Building a Kindergarten with 1 Painting

As some of you know, my brother just came back from a three month trip through Africa. It wasn't just a vacation for him...he wanted to create change and he wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people he met there. I don't think he realised at the time how large his heart would grow and how important his dreams would become to him.

So, I'm putting this little nugget of goodness out into the universe (via my blog), not just because he is my brother, but because I think he is doing something wonderful...something that has the potential to change lives.

Shayne and his beautiful wife Carly are trying to help build a school in Bulungula, South Africa. While other private groups are funding other parts of the school, they have taken full responsibility for the funding of the kindergarten building, which will cost approximately $10,000 Canadian to build. 100% of the money they raise is going straight into the building of this school.

My brother is a very gifted artist. He graduated in Fine Arts at the top of his class, and has won awards and a dignified place in the arts community. In order to raise the funds needed to build this school, he is raffling off a painting. While Shayne was visiting this area, he got to know many of the the beautiful children who will be housed in this school on a deep personal level. He laughed with them, played with them, and was even given some djembe lessons from a talented 8 year old! He spent a week taking photos of these kids and created this painting from the images he gathered.

If you would like to know more about the raffle, or if you would like to donate to this cause (every tiny bit counts!) please don't hesitate to email me, and I can give you more details. If you would like to know more about the entire project, go here.

My brother has always lived his life large. He continues to astound me, and when I see how this trip has changed him, and how he wants to make life better for these children, it makes me want to do absolutely everything I can to help him. Only good things can come from it... for us, and for the beautiful people of South Africa.

A Star Experiment

Try this:

On a warm and clear summer night, find a large open space where you can lie down and look up at the twinkling sky. Find a dark place, void of light, aside from the glowing objects above. A mountain top, a hill top, an open field....a place where there is nothing obstructing your view of the open sky.

Lie on your back and let yourself feel how small you are. A tiny dot, stuck to a tiny planet underneath the infinitely expansive universe above you. Forget that the stars are massive explosive globes of fire. Right now, they are peaceful shimmering lights, playfully winking at you as you settle into the ground.

Now slowly concentrate... begin to imagine that the stars are no longer above you.... but below you.
Feel gravity pulling you upwards toward the earth as you look down upon the deep abyss below. What if gravity momentarily lost its hold on you? You would fall, endlessly into the vast openness of space forever, watching streaks of starlight whiz past you.
This time, you are the falling star.

A slight shift in perspective can turn your whole universe upside down.

Flowering

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

A Heart List

I received a wonderful little award from the ever beautiful Debi this week, which left me feeling very grateful... so much so, that I wanted to make a list of some of the things that leave my heart overflowing with love...


~I explored a beautiful wetland at dusk this week with a new friend. This place is so green. So peaceful late in the day when the sun is low in the sky, casting a soft warm glow over the water and all of its inhabitants. We heard popping sounds coming from under the algae on the surface of the water and later discovered that it might have been from giant bullfrog tadpoles! I wish I could have looked under the surface at one of these mammoth tadpoles. I've only seen little ones.

~ I have been reading Calvin and Hobbes, given to me by this wonderful woman. She sent it to me at such a perfect time...right during the stressful part of June, and gave me much needed comic relief and comfort as I drifted off to sleep at night. It really is the simplest things that offer the most comfort.

~ Joan, you beautiful beautiful soul...you are back! You are so radiant. So full of love. I can't tell you how big my smile was when I discovered, through a gorgeous little butterfly, that you had come home to us. Welcome back, my dear friend. I missed you so much.

~ If you are a lover of photography (or elephants!), I urge you to take some time to visit this incredible website. Thank you Maddie for inviting me into this exquisite world, and Carol, for bringing it back to me once again. I have never seen such beautiful photography.......ever. It brought me to tears.

~ I went back to the grocery store yesterday, and saw the woman in the red car...AGAIN! What are the chances? Are we cosmically linked? Is the universe reinforcing something here? Trying to get my attention? By the way, I did wear a cute little red top the day after I saw her and felt so alive!

~ I saw a batch of baby spiders hatching from a potted plant. I am not a spider lover, but I will admit, they are pretty cute when they are this little. One plant over, I noticed that one of these tiny babies had already set up shop! A perfect miniature web, just his size. How do they know how to do this all on their own? I'd hate to think what would happen though, if a fly ran into this little piece of perfection. I think this web was only big enough to handle fruit flies.

~ Dear Robin, I am thinking of you this week as I prepare to look after a sweet little dog (her name is Suzie) for the next three weeks. You might be hearing from me, asking for some motherly advice. I wonder if she likes brooms as much as little Zippy does? So sweet. I just love your blog, your adorable little puppy and your beautiful garden. You provide us with such a friendly and inviting space.

~ Sweet Leonie...thank you so much for sending me Louise Hay's movie, You Can Heal Your Life. It couldn't have come at a better time. What a precious gift.

~ Much love and gratitude goes to all of you wonderful souls that come to visit and leave such beautiful footprints behind in your comments. I adore you all so much, and feel as though my life has been so enriched with your beauty and creativity and your heartfelt posts. You inspire me each and every day.

~ And to the one who has my heart. This list would not be complete without you. You are a ray of sunshine, casting so much love and light and warmth into my heart. You amaze me in every conceivable way.


Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~Marcel Proust

The Lady in Red

I was so excited when I saw this poppy because I wanted to do a series of shots of it. One of it being born, one of it in full bloom, and one of it as it was dying away. But we had a cold spring, and this flower never got to bloom in its radiant entirety, so I only took one picture out of three. But it did remind me of something I saw today, which was absolutely in full bloom...

I went to the grocery store, and as I was putting everything into the back of my car, I could hear opera music... a woman singing. I looked to the car to my right, and it was a brand new red convertible VW bug. I glanced inside and noticed that the little vase on the dashboard was spilling over with big bright red silk poppies. And the woman driving looked like a voluptuous flower herself... a heavier set woman wearing bold colours, listening to this beautiful opera, soaking up every wonderful bit of her life.

Her window was open and I felt compelled to say something to her... and she looked at me with a smile and a glint in her eye and replied, "I'm just lovin it!"

How wonderful!!!

It was as though she was taking her life by the horns and living it completely on her terms, and because of it, she was radiating from the inside, out.
To say I was inspired by this beautiful woman would be an understatement.

Maybe I need to wear more red.