Mystical Monday, Hafiz and what he never heard the sun say

photo by Wayne Stratz
UCC cemetery
Wernersville, PA

 
at the end of the day, do you celebrate what created awe in your waking hours?  How about today, what happened?

as for me. I sat back and watched a horticulture student, who would never be placed in my physics class, do what any good scientist would do... play with lab materials and examine what happened.

The Sun Never Says

Even

after

all this time

the sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look

what happens

with a love like that--

it lights the whole

world.

by Hafiz

from:

Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

A Fruits of The Spirit Blessing

Inspired by one amazing commission and one beautiful Bible passage...

A Fruits of the Spirit Blessing

May love flow into and out of you as if there is no other reason to be
May your days be filled with people who bring you joy
May there be moments of peace that soothe your soul
May you have the patience to travel without rage
May your heart open to the kindness of others


May our hopes for you settle into your soul with a gentleness that warms your day
May a sense of goodness guide your decisions that unfold you into your destiny
May the wisdom of self-control guide what goes into and out of your mouth
May you experience the faithfulness of one who truly loves you

heating pad blessings

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with life, so as I warm up... let me count my blessings.

all the friends who look down at the crocus and the Siberian irises at my school and say.... Your flowers are beautiful.

Mosaic Woman saying ... Thanks. for She is truly grateful that I do these craft shows with her.

Friend #1 who says, "come over for dinner." and even though you could be doing a billion other things you go and enjoy the sauce even if you mock it for the lack of dried chilies.

Friend #2 who shows up at my classroom door with a tupperware of amazing food, and then says... it is for your lovely wife even though it is also for you.

Friends number 3-5... who made me laugh last night but are not moving to NC.

Friends 6-7... who last night also made me laugh and said relax, we are coming back for that fig tree.

The students, who chose bread over seedlings so that friend #8 could take bread home to her husband last night.

Friend number 9 who at a staff meeting, upon hearing our new boss went home sick and knew I was to have been observed that morning said " Yeah, Stratoz's teaching makes us all ill."

OK... time to stretch.

Gratitude 3

I am blessed... color vision, glass, macro photography and the love of a good woman, who asked me to document her mosaics...






















...

latest stained glass, ETSY, and Hearts

My break between the summer session and the up and coming school year has given me some studio time. Having finally finished the project which I avoided finishing, I went with quick and easy--- 17 pieces that fit into a 5x7 frame...






I took several photos but getting the violet was tough so I have no good photos of the entire piece to post on our ETSY site (nutmegdesigns). This photo failed to get the pale blue in the center.

I then decided to design a new mandala, which when finished was attacked by my own hand bearing an erasure to make the pieces in the design larger, but I did not like the final result and Mosaic Woman agreed and added, "I liked the smaller pieces," so I drew a new circle and went with small pieces...




I may finish this in the next day or two.

I did a search for stained glass at ETSY and 8723 items came up. If you don't keep paying to renew your items they fall down the list... right now I'm at 161 (8 pages in) but by the time you read this.... who knows. Until and maybe even after we have our own website we will stick with ETSY since many a business card has our site listed. [NB: Our website is http://nutmegdesignsart.com and my stained glass is now at Stratozpheres Etsy.

Since last December I have sold 6 of my stained glass while Margaret has sold 9 mosaics on ETSY, the last was by me about 10 days ago. Now 4 of the 6 items which I sold have been hearts. This is one of those strange things about how life turns out. I would never have predicted to be an artist who makes hearts. But I have enjoyed making them and here are links to two blog posts that featured hearts by Mosaic Woman and myself.

up close photos

whole heart photos

blessings of the day...

1. getting to spend a Wednesday with Mosaic Woman, who has them all off.. she was thrown for a loop thinking it was Saturday especially since we went to a library.
2. seeing cormorants at Peace Valley Park while we ate cookies from Tabora bakery
3. lunch at the Duck Deli on 202... me a chicken BBQ sandwich, Mosaic Woman a salad with smoked tuna
4. gumption to water the sad plants in the rain deprived garden
5. time in my studio listening to The Beatles... Abbey Road, the second side is just amazing
6. listening to jazz-- including local trumpet dude-- John Swanna
7. dinner which included green beans, garlic, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes, all of which I was blessed to have grown
8. and an oatmeal stout to savor while putting this post together.

life, other than craft show mania, returns

not just another wort-- sandwort
Originally uploaded by stratoz

After Har Zion, I returned to the things I normally do and it started with work on Tuesday. When I got home I ventured into my garden and blooms were every where. Five flowers including Arenaria montana, sandwort, had blossomed. One of those red wagon perennials I got last fall. The other wort in bloom didn't photograph as well.

I also got back to household tasks, though many more need to be done, but that it always the case. We also got back to updating our ETSY account which had been neglected as we focused on the show.

I got back to reflecting on the life of Jesus, more about that on my next post.

Last night I had time to watch hockey with friends, where at one point she was reading my blog while he questioned me about blogs in general. I found it a bit strange, but this will happen when you don't blog in secret.

Today I had time to make blueberry pancakes with dried lavender, spend time in the garden, take on the hedge that separates my yard from my neighbors (who later on was tending to her red wagon perennials), cut out the pieces of a stained glass which is based on a bird of paradise flower, visit the home of the red wagons, and I had time to listen to some live music... a full life in one Saturday.

The music we saw was Svitanya, which means "the light at sunrise"--- nine women with beautiful voices.  I wish I could have found them singing Shen Khar Venakhi, a Georgian hymn which praises Mary... a translation-- "You are a grapevine in blossom, a beautiful plant in Eden, a fragrant poplar in Paradise. You blessed by God, are a shining sun." It would have been perfect for my gardening workshop. Listen to other, but just as beautiful voices, sing it here.

a day full of blessings, and I didn't even greeting the day with mosaic woman, thai food for lunch, a bachelor's button bloom, listening to jazz while getting caught up with the budget (well semi-caught up), lentil soup for dinner, and the bandage that came in handy when I was cutting glass, and the crazed cats for stopping their angry chase, as they ran in my direction while I was on the ground gardening.

the realm of bitterness- dark places 2

I hear teachers make lousy students, and it amuses me how most don't see they hate being told to do what they tell students to do all year long.

My school has required several of us to go through five days of training and bitterness runs amok. morale can be low and this doesn't help. We had the first two days the two days before the students showed up in September. Today was day three, while four and five are this weekend.

I miss out going on my favorite non-silent retreat of the year. A friend misses an Eagles game, but this year that could be a good thing. She also misses her daughter's softball tournament and her husband has to miss work this weekend. We all have good reason to moan, but does that mean it has to be a dark place.

In the midst of the bitterness are several people I have become friends with over the past 10 years. I refuse to be so bitter that I don't also have some fun this weekend. that would be a sin.

In the midst of the bitterness, I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to be refreshed on good teaching. To make connections between the information and my students. that would be a sin.

Do I want to be at the school the next two days? Not really, but to not see blessings in the midst of God's creation is what one Jesuit told me was a sin last August. I am back on that bench at Wernersville. The birds amazing me.