Heavenly Creatures

Sreejit’s Friday reflections are getting more profound every week. This is my favorite of them all.

Celebration

I created this blog in March 2014. My son (The Seeker’s Dungeon) had been urging me to start a blog for some time. My answer was always “maybe some day”. Then one day, almost out of the blue, I decided to do it. My main motivations were that I wanted to be able to post responses to his Dungeon Prompts Challenges and I wanted to surprise him. He definitely was surprised when he received my first submission. Neither of us had any idea how much the blog would become a part of my life. I love blogging.

Last night, I reached a major milestone. While I slept, the number of pages that have been viewed on my blog passed:

100,000

Never would I have dreamed I would reach that mark. Many thank to each of you who have taken the time to read my posts and to contribute to my life in this way.

New Book: Out of the Fog

My son Sreejit has published a new book of his poems. This one is called: Out of the Fog: 30 poetic musings on the world to which I cling. As always, Sreejit’s perspectives on life and living are thought provoking and well worth reading. Sreejit describes his newest publication in this way:

Perspective shapes our truth, our vision, and the way we move throughout this world. Our beliefs are filtered through the experiences that we’ve had and the weight that we allow these experiences to carry in the shaping of our truth. The world becomes illusion when we realize that every creature sees and understands it from different vantage points. Our world is all about perspective. The one written about here is mine.

He has also republished two of his intriguing and captivating novels.

A modern tale, an ancient mysticism, a universal love. Overcome by the weight of his failure to live up to the world’s standards of success, Ballard Davies decides that there is only one solution. He gets in his car and drives. He drives away from everything and everyone that he knows, in an effort to just start over. He doesn’t care where he’s headed; he just wants another chance to get it right. What he finds is beyond his imagination, as he befriends an eccentric cast of characters. From the divinely inspired to the rationalistic blowhards, everyone becomes a part of his journey to begin again. But there is still one problem – he cannot escape himself. What will it take for Ballard to overcome his own self-imposed limitations and live the adventure he feels he deserves? This is the journey he now travels, down a path where truth, love, desperation, honor, the forgiving and the righteous, the mystics and the scientists all battle for the chance to be given the foremost spot in the realm of his mind. Will the pain of loneliness and separation prevail, or will Ballard find something to live for?

Traversing a world based on perspective, with the force of our own illusions propping us up, what would you forsake to know the truth? Two families, separated by continents, are wrapped up in the same timeless struggle – to be more than the sum of their parts. Join them as they seek to solve a mystery that goes beyond the limits of our physical reality. With time never on our side, the question arises: what would you give up for freedom?

You can order these three publications and more on his Amazon.com author’s page.

In the Tradition of “The Blob”

PHOTO PROMPT © Sarah Potter

The ivy was relentless. Keeping it from destroying everything in its path felt like a never-ending battle. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw that it had invaded the shed. For years, I had left a window cracked to keep the contents inside the shed from being covered with mildew. Instead of mildew, I was now faced with a scene reminiscent of the 1988 movie, The Blob. I picked up my clippers and like a warrior began to cut. I was determined to win the battle and emerge the victor… in The Invasion of the Ivy.

Word Count: 100

Written for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle. Read the other entries here.

100 Word Stories

Rochelle Wiseoff hosts a regular event called Friday Fictioneers. She posts a weekly photo and participants are asked to write a complete story in 100 words or less; a story that is inspired by viewing the photo. With my permission, my blogging friend Cheryl from Traces of the Soul sent Rochelle a photo of some toys I found buried in our Greenbelt restoration site. Rochelle used the photo for her June 2 prompt.

It has been fun and interesting to read the stories that emerged. At this point 70 people have participated. If you are interested in reading some of them go to http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=716926.

Thank you Rochelle and Cheryl for giving me the opportunity to have this experience.

Challenge for Growth Prompt #6: I Listen Attentively

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I Listen

This week’s challenge is:

“Today I listen attentively.”

Sometimes when we are listening to another person, we may find our minds wandering to problems at work or home, or to future plans. At other times, rather than paying close attention to the person’s words, we may start thinking about how we are going to respond to them. Or we may reflect on advice we want to give them when they stop talking. If the person is angry, instead of listening to them, we may start planning our defense. These communication patterns often leave people feeling unheard, discounted and/or disrespected.

This week, for one, two, three days or longer, practice giving people your full attention when they are talking to you. Sometime during the week, write a post about some aspect of this topic or about experiences you have when you listen attentively. Feel free to use whatever form you desire: i.e., prose, story, poem, photograph, etc. (If you don’t have a blog, please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.)

I look forward to seeing where this challenge takes you.

The article that you link to this prompt should be a new post written specifically for this challenge.

General Prompt Information:

New prompts will be posted at 5 a.m. (PST) every Wednesday.

Since it is easier to make behavioral changes if we focus on them one day at a time, each of the weekly challenges will start with “Today, I focus on…….” It will be up to you to decide how long you want to focus on a particular challenge— one, two, three days or even longer. At some point during the week, publish a post that relates in some way to the subject of the week.

Link your post back to this prompt post. If the pingback doesn’t work, then leave the link to your post in the comment section below. Be sure to include “Challenge for Growth Prompts” as one of your tags.

Throughout the week, I will publish the links for the posts that were created as the result of this prompt. I will also post the links from those who participated the previous week. That way they will be seen by anyone who comes to this page.

This week’s contributors to I listen attentively:

I Hear You- Nik’s Place

Please Listen to Me- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Challenge for Growth Prompt #6- Home and Loving It

Challenge for growth prompts/ #6- Annette’s Place

How about you?

Last week’s contributors to I am Love:

I Am…- Nik’s Place

It Takes a Revolution- The Seeker’s Dungeon

I Am Love- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Love Has No Borders (haibun)- Tournesol dans un Jardin

I AM love (free verse)- Traces of the Soul

Stillness- Dancing to the Words

Challenge for Growth Prompts: First Month’s Summary

The first Challenge for Growth Prompt was published on January 6, 2016. Since then there have been three more. I realize many of you may not have seen the posts that were written by those who participated, so have decided to publish a summary at the end of each month. I hope you enjoy reading them.

I give thanks to all of you who contributed to some or all of January’s challenges, whether it was by publishing a post, by reading the posts published by others or by reading and thinking about the challenge topics.

Know that everyone is still welcome to write posts for any of these challenges. If you decide to do that, I will add your contribution to the appropriate challenge page and to the monthly summary.

The next challenge will be posted at 5:00 a.m. (PST) tomorrow!

Advice to New Bloggers

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Today’s prompt from The Daily Post is called “Key Takeaway” and the instructions are:

Give your newer sisters and brothers-in-WordPress one piece of advice based on your experiences blogging

This is a topic very close to my heart. First of all, I’d like to welcome all of you who are new to the blogging world. I have found blogging to be one of the most rewarding experiences in my life and I hope the same for you.

My advice is to celebrate when friends, relatives, colleagues and members of your personal community are interested in your blog, but don’t count on it being the case. See blogging as a way of building an additional community for yourself, as a way of sharing information with like-minded people, and as an opportunity to communicate with those for whom your thoughts and experiences are an exciting new world.

I have learned so much from reading other people’s blogs and I have developed new and treasured friendships within the Word Press community. Blogging has expanded my own world and I know that others have learned from reading mine. I will be forever grateful to my son Sreejit (The Seeker’s Dungeon and Where Love Meets War) for encouraging /pushing me to start my blog.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Early Morning Fun

Yesterday morning began in a most unusual way! When I left my room to go to breakfast, I took the back stairs, as is my normal practice. I looked down at the stairs as I started to descend them. By my foot there was

one green bug

It reminded me of a bug I’ve seen in Seattle. Its color was brilliantly green, almost fluorescent. I passed it by but was afraid it would get stepped on so I came back and pushed it to the side of the stairs. I walked away but then realized how hot it was in the sun. The bug had looked like it was dying. It occurred to me that it would certainly die if I left it sitting in the sun so I went up the stairs again, got something to pick the bug up with, and took it to a part of the landing that had some shade. I placed the bug in a crevice and continued on my way. At the next landing there were

two black crows

sitting on the railing. We looked at each other for a moment. One cawed and then they both flew away. One green bug followed by two black crows; that was an interesting “co-incidence.” I looked over the railing and the first thing I saw were

three Indian girls

Okay, this feels like no co-incidence. I think I will play the game. I wonder what will be next. Now I’m on the first floor (which in India is one floor above the ground). I look ahead in the distance and at the far part of the hall I see a doormat with shoes on it. As I get closer I see there are

four thongs scattered on the mat

Going down the last set of stairs, I’m now on the ground floor. I turn the corner and pass the supply office where

five Indian family members are getting bedding

As I make may way to the cafe, I pass a tree with

six hibiscus flowers which are being picked by an Indian woman

Once I arrive at the café I see there are

five people ahead of me in the breakfast line

I order my food and take it to the table where

four friends eat breakfast together

I finish my food, wash my dishes and take them to the drying station where there are

three towels for drying dishes

I take my empty water bottle to the drinking water station where I find

two are filling water bottles

I fill my water bottle and then head back to my room. I push the elevator button. Soon there is

one person on elevator

Me!

Well, that was an interesting way to start the day. I wonder what the rest of my day will hold. (BTW, the bug was gone when I returned to that crevice again.)

1970: My Summer as a Migrant Farm Laborer #2 (Atlanta International Pop Festival)

After a good night’s sleep, we said goodbye to my parents and then headed for Byron, Georgia. We were excited to attend the upcoming Atlanta International Pop Festival prior to looking for more work.

To get to the event, we had to park about three miles away and walk in. We decided to camp outside the festival grounds on our first night. We had left the hot canvas tent in Florida, so ended up sharing a tarp with some people we met.

Pop festival

We spent the next day at the festival roasting in the sun. The temperature was about 104 degrees. There was no shade and no breeze. There wasn’t enough water and ice was considered a luxury. Five pounds of ice cost $1 and we paid 25 cents for a popsicle. The event staff passed out salt tablets, hats and suntan lotion.

I enjoyed the music despite the physical discomfort. We were about 30 feet from the stage!

I had mixed feelings/thoughts about being there. I was super, super uptight during a lot of it. The heat as well as the lack of water and food was unbearable and I didn’t like being around so many people who were stoned.

Our skin was blistered and swollen from sunburn when we left. However listening to musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, the Chambers Brothers and the Memphis cast for Hair as well as getting to know some of the people who were there made it worth it. My favorite memory of the event was waking up the last morning to Richie Havens singing “Here Comes the Sun!”

My final conclusion was that I was glad we had gone, but didn’t think I would ever want to do it again.

Pop festival 6

The festival was over at 10 a.m. Monday so we packed up, hitched a ride to our car and were on our way by 11:30. Off to find a job!

[Note: My scrapbook says there were 200,000 people at the festival. Wikipedia said that the estimates varied from 250,000 to 600,000! Their article contains a lot of interesting information.]

(The next post in this series will be published on Friday December 11.)

To read the previous posts go to:

1970: My Summer as a Migrant Farm Laborer (Series Intro)

1970: My Migrant Farm Labor Summer #1 (Seattle to Florida)