This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge reminded me of a microscopic photo I took yesterday. It is a picture of an avocado but it looks a bit like a pastry to me; one with a (narrow) crust covered by a (narrow) layer of chocolate!
What’s Your Guess?
I thought it would be fun to show readers a variety of microscopic pictures I’ve been taking and see if you can identify what they are. Make a list and compare your answers with the key at the end.
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scroll down for the answers
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Answer key
- gold sari fabric
- crook neck squash
- blue microfiber cloth
- red strawberry- the small variety
- white strawberry- the small variety
- Black Eyed Susan flower petal
- avocado
- dragon fly wing
- slug
How did you do? I’d love to hear in the comments below.
I have many photos of the slug, the dragon fly and the avocado and will share them in future posts. I found the dragon fly dead on my rug but the slug was alive. I had no idea how fast slugs could move. It was pretty funny trying to get pictures of it!
Here is a photo of several of the items on this list.
Adding a New Dimension to My Blog
I’ve been very eagerly awaiting the day that I could write this post. I’m so happy that time has come!
Those of you who have been following me for a while know that it is not unusual for me to take photos of flowers, plants, trees, etc. and display them in a way where readers can get a closer and closer view. For example:
Some back story before I go on.
When I was a child I had a microscope. I loved exploring the microscopic world. A few months ago, I started thinking about that experience. It occurred to me that it would be fun to buy another microscope at some point. Perhaps it would be a retirement activity.
Then two weeks ago, I realized that I could add microscopic images to the nature closeup photos I post. I talked to a friend who is a scientist and he suggested I buy a dissecting microscope. That seemed a perfect way to meet my current goal.
The microscope arrived last week and today I received the adapter I ordered. The adapter connects my iPhone to the microscope’s eyeglass.
The photos I am about to share are of the maroon pod that you can see in the three pictures at the beginning of this post.
As I looked at the first microscopic photos I took , they seemed so flat compared to the beautiful 3 D sights I was seeing when I looked directly into the microscope. When I transferred the photos to the laptop, though, the depth was much more visible.
While this adapter will probably never allow me to get a picture that matches the level of glory I see in the microscope, they definitely relay the amazing beauty and a lot of the intricacy. I think they are beautiful.
The photos above are of the outside of the pod. Those below show what it looks like on the inside.
Welcome to my new adventure!
Many Paths, Same Destination
For several years in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I wrote articles about my experiences with Amma for “The New Times,” a free newspaper that was, at that time, available in Washington and Oregon. I have started sharing some of those articles on my blog. I am choosing the articles to post based on their topic, therefore they are not being shared chronologically. The article below was published in March of 1998.
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The day after Christmas, while eating brunch with friends, I half-jokingly said that next year I thought I would ask my guru, Amma, if I should come for my annual visit to her ashram in South India. (Normally I just go; I don’t ask.) On my way to the ashram last year (1996), my plane had decompression problems and fell 25,000 feet. This year (1997), less than a week before I was to leave on the trip, I discovered that I needed surgery, now. There for I had to cancel, or at least postpone, my pilgrimage.
While I am abundantly aware of the lessons I had the opportunity to learn from these two experiences, a part of me is a bit tentative about planning another trip to India. What else might happen? After making this statement, one of my friends snapped, “Why don’t you just check in with yourself?” I responded with some ineffective statement, and then kept my mouth shut.
Then, when I received my January 1998 issue of The New Times, my eye fell on statements written by Sobonfu Somé:
“People in the West tend to live unbalanced lives… so they search for a guru of some form to take care of their spiritual needs. The idea of a guru doing everything and all we have to do is show up and tell the guru, “this is what I need, fix everything and I can get out of here” does not work. The guru takes the individual’s involvement away and once the individual’s involvement is not there, nothing can really happen.” [Note: This quote is from 1998. I don’t know if Sobonfu still holds the same belief.]
After dealing with my initial desire to defend, justify, rationalize, explain, and judge, I decided that it is time for me to respond to this way of thinking.
What I have discovered in nine years of being a devotee of a guru [Note: I have now been a devotee for more than 27 years!] is that discipleship is anything but mindless pursuit. I have needed to learn to become – and stay – exceedingly conscious and attuned to what is happening both within and around me, to be impeccable in my actions, and to be fully in integrity. I have needed to learn when to ask my teacher for help and when to find the answer within. I have certainly not “given away my power,” but rather have been learning about what surrender means.
That is not to say that I have not observed people using gurus in the way that Sobonfu described. Several years ago, I asked for time with one of Amma’s swamis in order to share my concern over what I perceived as devotees “following” in ways I judged to be mindless, acting from what appeared to me to be blind faith.
He explained the difference between mature and immature discipleship. He said that the surrender that comes from a mature disciple results from years of testing and observing the guru as well as from watching the growth of both oneself and of other disciples. As a disciple has experience after experience with his or her guru, faith grows naturally. Surrender to the guru and to Spirit/God comes as faith grows.
I find I have judgments similar to Sobonfu’s of the ways I perceive some people using astrology. It seems to me that when individuals make most or all of their decisions based solely on astrological readings, they create self-fulfilling prophesy, give away their personal power, stay stuck in self defeating behaviors and as a result limit their personal growth. I notice that others use astrology as a guide or as a way of helping them to understand what they are experiencing, rather than a tool that has every answer. I guess any tool used in an obsessive and mindless manner is likely to undermine the purposes for which it was created. That is not the fault of the tool nor of the system, but rather problems created by misuse of the tool.
My years with Amma have been filled with an almost unbelievable level of challenge and growth. My personal spiritual process has amazed me. I believe that asking Amma to be my guide and teacher has resulted in speeding up the rate in which the universal “lessons” come and has provided me with the support I need as I move through each challenge. I am thankful that I have someone to help guide me as I find my way through unknown territory. I am also very thankful, and quite certain, that she does not “do it for me.” As far as I am concerned, meeting and going through each challenge is what creates the joy of living. I would not want anyone to do it for me. That does not mean, however, that I must learn all I need to learn without help.
Perhaps instead of criticizing each others chosen spiritual paths, we can instead be thankful that there are so many ways to connect with Spirit/God. With this attitude we will be better able to support each other as we learn the lessons we are here to learn.
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“The New Times” articles that I’ve already shared:
80-odd years of Shake It Off
A friend just sent me this video and I can’t resist sharing it with you. I imagine I’m not the only one needing inspiration… or a laugh… right now. Enjoy!
Click here for more information about the group.
Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
A Will to Live
In the summer of 2013, I bought a small lemon tree. There were several lemons on it when I purchased the tree and I had visions of all of the lemons that were to come. The nursery staff told me to bring the tree into the house before the temperatures dropped, so as winter neared I put it indoors. One by one, the beautiful lemons turned black and fell off. Then most of the leaves fell off. Soon there was nothing left but the trunk (if you can call something that small a trunk) and a few leaves.
Spring 2014 came and nothing happened. The same few leaves stayed on, but there were no new ones and there were no flower buds. I took the plant to a nursery to see if it was possible to save it. They instructed me to use a particular kind of fertilizer. Months later there was still no new growth. It wasn’t until late August that a few flower buds formed. The plant was still alive but it seemed too late in the season for any fruit that formed to grow to maturity.
As it started to get cold, I once again brought the tree into the house. And again, the few small lemons that were on the tree turned black and fell off. This time the rest of the leaves fell off as well. I decided to leave the tree in the house even though it was just a stalk.
Sometime in late winter 2015, I concluded that the situation was hopeless and put the tree outside on the balcony. My plan was to compost it in the springtime. However, when springtime came and I picked up the container to take it to the compost heap, I noticed many tiny leaves were beginning to form! (Note: The big leaves at the top the photo below are from another tree.)
The lemon tree seemed determined to live. Over the next weeks, the leaves grew and a flower bud formed and then blossomed!
Once again, it produced no fruit.
Later in the year, as the weather got colder, I decided to leave the small tree outside rather than bring it into the house as had been my practice. The leaves stayed on throughout the winter of 2016. When spring came there were no buds, but the tree was definitely alive.
In late May, I decided to try something else. I made a mount out of new top soil in the back yard and planted the tree in the middle of it. Around it I planted a circle of beets, a circle of carrots and a circle of lettuce. I had the image of the vegetable plants worshiping the lemon tree.
None of the seeds even sprouted; I probably had planted them too late in the year, or maybe I didn’t water them enough. The tree developed no blossoms or flowers but over time there were more leaves.
Next spring, I will take more care in preparing the soil, and will then plant the vegetable seeds around the tree once again. I’m excited to see if my vision of the lemon tree being surrounded by an abundance of vegetable plants will become a reality.
This lemon tree seems to have a will to live. As long as that continues, I will be here to support it in any way I can!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry on Top
In the empty lot behind my house there is a four-foot-high mound of yard waste. When I walked down the hill into that lot yesterday, I discovered that mound, and most of the property, is now covered by morning glory vines. I was even more surprised to see two dahlia plants coming out of the top of the mound!
Seeing the flowers reminded me of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry on Top. The directions: “This week, share a photo of a detail that makes a good thing even better.” The mound of yard waste is turning into compost, so that is a good thing. And seeing the dahlia plants growing from the top of the yard-waste was like seeing a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae!
My Productive Day!
Yesterday was the first day I’ve had nothing scheduled in a long time. I decided to make it a catch-up day. I started that process by jotting down as complete a to-do list as I could think of on the white board I keep on my refrigerator door. I composed quite a list even though I knew I couldn’t do all of it that day.
Throughout the day, I added more items to the list.
At the end of the day, I viewed my accomplishments with satisfaction.
Today I will complete some more of the list, add a few more, including clean the white board :), and recover from yesterday!
Living, Learning and Letting Go 