The Year Of The Sheep Celebration, At Real Art Ways- Hartford, Ct

          We traveled into Hartford yesterday to view this year's Oscar Nominated Shorts. My husband & I enjoy this category of movie viewing which has become a regular outing for us over the years at Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut.  Hartford, will forever be my husband's favorite city. We had a fortunate experience in yesterdays sojourn. On our arrival during a friendly & welcoming conversation with one of the gallery's employees I was told that a Chinese New Year's Celebration was the theme of this month's Third Thursday.  I was hoping we'd be able to stay long enough after the short flicks to see the Dragon Dance. 

     And here it is, the beautiful beginning of an energetic Dragon Dance~

Loved it, loved it, loved it~!  

Inner Peace is a personal quest. World Peace is our collective journey. Learning, honoring & appreciating each others cultures enhances our path which opens our hearts & minds to a doable, enduring Peace.

Who In The World Is This?

     Viewing the photo above brings forth loads of questions. The main one being, Who in the world is this?  The image looks rather complicated, but it's just a simple experiment of meshing together two pics from my cell phone. I lost my camera several months ago & have been forced to mess around with the camera app on my phone. It's been fun to use, but I still miss my regular camera. I'll need to replace it eventually, but am stalling. For now that is.

     When I showed this photo to my twelve year old grandson yesterday his remark was,"scary".  For some strange reason I do like it. Perhaps because it creates some rather perplexing images, & I find it interesting. That's me, it doesn't have to make sense.
     What really doesn't make sense is the violation of privacy. It's one thing to want to share in the format of a blog, & it's another to be hacked, of which I was earlier in the day. So early this afternoon I was working to set some of that straight. It's never a good feeling dealing with something like this. And rather than go on & on complaining about it I moved on once it was addressed. My reward is clicking away here, sharing my thoughts, & musing over a rather strange photo that to me is both perplexing & pleasing. It beats staring out the window at yet more flakes coming down. It's been quite the winter, thus far!

In The Pink or Working My Way Towards It

          That's my decades old Toni Doll. My Aunt Estelle gave it to me when I was six years old. She and my Uncle Ronald often had fun stuff stashed away for my brother & me during one of their visits. When they visited we were no longer living in the Bronx. My family had moved to Connecticut a year before. Aunt Estelle & Uncle Ronald lived out on Long Island. Eventually they moved too, but it was to California. Back in the 1950's trips across the country were a privilege for the the wealthier population, so after my aunt & uncle moved it was less than the fingers of a hand that I saw them any more. 

     The splitting apart of families, the healthier parts, proved an immense loss for some. Myself included. Growing up my family had multiple moves. By the time I reached those preteen years we were back in Connecticut.

     New England is known for it's rather bitter winters. This one is piling up to the nth degree. We are experiencing a bit of an overload of the white blanketing stuff. It's been good putting the ole skis on from time to time.Yesterday my husband led the way & we cut a new cross country path into our forest. With every glide of the way I felt rejuvenated. Cross country skiing can be a lot of work, but it works for me. It's basic & simple. Most of all it awakens the pink of my perspective. A real time reminder that nature is beautiful, healing & pure. No matter how far the abyss may lore we can & do find our way. A perspective of peace, one snowy glide at a time.

Housebound & Quieting The Mind

The gift of color is just that. A gift that captures how we feel. Grays on the surface are rather nondescript, but lovely all the same.

The photo below says it all. Rather homebound, yet thankful for this quiet time. Getting things done on the inside & trying not to over think, that's a challenge on this end.

From way back to my days in the Bronx I've been a penguin kind of gal, & became aware of my turtle side a few years later. It's a totem combo that works for me, bringing some fun & humor to my inner psyche when life gets too serious.

Embracing it all, the spectrum of colors, & the days of gray. It's all meaningful, & important. When it gets out of balance & life's seriousness overwhelms, my inner guides remind me to take a look out my window & look inside, & breathe. Just breathe. 

As we do our best to be there for one another, we'll continue to work on being there for ourselves .

List placement is vital. 

***

Here in New England it's been a winter of discontent for those who are forced to weather the elements in a challenging way. Our prayerful thoughts are with those at risk for continued safe keeping.

~From the Peace Garden to your garden~ Be safe, stay warm this winter, one & all~!

The Quiet Of A Winter's Night

     

In the quiet of the night I do some of my best thinking. And no thinking..

The above is out on our deck, but if I didn't know it I would think the scene is on a farm from one of Tolstoy's stories.

Though this winter's been harsh, there's always a touch of quiet beauty.

A Pixelated View

That's me all bundled up during our January visit to MOMA .
The Museum Of Modern Art in NYC in many ways feels like my warm & comforting grandma, Grandma Anna. After all I was born in the Bronx, & it's good to be home.  

The sculpture garden at MOMA is always a treat. It may have been raw out, but nothing ever gets in the way of our enjoyment each & every time.

     In video & photography an image can break up into particle-like images. Pixelated. My cell phone's camera is no exception &, a photograph may not transpose as intended. Nonetheless it's food for thought on this wintry day-

     The intention of this Peace Garden blog is for maintaining a space that ponders what it means to be human in our complex world. A one woman's quest for peace in the heart &, our world at large. Since the Peace Garden's inception in 2007, it has been a labor of love. At times not easy due to my own challenges which we all have enmeshed in our human condition. We are not only dreamers, but weavers. Taking our past experiences with the work necessary, & turning some of these painful situations, each minute fiber in the life of who we are, turning them out one by one into beautifully refined textured points in our own life's collage. There have been long periods in 2014, & the beginning of this year that barely a thread has been woven posted. We are all much more than anyone ever sees, of what we project. Our souls run deep...

After The Storm

          

     Six days after a massive blizzard here in the northeast we were hit once again. For the past three winters I no longer have to trek out at 6:30am to a former nursing job. My husband S*, Dolly & I reside in a pristine woodland of squirrels, chipmunks, birds, deer & coy wolves to name a few of our wildlife friends. The road we live on is a tributary ribbon that abuts the various developments which have spurted up over the past few decades. It's been a good match over the years, as our neighbors are nice. The biggest challenge for fifteen years or so was when our road was dirt, which presented more challenges than is worth mentioning. Needless to say my husband, I along with our many neighbors probably called the Town Hall more than any other section of the town.

     For a good part of the day we're snowed in. Our driveway is the length of a quarter mile & my husband has been doing our plowing with an off road truck all the years we've been here. It's a challenging job maintaining truck, plow & driveway. He does this from a place of love. Love of his family & love of the overall challenge of the task presented. Each time he goes out it's an exposition regarding the lay of the land. Since my brother in law's passing this past September our environment here feels different. We miss him. But nature is of her own nature, & we'll weather this as that's her way. The sadness & realization of his passing created elements inside somewhat of a tailspin, & due to a very great change we are still finding our sea legs. We're no longer those twenty something individuals that purchased this land in 1977. Our nest is now empty. We'll continue to take our time accessing what is right for us. Nature continues to remind us that nothing stays the same.  Everything changes, including our thoughts & feelings.

Dolly's Snowy Day Bath

     Let me re introduce you to Dolly our pup extraordinaire~! As you can see she's drying off from a very pleasant bath which worked out just fine with warm water & a bit of suds. What's not to enjoy~?! Dolly's five years & nine months now. Her forty-nine furry pounds were off to the vet recently for a yearly physical. All's well. And with that glowing report she was headed to the dogie parlor next for a bit of beautification. In less than a week her destination was the dogie hotel.   

     This is our second storm in six days. The first in this series was a rather massive blizzard. Today the billing is for two feet of a wintry mix. These winter venues are stressful as it is, but because we live in the woods my husband has been plowing us out for over thirty years. That in it's self is a challenge being the truck & plow often times breaks down. Sometimes it's a minor repair such as a chain or hose, and sometimes it's quite major keeping us snowed in until we can find someone to work us into their already busy schedule. Such is winter in New England!

     Here's Dolly's drenched look which reminds me of one of the young deer that live in our forest. It's her bubbles & white spots that does it.  Don't you agree?

     She certainly had no complaints at bath time, and she needed it after four days at the canine lodge. We went away for my husband's birthday. He loves to ski. So that's what we did, four days up in Maine for a blizzard-style skiing adventure with wonderful friends. A well needed change of scenery. What's not to love~?! Yes Dolly it's so good to be back with you, & now once again you smell fresh & clean. What happened to your sweet scent while we were away? Hmm when we play we pay. Arro. I can tell you agree~!