Weekly Photo Challenge: Ephemeral

February 2015 in Seattle

Normal temperature in Seattle for February should be a high of 50 degrees (F) and a low of 37. Yesterday the high was 77 and the low was 51. While I am really enjoying the warm weather and am really glad that we don’t have the snow Boston is getting, the change in normal weather patterns is still a concern.

Today I noticed the rhubarb is up…. and the slugs have already been busy.

After publishing this post, I decided to go to the grocery store. It was nighttime, but I saw this flower as I pulled out of the driveway. When I returned, I used a low light setting to get a photograph I could share with you.

It is February.

*****

Weekly Photo Challenge: More Scale

Made from snack bags.

Saraswati

Posted for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

Responding to this week’s photo challenge was easy. This is a picture of the 10.4 pound squash that grew in my garden last summer. It was so much fun to watch it get bigger and bigger; and the meals it provided were delicious!

Wordless Wednesday

Do you recognize this plant?

I saw one of these plants in a garden in Amritapuri, India. The gardeners wondered what type of plant it was and I didn’t have a clue but said I would try to find out. Do you any of you know? (You can click on the photo and then click the zoom to enlarge it even further!)

Living and Learning in Amritapuri- Dec 27, 2014 to Jan 4, 2015

New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is always an evening of festivities. It was different than normal this year in that the day fell on a public darshan day. The crowds were big so even though she was moving fast, Amma didn’t finishing giving hugs until just before midnight. That meant the evening entertainment program started around midnight. There was a play that was mostly in Malayalam and some other entertainers as well. Then Amma gave a New Year’s talk and led several high energy songs.

I want to give particular emphasis to her New Year’s message. She talked about how to deal with all of the suffering we are witnessing in the world and also identified five things to keep in mind if we want to live meaningful lives. I have no doubt I will be reading this talk multiple times after I get home. To read the speech go to.

It was a tough evening for me because I was so tired, and my back problems make it hard for me to sit for long periods of time. I knew I couldn’t sit in a regular chair for so long, so I decided to sit on the side portion of the auditorium. Many of the brahmacharinis (female monks) were sitting on top of tables there. I sat behind them so I could get up as frequently as I needed to. I moved several times over the next hour trying to get a better view. Continue reading “Living and Learning in Amritapuri- Dec 27, 2014 to Jan 4, 2015” →

Photography 101: Edges

My front yard slopes in a way that rain water runs towards the house. To solve that problem I have been making raised garden beds which even out the land. The street also slopes downhill so in some places the new wall may be eight bricks high and in other places two. Brick by brick, and bucket after bucket I have built the wall and filled the new garden beds with Cedar Groves compost. I’ve completed about two thirds of the project.

I decided photos of my wall would work well for the edges assignment. I used the straighten option of PicMonkey to make sure the lines were positioned correctly. It is nice to have learned how to use a new photography tool.