madrecita

I found this prayer in a photo, and I don't know where it came from.

In English, it says

"Little Mother,

Woman of corn, of the earth, of the moon

Thank you for the children,
Thank you for life,
Thank you for light

Thank you, thank you for everything"

Isn't that beautiful? What do you have to be thankful for today?

updated bird and bride

I made a few changes and I like the image much better.

japanese musicians

These lovely Japanese musicians are on a journey, carrying their belongings in bundles. After playing for a wedding in a nearby village they are making their way home. They have stopped at the edge of a stand of bamboo to rest and have tea. While waiting for the tea, they are playing for their own entertainment. No harm will come to them in the peaceful countryside.

Their names, from left to right, are Jin, which means gentleness; Chizu, a thousand storks; and Sen, wood fairy. Their lives are devoted to their music and simple pleasures.

What is Jin thinking about?

bird and bride

She seems to be looking toward the bird, but her eyes are closed. Perhaps she is imagining the bird, hoping that it has some wisdom to share.

The brightly colored bird is wearing a crown, indicating that it is special in some way. Why has it come to her on her wedding day?

kathleen

I think my BFF Kathleen is hilariously funny. She has been cracking me up for 41 years. (For example, she once remarked that someone we knew had "a keen perception of the obvious".) Most of the funny things she says are of the you-had-to-be-there variety, the kind of thing that has you gasping for air and hoping you don't pee in your pants. "So then I said to the guy" is one of those things. It doesn't bear explaining because it will never be as funny to anyone else as it is to us.

The same goes for the camping trip we took a long time ago in her 240Z crammed with a big smelly Army tent which we put up while standing in the mud on a creek bank in our nightgowns. It was dark. It was hot. There we were, laughing like hyenas as we struggled with the tent, when a boat came down the creek. A boat with some guys who shined a light on us. I swear they started rowing faster when they got a good look at us.

Then there was the more recent champagne-fueled nighttime swim in her pool when we got locked out of her house. It took some time for her husband to get a ladder, climb up to the second story and break in. We were laughing like maniacs the entire time and it is a miracle that the neighbors didn't call the police.

Do you have a BFF who makes you laugh your head off?

mothers' fears

My son is in Chile, and from all accounts, is having the time of his life. He has been working on an organic farm, making new friends, and learning Spanish. He sends me a short email message every few days, not so much to communicate about his trip, but to reassure me that he is alive and well perched on the Ring of Fire. He is nonchalant about the earthquakes that occur almost daily, saying that anything less than 5 on the Richter scale is a "tremor". Today he told me that he is traveling to Valdivia where the strongest earthquake on record (9.5!) shook the town to bits in 1960. It occurred to me that my feelings about this are somewhat akin to those of mothers of soldiers. I am in no way comparing my son's trip to Chile to the experiences of soldiers facing enemies on front lines in the middle East. I am talking about my feelings about his being far away, with potential danger near, and my being powerless to help him if he needs it. My son is in a relatively safe situation, unlike our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. My level of fear for him is quite uncomfortable. I would imagine that for the mothers of young soldiers the fear can be unbearable at times. I think of a friend whose son is in Iraq for a second tour. That has got to be hard. Yet we do what mothers have always done. Pray for them and put one foot in front of the other until they come home.

bluebonnet

bluebirds

bluebeard

blue note

(the) blues

blue skies

(devil with the) blue (dress on)

blue curacao

bluetick (hound)

(ol') blue eyes

(my love is) blue

blue sage

woman with pansies

downhill

Who can forget the feeling of flying when riding a bicycle down a hill. You work so hard to get to the top, then with a rush of wind and a thrill of exhiliration you scream toward the bottom, and it's all over so fast.

violetness

I love the process of making these journal pages but I am getting bored with the format. It's much more fun to do this work if I can share it with others. Starting tomorrow, I'll be offering some different sizes of high res images -- cigarette silk, atc, and post card -- that can be downloaded and printed. I am taking requests. If you have a theme, a particular (non-copyrighted) image, or just an idea of the colors you want, let me know in the comments section and I'll see what I can come up with.

For now, I am limiting this to the first ten people who reply. I don't think it will happen, but I don't want to promise more than I can deliver.

So, what'll it be? Your name, a lovely geisha or Victorian woman, maybe your kitty or your dog? (You supply the pet images, of course, I'll make the collage.)

intellectual geisha

The image of this woman is one of my favorites. Something about her seems schoolmarmish, the glasses I suppose. And the bun on top of her head. The crane is her daydream as she sits, perhaps, facing a roomful of noisy children. Maybe she wishes she could fly above the earth in silence.

dog dreams

snow

winter

sisters are doin' it for themselves

bamboo garden

dreams of the forest
swaying with the wind as does
the ancient bamboo

in the rain

soft drops in the trees
the damp air is golden
walking hand in hand

bicycle

It doesn't seem quite finished. Not sure what to do next.

medieval knight

When my son Barry was 12 years old he joined an organization called the Arthurian Order of Avalon. The AOA was a wonderful experience -- lots of choreographed swordfights, performing a human chessboard play every year at the local Medieval Fair, feasts, parties, armor-making, jousting, costumes, singing, dancing, even cooking and sewing. Part of this image is a small beaded quilt that I made with a photo of him in costume.

the bird is the word

Another PS CS4 creation using layer masks. My formula (or rut) is to open a new image using a template that I created for my journal. I duplicate the background layer (Cmd J on mac, Ctrl J on pc), then select a font and start typing. This is a personal journal where I say whatever comes to mind. I fill up the page, and if I am not through writing, I have a file on my computer where I can continue, so that I don't have to stop if I am on a roll. I lock the text layer, then start Placing images on layers. I choose a central photo, like the bird, and add texture with pictures that I have taken, brushes, and acquired texture files. Then I play with positioning the layers, changing colors, and so on. I add layer masks to expose or conceal parts of the images. This is starting to feel very comfortable, so I need to find some new techniques to explore in photoshop.

My journal template is 5X7 and I am using high resolution images so I should be able get good quality prints. I am imagining a crazy quilt using some of my favorite images. Or maybe I could wait until the end of the year when presumably I will have 365 images and make a quilt that would cover the roof of my house. Sort of a Christos installation. I wrote those last few sentences to see if anyone is actually reading my blog. Surely someone will comment!