Fade

Fade
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Not sure about the blurring along the edges, but it's a nice picture.

Discipleship

"I'm messy and she'll just have to deal with it." That's the statement of one roommate on "Redesign" today. That statement made me so angry: the selfishness and aggression for others and, also, the lack of self-respect was so obvious. A peek at her bedroom as they looked for items to use in the living room project, showed that her stuff wasn't "messy" it was dirty. ugh.

On the other hand, a couple of weeks ago on "Small Space, Big Style," one homeowner, who had a very small space which required that he keep his bed in the living space, said that he made his bed every day "because I'm worth it."

Needless to say, the first room needed an intervention and the second was absolutely gorgeous. 'nuf said

Learning to live well is an ongoing apprenticeship: love, serenity, discipline.

Cymbidium

Cymbidium
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Both my bird baths are now broken, and my efforts to find replacement bowls are too late. The place I found that sold them is no longer in business. too bad

Totally Cool Day

Today's Calla Lily
Originally uploaded by vajra.

It's amazing how the mundane can be so delightful. I made two large pots of spaghetti sauce: one with meat, and the other without. I walked to Piedmont Grocery to get the mushrooms for the vegetarian sauce, using the walk to take my photos. I enjoyed scouring the sink after I had finished making the sauces. I found petting my kitty a moment of joy. All my e-mails were interesting. And I watched "Heroes," which is my new guilty pleasure.

Life is good.

An American Hero

William Potts
Originally uploaded by vajra.

This is a picture of William Potts. He is serving his county in Iraq. Look at him carefully. He is an American hero.

Some Special Saturdays

Some Saturdays it's fun to imagine riding a bike where the only speed is how fast your legs will go. Or sitting comfortably in a café watching people and listening to Norah Jones in the background and then tuning into the café's playlist and liking it. A LOT! And clouds darken and the sun wins out. And then home to immerse myself in "Heroes" which I've not seen on TV but can download from iTunes. Too cool.

Blogged with Flock

Cat Friday

Blogged with Flock

Oak Beams

Sidewalk Series 4
Originally uploaded by vajra.

The Oak Beams of New College, Oxford.

"New college, Oxford, is of rather late foundation, hence the name. it was probably founded around the late 16th century. It has, like other colleges, a great dining hall with big oak beams across the top, yes? These might be eighteen inches square, twenty feet long.

"Some five to ten years ago, so I am told, some busy entomologist went up into the roof of the dining hall witha penknife and poked at the beams and found that they were full of beetles. This was reported to the College Council, who met in some dismay, because where would they get beams of that caliber nowaday?

"One of the Junior Fellows stuck his neck out and suggested that there might be on College lands some oak. These colleges are endowed with pieces of land scattered across the country. So they called in the College Forester, who of course had not been near the college itself for some years, and asked him about oaks.

"And he pulled his forelock and said, 'Well sirs, we was wonderin' when you'd be askin'.'

"Upon further inquiry it was discovered that when the College was founded, a grove of oaks had been planted to replace the beams in the dining hall when they became beetly, because oak beams always become beetly in the end. This plan had been passed down from one Forester to the next for four hundred years. 'You don't cut them oaks. Them's for the College Hall.'

"A nice story. That's the way to run a culture."
___Gregory Bateson.

Community

IN THE COMMUNITY regulated only by laws of demands and supply, but protected from open violence, the persons who become RICH are generally speaking, industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insensitive and ignorant. The persons who remain POOR are the entirely foolish, the entirely wise, the idle, the reckless, the humble, the thoughtful, the dull, the imaginative, the sensitive, the well-informed, the improvident, the irregularly and impulsively wicked, the clumsy knave, the open thief, and the entirely merciful, just, and godly person.
___John Ruskin, 1862

Concrete

Concrete
Originally uploaded by vajra.

My connection is so slow; it took forever to upload my photo for today. So to bed.

Taking Measure

Taking Measure
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Time to make some significant changes in my schedule. I'm starting to feel really rested. All I need is the willingness to make the changes. I guess I'll sleep on it. :)

What It Means To Be Joyful

The Winter Garden
Originally uploaded by vajra.

All day long I've felt interested. All the little tasks I did I did with attention and interest. I enjoyed making dinner, making my bed, backing up photos. Everything seemed light and interesting. Joy.

Blog For Choice

Simply put, I am pro-choice because I believe in a woman's integrity.


"[Integrity] is often understood not only as a refusal to engage in behavior that evades responsibility, but as an understanding of different modes or styles in which some discourse takes place, and which aims at the discovery of some truth."

Sunday Evening

Sunday Evening
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Watching the new version of "Jane Eyre." I can't tell you how much I have come to dislike Mr. Rochester. Handsome, rich, intelligent, and completely self-centered and domineering. Each iteration of the story causes me to despise him more. I still like Jane, of course, but I cannot abide Mr. Rochester.

The Star

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

La Imaculada

La Imaculada
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Perhaps she is the patroness of Discardia. I helped Gina discard more than three shelves of books. I've been backing up my photos and then deleting them to free up space on my hard drive. Also changing art and pottery to change the energy in the living room. I'm expecting new shelves for our bedroom closet. In short, "Io, Discardia!"

Chips

Chips
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Cat Friday

Windowseat 6
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Winter Evening

Winter Evening
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Went to Sunrise Books to check out Scott's new iMac. As I was driving up the sun was setting and the cold plus the palm tree plus the beautiful sky made a great shot. Palm trees when it's r e a l l y cold are strange.

I'm An Angel

You scored as Angel. Angel: Angels are the guardians of all things, from the smallest ant to the tallest tree. They give inspiration, love, hope, and positive emotion. They live among humans without being seen. They are the good in all things, and if you feel alone, don't fear. They are always watching. Often times they merely stand by, whispering into the ears of those who feel lost. They would love nothing more then to reveal themselves, but in today's society, this would bring havoc and many unneeded questions. Give thanks to all things beautiful, for you are an Angel. Angel 50% Faerie 42% Mermaid 33% WereWolf 8% Dragon 8% Demon 0% What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!) created with QuizFarm.com

Under Construction

Finally, and for no apparent recent reason, the sidewalk in front of the house is being repaired. I did write several e-mails last Spring, with no response from the City. So imagine my surprise to find a sign on the tree yesterday saying "No Parking" and City trucks lined up on our side of the street. This morning: jack hammers. Too cool!

Tuesday Evening

Tuesday Evening
Originally uploaded by vajra.

It rained a bit this evening, enough to raise the temperature. Earlier than this picture the clouds were in a formation (sirius?) that I knew signaled a change in the weather but it certainly didn't feel like rain...red sky at night and all that. Nevertheless, it rained.

Truck

Truck
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Occasionally, very occasionally, I find graffiti interesting. This truck was parked outside Little Shin Shin and was completely covered with huge tags. The tags were so intricate that it seemed that the owner of the truck had specifically chosen that paint job.

Martin Luther King

""The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of far deeper malady with the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation. The will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for this and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is significant and profound change in American life and policy..."

Nipped In the Bud

Nipped In the Bud
Originally uploaded by vajra.

This magnolia bloomed too early. The cold snap came on after weeks of mild weather and it bloomed too soon.

Dogwood In Winter

Dogwood In Winter
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Ellen Feiss Switch Commercial

Ellen Feiss Switch Commercial. The best ever.

Cold Sunset

Cold Sunset
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Warm house.

It's really been a wonderful day although nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps, because it was a rather ordinary day, rather than the reverse. Small accomplishments. Tasks well done. Gentle pleasures.

Cat Friday

One Cool Cat
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Doing Small Tasks

Cold In California
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Laundry? check.
Fresh bedding? check.
Go to the market? check.
Rearrange cookbooks? check.
Upgrade iLife? check.
Clear kitchen workstation? check.
Continue magazine toss? check.
Upgrade iPhoto? check.

Nothing earth shattering but productive nonetheless.

Systems

Santa Familia
Originally uploaded by vajra.

I left many things undone today. I needed to work on some documents, rebates, filing, etc., and I just blew it off. I'll pay for it tomorrow by having to get up earlier than I would like. I guess it's time to return to using my PDA. I was just talking to Marge about it this morning; mentioning that I didn't have a need for it. life: it's a trickster.



Shrub spoke to the Nation this evening. I deliberately avoided it. I'll read the TX tomorrow in the New York Times.

You Had Me At Scrolling

MacWorld Best of Show

What was the most exciting product at MacWorld, other than the iPhone and iTV? George.
An iPod speaker system that is just awesome. The sound is fantastic and the remote/charging stand is really well thought out. It also can be changed to go with your decor. love. it.

The Chosen

The Chosen
Originally uploaded by vajra.

No energy to write about MacWorld. I owe Scott an Ethiopian lunch, but that's another story.

Early January

Early January
Originally uploaded by vajra.

The magnolias are covered with buds. It's warm during the day and mildly cold at night. If there's enough rain, we should have a riot of blooms in the next few week.

The Holy Blitz Rolls On

From an inteview an interview with Chris Hedges, the former New York Times reporter, about his new book, "American Fascists"
By Michelle Goldberg



Let's start with the title. A lot of liberals who write about the right see echoes of fascism in its rhetoric and organizing, but we tiptoe around it, because we don't want people to think that we're comparing James Dobson to Hitler or America to Weimar Germany. You, though, decided to be very bold in your comparisons to fascism.

You're right, "fascism" or "fascist" is a terribly loaded word, and it evokes a historical period, primarily that of the Nazis, and to a lesser extent Mussolini. But fascism as an ideology has generic qualities. People like Robert O. Paxton in the "Anatomy of Fascism" have tried to quantify them. Umberto Eco did it in "Five Moral Pieces," and I actually begin the book with an excerpt from Eco: "Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt." I think there are enough generic qualities that the group within the religious right, known as Christian Reconstructionists or dominionists, warrants the word. Does this mean that this is Nazi Germany? No. Does this mean that this is Mussolini's Italy? No. Does this mean that this is a deeply anti-democratic movement that would like to impose a totalitarian system? Yes.

You know, I come out of the church. I not only grew up in the church but graduated from seminary, and I look at this as a mass movement. I give it very little religious legitimacy, especially the extreme wing of it.

You say they would like to impose a totalitarian system. How much of a conscious goal do you think that is at the upper levels of organizing, with, say, somebody like Rod Parsley?

I think they're completely conscious of it. The level of manipulation is quite sophisticated. These people understand the medium of television, they understand the despair and brokenness of the people they appeal to, and how to manipulate them both for personal and financial gain. I look at these figures, and I would certainly throw James Dobson in there, or Pat Robertson, as really dark figures.
___ Salon.com

Agapanthus Seeds 3

Agapanthus Seeds 3
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Even in the heart of winter, the promise of life. The agapanthus seeds are so beautiful and graceful, still reminiscent of their summer glory.

Remembering

During the week of mourning for President Gerald Ford, I leaned that he was deeply religious. My respect for him grew immensely with that knowledge. He was extremely religious but he didn't use religion for self-aggrandizement or political purpose. He kept his relationship with his god private. Amen.

New Growth

New Growth
Originally uploaded by vajra.

This orchid is covered with blossoms. It shoudl be spectacular by Monday. I left it out until a few days ago: neglect seems to agree with it. I may put more of my orchids outdoors to see if that will encourage re-blooming.





Bud-bloom Fall to
Winter growing
choosing color

Blue Crane

Blue Crane
Originally uploaded by vajra.

3 miles in less than an hour at the Lafayette Reservoir. Felt good.

Cat Friday

Who Dat?
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Afternoon

Afternoon
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Unfolding

Unfolding
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Clean and clear desk. Great beginning.

Feathers

Feathers
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Sometime this week, sit down at your desk. Don't get up until you have written six letters...

Burnt Orange

Burnt Orange
Originally uploaded by vajra.

First day of the year? Fabulous.

1. Projects
2. Pay attention to feet, waist, and neck
3. One photo per day
4. Mindfulness

Happy New Year!

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. Three of Cups (Abundance): A time of merriment and reflection spent in the company of friends and loved ones. The conclusion of a matter in plenty and perfection. The strength of a diverse community being brought together. May suggest a celebration, festival, anniversary, wedding, baby shower, or other joyous gathering.