Recently, I have been drawn to this picture over and over again. It is from a past season in my life, perhaps 1954. I don’t know who the man is; or what the occasion was. I suspect that he was a minister or youth pastor and that I was graduating from some level of Sunday School, or something like that. I think the photo shows how shy I was, and to some extent still am.
Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons
Two ideas came to my mind when I read the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week.
Last summer I visited Martin Luther King Jr’s National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of the exhibits were interactive. In one we were able to “walk” alongside sculptures of the civil right’s marchers. My heart was moved by participating in this way.
Cheri, the person who wrote this week’s challenge, also suggested that we consider creating a new version of an old photo.
Her words reminded me of two photographs I was given after my mother died. They are of my parents with their closest friends.
The first was taken in 1943. My mother and father are on the right side of the picture. My mother’s sister is in the middle. The men met their future wives and each other during World War 2. They remained friends throughout their lives and were family to me during my childhood.
This is the photo they recreated, in the late 70’s or early 80’s.
As I gaze at this picture now, I’m aware that they have all passed from this world except for the woman on the left. She is now 96 years old!
Two years ago, I put birdhouses on some old posts that were standing in a corner of my back yard. Last fall, I looked inside of the birdhouses and discovered there was a nest in one of them.
Yesterday when I was talking on the phone, I happened to glance out of the kitchen window. I saw two small birds flying around the houses. I even saw one of the birds look inside its potential home. I was so excited!
I am optimistic that there will be baby birds in the birdhouses this year.
Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic
In the early to mid 90’s, I made a needlepoint piece to frame and put in Amma‘s room the next time she offered a retreat near Seattle. It consisted of a note that said “Amma, may each day we become more like you” and then listed the names of many of the local satsang members. It was written in Amma’s language, Malayalam!
At the end of the next retreat, we discovered that Amma had blessed each of us by putting some sandlewood paste next to our names.
The handiwork is now hanging at the site of our future Center.
This is one of my favorite photos. It came to mind when I thought of weightless.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Weightless
I have been fascinated by this photo ever since I took it. Not only is the sun a circle, but so is the reddish area around it. I had wondered if it was some kind of an orb, or if it was something the camera created.
If anyone knows what caused the circle around the sun, please tell me!
Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle
Someone walked up to me today and asked if I would like to photograph an insect. I, of course, was interested; even more so when I saw it. It was about one inch long and had been sitting on the leaf for at least 30 minutes.
When I first saw the insect, I thought it was looking straight ahead. Later, when I examined the photo up close and noticed where the antenna were, I realized it was looking at me!
A friend who saw the photo told me she thought it might be a praying mantis so I looked for one on the internet. I didn’t find any with the same coloring but there isn’t much doubt that that is what it is. I read that the young mantises stay still for a long time whereas the mature ones fly away. I think that this one had its front legs held close to its body and the back part was curled up. Maybe if the last segment came down, the wings would be more obvious. Apparently mature mantises’ wings are very colorful in order to scare away predators.
In India, you often take off your shoes before you enter a house, business or meeting room. Yesterday, the cast gathered to practice the Amritapuri Christmas play that they will present to Amma and the ashram residents and visitors on Christmas Eve. This is a photo of the footwear outside the hall where the practice took place.
Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Gathering
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