Virginia Pond

Summer Garden and Healing

Bobby, my husband, built a pond in our Fairfax, Virginia back yard.

He and his friend, Ed, built a base for the shed, moved the shed, and Bobby dug a hole 9 feet long, 6 feet wide and three feet deep. It took him a month and he went through 2 shovels. Yes, he dug it with a shovel! A genuine act of love.

He and Ed worked on the design so that there was a very loud splash. They hefted two very large flat stones weighing over 100 pounds each to create the steps for the water fall. It was a masterpiece.

This is one of the water lilies that floated on top of the pond. There were three. The orange, white and black fish to the left was one of the 40 Koi that graced the pond.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of our pond.

It seems to me that focusing on nature would cure a lot of our ills.

Maybe I can persuade Bobby and Ed to create a non-profit that would build ponds in troubled neighborhoods.

What if we looked at our world through the lens of the Creator's google glass?
Instead of fearing the loss of privacy, what if we thought that the Creator was checking out our progress with the technology that we have developed.
Or, perhaps we have developed nothing. What if the Creator gave us google glass to see how God sees us?
What if we thought of God's ability to communicate with us like we communicate with one another?
When is the last time that you sent God a text message?
What would happen if you listened to all of creation with the focus of a google eye?

Carl Sagan and the Universe

Image from NASA of Saturn's north polar storm

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA14944

Reading the book, Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander has me thinking about the universe and near death experiences. Dr. Alexander, a neurosurgeon, and non-believer was struck with a dreadful bacterial infection and suffered a 7 day coma. During this coma he saw a post life world that reminds me so much of the world created for the movie "Contact."

This movie was based upon a book by Carl Sagan. Musing over these images and meeting Matthew Mc  Conoughay and having an opportunity to discuss these ideas with him made me wonder about how the universe provides answers to all questions.

Sigmund Freud proposed that the artist portrayed the unconscious mind. The director of "Contact,"  Robert Zemecks, certainly had a vision. The movie, "What Dreams May Come," also uses great art to illustrate the afterlife. Do some investigating and comment on this reading.

What do you think about these experiences? 

The mandala created by the Tibetan Monks was discharged into the Mississippi River Friday following a chanting ceremony. It is interesting that this ancient art form has similarities with the Mardi Gras Indian creations. Both involved very detailed, colorful, and elaborate visual creations. Both involve dedicated, inspired, and determined individuals.

One significant difference is the manner in which the art work is displayed and than dissolved into water. Many of the Mardi Gras Indian costumes were dissolved by the flooding that occured post Katrina.

These colorful and detailed art works both involved many hours of time and meditation. I imagine that when someone sits down to add thousands of beads to a design there is a sort of ritualized meditation that becomes ingrained in the artist. The tradition is carried on one generation to the next and exhibited for the community-at-large. 

Are theirs the prayers for the community that are heard when the Indians' chant? The chanting of the monks seemed very deep and soulful. The Indians chant from their histories and their traditions. Perhaps we might look at the Mardi Gras Indians as the Medicine Men and Women of our city.

We will not allow the harsh acts of a few at a Mother's Day Second Line to destroy that sacred tradition. We shall certainly carry on just as the Tibetans have after the horrific loss of their homeland.

What do the Dali Lama and artist Marlin Miller have in common?

This week the Dali Lama visits New Orleans to speak about resilience.

What better symbol than the carving event that is happening on Bayou St. John right now!

Marlin Miller, the wood carving artist from Florida, is here donating his skill to resurrect a tree that was struck by lightening during hurricane Issac. 

Marlin has contributed sculptures that stretch for 40 miles along the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina. (see his work at the web address inserted below) He creates these works of art from dead trees to remind us all that we are resilient. The Dali Lama begins his dialogue on resilience on Thursday also! Here is where art and spirituality combine. 

Isn't this always true of great art? Great art lifts ours spirits and carries us upward above the devastation and crisis. Marlin began this sculpture Sunday and plans to have it ready for the opening of the Bayou Boogaloo Festival starting this Thursday. The festival is free to all and is just one more way to enjoy free music and sample the local cuisine. 

Come and see the musical herons lifting the sounds above the earth and carrying them upward for the ancestors and those distant grievers to hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4_E23wQ0vw

http://www.marlinmillergallery.com/

http://thebayouboogaloo.com/

Jazz Fest Guardians

These party guardians sit on a porch overlooking the street where I parked my car for Jazz Fest.

They kept away the meter maids and car booters. I owe them.

How like our city to place sunglasses, hats and scarves on cement dogs. In Pompeii, the dogs are captured in mosaic tiles still guarding the remains of the lost city. I guess New Orleans and Pompeii have similarities: ports, ancient treasures and old world influence. You can hear the sirens calling you back to both places.

If you love music, good food and amazing culture the allure of these cities hum in your ear, "Return.."

Listen to their voices now, "Honey, come back. Don't be a stranger."

Jazz Fest in the mud

Woodstock revisited?
I guess.
Wasn't there, but
I imagine

Wearing boots.
Stomping in the Muddy Waters:
Yes, Chicago to N'orleans..
The beat's in the water..

It reigns on the brain;
Sounds, beats, stomps:

Miles whittled down to inches
Beneath the booted foot,
Hymns of praises and misery,

Beaten down into the ground-
Meshing the sounds.
Back into the Mother
Where her heart beat
Is revitalized.
Her strength renewed
She rises up through the
Bare footed
Child like and ready to swing.

https://nt3.ggpht.com/news/tbn/W239w-ryUVEdjM/11.jpg