Meri's Play Place

Haiku My Heart "Strong Against the Storm" © 2017 Meri Arnett-Kremian/MeriMagic like a sentinel she stands, feet firmly planted strong against the storm

This week's theme for 52 Photos Project is water drops. Plenty of those falling  out of the sky  right now.  They beat a soft snare drum sound  all night on the skylight in my bathroom. Somehow, those water drops  seem most suited for soaking into the garden than capturing with my camera. I'll bless them, of course, but leave them to do their job. Which is to create shots like this one. "Ballerinas" ©2011 Meri Arnett-Kremian I got up early one morning  when the sun had broken through the clouds, remnants of the previous night's showers, and went out camera in hand to meditate through the view finder. Looking up looking down there was magic all around me.

To do list: 1. look for artistic inspiration and see where it leads. 2. prep for Wednesday's coaching mastery class 3.  figure out how to handle the "theater tickets for two different plays on the same night" problem 4.  work in a serious writing session this afternoon

Back from Hawaii to the chill and gloom. But I did find a little color to capture with my lens while I was there. It always amazes me how quickly sunsets happen. As you can see, we were there during "swells," which meant no swimming on many beaches, but provided lots of opportunities for experienced surfers. I'm a goner for color and decay, so this grabbed my attention. What's going on in your world?

cold winds howl outside she sips tea with flamingo  real time runs backward Haiku My Heart

For today's Postcards from Paradise I thought I'd take a wander through things I've seen  close to home that I captured with the Android cam. I drive my friends nuts because my phone's usually off and I hate texting. But it's a handy dandy thing to have a device that is small, discreet, and picture-snapping. Sometimes the big camera  is just to heavy to lug around.

Freezing Fog ©2013 Meri Arnett-Kremian pond frosted with ice trees fading like memories January fog Visit Haiku My Heart for links to other contributors

For Weekend Reflection and For Shadow Shot Sunday (thank goodness for phone cams and spontaneous shots)

I think that Mother Mary as an older woman was an activist for justice a crusader for peace didn't take no for an answer when only a yes would do ate spoons full of pomegranate seeds danced in the moonlight wove flowers in her hair and slathered honey into wounds she was a healer midwife a teacher and not altogether tame she was a woman with fire in her belly. A woman for all times. A woman for our time. A Virgin a Day

We seek her wisdom, ask for guidance in matters mundane and monumental. Our Lady, what should I do? we ask, like those seeking guidance from the Oracle at Delphi. Sometimes her answer comes in the words of a song, in a resonant phrase in book, in the insightful advice of a friend. Sometimes it's just a sense of knowing a sense of the rightness of a course of conduct that hadn't been apparent before. She waits until we seek her help then pats her lap and beckons us settle in for some mothering. She smooths back our hair and rubs our forehead in little circles until our eyelids grow heavy and then she whispers just what we need to  know. A Virgin a Day

Our Lady of the Arts - polyvore.com/merimagic Mary, the Blessed Virgin in Christian tradition, surely must be considered  Our Lady of the Arts. She has inspired frescoes on walls in ancient churches,  innumerable sculptures, gold-leafed religious icons galore. She speaks to us without words, heart to heart, bidding us to bore down to our essence and share it freely with the world. A Virgin a Day p.s Please visit Meri's Musings to see today's tribute to John Lennon. He died on this date in 1980.

"Our Lady of the Natural and Unnatural World" - created on Polyvore.com/merimagic I call her  "Our Lady of the Natural and Unnatural World." She is omnipresent, all-seeing, all-knowing. She is in the song of the birds, the preternatural stillness before the tornado, the glow on the margin of the horizon as the sun rises or sets with the turn of the earth. She is in every molecule of our bodies, in every grain of our spirits. We are breathing air that she once  inhaled and exhaled in her mortal state. She dreams clouds, showers in the rain. Her heart bursts, leaking joy, when we laugh. So laugh long and often. Our Lady has known enough sadness. you breathe miracles into being, Mary mine unloose the sacred A Virgin a Day Haiku My Heart

"Our Lady of Perpetual Woes" - created on Polyvore/MeriMagic I call her "Our Lady of Perpetual Woes." I'm sure you know her. She's the friend, the colleague, the cousin who makes a career of complaining about all the things that are wrong in her life. She sees the cup as half full. . .  or less. Any attempts you make to help her alter her perspective are rebuffed. She doesn't want to make a shift. She is the shadow of Our Lady, the part of her that wanted to lie down and quit when her burdens felt crushing. Only, unlike the Divine Mother, Our Lady of Perpetual Woes  chooses to suck on lemons instead of making lemonade. Sometimes, the only way to keep their darkness from seeping into your aura is to minimize contact or cut ties all together. We can't mother the whole world. A Virgin a Day

"Our Lady of Indigenous Peoples" created by MeriMagic on Polyvore When I think of Our Lady, I think of hope. Of compassion. Of miracles manifesting in unlikely places. Her image appears in many guises: on a grilled cheese sandwich, in colors of a plate glass window, Any place that people are moved  to look with their hearts. When I think of Mary, I think of all the indigenous peoples, converted to Catholicism by missionaries (and not always willingly), who found in the Divine Mother a source of comfort, a connection to the fertile earth, to birth and death, to the connective force that women represent. When I contemplate this image of Our Lady, I imagine her meditating. . . gathering strength to support all those who lean on her because she seems more approachable than God. I suspect that she is creating a blueprint in her mind of a world at peace, where there is enough for all, where Earth is cherished an...

"Our Lady of Fortune's Arrows"  So often,it seems like we're targets for fortune's arrows. Things happen that are outside our control, no matter how much we try to keep our lives  measured and fully predictable. Hurricanes roar ashore and wash away homes and all the ephemera  that makes up the collage of our lives. Lovers betray us and make us wonder how much of our relationship was mere fiction. Miscarriages, stillbirths, debilitating or even fatal illness, job losses or financial reversals, deaths of people we love. . .  we are not in control of  everything We can only choose  how we react to it. Will we, like the Holy Mother, look "what is" in the face and find the strength to move forward, perhaps with a heavy heart but full of resolve? Will we face down tyranny, abuse,  and ignorance with a heart of love  and the conviction that if not us, then who? Will we mov...