Kevin Griffin, One Breath at a Time.

You don't have to believe your thoughts.

The Buddha talks about the “bliss of blamelessness.” When there are no secrets in your life and you’re living cleanly, a sense of safety arises. Your’e not looking over your shoulder all the time (15).

The Buddha saw how much suffering we create fighting these facts, resisting and trying to circumvent aging, illness, death, and loss, and he realized that clear understanding and acceptance was the key to letting go of that suffering (17).

The Buddha saw that everything starts with thoughts; that we speak and act based on thoughts; that our words and actions turn into habits—or addictions; and that those habits shape our character into something inflexible. So, he says, “Watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love born out of concern for all beings… As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become” (18).

Thursday is my something-spiritual day... enjoy : )

Allende's The House of Spirits.

On falling in love with a childhood friend - wedged between the innocence of youth and the trappings of adulthood....

They spent that summer oscillating between childhood, which still held them in its clasp, and their awakening as man and woman. There were times when they ran like little children, stirring up the chickens and exciting the cows, drinking up their fill of fresh milk and winding up with foam mustaches, stealing fresh baked bread right from the oven and clamoring up trees to build secret houses.

At other times they hid in the forest's thickets, most secret recesses, making beds of leaves and pretending they were married, caressing each other until they fell asleep exhausted. They were still innocent enough to remove all their clothes without a trace of curiosity and swim naked in the river, as they always had, diving into the cold water and letting the current pull them down against the shiny stones.

But there were certain things they could no longer share. They learned to feel shame in each other’s presence. They no longer competed to see who could make the biggest puddle when they urinated, and Blanca did not tell him of the dark matter that stained her underwear once a month. Without anyone telling them, they realized that they could not act so freely in front of others. When Blanca dressed up as a young lady and sat on the terrace sipping lemonade with her family each afternoon, Pedro Tercero would watch her from afar, without coming closer.

They began to hide when they wanted to play. They stopped walking hand in hand with in the sight of adults, and they ignored each so as not to attract attention.

Nana gave a sign of relief, but Clara started watching them more carefully (147).

Visual Comparisons/ Typographic Counterparts

Directions:

When creating a visual hierarchy in typographic space, a designer will balance the need for harmony which unifies a design, with the need for contrast, which lends vitality and emphasis. Typographic counterparts are elements with similar qualities that bring harmony to their spatial relationship.

Use forms of photography to create a corresponding typographic letter. Your counterpart relationship should create unity between two unlike elements.

Limitations: 7 x 7 inch panels, color, can not overlap letter w/photograph

- Foamcore = the Devil’s cloth
- Xacto Knifes = lethal
- never use 3M Mounting Spray in your breezy backyard (I didn’t need hairspray this morning, my bangs are already plastered to my forehead)
- Don’t wait until the night before
- What you think you will spend the most time on proves to need the least
- What you think you will spend the least time on proves to be the most time-consuming

Actually I spelled the word “OBSERVE.” I would post it, but blogger won’t let me upload! I curse you, blogger. I curse you.

How was it? I found “craftsmanship” impossible to master. On letter “O” my Xacto knife slipped and I sliced open two fingers. Omar had to rush over and dress my wounds with his portable hospital-kit. From that point it was an uphill battle, uphill with boulders raining down, hail, and lava.

All in all a solid effort, I think, and a good project from which to learn what NOT to do.

L.O.V.E.

Friday Finds!

Lara Cameron...

Heather Moore...

Jeff Divine.

Designers:
Lara Cameron.
Textile & graphic designer based in Melbourne.

Heather Moore
Illustrator, designer and writer who lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Sarajo Frieden
From her website: I work from a studio in Los Angeles that borders Thai Town, Little Armenia and Koreatown, with Guatemalan and Salvadoran bakeries nearby.

Photographers:
Jeff Divine
great description of him found here.

from Isabel Allende's "House of Spirits"

Childhood.

She preferred not to torment her daughter with earthly demands, for she had a premonition that her daughter was a heavenly being, and that she was not destined to last very long in the vulgar traffic of this world.

It is a delight for me to read her notebooks from those years, which describe a magic world that no longer exists. Clara lived in a universe of her own invention, protected from life’s inclement weather, where the prosaic truth of material objects mingled with the tumultuous reality of dreams and the laws of physics and logic did not apply.

happy birthday to my best friend/ role model/ kindred spirit abc.

nostalgic for my days of unemployment and post college graduation-bliss... I long for the days of "theme-months." I also yearn for the freedom with which I used to post on here, pre-stalker and pre-professional life...

... but ah well, so is life, on and on and on until we pause to drink some lemonade.

back to my cublet.

san francisco trip w/jackie & carms

times are a'changing...

Clouds Gathering

It seemed the kind of life we wanted.
Wild strawberries and cream in the morning.
Sunlight in every room.
The two of us walking by the sea naked.

Some evenings, however, we found ourselves
Unsure of what comes next.
Like tragic actors in a theater on fire,
With birds circling over our heads,
The dark pines strangely still,
Each rock we stepped on bloodied by the sunset.

We were back on our terrace sipping wine.
Why always this hint of an unhappy ending?
Clouds of almost human appearance
Gathering on the horizon, but the rest lovely
With the air so mild and the sea untroubled.

The night suddenly upon us, a starless night.
You lighting a candle, carrying it naked
Into our bedroom and blowing it out quickly.
The dark pines and grasses strangely still.

Charles Simic

intuition, intellect, confused. 

b-loooove.

thanks to the lovely Katie over at Frilly Thinking.

Fifi Flowers Design Decor

Oakmoon

Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes

Writing in Faith

Notes from the Cloud Messenger

Have a great & safe weekend, everyone!

“Most people don't have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.”

Spring First Flower.

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd.

August said, "Listen to me now, Lily. I'm going to tell you something I want you always to remember, all right?"

Her face had grown serious. Intent. Her eyes did not blink.

"All right," I said, and I felt something electric slide down my spine.

"Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She's not the statue in the parlor. She's something inside of you. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"Our Lady is inside me," I repeated, not sure I did.

"You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside."

Just finished this book... engaging story, but predictable, too typical - I felt as though I had read it before... have any of you read it? What did you think?

shaggy

pmm - sampson
Originally uploaded by robinannmcintosh

I was looking through photos.... and oh, my! Where did my little puppy go??











should have called him marley.... !

must read book list.

Kathleen @ Invisible Keepsakes recently posted a list of her favorite books - books she considers must reads. From her entry & More About the Song I have devised a list of books I would like to get through come the new year.


Have any of you read any of these, do you have any yays, nays, or comments? anything would be very much appreciated : )

missing

I'm alive! but I am with out internet. I will be back to regular posting soon :) hope you all had lovely holidays.