Not to make loss beautiful,
But to make loss the place
Where beauty starts. Where
the heart understands
For the first time
The nature of its journey.
Love, yes. The body
of the beloved as the gift
Bestowed. But only
Temporarily. Given freely,
But now to be earned.
Given without thought,
And now loss
Has made us thoughtful.
~ Gregory Orr ~
(Concerning The Book That Is the Body Of The Beloved)
For More Share the Joy Posts See Meri’s Musings
Photographer’s Note: I photographed Lena where she is sitting on the ground immediately outside the front door of her house. Dalina, her mom, asked me to do some portraits of Lena, as they have none. Here the late afternoon light and gentle breeze assisted me.
Waiting in Line
When you listen you reach
into dark corners and
pull out your wonders.
When you listen your
ideas come in and out
like they were waiting in line.
Your ears don’t always listen.
It can be your brain, your
fingers, your toes.
You can listen anywhere.
Your mind might not want to go.
If you can listen you can find
answers to questions you didn’t know.
If you have listened, truly
listened, you don’t find your
self alone.
~ Nick Penna, fifth grade ~
(In Poetic Medicine by John Fox)
About the Photographer:
Andre du Plessis hails originally from central South Africa and currently resides in the U.K. (London) where he works in private practice as a Physician with a unique Anesthesiology Specialty. His great love for photography began when he was a young boy of five, and has remained with him steadily since. The great motivator for his photographic adventures is never knowing where they will lead him. When asked about the spontaneity of his “Street Shoots” with regard to his South African series he responded in this way:
“In general, my subjects are people I do not know; in essence they are strangers to me at first. My objective is that the images I take of these people become something that transcends this void, and perhaps bridges any distance between us.”
~Andre du Plessis (bio)
For More Postcards From Paradise, Please visit recuerda mi corazon. There you will find more beautiful places to visit and enjoy.
Offering of Love
In Quiet and Equal Gaze
Renders Constancy
~Noelle Renee
6.23.11
A Note from the Photographer:
Photography is an elegiac art, a twilight art. Most subjects photographed are, just by virtue of being photographed, touched with pathos. All photographs are 'memento mori'. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt.
...Susan Sontag: American author, literary theorist, and political activist. 1933 – 2004
~I wish to dedicate this photograph of Lorraine Wildeman to Phyllis Clarke for her constant assistance, encouragement and vision. Thanks Phyllis.
“You bring poetry to poverty and pain, and you bring us closer to South Africa through just a few people…” excerpt from a quoted response to these images by Phyllis Clarke on 1x.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andre du Plessis hails originally from South Africa and now resides in London where he practices as a physician when he is not capturing these phenomenal images.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Linked to Haiku My Heart.
For More Wonderful Haiku Posts, please go to Recuerda mi Corazon. We are an inclusive group of Haiku-ers and would love for you to join us. Happy One Year Anniversary of Haiku My Heart Everyone!
Some say you're lucky
If nothing shatters it.
But then you wouldn't
Understand poems or songs.
You'd never know
Beauty comes from loss.
It's deep inside every person:
A tear tinier
Than a pearl or thorn.
It's one of the places
Where the beloved is born.
~ Gregory Orr ~
South African Shebeens~
In South Africa and Zimbabwe, shebeens are most often located in black townships as an alternative to pubs and bars, where under apartheid and the Rhodesian era, black Africans could not enter a pub or bar reserved for whites.
Originally, shebeens were operated illegally, selling homebrewed and home-distilled alcohol and providing patrons with a place to meet and discuss political and social issues. Often, patrons and owners were arrested by the police, though the shebeens were frequently reopened because of their importance in unifying the community and providing a safe place for discussion. During the apartheid era shebeens became a crucial meeting place for activists, some attracting working class activists and community members, while others attracted lawyers, doctors and musicians.
Shebeens also provided music and dancing, allowing patrons to express themselves culturally, which helped give rise and support the musical genre 'kwaito'. Currently, shebeens are legal in South Africa and have become an integral part of South African urban culture, serving commercial beers as well as 'umqombothi', a traditional African beer made from maize and sorghum. Shebeens still form an important part of today's social scene. In contemporary South Africa, they serve a function similar to juke joints for African Americans in the rural south. They represent a sense of community, identity, and belonging.
Today, they appeal to South Africa's youth, and are mostly owned by men. Shebeens are bouncing back as South Africans try to preserve some of their cultural heritage. (Wikipedia)
Linked to Share the Joy Thursday with Meri’s Musings*
About the Photographer:
Andre du Plessis hails originally from central South Africa and currently resides in the U.K. (London) where he works in private practice as a Physician with a unique Anesthesiology Specialty. His great love for photography began when he was a young boy of five, and has remained with him steadily since. The great motivator for his photographic adventures is never knowing where they will lead him. When asked about the spontaneity of his “Street Shoots” with regard to his South African series he responded in this way:
“In general, my subjects are people I do not know; in essence they are strangers to me at first. My objective is that the images I take of these people become something that transcends this void, and perhaps bridges any distance between us. When I look at these photos afterwards, although these people might be strangers, I want the photo to express that I feel a kinship, an understanding, and that respect for one another is tangible. In my South African series, very few of my subjects are wealthy; they do not have the goodies that you or I might have. However, I want the person in front of the lens to be captured in the wholesomeness of who they feel they are. Their environment is captured merely as an addition to complete the canvas.”
~Taken from Andre du Plessis’s Bio. with permission.
Matins
II (excerpt)
I arise today
Blessed by all things,
Wings of breath,
Delight of eyes,
Wonder of whisper,
Intimacy of touch,
Eternity of soul,
Urgency of thought,
Miracle of health,
Embrace of God.
May I live this day.
~ John O"Donohue ~
(Eternal Echoes)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Pour Mes Amis Francais)
Matines
II (extrait)
Je me lève aujourd'hui
Béni par toutes choses,
Ailes de souffle,
Délice des yeux,
Merveille de chuchoter,
L'intimité du toucher,
Eternité de l'âme,
Urgence de la pensée,
Miracle de la santé,
Étreinte de Dieu.
Puis-je vivre cette journée.
~ John O "Donohue ~
About the Photographer:
Val Tilu hails from Aix en Provence, France.
In her own words:
“Cigale photographe, Passionnée par l'image, j'aime la beauté des gens et du monde, la lumière comme l'obscurité, la nostalgie de l'enfance...”
"On a cigada trail, my camera loves to capture images, pictures, life, objects,views. I love the beauty of a face, a silhouette, the light and its textures , the darkness, the shadows, the nostalgia of childhood ..."
If you live the life you love, you will receive shelter and blessings. Sometimes the great famine of blessings in and around us derives from the fact that we are not living the life we love; rather, we are living the life that is expected of us. We have fallen out of rhythm with the secret signature and light of our own nature.
John O'Donohue
For More Postcards from Paradise, Please visit Rebecca’ s Blog, recuerda mi corazon. You will be so glad you did!
Seasons is a surreal motion graphics animation based on the changing seasons. Beginning with spring, the richly hued illustrations in this work come alive as they transform in color and rhythmic tempo to reveal the full seasonal spectrum.
Heaven by Nicolas Evariste with kind permission
Petals Shaped Like Tears
Tender Mercies Lit By Love
Sun Sets on One Flower.
~Noelle Renee
6-16-11
For More Wonderful Haiku My Heart, Please go to Recuerda mi Corazon. We are a good group of welcoming Haiku-ers, always looking for more to join in!
When a baby is taken from the wet nurse,
it easily forgets her
and starts eating solid food.
Seeds feed awhile on ground,
then lift up into the sun.
So you should taste the filtered light
and work your way toward wisdom
with no personal covering.
That's how you came here, like a star
without a name. Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights.
~ Rumi
(Mathnawi III, 1284-1288)
linked to Share the Joy Thursdays with “Meri’s Musings”. For more Share the Joy stop by Meri’s blog.
Ursula I Abresch is a photographer in the West Kootenays, in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She was born in Argentina, raised in both Argentina and Chile. She moved to the USA to attend university, and eventually moved permanently to Canada.
Ursula is married. She and her husband have five children. She has a degree in Education with a concentration in Art and History. She now dedicates most of her time to photography.
Directed by: Tobias Gundorff Boesen
Animation by: Katrine Kiilerich, Frederik Villumsen, Christophe Peladan, Tobias Gundorff Boesen
Light and Photography: Martin Bested, Andreas Berg
2010 The Animation Workshop
My Bachelorfilm from The Animation Workshop. Set to the song "Slow Show" by The National, who were kind enough to allow me to use their music. It is a non-commercial short film, intended for festivals.
It is shot in the forests surrounding Viborg, Denmark. My main inspiration was Victorian literature, and "Boxer" by the national. It was painful to finish, as shooting stop motion in the forest at night for longer periods turned out to offer a lot of problems :) But it was also great fun and adventure.
My Review ~
This is a beautifully done little film . The characters are tender and one becomes involved with this little animal family so that there is a sadness and a feeling of loss. It takes work to achieve that in a short film. The ending is wonderful and surprising. Lovely, magical, inspired. Beautiful scenery and very creative animation work.
Noelle Renee
 |
| Blue and Gold by Nicolas Evariste with kind permission |
There is a grace approaching
that we shun as much as death,
it is the completion of our birth.
It does not come in time,
but in timelessness
when the mind sinks into the heart
and we remember.
It is an insistent grace that draws us
to the edge and beckons us surrender
safe territory and enter our enormity.
We know we must pass
beyond knowing
and fear the shedding.
But we are pulled upward
none-the-less
through forgotten ghosts
and unexpected angels,
luminous.
And there is nothing left to say
but we are That.
And that is what we sing about.
~ Stephen Levine ~
(Breaking the Drought)
About the Photographer: Milan Malovrh hails from Trzic, Slovenia. Photography is his primary hobby for which he has a deep passion. He loves Lippizaner horses! You will find more of his heavenly works and many images of these beautiful White Angels on 1x.com and his homepage
For more Wonderful Postcards from Paradise go to Rebecca’s blog! And Don’t forget that today is the last day to bid on the benefit auction for Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots ending at 6 pm!
Click on this button to go to the Gallery of Hope and make a last Bid on a Shrine!
You may also offer a donation to this worthy cause, knowing that you helped in some small way to help raise a roof of love over the lives of hundreds of children in Oaxaca, Mexico, who are served daily by this amazing organization. Please consider donating whatever amount you can HERE.
Water Carves Through Stone
Silken Vein of Liquid Light
A World Shaped by Dreams
~Noelle Renee
Poverty and Struggle are Twin siblings with Despair and Lost Hope; these have been with us since time immemorial. They are, in many respects, foundational to cultural relationships in which there exist the “Haves and the Have-nots.
One Group lives with little to nothing so that the Other Group, more fortunate, by birth or by virtue of Political Aggression may live with Entitlement. The dysfunctional nature of the United States ongoing relationship with Mexico may be perceived in this way.
But History is Not graven in Stone and Every
So Often things Change for the Better~
If Water can cut a path through rock, shifting the course of its luminous thread, its one, bright dream~
What other changes will follow?
Can the course of a Life be changed if a pattern of thought is shifted?
Will the thinker or the person
whose life is transformed by that thought
ever be the same again?
For now and ever after, each one
is inextricably intertwined with the other
in a dance of compassionate cooperation
and human transformation.
Waiting by Art Lionse with kind permission
I cannot fly or make something appear in my hand,
I cannot make the heavens open or the earth tremble,
I can live with myself, and I am amazed at myself, my love,
my beauty,
I am taken by my failures, astounded by my fears,
I am stubborn and childish,
in the midst of this wreckage of life they incurred,
I practice being myself,
and I have found parts of myself never dreamed of by me,
they were goaded out from under rocks in my heart
when the walls were built higher,
when the water was turned off and the windows painted black.
I followed these signs
like an old tracker and followed the tracks deep into myself,
followed the blood-spotted path,
deeper into dangerous regions, and found so many parts of myself,
who taught me water is not everything,
and gave me new eyes to see through walls,
and when they spoke, sunlight came out of their mouths,
and I was laughing at me with them,
we laughed like children and made pacts to always be loyal,
who understands me when I say this is beautiful?
~Excerpt from Jimmy Baca’s “Who Understands Me But Me”
If you want to go to a place where water carves rock and dreams become reality; where possibility mixed with love and generosity leaps beyond the boundaries and limitations of the “haves and the “have nots'” to create an amazing, cooperative melting pot of artistic expression for the purpose of raising a crumbling roof over the heads of deserving and wonderful children, then go to Rebecca’s blog. There, you will find a Gallery of Hope filled with the handiwork of 27 AMAZING ARTISTS whose work is beyond compare. Each shrine has been created with love, compassion and the intention that each child connected to Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots would have the opportunity to go to school, perhaps for the first time.
Won’t you travel over to Rebecca’s blog, register at the Gallery of Hope and Feast your eyes on the beauty that awaits you there? You will be so glad that you did. The button below will also lead you to the post for the Auction benefit. The auction began on Sunday, June 5, 2011 and ends Sunday June 12, 2011 at 6 pm. Thank you.
Que tu corazón sea bendito por su amabilidad!
~Noelle Renee
Change Your thinking, Change Your Actions, Change a Life.
Photo via Silver Planet
Jodi Bauman first visited Oaxaca (Pronunciation: \wä-ˈhä-kä\), Mexico on vacation. She was charmed by the city’s intricate architecture and the dramatic landscape, but disturbed to see young children, clearly living in poverty, selling trinkets and candy in the streets day and night.
Jodi feared that these children would never be able to break out of poverty’s vicious cycle without an education. Wanting to do something, Jodi started by sponsoring individual children, helping them enroll in school and paying for school supplies and uniforms. She persuaded others to do the same, and in 1996, the Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots child sponsorship program was created.
Jodie moved to Oaxaca and chartered a sister organization, El Centro de Esperanza Infantil (the Center of Hope for Children). In addition to their child sponsorship program, the Center also has a children’s soup kitchen and a volunteer nurse.
If you have ever wondered how you can make a real impact on a child’s life and future, there is a way. Please read on.
Currently, the program is looking to make physical improvements to its facilities so that it can continue to serve the many children that it helps each day. Right now, the roof of the main building is in danger of falling in and other improvements need to be made as well to serve the more than 600 children who are now served by the center. This letter from the organization’s President explains in the most compassionate way, the situation at hand for these children and how deeply meaningful your help would be. In tandem with this explanation is the promotion of Rebecca Brooks’ Benefit Auction on Recuerda mi Corazon, to help Raise money to Raise The Roof! Please visit her blog and her Gallery of Hope and Make a Bid for your Support Today. The auction ends Sunday, June 12, at 6pm.
Dear Friends:
I write to ask for your support in “raising the roof” – literally and figuratively – on a building in Oaxaca, Mexico. This building is home to a vitally important resource: El Centro de Esperanza Infantil. The 2,500 square-foot building houses a program that enables hundreds of impoverished children in Oaxaca to attend school.
The U.S.-based organization that funds the Centro de Esperanza Infantil, or CEI, is called Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots. It was founded in the late-1990’s by an extraordinary American couple who, while vacationing in Oaxaca, were troubled by the number of children they saw begging in the streets during the day instead of attending school. When they began to ask why, they learned that while education was free, the Mexican system requires children to provide their own books, uniforms and other supplies. They were determined to help fund these expenses – child by child – and since then, that vision has been realized through a sponsorship program and through the establishment of CEI.
When it was first purchased in 2000, CEI was a large, crumbling colonial structure that had no interior walls and a pile of debris in its center. It has now been renovated room by room, and today it is a cheerful and lively center with a library, a lunchroom, a nurse’s office, a computer center and several administrative offices. A sunny central patio is the hub of the center, constantly full of children doing their homework, working with volunteer tutors or just playing with friends.
CEI has literally changed the lives of the children who have been able to complete their education and have moved out of dire poverty. Now, more than ten years since it first opened, the building’s roof is in danger of falling – and we’re looking for funds to “raise the roof” and make improvements to the building necessary to serve even more children. Please help us maintain this safe space for the nearly 600 children who are currently served by the organization, and contribute anything you can to our “Raise the Roof” campaign for 2011.
My sincerest thanks,
W. David Slaymaker, President
________________________________________________________________
SHRINE BENEFIT: Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots
Rebecca, of recuerda mi corazon, is the host for a Shrine Auction to Benefit Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots. As you can see from reading the testimony above Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots is a well -established nonprofit whose goal is to make sure that children who normally have no opportunity to have an education finally have that chance because of generous people like you reading this right now. Twenty-Seven Amazing Artists whose skill, generosity and love knows no bounds have come together to offer their best work ~ work that carries with it the future of children and the compassion of strangers that will soon become friends. Won’t you travel over to Rebecca’s blog, register at the Gallery of Hope and Feast your eyes on the beauty that awaits you there. You will be so glad that you did. The button below will also lead you to the post for the Auction benefit. The auction began on Sunday, June 5, 2011 and ends Sunday June 12, 2011 at 6 pm. Thank you.
Que tu corazón sea bendito por su amabilidad!
~Noelle Renee
Click on this link and it will take you to the Auction post. Thank you!
an old postcard photo taken in Oaxaca Mexico shows a girl carrying both a baby and a basket.
Otomi Indian Mother Postcard
This postcard was mailed from Mexico to the US in 1947. The photo was taken by well known Mexican photographer Luis Marquez and is titled "Madre Indigena. Otomi Indian Mother."
an old postcard photo of a Zapotec mother and child at the ruins of Mitla Oaxaca. The costumes are totally unlike those worn at Mitla today
Inditas. Old undated postcard from Mexico titled Inditas shows a small indigenous girl carrying a smaller sibling
Oaxaca Gathering Cochineal
In this detail from one of the murals located in the Museo del Palacio in Oaxaca Mexico, two women gather cochineal insects from a nopal cactus. The woman in the front is wearing a half gourd on her head. In her basket is a large black pottery olla. This places the scene near San Bartolo Coyotepec, where the barro negro is made. Cochineal insects were one of the five animals that were domesticated by ancient peoples of Mexico. The tiny insects are dried, then crushed, and their powdered remains are mixed with lime juice and water and used to dye textiles in Oaxaca.
__________________________________________________________________________
SHRINE BENEFIT: Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots
Rebecca, of recuerda mi corazon, is the host for a Shrine Auction to Benefit Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots, a well -established nonprofit whose goal is to make sure that children who normally have no opportunity to have an education finally have that chance. Twenty-Seven Amazing Artists whose skill, generosity and love knows no bounds have come together to offer their best work ~ work that carries with it the future of children and the compassion of strangers that will become friends. Won’t you travel over to Rebecca’s blog, register at the Gallery of Hope and Feast your eyes on the beauty that awaits you there. You will be so glad that you did. The button below will also lead you to the post for the Auction benefit. The auction began on Sunday, June 5, 2011 and ends Sunday June 12, 2011 at 6 pm. Thank you.
Que tu corazón sea bendito por su amabilidad!
~Noelle Renee
Mexican Children ‘70’s by William Mahan with kind permission
found Ipoderac as a support alternative for children and youth that had suffered from social exclusion. 
Behind the Dream Wall
Hope Floats Brightly, Light as Air
Splashing as it Falls.
~Noelle Renee 6-3-11
For More Haiku My Heart, Please visit Recuerda mi Corazon. It is Springtime there and wonderful things are happening!
About the Photographer:
During the week I work as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, however my weekends are spent exploring the streets of Melbourne. My work is influenced by the Australian artist Jeffrey Smart; I try to capture a surreal starkness of the urban landscape, often with the inclusion of a human form. Although there is now an indistinct line between photography and digital art, I hope the essence of my work remains the photographic capture, a moment in time captured through a photographer's eye. My work therefore is more in the tradition of street photography, however blended with elements of digital manipulation.
~Adrian Donoghue from 1x.com
This image was taken at the water wall at the Melbourne Arts Centre, a very popular place for photography.
© Marco Benedetti. All rights reserved posted with kind permission
On the Road
Though this land is not my own
I will never forget it,
or the waters of its ocean,
fresh and delicately icy.
Sand on the bottom is whiter than chalk,
and the air drunk, like wine.
Late sun lays bare
the rosy limbs of the pine trees.
And the sun goes down in waves of ether
in such a way that I can’t tell
if the day is ending, or the world,
or if the secret of secrets is within me again.
1964
~Jane Kenyon
A strange man uses holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves.
About the Photographer: Marco Benedetti is a delightful young and extremely talented photographer who hails from Bergamo, Italy. You can find many of his stunning photos of the natural world, macro, black and white on 1x.com, which will lead you to his personal Homepage . You may also view an interesting variety of his work on http://www.photoemotive.com.
