Oh You Beautiful Doll!

  from Just Imagine Dolls  (so real you would swear she wasn’t a doll !) . 
Katja (Caucasian)  21.5" tall, LE 120
She has red blond human hair, and mouth blown grey blue glass eyes body.  Full vinyl body, with joints in the neck, shoulders, waist, thighs.  Katja is wearing a sleeveless light pink cotton dress with rose print. Attached cotton underskirt with a tulle flounce. Short sleeved white linen vest with a green white checkered trim a little flounce and silk lace rose embroidery.  White leather shoes with a pink trim and a leather flower application and topped off with a  white felt hat with a green trim with a flower application.

Be Careful What You Wish For…

Alma ~ this is so worth watching in full screen. One of the best animations I have seen in some time.
[ Full Screen recommended ]
Written and Directed by: Rodrigo Blaas

This is not my usual, but the animation was so wonderful, I had to share it.

The Paring Knife by Michael Oppeheimer

 

The Paring Knife

 by

Michael Oppenheimer

    I found a knife under the refrigerator while the woman I love and I were cleaning our house. It was a small paring knife that we lost many years before and had forgotten about. I showed the knife to the woman I love and she said, "Oh. Where did you find it?" After I told her, she put the knife on the table and then went into the next room and continued to clean. While I cleaned the kitchen floor, I remembered something that happened four years before that explained how the knife had gotten under the refrigerator.
    We had eaten a large dinner and had drunk many glasses of wine. We turned all the lights out, took our clothing off, and went to bed. We thought we would make love, but something happened and we had an argument while making love. We had never experienced such a thing. We both became extremely angry. I said some very hurtful things to the woman I love. She kicked at me in bed and I got out and went into the kitchen. I fumbled for a chair and sat down. I wanted to rest my arms on the table and then rest my head in my arms, but I felt the dirty dishes on the table and they were in the way. I became incensed. I swept everything that was on the table onto the floor.    The noise was tremendous, but then the room was very quiet and I suddenly felt sad. I thought I had destroyed everything. I began to cry. The woman I love came into the kitchen and asked if I was all right. I said, "Yes." She turned the light on and we looked at the kitchen floor. Nothing much was broken, but the floor was very messy. We both laughed and then went back to bed and made love. The next morning we cleaned up the mess, but obviously overlooked the knife.
     I was about to ask the woman I love if she remembered that incident when she came in from the next room and without saying a word, picked up the knife from the table and slid it back under the refrigerator.

I heard this story on NPR last night. For some reason it brought me to tears. I thought I would share it.

~Noelle Renee

Postcards from Paradise: In the Beginning

 

The Will o the Wisp ©Art Lionse  with kind permission

Sometimes simplicity rises
like a blossom of fire
from the white silk of your own skin.
You were there in the beginning

Galaxy ©Art Lionse with kind permission

you heard the story, you heard the merciless
and tender words telling you where you had to go.
Exile is never easy and the journey
itself leaves a bitter taste. But then,
when you heard that voice, you had to go.
You couldn't sit by the fire, you couldn't live
so close to the live flame of that compassion
you had to go out in the world and make it your own

Elfin©Art Lionse with kind permission

so you could come back with
that flame in your voice, saying listen...
this warmth, this unbearable light, this fearful love...
It is all here, it is all here.
~ David Whyte ~

(Fire in the Earth)

For More Postcards from Paradise Please go to Recuerda mi Corazon and be washed with beauty on your Sunday morning.

About the Photographer: Art Lionse hails from the south of France. He is a researcher who spends every spare moment chasing exquisite light with his camera. He is a lover of nature and enjoys photographing those things that often surprise us while we are walking. He captures ordinary plants and flowers with a fresh eye. For his macro work, as you see here, whether outdoors or in a studio, he uses natural light to make the pictures look more genuine. I am grateful for his generosity in allowing me to use these lovely images. You can find more of his work on 1x.com, fotoblur, http://www.photopoly.net/breathtaking-flower-portraits-by-art-lionse/, and photo.net

Drawing Inspiration

Love
Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills.
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.
Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn't matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn't always understand.

~ Czeslaw Milosz ~

(Collected Poems)

 

Drawing Inspiration

'A man addicted to drinking and and deeply tied to old habits, finds mysterious sketches on the park bench that he visits every day. As these pictures stir his thoughts, he begins to notice the world around him and to reflect upon his own place within it. He meets a young boy whose innocent encouragement helps to release him from his self destructive social withdrawal and unlocks a part of his character that had been long forgotten.'

 

Directed By
Tim McCourt
messytimbo.blogspot.com
and Wesley Louis
librabear.blogspot.com/
Story by Steve Stamp
Written By Tim McCourt and Steve Stamp

Haiku My Heart: A Lucky Misadventure

 

Un cycliste ailé
Sur mésaventure chance
Lui offre les étoiles

~Noelle Renee 5/26/11

A winged bicyclist
On lucky misadventure
Offers her the stars.

~Noelle Renee

 

The story you are about to watch for the next three minutes and a few seconds is one that reminds us that although we might often meet by chance, we are not meant to be alone, and once we know the warmth and kindness of being loved, appreciated and included, we cannot go back to a solitary existence.

“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves”

Teilhard de Chardin

Paraphernalia

Sabrina’s words: 

My third year film at Calarts, but made mostly at Gobelins school in France, where I am studying abroad for the semester.
The story of an anemic little recluse of a girl who makes a friend at the expense of her ceiling.

For more wonderful Haiku My Heart posts please visit Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon. I promise your experiences will be a happy one.

Share the Joy Thursday: Women in Trees

On Every Leaf of Every Tree

The air around was trembling bright
and full of dancing specks of light
While butterflies were dancing too
Between the shining green and blue
I might not watch, I might not stay
I ran along the meadow way.

The straggling brambles caught my feet
The clover field was, oh! so sweet;
I heard a singing in the sky,
and busy things went buzzing by;
and how it came I cannot tell,
but all the hedges sang as well.

Along the clover field I ran
To where the little wood began,
and there I understood at last
Why I had come so far, so fast
On every leaf of every tree
A Fairy sat and smiled at me!
By Rose Fyleman

 

Note: It gives me great joy to see how closely the natural world resembles the human female form in all its glory.

(Okay, this last one isn’t a fairy, but it was too beautiful to leave out. )

See Meri’s Musings for more Share the Joy Thursday posts

Postcards from Paradise: Snowy Egrets

snowy egrets © anders selland  with kind permission

 

If the confident animal coming toward us
had a mind like ours,
the change in him would startle us.
But to him his own being is endless,
undefined, and without regard
for his condition: clear,
like his eyes. Where we see future,
he sees all, and himself
in all, made whole for always.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

From the Eighth Duino Elegy

 

About the Photographer: Anders Selland hails from the small city of Arendal in south Norway. Taking photographs is currently a hobby that he enjoys tremendously. He likes photographing mostly wildlife and landscapes. The photo above was taken in the dark. The location is a river in Spain and the light source was from some nearby buildings.

For More Postcards from Paradise, please visit Recuerda mi Corazon.

Haiku My Heart: The Life of a Seedling

 

Caribbean Lily © 2008 THOM BROMMERICH

 

Seeds of our nature

May tempt us to run from what

is truly natural.

~Noelle Renee

5/20/11

 

I found the delightful, short little Independent animated film below on the life of a seed on Vimeo. I hope you enjoy it.

For More Haiku My Heart, Please visit Recuerda mi Corazon! where the seeds of love and friendship are sown each week. Please join us!

Share the Joy Thursday: Reverie ~ a film

It gives me great Joy to find amazing little independent works of art like this created by young artists that hail from Europe. This little gem comes from Belgium. It is a coming of age film that speaks to the heart of inner transformation, taking place in only a moment. It is a beautiful little Indie film that I happened upon last night on Vimeo. I was completely entranced. I hope that you enjoy it. It just came out just this month.

~Noelle Renee

For more Share the Joy posts see Meri’s Musings!

Smile?

Smile? by Mohammad Reza Momeni  with kind permission

WE HAVE NOT COME TO TAKE PRISONERS

We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.

We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.

Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.

Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.

We have a duty to befriend
Those aspects of obedience
That stand outside of our house
And shout to our reason
"O please, O please,
Come out and play."

For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,

But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom and
Light!

~ Hafiz ~

(The Gift ~ versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

 

About the Photographer: Mohammad Reza Momeni hails from Islamic Republic of Esfahan, Iran. His images convey a depth of feeling and experience rarely seen in portraits of children. You may find more of his wonderful work on 1x.com.

The DCI movement                    
Defence for Children International (DCI) is an independent non-governmental organisation that has been promoting and protecting children’s rights on a global, regional, national and local level for 32 years.
DCI is represented through its national sections and associated members in 40 countries worldwide. Its International Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The DCI movement was founded in 1979, the International Year of the Child, at a time when few international structures were dedicated to a rights-based approach in addressing the many challenges facing the world’s children.
DCI was at the forefront in the drafting process and international lobby for the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its work continues to be embedded in these fundamental principles. In 2009, DCI celebrated its 30th anniversary: a birthday it shares with the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This highlighted DCI’s historical role as a leading advocate for the adoption of the Convention and one of the first organisations to work from the concept of children’s human rights.
http://www.defenceforchildren.org/
DCI and The Issue of Child Labour ^{http://missionfreeiran.org/2010/05/28/end-child-labor/ (a site I discovered).}
Child labour and access to education is a serious concern in a number of the countries in which DCI works. DCI believes that any initiatives to end child labour must address its root causes, such as poverty, and must emphasise the right to education.
In 2007, DCI launched a Campaign for Inclusive Education to address the issue entitled “No Kids Without Education: We Can all Make a Difference”.
The goal of the Campaign for Inclusive Education is to guarantee that 100% of school-aged working children and adolescents effectively exercise their right to a complete and quality education.
To learn more about the Campaign for Inclusive Education, please see the following resources:
• DCI Child Labour Newsletter (EN / FR / SP)
• How Youth Can Make a Difference
• How Children Can Make a Difference
• How Teachers Can Make a Difference
• How Governments Can Make a Difference
• How Parents and Communities Can Make a Difference
In January 2001, DCI’s International Secretariat created a Child Labour Desk, with the aim of reinforcing DCI's action on the prevention and elimination of child labour, especially in its most hazardous forms, and strengthening DCI’s efforts to protect all working children.
The programme (which was completed in 2006) had the following objectives:

• Through the promotion of education, reduce the numbers of children involved in the worst forms of child labour, and those who are working below the minimum age of employment;

• Mainstream child labour and child rights standards into all national and international policies, and influence the formulation and implementation of policies concerning children and their families;

• Promote the participation of children in awareness-raising on issues concerning children’s rights and child labour.

Participating national sections, including DCI-Cameroon, DCI-Togo, DCI-Paraguay and DCI-Ecuador met with teachers in schools to set guidelines and evaluation criteria for child-rights friendly and inclusive school environments for working children.
For more information about the programme, please contact: info@dnicostarica.org
What we do
At the global level, the DCI movement is united in its commitment to working for children’s rights in juvenile justice. DCI works to protect, defend and advocate for the rights of children and young people in conflict with the law.
DCI national sections develop and implement programmes in response to the needs of children in their countries. In addition to juvenile justice, some of these include:
•    Child labour
•    Violence against children
•    Children in Armed Conflict
•    Sexual abuse and exploitation
•    Child trafficking
•    Access to education
•    Migration
•    Child participation
DCI in Action
DCI uses the following strategies to promote and protect child rights:

• Direct Intervention

DCI provides direct assistance and support to children in need. Many DCI national sections run socio-legal defence centres which represent children in conflict with the law and take on cases where children are being imprisoned without cause. Other DCI sections provide support and rehabilitation services to child workers and victims of trafficking.

• Advocacy and lobby

DCI advocates at national and international level for the development of policies and practices which are in the best interests of the child. This involves lobbying States to adopt national policies which reflect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and urging the Human Rights Council and other UN bodies to take action against gross violations of children’s rights.

• Research and monitoring

DCI researches and monitors the practical application of children’s rights according to international standards and reports on abuses and violations. DCI also researches pressing concerns in children’s rights, offering recommendations and mobilising resources for further action.

• Training and capacity building

DCI provides training to members of the community on the UN Convention on the Rights of the child, including strategies for promoting children’s human rights. DCI also works with police officers, judges and other professionals to train them in guaranteeing the rights of children in juvenile justice systems. In the area of child labour, some DCI national sections train employers and teachers on methods for ensuring that child workers have access to a quality education.
Donate
DCI needs your support to continue to research, document, advocate and ACT.
Defence for Children International relies on the generous donations of individuals and organisations to continue its work to promote and protect the rights of children around the world.
There are a number of different options to secure your donation:
http://www.defenceforchildren.org/donate-now.html
* all information on DCI above was taken directly from DCI website.

Postcards from Paradise: Briefly it Enters, and Briefly Speaks

 

Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks

by Jane Kenyon

 Octavio Ocampo “Mouth of the Flower”

I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years. . . .
“Buddha” by Octavio Ocampo

I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper. . . . 
Wakeful Rabbit by Maggie Taylor

When the young girl who starves sits down to a table she will sit beside me. . . . 

 I am food on the prisoner's plate. . .

I am water rushing to the wellhead, filling the pitcher until it spills. . . .

The Patient Gardener by Maggie Taylor

I am the patient gardener of the dry and weedy garden. . . .

I’m Grown Up Now by Maggie Taylor

I am the stone step, the latch, and the working hinge. . . .

David LaChapelle

I am the heart contracted by joy. . .

the longest hair, white before the rest. . . .

Many Pretty Things by Maggie Taylor

 

I am there in the basket of fruit presented to the widow. . . .

 Ecstasy of lilies by Octavio Ocampo

I am the musk rose opening unattended, the fern on the boggy summit. . . .

Kiss of the Sea by Octavio Ocampo

I am the one whose love overcomes you, already with you when you think to call my name. . . .

~Jane Kenyon

(collected Poems 2005)

More about Jane Kenyon’s life here

For more Postcards from Paradise Please go to Recuerda mi Corazon for a heavenly experience!

Haiku My Heart: Fine Furry Fellow

“Fergus” by Noelle Renee 2011

Candle lit in hope

Prayers for a fine furry friend

Home in the Morning.

~Noelle Renee

 

My Little Fergus has been hurt. He was attacked by some wild animal outside and was bitten in the lower stomach. He fractured his back leg pretty badly possibly from a fall. They have cleaned the wound, anesthetized him sutured him, given him morphine and today they set his fractured  leg. He is still at the hospital with an I.V. and a lot of pain medication running through him.  They had to open up the fracture site because the bone was shattered so badly.  I have been very worried about him.  I feel so badly that I let him outside. He seems so sure of himself most of the time. He could barely move last night, he was in so much pain.

When he comes home I have to keep him in a crate for 6-12 weeks because he will have a cast and huge pins in his leg.Please  keep us in your thoughts.  He is such a special little kitty and I have so many pictures of him on my computer. He has been  such a buddy to me. I just wanted to let you know. The vet bill is prohibitive but I am working on finding ways to pay it over time. I am just very glad that he will be alright and will walk fine once the cast is off.

When I went to the vet today, they told me that someone had made a donation toward the bill. I couldn’t imagine who that would be, but it was my best friend of 25 years. I had been on the phone with her earlier in tears and she called the vet and put down $500.00. I started crying at the pet hospital when they told me, and I called her while I was still there. They were good tears though, the kind you have when you know someone cares so much about you that they do something completely amazing without telling you. I am very grateful for good friends. Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Peace and Light,

Noelle Renee

For More Haiku My Heart Please see Recuerda mi Corazon.

http://noelleclearwater.chipin.com/fergus-the-cat-get-well-fund

In Several Colors by Jane Kenyon

 

Every morning, cup of coffee

in hand, I look out at the blue mountain.

Ordinarily it’s blue, but today

it’s the color of an eggplant.

Jack Bogg

And the sky turns

from gray to pale apricot

as the sun rolls up

Main Street in Andover.

Photo by Denton Greenville

I study the cat’s face

and find a trace of white

around each eye, as if

he made himself up today

for a part in the opera.

~Jane Kenyon

“In Several Colors”

from Collected Poems

Cats ~ The Musical

Post 9/11 Healing between Two Mothers Who Found Forgiveness, Friendship and Peace

For Our World, a poem written on 9/11 by Mattie Stepanek age 11

in CONSCIOUSNESS

For Our World

We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment.
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment.
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment.
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice.
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment.
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

September 11, 2001

© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek 1990 -2004
from Hope Through Heartsongs, Hyperion, 2002

Mattie Stepanek was 11 years old when he wrote this poem on the day of 9-11.
Sadly he passed away in 2004 after a long battle with Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy.
You can learn more about his brief, amazing, inspiring life at his website:

http://www.mattieonline.com/

The short film you are about to see is an amazing testimony of forgiveness and a friendship forged between two women whose relationship might normally be one of great enmity. Their story is a miracle of peace and the product of two mothering hearts. Please Watch!

Film found on http://www.facebook.com/pages/CommonDreamsorg/32109457015

Postcards from Paradise: Blessings to All of our Mothering Hearts and to the Hearts of All Mothers

Mary Cassatt ~ The Bath

Mother,
Your voice learning to soothe
Your new child
Was the first home-sound
We heard before we could see.

 

Lilacs in the Window ~ Mary Cassatt

 

 

Your young eyes
Gazing on us
Were the first mirror
Where we glimpsed
What to be seen
Could mean.

 

Mary Cassatt ~ Mother and son in a boat

Mother,
Your nearness tilled the air,
An umbilical garden for the seeds
Of thought that stirred in our infant hearts.

 

The Boating Party ~Mary Cassatt

 

 

Young Thomas and His Mother by Mary Cassatt

You nurtured and fostered this space
To root all our quietly gathering intensity
That could grow nowhere else.

 

Mary Cassatt ~ Mother and Baby having Breakfast

 

Mother,
Formed from the depths beneath your heart,
You know us from the inside out.
No deeds or seas or others
Could ever erase that.

 

~A Blessing For Mothers from John O’Donohue

From “To Bless the Space Between Us”

This Blessing is For All Mothers, Living and Deceased and For All women and men as well in their Mothering Role ~ because mothering is done by teachers, coaches, mentors, therapists, siblings and friends. Moreover, there are some men who play the role of both mother and father to their children. All of us carry the Divine Mother within us. We only need to open our hearts to it and let it shine.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom.  I Miss You!

For More Postcards from Paradise Please Make your Way to Recuerda mi Corazon on this lovely Festive Day.

Haiku My Heart: Damsels in Distress

 

Edund Dulac, Cinderella

Fairytale Haiku:Cinderella

by ~EllaNyx
Tribulations overcome
The Prince is sweet, but an idiot
Small feet save the day

~Haiku found on DeviantArt.

In Every Culture, Stories of Damsels in Distress Are a Tradition Old As Time.

Sleeping Beauty by Henry Meynell Rheam

But Sometimes, the Act of Rescuing Another May be the One thing that Opens Your Heart and Renews Your Spirit

And the Person Whom You Believe needs Your Help and Attention the Most,

Damsel in Distress by Backlit Stranger

May Be the Very Same One who Offers You ~

John William Waterhouse (Tristan and Isolde)

the Grace and Purpose to Continue on your Journey With Love and Gratitude.

 

The film you are about to see is about a similar moment of discovery between two much younger people. Let it Open your heart to the possibilities of life ~ even when you may perceive them to be limited.

~Noelle Renee

My Favourite Things from kidswithcrayons on Vimeo. (Irish Film)

For More Haiku My Heart Go to Recuerda mi Corazon. You will be glad you did.

Share the Joy Thursday: The Story of a Sign

A Blogger friend of mine, Jenny Stevning, had the English version of this film, “The Power of Words” on her blog. I was so moved by it that I searched for the original. It is a film that shows not only the power of words to change human hearts but the power of compassion to change the lives of those who give and those who receive. This, in itself, gives me Great Joy!

The Story of A Sign

For other Sharing the Joy Posts please see Meri’s Musings.

Picasso ~ Woman with a Crow 1904

Picasso, woman with a crow 1904

Crow Blacker Than Ever

When God, disgusted with man,
Turned towards heaven,
And man, disgusted with God,
Turned towards Eve,
Things looked like falling apart.

But Crow Crow
Crow nailed them together,
Nailing heaven and earth together-

So man cried, but with God's voice.
And God bled, but with man's blood.

Then heaven and earth creaked at the joint
Which became gangrenous and stank-
A horror beyond redemption.

The agony did not diminish.

Man could not be man nor God, God.

The agony

Grew.

Crow

Grinned

Crying: "This is my Creation,"

Flying the black flag of himself.

~Ted Hughes

(*For my friend Joe)

 Crow Tree image courtesy of  Spadoman Round Circle Blog