Mystical Monday: St. Catherine of Sienna enters the picture

Opening myself to accept help and love has become easier, if not easy...


Vulnerable

Vulnerable we are, like an infant.
We need each other's care
or we will
suffer

St. Catherine

The Gifted Lily

Our front yard is rather small, but I am amazed at all the flowers that come back to grace us each year. The coneflowers will put on a long and splendid show, but others like this lily will be gone in what can seem like a flash.

This first bloom of 2012 brought back the plant's story. I can remember the day a new student came up to me and expressed a desire to be in my horticulture class. The last time I heard from her she was nearing the end of a college degree in horticulture. Somewhere in between she gave me a plant.

What life stories do blooms bring to you?

Into jazz poetry, Sam Abrams

... close yr eyes you have
to hear the bass ...

from In the Capability by Sam Abrams

I am awake, being aware

of the present note.

By Stratoz

Hafiz on our 20th

on our 20th anniversary

Last night I took the photo above and a break from Mystical Mondays.

Mosaic Woman and I were out and about celebrating our 20th anniversary.

But we did not take a break from our nightly habit of reading a translation by Daniel Ladinsky and the last poem by Hafiz ended this way ...

"I am made whole by your life. Each soul,

each soul completes

me."

and here we are on the day we got married

Jazz at Virago, what I wanted is about to happen

cupcakes at Virago
Lansdale, PA
by Wayne Stratz

Tim Leslie has been bringing his drums, his friends, and his passion for jazz to Virago.  The first time I heard him I knew this ~ I wanted him to be playing on the night in June when Mosaic Woman and I hung out to celebrate our art being at Virago.  So now it is about to happen all because:  A friendly talented baker moves her bakery to downtown Lansdale and decides to celebrate art and music.

THIS FRIDAY (6/8/12) Music starts at 7:30 and goes till 10:00 and I plan to be there for the whole gig.

Here is a snippet from the first night we saw Tim...

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

Dr Ed Mandalas and Hope

This is my top selling design. It helps that I love it and that a friend bought the first one just before he died.

On Thursday we were hanging our art at the Virago Bakery in Lansdale and I hung a mandala. It seemed lonely and all of a sudden I was inspired. Today I hung this one and cut out the pieces for another. Our art will be there this month and we will be there Friday night to greet folk and to listen to live jazz.

30% of the money from this design has gone to fund pancreatic cancer research. I am hoping that a small bit of that has gone into the hands of Dr. Anirbran Maitra who gave lab time to a high school student, Jack Andraka, who did this.