Holy Grail, Gonfalon, Gulle and Glottis

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "G".

One of my glass negatives from the early part of the last century. I own more than a couple hundred of these and the exact origin of them are not known. All I know is that they are most likely from on of the 8 or so photo studios that were in existence on Gold Street in Albuquerque circa 1910-20.

I don't have all of them scanned. In fact I just scanned this one and realized that I now have a different scanner and I will have to figure out a different approach as to how to optimize the image. Many of he images in this glass negative collection are in a severe state of deterioration and many of them are not good exposures or in focus. This one is over-exposed, but I love the image itself.

Glass negatives was a commonly used photography technique for quite some time in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. This process is called the Collodion process. Check out the link for more detailed information.

You can also do a search (in the search box) on this blog for other glass negative postings.

Glove. Ah! No ordinary glove, though. You can't wear this one! It is made from a ceramic material by a potter in Jemez. It graces the wall in their back yard and when I took this photo, the cottonwoods trees were going at it in full force with wisps of 'cotton' in the air everywhere. It actually looks like snow, the air gets so thick with the 'cotton'. Hence, you see the edges of the glove have evidence of this phenom that takes place each May/June.

Not far from the glove is this peaceful and elegant gate. I wish I had it in my yard!

I've mentioned it before that I am partial to graffiti art. And, because of that, I am imposing yet again, another graffiti art image. This one is also taken at the old Albuquerque Railyard.

But, the Holy Grail? Alas, if I really had that image, Indy Jones would be at my door! And, good grief!! Does anyone know off the top of their heads what the meaning of gonfalon, gulle and glottis is? I suspect many of you know glottis, but perhaps not so much the other two.

The Four Aims of Life

"A hundred times a day I remind myself that my life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give, in measure as I have received, and am still receiving."

Albert Einstein

Oh, but the trick is, to remember to remind yourself a hundred times a day of these things! As the saying goes, "easier said than done". It requires being mindful.

In Yoga Sutra, the four aims of life are dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. Although I've given you links to each of these aims, know too, that these links are broad overviews and is not the complete picture. It is not unlike the various interpretations that people have for the readings in the Holy Bible.

I like what Rolf Gates has to say about these truths or concepts in his book, "Meditations from the Mat" which I've referred to several times in my SSS posts. He discusses how this quote of Einstein's relates to all levels of the four aims of life. He puts it so eloquently, "It is not enough just to plant the garden and cultivate it with care; we must set aside time to enjoy it as well." And, in the final aim, moksha, we surrender to the work we've done, the fruits of our labor and our actions to the universe. "We let go of everything and hold onto nothing."

Oh, and how we must remember a hundred times a day to let go of everything and hold onto nothing. There is a tremendous amount of peace in being able to do so. But, we quickly forget as we get caught up in the whirlwind of our daily lives. And, my ego gets in the way of letting go. Even so, I vow over and over again not to let this be the reason to stop making a more conscious effort. And, perhaps, it will not be until I am staring death in the face that I will finally 'get it' and let go of everything once and for all.

Definitely a lifetime's worth of work!

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Fenestricide and other "F" words!

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "F".

Fence

A la 'New Mexico', that is! This one is on the outskirts of the Jemez Pueblo. It's not on Pueblo land (because you're not supposed to take pictures on pueblo land unless you have explicit permission), but I loved the combination of textures and colors. The earth here has every color imaginable; this backdrop is no exception!

I doubt that I can leave with you some new words to learn this week. The ones I've selected are really no surprises. But, visually, I am partial to them, so up they go!

Ferns

I am very, very partial to ferns. I swear this one looks like a bearded boulder though. It must be several seasons worth of layers. You can imagine that with each winter, the green dies off; the brown layers seem to be at least several years worth. If you are local to this area and want to know where this is, it is off the Los Conchas trail off of Highway 44.

Fireworks

While we area on the loose subject of pueblo land, because they are sovereign nations, they can sell fireworks that you cannot get elsewhere in the state. I mean, really big fireworks that you almost need a license to set them off! My son being the teenager and my husband being the indulgent one, love to get their holiday stash of fireworks at the Pojaque Pueblo.

Fireworks display

Legal, this one is! It's the 4th of July fireworks set off by the city of Rio Rancho. All I had to do was stroll up the street to the Country Club to view this!

Fish

Wouldn't you like to have caught this one so that you too could have it in your yard?? Oh, I would too! This is outside of a gallery in Taos. I wish I had made note of which gallery and who the artist was so that I could let you know here. Hindsight is 20-20 they say.

Alright, here's a possible new 'f' word for you: fenestricide. It is murder by throwing someone out of a window. Must've been done often enough throughout time for someone to have come up with a word for it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful ABC day!

For Judith

This is for Judith.

She'll know why.

If you have never been to her blog, please do so-she takes me on the most fabulous trips and journeys into worlds of 'loveliness'. For lack of better words.

Often, it is like a guided fantasy tour. I just sit back, relax and accompany her on the dream d jour.

Taking time to have tea and making a ritual out of it does relax you.

Witness this woman here. She was feeling rather PMSy and having not the best of days. And, look! Just those first few sips of tea has changed her mood altogether!

And that's what I did the other day. I wasn't feeling PMSy, but decided it was time to brew up some of that Nepal first flush tea. I like to get my teas from Adagio tea. First rate, great teas, great customer service. And, when you order tea, they let you email $5.00 coupons to your friends! It's a legal form of tea-pushing, I believe!

And, remember to always stop and smell the roses. Or, be fascinated with the bumps on the teapot in front of you.

Architectural Elements

This shot is connected to two other posts. One is on the Emergence Myth that I wrote about. This is the same house, and it is just around the corner from the image of the ladder on the roof. There is also a connection to the image posted in the Wall Shadows; see if you can see the connection! Hint: in this shot, Zora, the German Shepard is in the window.

A variation of a previous post done on Jerome Glass.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Euphemisms and Encaustic

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "E".

Encaustic

Encaustic collage on pine. This one was named, "Liberation" and sold! Yay. Rare, but thrilling for me, nonetheless!

Elecampane

Elecampane has many medicinal properties. The most recent discovery is having anti cancer properties. I am not growing any at the moment and got the image from Google images. I've gone back to look for the link and now it is gone! Otherwise, I'd give credit. A pretty good link for all around herbal info can be found here.

The East End of Molokai

Photo taken by Mark Scott on his point and shoot camera. That is what we call the eastern end of the island: East End. This is the very furthermost eastern part of the island where the mouth of the Halawa Valley river meets up with the sea.

Eggs

These are not real eggs, but my faux rusty eggs in progress. I also have some little ones in progress too. I don't have anything specific in mind for them, but when I need them, they are ready to go!

And the euphemisms? Well, my mom was full of them. Too hard to provide images of that here, but one of the ones that she said A LOT was, "That's the way the cookie crumbles." Kind of a polite way of saying, "Too bad, get over it!". She grew up in the heart of America, in Ashley, Illinois. Many of her euphemisms were very much so mid-Western.

Have an alpha-happy, euphemism filled day!

Dancin' Horse With Kokopele

You might recall The Dancin' Man post from a few weeks back. Well, these are his buddies! If you look at the Dancin' Man, you will see the horse's head in the top right of the image.

If you were to see them all together (I couldn't photograph them successfully as a group since there were other things in the way), there's the Kokopele playing his flute (you know they are a mischievous bunch!), the horse galloping happily, led by the Dancin' Man.

I think it made for quite a theatrical scene!

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

Doldrums, Ditty, Dithers and Dracula

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "D".

OK, so I lied. You'll not be seeing any doldrums, kitty, dithers or Draculas here today. Except in words! I will say that when the earth shifts on it's axis during the 'winter' months in Hawaii, the islands land in an area that often has no wind. In the maritime world, that is called the doldrums. In Hawaii, we refer to it as "Kona" weather when there is no wind. Picture heat and humidity without trade winds and you have "Kona" weather.

But, I digress. This strange looking thing is a durian. A fruit. My husband will attest that the smell of the flesh of this fruit is like rotting flesh. The texture of the fruit (he says) is like snot. His words. I've never been brave enough to acquire one of these fruits for the sake of curiosity.

This is a boulder on the side of New Mexico Route 4. This segment of the road is past Jemez on the way to Valle Caldera. I had to make Linda stop and turn the car back around so that we could take pictures of this. Someone saw the shape of the boulder. Must've thought about it a lot. Schemed for who knows how long. Came back one day with quick set concrete and transformed the boulder into a dinosaur!

Dianthus. Pretty flowers. Easy to grow. You can buy the seeds and just broadcast them unless you're in a hurry (or have a short growing season).

Shhhhh! Be very quiet! Actually the deer here at Bandelier State Park paid no heed to us! They were hungry! Cue Julie Andrews leading us in a rousing chorus of "Do, a deer, a female deer" (from the Sound of Music).

Kelp Shadow

A Paradox

A constantly reoccurring theme in my work is often textures and patterns. Evident in last week's SSS post and this one. The old, peeling and cracking paint on the porch of an officer's house in what is now a state park in Port Townsend. This park is Ft. Worden. I was here in 2007.

Cracking paint. Hard leather look of the dried kelp which upon close inspection, has patterns and textures within its skin. Although the life in this kelp is long gone, it still seems to contain motion; frozen in time, but yet the energy is still there. Dancing. Undulating. Reaching out towards-what? Who knows. But therein is the paradox. It is dead, dead, dead. But it looks so alive.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

Six Degrees of Seperation

Any two individuals are connected by at most five others.

True or false?

Taken from a global perspective and how large that population is, it would seem mathematically impossible. The theory of six degrees of separation has been put to the test and the results are rather consistent. It's a bit staggering to wrap one's head around this concept, so to speak.

And yet today, while seeing a chiropractor that I've never seen before (I went to her because a good friend of mine raved about her), we were idly chatting about ourselves. I was trying to explain to her that I was continuing the work that a dear friend of mine started, and who recently passed away, by creating a non-profit foundation for the visual arts within our community. I thought I was going to have to explain at length who she was. I mentioned her name (Delma Petrullo) and she immediately knew who she was. She lives next door her.

Now, what are the odds of that?

Six degrees of seperation. Start taking note of how often that really happens in your life.

Kinda eerie but cool.

Oh. I forgot to explain the image. It's a macro shot of an old metal wall at the Albuquerque Railyard. This shot was taken in the same location that the graffiti cat was in the previous post.

In case you were wondering.

Just Cattin' Around

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "C".

Not an ordinary cat! I will publicly confess that I do (for the most part) love graffiti art, or spray art. I like graffiti art that is creative, has some punch and a sense of design. Not the lame stick letters that are cryptic. And, this cat 'a la graffiti' is something that brings a smile to my face. I hope it does for you too.

I used to have a stereotypical perception of graffiti art. A few years ago, on a flight back from Phoenix to Albuquerque, the young man sitting next to me was intrigued by the fact that I sat there with an art journal; writing and putting in thumbnail sketches. He had his own art journal, but in it contained designs and concepts for his style of art. Graffiti art. Granted, some of this art takes place on property that it shouldn't. I'm not encouraging that. But here is a genre of art that requires large 'canvases'. Why not provide public space for these installations to take place? It can change from time to time since this style of art is not meant to be permanent. Anyway, it was certainly an event that changed how I viewed something. Now, I 'get it'.

Chevy pick up trucks. I am passionately obsessed with OLD Chevy pick up trucks. Preferably 1952 and earlier. This one is about 1952. It lives in the village of Arroyo Seco which is north of Taos. You have to pass through this village on the way to the Taos ski area. It is one of my all time favorite trucks. It is the truck that belongs to the Village Mercantile store and it is a working vehicle! They use it to haul trash to the dump. I have a kazillion shots of this truck. And, I'm still not done photographing it!

Copper. Simple and beautiful. This was a rather genius way to dress up a fence by cutting up a copper pipe and smashing one end of it, drilling a hole and tying it to the fence. It turned a rather uneventful fence into a work of art. Genius. Nothing but genius.

Right across the street from where that copper fence is a Bed and Breakfast (this is in Jemez and the B&B is called, Casa Blanca"). This is one of the guest cottages at this B&B. Very secluded. Very peaceful. Very romantic. If you live in the nearby metro area, I recommend that you consider this as a get away. One day here will get you quite the slice of heaven!

Let go, Let God...

"There is a secret one inside us, the planets like galaxies pass through his hands like beads."

-Kabir

Back to "Meditations from the Mat", which is a book of daily reflections on the path of yoga (by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison). From the Day 303 in the chapter on Pratyahara. Pratyahara is about learning to turn inward. I feel like that is my state more often than not during my waking hours. Hard to operate or function in daily tasks when I am in this state!.

Mr. Gates is very good at articulating what is inside my head and beyond. He crystallizes loose thought patterns that I have and pulls them together in cohesion. Which is why I find myself often turning to this book. My yoga teacher, Chris reads a passage from this book to us every Sunday morning. I never tire of hearing any of these reflections no matter how many times I hear them.

In relation to this particular quote, he talks about how the "world abounds with evidence of this inner being (the secret one that lives within us; the flower of our center). There is no end to the art, music, humor, and literature sprung from this deep well of creativity."

This inner guide we often call our muse.

Sometimes connecting with this inner guide that I call my muse comes with difficulty or reluctance. It is only when I make a conscious decision to let go and surrender to what will be that my muse comes forth. It is as though she laughs at any attempts that are contrived.

And that is what Mr. Gates refers to as Pratyahara-that decision to give yourself over to something else that is greater than you.

And the image you see before you? It is a shadow cast from a wrought iron container that holds trash cans in Old Town, Albuquerque. The shadow cast upon the concrete stamped bricks-the deep color and all those cracks! It was more than I could resist. I'm afraid that out of all the fancy dancy shots I thought that day, this one is amongst my top 3 favorites. Not an image that would win in any competition. Except for the attention of MY muse.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!