanfare, she whispers her deepest secrets, presents to us the whole of her heart.

Heart of the sea

We are not alone.

Crab in a crevasse

We are witnesses to a miracle, a pageant that plays itself out repeatedly, here and elsewhere. I’m grateful for the opportunity to watch it unfold with Sheryll, and for the delight that washed over me anew, as I create this photo album for my blog.

Seagulls in the seaweed, Laguna Beach

Linkfest! If you want to see other bloggers’ responses to this week’s challenge, click here, or visit my photographic response to my last art challenge entry, TRICKSTERS.

Shared with the hummingbird, a childlike sense of curiosity and wonder

May 12, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Rufous Hummingbird, my watchful backyard buddy

When we assume hummingbird consciousness, our life becomes a wonderland of sensuous delights. We live for beauty, delighting in flowers, aromas, fine mist, delicate tastes.

Hummingbirds awaken us to the beauty of the present moment. —David Carson

Can I get a witness?

March 31, 2015 by Melodye Shore

I’m thrilled beyond words to announce that I’ve just accepted an offer of representation from Bob Diforio and Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary Agency. Lucky me, to have my memoir jointly repped by such a powerhouse team!

https://youtu.be/cLocKzC80gk

Read this, and you’ll understand just how fortunate I am to be working in tandem with agents of their caliber. Soon, very soon, they’ll be submitting CAN I GET A WITNESS? to publishers. Oh happy day!

How will these next few chapters unfold? Haven’t a clue, but Nancy Drew is on the case! If you wanna ride shotgun, just subscribe to my blog and you’ll get email notices whenever I post updates on my adventures. While you’re at it, please join me on Facebook and Twitter.