My Mom’s latest creation, held together by safety pins because it still needs quilting.
The colors of this piece render me rather speechless. It’s such a perfect cacophony, all on its own.
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serenity
I’d intended for today to be a day of peace and serenity. I got up fairly early and had the first few hours of the morning to myself. Lovely.
But things didn’t go so smoothly from there on out. I went to Quaker Meeting, but had some things on my mind that made it difficult to relax into the silence. I felt disconnected and had a sense of urgency about some pressing matters that made me second-guess my being there. As soon as Meeting closed, I got a call from John that his bike had broken down about 40 miles into his “century” (100 mile) trek and he needed my aid.
Of course the freeway between him and me was moving at 6-10 miles per hour. Sigh. Eventually finding John was joy, even if I wasn’t a happy camper along the way there.
Some days don’t go as we planned, do they?
I got home from the bike shop and had a bit of nap, puttered around in the garden, and was just plain lazy for a few hours.
I still haven’t regained that sense of serenity that I’d started the day with and hoped to carry with me all day long, but I suspect that it will return again tomorrow morning. And we’ll see what happens from there…
blossom
This bee had the most intense rendezvous with one of my squash blossoms. He stayed at the flower for more than five minutes, never seeming to get enough of its pollen-y goodness. He didn’t even mind when I brought the camera in for a close-up–he was far too involved to notice.
I have to say that I love seeing critters who look like they’re having so much fun. Can’t you just imagine that he was loving being covered from antenna to toe in yellow?
My garden, in the morning
Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly, lavender’s green,
When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
‘Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work
Some with a rake, dilly, dilly, some with a fork.
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to thresh corn.
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.
Lavender’s green, dilly, dilly, Lavender’s blue,
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm’s way.
I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing;
When I am queen, dilly, dilly, You’ll be my king.
Who told me so, dilly, dilly, Who told me so?
I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so.
repose
The mossy greens in this scene from the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library are so relaxing and inspiring. The Huntington is not only a place for repose, but also supports my dissertation research. As a Fellow, last Fall I spent nearly every day working in the ‘inner sanctum’ of the Library.
The Collections at the Huntington aren’t accessible to John or to my children. Someday I hope I can point out my favorite study carrel in the old reading room, or show them some of the manuscripts that I’ve enjoyed (such as a few volumes of Emma N’s journals and other treasures). It’s hard not to be able to share that with them.
But I am glad that we can stroll the gardens together, anytime.
with her friends
CatGirl doesn’t let me take her picture very often anymore. Like a typical teen, she’ll put her hands over her face or turn away when I point my lens in her direction (although she always seems willing to pose for John!)…
So I was so thrilled when a friend’s Mom recently took some pictures of CG & her friends at Crystal Cove. I love the way she captured the girls’ innate beauty and curiosity…
window
My kitchen windowsill is so cheery–this rose is such a bright neon red-orange that it almost hurts my eyes (the colors in the pic don’t do justice to its brilliance).
I love having beauty gracing my view of the outside world.
This quotation sums up how I am feeling today..
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present: love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure, the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.”
~Sarah Ban Breathnach
PS: I’m currently planning some travel to Boston, Cape Cod and New Haven. If you’re in that area and would like to meetup, or if you have a recommendation for a must-see place or tearoom, let me know! 🙂
from the air
I rarely take pics while flying, simply because it’s mostly clouds out there anyways. But how different the trip to and from Albuquerque was–hardly a cloud in the sky all the way. I loved the textures and colors of the desert, even as I marveled at the strength of the people who live in such an arid environment.
I might…
I might have to stop keeping a bouquet of roses on the table in my living room. Because everytime I walk past this one, I melt into it.
on swimming, by moonlight
During my recent trip to Albuquerque I took very few pictures. I think I needed to just experience the trip rather than document it visually. So here are a few verbal ‘snapshots’ of my travels to share with you:
–Desert rain as I arrived in town. The shuttle driver telling me that I should have brought an umbrella. The smell of the wet hot breeze wafting across adobe plazas.
–Swimming by moonlight in a courtyard pool (this very moon that vajra captured in her photo), after sweet-talking a security guard into letting me (& friends) stay past closing time. Then the tolling of bells ringing out over the city, marking the late hour.
–the characters of Albuquerque including the eccentric Ben Michael whose rustic restaurant and anti-corporate rants charmed me, the baker who admitted that he liked processed bread better than the flaky handmade pastries of his that I enjoyed, the waitress at Julia’s who was so hospitable that I couldn’t help but adore her quirky cafe (and oh, those watermelon napkins, the hot green chile sauce that liquified my sinuses and the honey & frybread that reminded me so much of mom’s sopapillas that I was a child again), and the random strangers, including the hardened-looking man smoking with his buddy who was so eager to give me directions thru Old Town.
–agave tea at the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) cafe, that made my throat feel so much better
–my colleagues: who are brilliant and witty. I loved sitting around the table & hearing about their research and their dreams for the future. There’s such comfort in knowing that I’m not alone in my passion for the past, and that there are others who share my quirkiness. I especially appreciated their tolerance for my complete lack of direction, so when I said “I think that cafe is somewhere over there,” they were willing to follow (and gently nudge me in the correct direction along the way).
–the salty-looking shuttle driver as I left town, who had a PhD in Philosophy and who helped me remember that anyone might be so terrifically interesting and well-spoken that I need to be ‘present’ even at 5 am after a night of fitful sleep.
PS: pic above taken by Vajra, who I met up with (in person!) while in Albuquerque. What fun it was to get a text message saying “I’m wearing a large blue hat and sitting in the plaza on the west side of the San Felipe church.” The wandering around that ensued as I asked locals “which way is west?,” “Where is the church?,” etc, was the best possible treasure hunt!