Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica

The pictures tell the story: of time for relaxation and beauty.

Isle of Dreams

Summertime, for me, is associated with Isle of Hope--perhaps because I was born there one summer many years ago. This year we spent a week enjoying life on the front porch: observing all kinds of sea creatures, watching the tides come in and go out. and enjoying the parade of people, dogs, and golf carts on Bluff Drive.

Our days were punctuated with major thunderstorms that left behind rainbows, even double rainbows.  We did have a few excursions on stand up paddle boards, river kayaks, and an auspicious beginning of our 37th year of marriage being treated to a splendid dinner at Elizabeth on 37th.

Blustery, beautiful, busy: London

It's been 40 years since I lived in London as a college student.  We both have changed a bit over time, but we still recognize one another. We belong together, even when cold and cranky.

The tube and taxis never fail to transport me to a nearly forgotten time, and the art compels me. I enjoyed wanderings with colleagues, a bit of sight seeing, and a mindboggling visit to the Tate Modern where the work of Damien Hirsch is featured. Butterflies (along with sharks and lambs) made visitations there as well.     

The Tea Party Movement

Long before the recent political debates in this country, I've been committed to tea parties in their original environs. No better place to indulge my habit than in Oxford (England!). Returning to familiar lanes and pathways, I found most compatible literary company as well--in the well wrought shadows of JK Rowling, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Lewis Carroll and the like. Thankfully, Alice herself invited me to a tea party!

Also at the Story Museum, across from Christ's Church College, I encountered a most amazing story loom that gathers ideas and mixes them with emotions, therby weaving stories together. I almost found inspiration there myself. 

Maybe next time!

Post Peachtree Partum Party Syndrome

Peachtree Ron Runs Again:  33 years and counting! 

It doesn't get much more patriotic than spending the afternoon on our front porch with 3 Apple devices (no doubt made in China) and a beer (from Belgium).  Unless its spending the morning greeting the tired runners after another successful Peachtree Road Race. 

Our party, downsized from earlier eons, now consists of a beer truck at the end of the race, a few snacks, a gaggle of good friends, and any passersby who happen to look thirsty. (There are at least 50,000 of them nearby). 

I admirably fulfilled my traditional duties by doing almost nothing at all, a true pleasure on a porch swing. Someone has to be lazy!

70th Anniversary Beach Bash

From start to finish, a great celebration of the love of two remarkable people. Children, grandchildren, great grands, and the celebrated couple ranged in age from 2 to 97.  Something fun for everyone!

Moving Madness

From one form of chaos to another.

Good-bye Clairmont Campus, hello Ridley Lane. Stay tuned loyal blog followers: one of these days, order will be restored.  Maybe!

Interlude

The rites of spring brought to campus the creation and consecration of a Living Mandala near Cannon Chapel: a very meaningful experience for all of us involved in the germ of the idea as well as its flowering into being.  Close to the physical, geographic, and historic center of campus, this planting provides a place for reflection and meditation, practices needed now more than ever in a noisy universe and busy university.














We celebrated, as well, the beauty of spring with our annual Easter Brunch.  Given our migratory status, we had no homeplace for the festivities. Instead, Lullwater served as our backyard--and a very fitting and natural place to picnic while enjoying the pleasures of the season and the revelry of friendship.

There have been many journeys around and within our lives over the past few months. Soon we will move to our new home near downtown Decatur. As pleased as we are about that new place and time in our lives, we will always remember with gratitude this interlude in our little apartment on the edge of Lullwater Park.

View a video of me riding the shuttle back and forth to the Emory campus here in daily circumambulations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Rf8zfYZYU&feature=youtu.be

Sacred Circle

Due to a confluence of energies and visions, several mandala exhibitions and programs are inhabiting the Emory campus this spring. From the ancient Tibetan tantric and meditation practices at the Carlos Museum to more contemporary art forms to plans for a living mandala planting near Cannon Chapel. 

The latter idea grew out of a conversation the Dharamsala arts travelers had with His Holines the Karmapa in 2008.

A mandala by New York artist and Morehouse College alumnus Sanford Biggers forms the centerpiece of the Visual Arts gallery, providing a dynamic space for music and dance.

Everything, it seems, goes in a circular motion. My colleagues and I will be circumambulating these places and spaces to see what new visions unfold for us. 

See "Moon Peak" a video created by my colleagues and me--celebrating our trip to Dharamsala in the summer of 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eaFUtUJjpQ

. . . Then so it shall be

There is a ginkgo tree outside of my office on the Emory campus.  I have the pleasure of seeing it change with the seasons and also collecting its leaves. In so doing, I observe the beauty of the oldest living tree in existence, one that has survived the ages--including drought, floods, global warming and even the ravages of Hiroshima.  In Japan it is known as the "bearer of hope" due to its resilience and persistence. The elegance of the tree reminds us of the timelessness and power of nature.  

The gingko nuts and leaves are sources of health, reputed to enhance circulation, memory, and general well being. In Asia, the tree is often associated with spirituality, planted near temples and shrines as a symbol of longevity, hope, resilience, and peace. Gingkos figure prominently in visual art and poetry throughout China, Japan, and Korea.            

This year, I choose the gingko leaf as the image for my New Year's resolution, really more an intention or a statement of desire than an expectation. And I pair it with a phrase provided to me by my friend, collaborator, fellow artist, and spiritual advisor, Anna.

At the end of 2011, I relayed to Anna a wish that was brewing within me, and she replied quietly: ". . . . And so it shall be." 

A poignant story she told accompanies this phrase, a reminder of the pleasures of surprises, hopes, and connections. I'm happy to share it with all who inquire over the coming year as offering insight into the possibilities of what might come to pass along this unpredictable journey through life.