Fantastic Flowers

Earth laughs in flowers. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shocking Pink

Shades of Pink

Pink Powder Puffs

Sweet Starbursts

One Left

Paper Thin Pink

Pretty Inside

Darling Daisies

Cosmo & Susan

Candle Lit Fringe

Maze of Beauty

Namaste

Each time I visit San Diego I find something new to be enamoured with; friendly locals who are happy to chat, warm summer days that turn into refreshingly cool evenings, having my nephew teach me how to surf…. the list goes on and on. I visit at least once a year and on this trip I’m enchanted by the fantastic flowers. There are always trees and shrubs and gardens in bloom in southern california no matter the month but I’ve never seen so many at once… buds were in blooming everywhere!

What are you enamoured with lately?

Beaches, Birds & Budda

Let everthing be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied.  ~ Chuang Tzu

Bright Blues

Glistening Greys

Sweet Surf

Pelican Preparing

Pelican Circling

Perfect Pose

Pretty Blue

BIG Budda

I’ve been to the beach.

I’ve been bird watching.

I hiked up to this beautiful budda.

I’m in San Diego for a 2 week trip. It’s been great to hang with my sister, niece, & nephew… the weather here is so PERFECT. Each trip out, I seem to stay longer, I so wish I could live here ~ maybe someday

P.S. The June blossoms are astounding ~ I have so many photos of flowers to sort & crop… here is a sneak peek – - -

Sea of Purple

Love Doves

Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. ~ C.S. Lewis

Chasing Beauty

Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain. ~ Doug Coupland

I See You

i spotted a bird… he spotted me

Sitting Still

he sized me up and down, i did the same…

each time i got too close he wandered forward… considered flying…

then decided staying by the pond was much more important than being bothered by me

Skirting the Edge

he was hungry for lunch, i was hungry for a photo of this

beautiful lanky fluffy white bird i’d never seen before

Fantastic Feathers

again i got too close

so he trotted past a few mallards who squawked at his trespassing

Coming Through

Who Does He Think He Is?!

he thought he lost me behind the wall, but i found him crouching in the corner

Crouched & Curved

he spotted me again… cruised up the hill

I'm Outta Here

shook off his frustration

Shake Shake Shake

and finally he just stopped playing our game

 and patiently waited for me to leave him alone to search for his lunch in peace

The End

This post has been entered in Jillsy Girl’s Water Challenge 

Take a moment to hop over and get a little wet

Into the Mystery

“Look for the mysterious in life. Wherever you look – in the white clouds, in the stars in the night, in the flowers, in a flowing river – wherever you look, look for the mystery. And whenever you find that a mystery is there, meditate on it. Meditation means: dissolve yourself before that mystery, annihilate yourself before that mystery, disperse yourself before that mystery. Be no more, and let the mystery be so total that you are absorbed in it. And suddenly a new door opens, a new perception is achieved.” ~ Osho

Sacred Seagulls

I’ve taken an unexpected break from blogging… about a month ago I stopped creating just about anything, I’m not sure why. I have a few ideas about which events and thoughts triggered this episode, but I’m okay with not knowing exactly why I crashed and burned and fell apart. I slipped into a place of having no idea how to move forward with my life. For a couple of weeks I did not understand why I could not just pick up the pieces and move forward???

Luckily I have some amazing people in my life that continue to hold space for this process I still seem to be in. I need time to experiment with new ways of moving forward with out defining specific goals or results. I am making slow progress as I re ~ imagine my dreams and direction.

The world of blogging has been a fascinating journey that I did not know I would become so enamoured with I am fascinated by the opportunity to express and connect. I feel so blessed and excited when friends, family and even strangers comment on something I shared. When someone writes a response or sends me an email that is inspired by what I posted WOW! I feel seen and understood and connected to that nameless thing that connects all of us. Sometimes I even feel that what I created and shared made a difference. That’s an amazing feeling.

The difficult side of the journey for me is the process of putting a post together. I was honored when a friend once described my blog as meaty. There is a density and depth I am after in life that I attempt to express in my blog. This desire often puts me up against my perfectionist tendencies. I have spent countless hours cropping a photo 15 times till it looks just how I want it. I will re-write a sentence or paragraph 20 times hoping you won’t notice that I struggle with dyslexia / proper grammar?? And the techy side of learning how to manipulate the templates and widgets can spin me out into fits of frustration.

I thought that, after going through a month of letting things fall away that no longer serve, I might jump back into blogging with a new style – - -

perhaps randomly writing in a casual text format of abbreviations – i don’t know what many of them mean outside of lol and omg – but i do love typing with no caps… run on sentences… lots of ellipses and emoticons <3…and whatever else seems to express my mood of the moment! there is something about this messy conversational spewing and sharing that i love… i am brave enough to email some of my closest friends in this sloppy style, it feels real and raw

But I’m not sure yet how I want to shift my blog posts. I just know that today I am ready to post again and there is a comfort in the EFFORT I go through in any of my creative projects. It feels like home.

I have always tried too hard, and I may always try too hard. There are moments when things flow and I’m lost in that place of pure expression, but the effort that surrounds the flow is usually necessary for any flow to exist. So today I will let some tears roll down my face. I will be okay with my personality quirks causing me unnecessary pain and confusion. I will re-read and re-tweak this 5 more times before I dare post. I will sort through photos and quotes for as long as it takes to find just the right match.

Perhaps in my next post I’ll be in the mood to share just a few fun photos… a simple sentence… or a random offering that is full of ease or conviction, but today it actually feels good to share and accept my neurotic attempt at awkward perfection.

Morsel

Sea Scape

Into the Mystery