I lift my limbs in praise..

Photo taken at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico July '09.

Landing pad...or runway???

Flowers along the way.....

Sometimes roses are just too beautiful to describe. This one was.

Lilies by the Palm

These lilies were waiting for their picture to be taken yesterday...just reaching out in contrast to the palm's trunk to be seen. Today I went by, and they were gone....glad I didn't miss them yesterday. 

Lotus Seed Pod

The seed pod of the lotus appears  in the middle of the flower when it blossoms.  It reminds me that we blossom and then we go to seed!! ^;~ What a beautiful process to watch from bud to flower to seed.  

Lotus bud

I've never seen a lotus blossom or flower until this year....how beautiful they are.  I'm waiting for this one to open so I can take a picture of it open.  This was taken yesterday.  I went by today hoping to catch it open, but it was the same.  Perhaps another day, it will show its beautiful face. 

Resting time

This little one was taking a rest in a near by park.  How nice he stayed so still so his picture could be taken. 

Nothing quite so lovely as a flower

There are times when nature makes a perfect flower...this is one of those...or is it that I caught its face before nature had bruised its face.

Nature's Dancing Hearts

I've never noticed nature's dancing hearts until today.  I don't know what they are called...but they sure are neat...reminders all around us of love.

Inauguration

As I greet another weekend, I am reminded of what is ahead this week...an inauguration of another President.  However, this President is one that I feel has an appointed leadership that is very monumental for our time.  That leadership is acknowledging and speaking about the fact that we are all one and keeping that in mind when making decisions.

This message of oneness is one I received after the Twin Towers fell in NY.  It was after that when I wrote, "United", which you can read in my book.  You know that after receiving that poem, I felt that my poetry was channeled..or from a higher source speaking through me.  Much of that poem's message had been part of my soul...especially of "one color" and others, replacing those pieces of "separateness" that linger within my own being.

I decided to leave work at 10 on Tuesday, as I want to view the inauguration.  I've never felt like I have wanted to watch one before, but this one seems different.  This one represents a beginning of being heard from the bottom up...rather than from the top down.  It is truly a time for change...a time to be heard.  My only hope that others in government and society may "catch" his vision and leadership, so that we can all go forward toward a time of peace. 

We, as individuals, and as a country, have had...and have...a listening problem.  We don't really hear and understand one another.  We don't ask questions, or take the time to really listen, to come to a place of "oneness" and true understanding of "walking a mile in the other man's moccasins."  We only ask questions to affirm our own agendas, our own beliefs, and our own histories...and affirm our separateness.  I am as guilty of this at times as the next one.  We first, however, need to listen to the separateness within...those aspects of ourselves that separate us from the love that we are.

This is truly a time for change...a change for all of us...if we choose to "accept this mission"...that often feels like Mission Impossible!  We need to hear...and we need to be heard...as all of us represent a fractured family that has forgotten that we are "one", both as a nation, and in our own families.  Whether we choose to be a part of that change...a shift in consciousness...is still to be determined.  Our history, however, shows that the "other way" has not worked.  So, in this New Year, may we all be a part of the change that heads in a different direction, so that our house divided will not fall, but be built on a firm foundation.  

Sending heart hugs to you, embracing the Spirit that you are.