Molly from New York, NY, makes these incredible cards as part of her work with Amma’s National Circle of Love project, writing to people and spreading love to the sick and elderly around the country. These first couple I’ve shown from front and back so you get an idea of how she is able to layer the cards and build them up, to give a 3D experience.

Molly has sent me many beautiful cards over the past year. Have a look at all of the wonderful things she has made.

Monkeys don’t usually stay long when they visit the ashram. After the branch incident, he wasn’t seen for a day. We wondered if he decided to leave or if he was wondering if maybe he couldn’t trust my son with his broom. Then, today he made himself visible! That’s an egg he’s holding in his hand.

Keep your eye out for the crow that’s visible a couple times in the short video clip. Does the monkey have a new friend?

Whoops, I found this in my draft folder. I must have never clicked “Publish.” Sorry. To download the newsletter, click on the photo. Enjoy!

This will be the second of three posts about Christmas Eve in Amritapuri. In the first one I told readers a bit about the story line and shared a video clip from one of the early practices. (To read that post click here.)

It has seemed to me as if there have been fewer people at the ashram than is usual for a holiday season. That changed dramatically on Christmas Eve. Not only was there a big influx of Indian and Western visitors, but that morning was  the beginning of the AYUDH National Leadership Summit. Six hundred youth from 15 to 35 years-of-age participated in that event.

This photo taken during the Christmas Eve program will give you a sense of the size of the crowd. There were additional seats set up in areas that are not visible in this picture.

Amma gave darshan (hugs) until 11:00 pm. The cast set up the stage for the play at the same time, meaning they were putting up equipment and sets all around her.

By 11:30 pm, Amma was sitting in the hall with us and the play began.

Notes:  1) There is a post on Amma’s Facebook Page that shares a detailed description of the play’s story-line.  2) You can click on the gallery below to enlarge the photos.

The play was wonderful, moving the audience to tears, laughter and repeated applause.

After the play we listened to Amma’s Christmas message. I will share the content of that speech if it is posted online later. After the Christmas message was finished, Amma sang Only Love is our Guiding Light and Jai Mata Di Jaykar Bulavo and then blessed the Christmas cake. Soon everyone had a sweet to end the night.

The program finished sometime between 2:00 and 2:30 am. What a beautiful evening it had been.

Notes: 1) The photos on this post come from Amma’s Facebook page and Amritapuri.org  2) I expect to publish the third post about the play later in the week.

To read the previous posts in this series click here.

I posted the other day about an unusual insect I saw in Saraswati Garden. At the time, I thought it was a butterfly or a moth but I couldn’t find a photo on the internet that was anything like it.

Today I went to the Tulasi Farm in Amritapuri and there was an area that had MANY of these insects. In watching them fly, I knew they weren’t either butterflies or moths. They moved so fast I couldn’t see them well, but I thought they might be dragon flies.

When I looked on the internet, I discovered there are 91 species of dragon flies in Kerala. I was able to find a photo of one that looked similar to what I had seen.

Wikimedia Commons

The tree was awe-inspiring even with all of the power lines running through it