Photo-a-day: 365 June/July

Day 82: Crescent moon through the trees

Down that foggy road slow centipedes crawl, plump blackberries fall, and the ground is dark as blood. Down that foggy road the moon burns red as flame, weeds snap in the rain, dogs are dragged off in the flood. Bury me here in the silvery mist. Bury me here with the spiders and fish. Down that foggy road black bears crawl to sleep, tree sap slowly seeps and the sunrise never comes.
-Bury Me Here, The Handsome Family

Day 83: Bodhi amongst the flowers

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
-Joseph Campbell

Day 84: Flightless

So, I have this obsession with photographing dead things, especially birds, that I come across in my daily living. This bird was in my driveway, and luckily, knowing my sickness, my husband, sister, and dad all left the bird out in the driveway until I could photograph it. Two rainstorms and partially ran over by my car later, I finally got it.
For some reason, I find death and the macabre beautiful. I know I am not the only one - a friend recently told me that a house he visited had an entire wall filled with dead bird photos, and at an art exhibit where some of my Album of Death was on display, a girl who was looking at the photos pulled out her cell phone and started showing off her own dead things photos...
What do you think? What strikes you as beautiful?

Day 85:
Then she whose gown is gold, and gold her hair,
Swept down the golden steep straight sunbeam-stair,
She lit the tulip-lamps, she lit the torch
Of hollyhock beside the cottage porch.
She dressed the honeysuckle in fringe of gold,
She gave the king-cups fairy wealth to hold,
She kissed St. John's wort till it opened wide,
She set the yarrow by the river side.
-To A Child, Edith Nesbit

Day 86: Persimmon

Had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear
But a golden nutmeg and a silver pear;
-Mother Goose

Day 87: Remnants
“There is no such thing as death. In nature nothing dies. From each sad remnant of decay, some forms of life arise so shall his life be taken away before he knoweth that he hath it.”
Charles Mackay

Day 88: Mortal Kombat Jr

Baby Raiden vs Baby Kenshi

Day 89: The domestic beetle

He tried to help me with my dishes, but he drowned before he got much done, poor soul.

"That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness."
-Antonio Porchia

Day 90: Arti on the pond
We first encountered arti on the Ganges - amazing that it is performed twice a day, every day!
Though we don't have the Ganges in our back yard, and we didn't have coconut shells to float our offerings in, our pond and some lids from our pans worked well. We celebrated Bodhi's first month and enjoyed life in the cool summer night air.

Day 91: Ghostly nighttime self portrait with the child...

Day 92: Water from Amma
"Isn't it because there is darkness that we know the greatness of light?" —Amma

Day 93: Supermoon!
There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
-George Carlin

Day 94:
The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children.
Jessica Lange

Day 95: Apocalyptic Duck Pond

The perils of duck hunting are great - especially for the duck.
-Walter Cronkite

Day 96:

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.
-Honore de Balzac

Day 97:

“I was pirouette and flourish,
I was filigree and flame.
How could I count my blessings
when I didn't know their names?”

― Rita Dove

Day 98:
Dare to wear the foolish clown face.
-Frank Sinatra

Day 99: Midnight Mimosa

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
-Og Mandino

Day 100:
I trip walking down the stairs, but I can skate them probably.
-Shaun White

Day 101:
Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the delight of life, which they are thenceforth to rule.
-Thomas Carlyle

Day 102:
What does it matter if rain comes your way
and raindrops patter along?

The rain descending should not make you blue
The happy ending is waiting for you

Take your share of trouble, face it and don't complain
If you want the rainbow, you must have the rain.

Happiness comes double after a little pain
If you want the rainbow, you must have the rain.

What if your love affair should break up,
as they sometimes will
When you kiss and make up, boy what a thrill!

Sadness ends in gladness, showers are not in vain
If you want the rainbow, you must have the rain.

Look for brighter weather, oh watch for the Sun again
If you want the rainbow then you must have the rain.

Pull yourself together, whistle a happy strain
If you want the rainbow then you must have the rain.

So if your lucky star deserts you, and if shadows fall
Even though it hurts you, laugh through it all

Be a cheerful loser, you have the world to gain
If you want the rainbow, why, you just must have the rain.

That's all!

-Annette Hanshaw

Day 103: Sending prayers skyward

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
-Mahatma Gandhi

Day 104: Tree of Life

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.
-William Blake

I'm grateful for both trees; all trees!

Day 105: He's got the best view of the show, because the fireworks are on his head!

Day 106: My first attempt at a recycled glass planter - the glass was supposed to break in a clean straight line, but I rather like the jagged edges. They remind me of New Mexico hills. I sanded the edges down so they were no longer sharp. The strings hanging down into the lower part of the bottle act as wicks to continuously water the plants as long as the bottom is filled with water. I added some mother-of-thousands and some little smooth stones, kind of a mini zen garden.

Day 107:
“If God would choose a plant to represent Him, I think He would choose of all plants the cactus. The cactus has all the blessings He tried, but mostly failed, to give to man. It has humility, but it is not submissive. It grows where no other plant will grow. It does not complain when the sun bakes it or the wind tears it from the cliff or drowns it in the dry sand of the desert or when it is thirsty. When the rain comes it stores water for the hard times to come. In good times and in bad it will still flower. It protects itself against danger, but it harasses no other plant. It adapts perfectly to almost any environment. It has patience and enjoys solitude. The cactus has properties that heal the wounds of men and from it comes potions that can make man touch the face of God or stare into the mouth of hell. It is the plant of patience and solitude, love and madness, ugliness and beauty, toughness and gentleness.”
-Bryce Courtenay

Day 108:
“Creative minds are uneven, and the best of fabrics have their dull spots.”
― H.P. Lovecraft