Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries

The shed in my backyard provides boundaries for all of the tools and gardening paraphernalia that I use. I also store the jars I use for canning there. But the shed was not always a shed. Until three years ago it was a 7′ x 7′ tree house!

Tree house

I had the tree house built in the mid 90’s and slept in it from April to October for five years. The boundaries of the tree house protected me from wildlife and the rain. Even though it had walls, there was also a skylight. That gave me a sense of being part of the tree, the sky and nature in general. Returning to the main house for autumn and winter months sometimes gave me a sense of being imprisoned. My cells yearned to be outside and feel free again.

I was always a little nervous walking to the tree house at night. After all, I live in the inner city and there could be intruders in the backyard. The lock on the door provided a boundary that helped me feel safe once I was inside.

One day, when I walked to the tree house at bedtime, two very large raccoons were standing upright on their back legs, in-between the tree house ladder and me. There was no boundary between us. I turned around and walked back to the main house.

I generally don’t have problems with fear keeping me from doing the things I want to do, but knowing there was no way to create a protective barrier between those big raccoons and me put an end to my sleeping in the tree house.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Grid

Seattle Light Rail, Mt. Baker Station

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Monochromatic

The pictures in this post are of a fountain, and the area surrounding the fountain, at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. The white substance you see is water cascading down the structure.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Connected Through Our Love of Sanskrit

Last month, I attended a three day Sanskrit immersion family camp being held at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The camp was sponsored by Samskrita Bharati (संस्कृतभारती), an international organization that is “devoted to the mission of popularizing Sanskrit as a spoken language, and, thereby, engendering a cultural renaissance through rejuvenation of this language which holds the key to the unfoldment of India’s rich cultural heritage and knowledge.”

This was the fourth year I had attended their summer workshop. I loved being with the faculty and students I had met in previous years, as well having the opportunity to meet the new students. I felt very connected to everyone; connected through our love of Sanskrit.

A few days ago, I found a photo of the students and faculty who attended this year’s camp on the Seattle Samskrita Bharati Facebook page. I don’t think you will have any trouble spotting me! 🙂

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Weekly Photo Challenge: From Every Angle

Front middle

From the top looking down

Back middle

Back towards ground

From the nearby path

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Today Was a Good Day!

I woke up Friday morning to find a very supportive email in my inbox. It was from a friend who is visiting India. What a great way to start my day.

Soon thereafter, I read a funny post on my son’s blog. Next, I harvested vegetables from the garden, made some homemade ice cream and then started canning peaches. What a day and it was still morning!

In the early afternoon, I discovered that the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week was to create a photo gallery representing “Today was a Good Day.” We could use the present day or one from the past.

I realized I was in the middle of a day that was my conception of an especially “Good Day.” I had even taken some photos of some of my earlier activities. So I kept on living, and photographing, my life!

This was definitely a good day. If the Seahawks had won the game it would have been even better, but this was a pre-season game and they played well so I have no complaints!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Creepy

I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use this picture and this is definitely the time. I took it when two friends and I were meeting to sing under the cedar trees in my back yard. Be sure to scroll down!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet

This is a closeup of the ground in a park near my home.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Close Up

I decided to start close up and then give an ever bigger view.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol

Several times between 1987 and 1990, during guided imagery experiences or in dreams, I had received a “gift” of blue-white light. Each experience had so profoundly moved me that in December of 1990, I decided to ask Amma what the light represented. She responded that blue-white light is the color that occurs when an individual soul merges with God.

I believe that sometimes we are given glimpses of what is possible, and then the “door” closes, or the “window” shuts, and our job is to do the work to get back to that place. Having glimpses of the sacred keeps us motivated to keep moving forward. It seemed to me that receiving the vision of the blue-white light was one of those instances.

Sometime later, I purchased a ring that had a light blue stone. One day as I gazed at it, I realized the color was very similar my blue-white light experiences. At another time, I came upon a metal figurine of two angels holding a light blue globe. I saw the figurine as a symbol of those earlier experiences and purchased it. The angels have been on my altar ever since.

When I read that this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge was “Symbol,” the angel figurine came to mind. This morning, before I left for Toronto, I took photographs of it. I was annoyed that I kept seeing a reflection of myself holding the camera in the globe and actively avoided taking a picture that had me in it.

When I looked at all the photos later, I discovered that there was a reflection of one sort or another in each of them. I saw that those reflections created a beautiful effect.

As I thought about my avoidance, I realized that was symbolic in and of itself. I had resisted taking a picture of me surrounded in blue-white light, a light I had been told represented the soul merging with God.

After I return to Seattle, I will purposely take a photograph where I am in the reflection. I will look at it when I am procrastinating doing the practices I know I need to do in order to progress on my spiritual journey!