Living the dream

It's a long trip, but after befriending Australians and
New Zelanders, our trip was cake. 

It is an event that I have always imagined, but never assumed that it would actually happen. I dreamed about what the water and the ancient cities would look like and quite frankly, some of my visions were not even close to what greeted me.

Many of you have figured out via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook that I have been exploring the Mediterranean...some people call it vacationing. The trek was so remarkable, so fascinating that the only time I lounged around was when our ship was at sea for two non-consectutive days. Even then, I attended cooking classes, a foreign beer tasting, made new friends, hit the gym and practiced yoga many early mornings on the observation deck.

Guess what? I am going to share some of those images and thoughts throughout this amazing adventure. Hang on! Grab some very comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen and your best mapping skills.

Ciao!

Life Shared

The Light Is Different Here

Here? Where! 

Because my family has relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, I see and observe that the light  in this new environment is different.

I think this Edison Bulb from a light fixture that hangs in my new/old cottage really captures my observation in a visual sense. I actually have four of these fantastic light fixtures throughout my home, so I bump into them many times during the day and the light bulbs capture me in a moment of wonder and reflection.

To me, this vintage bulb represents the beginning- a pure essence of contemporary existence in an uncomplicated form. In my mind, it also represents the expanded consciousness of Thomas Edison himself. Imagine if we uncluttered our minds, what we might be able to discover, comprehend or invent in our own present day circle. 

The dawn or morning light is also different her in Nashville. We are three hours closer to the Eastern Time Zone, so my circadian rhythm immediately picked up on this deviation. Believe it or not,  I actually appreciate morning knocking at an earlier time- it's a gentle and encouraging arousal. I don't feel groggy when I get out of bed and I tend to feel more productive or together throughout the day.

Lastly, the light that shines from others in my new community has a significantly different glow.  I tried to explain it to my cousin the other day.... authentic community is what is shining here in Nashville. I am not disparaging my old home by any means, it just feels that there are a large number of people back home suffering, and that state of mind limits one to connect with others in a positive way. There are many valid reasons for the pain and suffering, therefore we lend a hand to support and steady those souls. Teaching yoga and meditation for years, I witnessed substantial improvement of the quality of life in so many people (there are many extraordinary facilitators back home doing the same thing at this moment) - it changed me and I miss so many of those arcs of light. My hope is that these arcs ignite larger flashes of energy that spreads like a lightning bolt across the Delta night sky. 

Life illuminated in mind, body and spirit---Trinitas.

Life electrified.

That’s when the light goes on...

I took this photo Tuesday night just outside my front door because it just struck me in some odd way. I used a soft focus to emphasize the obscurity and struggle that the light appeared to have. Of course, the light still prevailed and illuminated my pitch dark, icy front yard. 

We are in the midst of getting our home ready to list on the real estate market and while we are busy attending to our own punch list, there are these other home issues that are raining down one us. First it’s the leak in the upstairs bath tub, a screaming seven year old washing machine and wall patches in the laundry room that need to be repainted (along with part of the kitchen), and finally-two new roof leaks. These roof leaks sprung up in the same rooms where I had the ceilings painted last spring. So while I am trying to bid out and hire sub contractors for the master bath update and cabinet painting in the kitchen, there are other holes in the dike that need to be plugged quickly... due to the nature of water damage. 

I have to admit that Angie’s List has brought me a great deal of happiness and homeowner repair success, but you can still acquire a dud in the batch. That dud happened to be the sub contractor who updated the kid’s bathroom, so much to my dissatisfaction that I would not give him the job on the master bathroom. With that experience under my tool belt, I decided to ask one of my A+ rated subs for recommendations on this particular project. I called my drywall/ceiling contractor and he gave me the number of his cousin who specializes in this field. Keith had referred me to a painter on one of his jobs when one of his employee had shoulder surgery; the crew was extraordinary and I felt safe with trusting Keith’s word again. 

I put a call into ‘Sledge’ and he arrived this morning to bid out the job. In comparison to my original design plan, Sledge had some great alternate ideas on the update that made functional and aesthetic sense. He also gave me his countertop suppliers name in order visit their shop and scout out remnant stone tops to save money while increasing home value. Somehow we got on the subject of my father (I had gutted and sold my dad’s house two years ago), and told Sledge that my father had Parkinson’s and dementia and my mother is in the severe stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Unbelievably, Sledge tells me his father had passed away in October from dementia. As I listened to his caregivers story, I began to to realize that God is good at details and directing us to answers and solutions. The light in His wisdom may be the luminosity of fizzling embers in the family room fireplace, or the brightness of the skylight in your kitchen ceiling, but if we trust in the light of God we will see the way. We will also see others He has sent to help and mentor us in the journey and we will likely know who they are from the light that radiates in their hearts. God knows that I don't need an irresponsible jackhole (pardon the french) in charge of these renovations, one that will create worry, delays and added expense, there are more important things that need my attention. This contractor completely understands what is going on in my life and I have confidence that he will do his absolute best on this job. 

I have another contractor coming out this evening to bid the job as well, and for some reason I have a feeling he is going to ‘no show’. I’m not really concerned because I already have entered an appointment into my calendar tomorrow to go down and  find those counter tops and get this project moving, I know who to hire. 

Life Shared

The Double Vision Was Always One

I love Art. It doesn’t matter if it is painting, drawing, sculpture, needle arts, photography or pottery, I love the expression of an individual’s vision and creativity. I also like to meet the creator of such fine work and learn of their background and beginnings into their prospective art form; quite often they are some fascinating stories. 

As a yoga teacher, I do have some creative souls who share their practice with me. I am writing about two in particular, and since it is the summer blockbuster movie season dominated by super heros...I will affectionately call them the dynamic duo. The yogi and yogini are Dale and Brin Baucum of Baucum Pottery in Memphis, Tennessee. “Potters, ok...well that’s a nice hobby”, you say? Not at all, this couple has been spinning the wheel for four decades...it’s their livelihood. The couple met in the spring of 1972 at the Memphis Academy of Arts (now the Memphis College of Art), Brin was focused in photography and Dale was immersed in ceramics. It wasn’t until 1983 that Brin joined Dale in ceramics and began channeling her expression of the relationship between man and nature from photography into clay. From a yogic perspective, it is easy to see how yoga immediately resonated with them. I can just imagine how the turning of the wheel is a moving meditation for both of them, creating such pure beauty while spinning darkness into oblivion.

They have such an impressive portfolio of work that the Dixon Gallery and Gardens  has arranged a “Retrospective in Clay”, displaying pieces of their work over the past 40 years. This exhibit runs through October 14th, 2012, so set aside some time to  explore this as well as two other interesting exhibits and The Dixon Gallery and Gardens.

26 February 2012

A Photo Journal Entry: BLISS

Well, I suppose that about covers it for today!

Namasté

24 February 2012

My first day of our getaway long weekend started the night before with an unexpected round of food illness (or poisoning-I won’t be ordering the Jimmy John’s lettuce wrap tuna salad ever again.) When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had been drugged and then thrown in front of a bus. Along with a 32 ounce bottle of water, Pranayama (breathwork) kept me sane and calm as I boarded the plane. I sipped, snoozed and meditated my way through Atlanta; my focus: So Ham. 

So Ham in its English translation means “I am that”. It is such a breathy mantra to me, your body practically makes the sound ‘soooooo’ on the inhale and ‘huuummmmm’ on the exhale. This mantra keeps me on a peaceful, non-reactive course in a way that nothing else has in quite some time. There is no memory, image or other type of attachment to these two words to distract me in any way. 

I continued with my game plan all they way into Fort Myers Airport, the deep breaths helped soothe my aching ribs and the continual H2O IV drip of the water bottle slowly revived me.  I enjoyed a leisurely tour of Naples and a relaxing afternoon by the hotel pool...lots of Vitamin D!

Feeling well enough to consider dinner, the hubby and I had a spectacular meal at Sea Salt in Old Naples; fresh fish does not get any better and the eclectic recipes were stunning. I have to admit that the crowning moment to our first day on vacay was the universe’s cosmic display: Jupiter, Venus and a Cheshire Cat shaped moon. The universe does not disappoint, neither does South Florida.

So Ham

Summer’s Spectacular Light

To see the Summer Sky

Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -

True Poems flee.

~Emily Dickinson

It’s mysterious, glorious, and enchanting. Its constantly changing depth, hue, contrast and intensity creates a dazzling display of illumination and texture; the summer sky never repeats itself. It doesn’t matter if it’s dawn, mid-day, the glowing hours, or the inky twilight, the light show never ceases to stop us mid-sentence. Even though it is August, we have plenty of summer left down here in the South to admire the evolving canvas of the heavens.

Personally, I like (or at least try) to capture ordinary vistas in extraordinary circumstances, taking a common and familiar Kodak moment and giving it a twist. I was fortunate enough to snap some photos in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina two months ago. There were a couple of variables, some might call them annoying circumstances, that heightened my anticipation of getting some awesome shots: (a) wild fires in North Florida were blowing smoke up the coast (b) the reliable summer afternoon coastal showers bringing in amazing cloud formations. I was vacationing, so I was praying that I would be able to shoot some pictures at an agreeable time slot, getting up at crack-thirty was not on my agenda.

I shot the first image (right) from our villa’s balcony with my iPhone in the morning hours; you can see the haze in the low sky blurring Daufuskie Island. It’s not morning fog burning off but the smoke from the wild fires. Overall the image is somewhat predictable; I suspect hundreds of vacationers have the same photo of the harbor in their family albums from vacationing in these villas. Predictable and ordinary, except for the monster yachts that are docked in the marina!

Advance forward to the next day, late afternoon to be exact, and a summer shower had just passed over Hilton Head Island. I can remember that it was so silent when I took these photos- I think my husband and cousin were napping and my cousin’s wife was in the shower. While setting up my camera, I realized that I had an opportunity to add a couple more interesting elements to the landscape, but I had to be patient. 

My first shot (at top) is just capturing some interesting filtered light and remnants of storm clouds. In case you were wondering, I currently shoot with a Sony A55 SLT and had a 18-200mm lens on the camera for these photos. I need a couple of ‘landscape lenses’ but currently, I have some budgetary constraints!

While crouching on a chair on the balcony, I wait for the timing of the lighthouse beacon to face me and the wind to catch the flags on the lighthouse... it took some time. I think it took about thirty five minutes to pop off the next two shots, but oh, was it worth it! I now have some illuminated memories of vacationing with my husband and cousins that will last a lifetime!