Tiny Little Boat

Alumni Row Fall 2011

Alumni Row Fall 2011

Just another beautiful day in the neighborhood

Practice: amazing grace

Practice: grey days

Some adventures of 2011

Hiking in Albania July 2011

Disney Magic Moment May 2011

Group from Albania Study Abroad Course

Four awesome character attendants!

Jason and Me- Fish Lake Fall 2011

Albania

Me and the Boss Man!  Mickey Mouse!!!!!!

Las Vegas Lights

Dim the lights in Las Vegas baby

'cause all my boys are going going gone.

A lifetime ago they played among those stars

now they sing and dance above them.

The rain goes tap tap tap

on the window pane

and my body moves in rhythm

to the Start of the Blues.

Notes wrap around me,

their voices fill the air,

a smile lands on my lips

I know 'cause I can feel it there.

My dreams are on parade

and champagne sparkles in my glass;

all the world is shining.

And although, I know,

those lights may not dim for me,

baby, I will dance my way through the stars

where we will all laugh and join in

the party maybe just maybe.

India Picture – Travel Photo – National Geographic Photo of the Day

India Picture – Travel Photo – National Geographic Photo of the Day

The way back...and spider cannibalism.

Well, I made it back to Ohio from Florida and have been back for a little over a week.  I didn't end up getting a car but I was able to road trip back with a girl that lived across the hall from me.  It was awesome.  Turns out that we use to race against each other in college; oh the irony.  Let me tell you about the kind of people we are...on the way North we relaxed in the grass at a rest stop in Georgia, memorized the presidents in order by number and randomly shouted out numbers to pop quiz each other, almost ended up sleeping in the car in a parking lot in Corbin Kentucky (we managed to get into the country in; score!) and read aloud from a book called "homework for grown ups".  It was great.  We are also now contemplating writing a children's book together 'cause we both have some great ideas.  So, in short the ride back was quite an adventure!  After a few days of being home I finally made it out to a family member's property to go fishing.  Not having the heart to bait a hook I opted to take out the canoe on their lake.  I am truly blessed to have such an awesome family.  But the point is that I flipped the canoe over to take it out on the water and of course after being turned down for so long it was full of miniature life such as ants, those little rolly polly lots of legs bugs and spiders.  I am not bothered by any of this so I get what I can of them safely on the shore and then set out on the water.  There were of course all sorts of mini life still working their way out of under the seats of the canoe and I noticed that there was a dead spider that fell out of somewhere and I remember thinking "Awe, poor little guy...thus is the course of life I guess".  So, I continued to make my little circles and figure eights and other meditative motions through the water.  Finally, I sat and put the paddle across the gunwales in front of me so I could observe my family on shore fishing and running around.  My cousin's children who are two, five and six were fishing with my cousin's fiance...well, the littlest thought he was fishing, he had a little baby fishing pole with no line hook or sinker, which was adorable.  My Aunt was in the gazebo rocking back and forth on the swing.  My mom and sister were fishing and my cousin (who trains fighters and such) was helping them fish.  My uncle was inside the house, probably relaxing, drinking wine and watching some sort of sports game.  Everyone was happy and I could still feel the camp fire on my skin and its smell imbibed in my clothes.  Everything about that one moment in that little green canoe was perfect.  Something has to give right? I glanced down into my little canoe which delivered to me my moment of perfection and saw a rather horrific and perfectly natural scene, the circle of life if you will.  The little spider that I thought was playing dead was being paralyzed, drug and later devoured by a bigger black spider, I was devastated into just sitting there.  What was I suppose to do?  I have been known to jump into pools to save moths stuck on the surface of the water.   Part of me wished that I would have kept my gaze on the shore.  But the part of me that saw this brutal act of reality, however natural it is, as a reminder that elsewhere in the world not everyone is as blessed as I am.  Was I suppose to see it?  I have been meditating on both moments since they happened.  Not everyone gets that fleeting moment of seeing love.  Some people only know spiders.  Would that spider have lived if I had not gone out in the canoe? Maybe.  I still felt bad.  But if I didn't take out the canoe I would not have witnessed those moments of peace that I did.  In my family a scene like this needs to be cherished.  I am still thinking about it and pondering it.  Both the love and the spiders.  I mean it wasn't an act of hate, the one spider eating the other, it was just the bitter reality of life.  No matter how small it is that bitterness is still a part of life on some scale.  On that day it was a subtle reminder from nature that was greatly outdone by the love on the shore.  I hope to have many more days where I only witness it in this fashion.

Love, Life and Light~ Hamsa

Color Wheels and Cupcakes

Another poem for the little ones...


The color wheel don't mean a thing to cupcakes:


Use your mind little one.
What do you see?
Purple elephants
and bright blue honey bees.
Cats can talk
and walk through walls.
That way you know you're never alone.
Your art work is famous
and hangs in great big halls.
The grass may be a rainbow
and there are fairies with butterfly wings.
Use your imagination little one
and realize the color wheel don't mean a thing.
In that place no one can tell you no
and everything exists.
Most of it you can bring to life
and you can discard the rest.
People may tell you no.
Elephants aren't purple
and honey bees can't be blue.
So they tell the color blind man he is wrong
and order him a list of things to do.
Why should he be wrong
just because he sees
things a little differently?
But be there little one, one day, 
to remind him of creativity.
Tell him what you see.
In a cookie cutter world
be a cupcake with sprinkles on top.
Royalty of your own little land.
Let the cookies be boring.
Just see what you see
and know that it is yours, 
the world in the palm of your hand.
Know that we love you
and support all that you do.
No matter what happens.
Any time you are down or feeling a little blue
we'll have a party on our cupcake stand
and worry not little one 
we support the purple elephants too.

Little Eyes and Small Steps

I am creating a gift for my friend who is getting ready to have a baby.  I am putting together a little booklet of fun small poems, illustrations, etc.


Here are the first two:


Lullabies for Little Eyes


Full was our day
so we sing our lullabies
for little eyes
so that they may slowly close
and rest their minds.
A gentle wind blows
and brings to mind exactly
what the day was like.
Busy breakfast
busy snacks and little adventures
busy as bees
sometimes like the stormy seas.
We went here
and we flew there
and sometimes we just sat to know that we be.
So as you see little eyes
you need the lullabies
so we can all go about our busy way
with each other day after day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Small Steps


Blink baby blink,
little eyes focus.
The first small steps to seeing.


Seeing the crayons in the box.


Scribble baby scribble,
holding the crayon in little hands.
The first small steps to moving.


Moving arms and moving legs.


Crawl baby crawl,
you, little one are getting strong.
The first small steps to standing.


Standing your ground,
hearing the sounds.


Listen baby listen,
soon enough little one the sun will rise
and you'll open your eyes.
Feet will hit the floor,
off you'll go,
taking small steps no more.