Thai Scenery

There are no pretty blooms in my yard today, so I'll post some from Thailand instead--it's so much more exotic anyway.

A stop for lunch here.

And it's always fun to see a train!

Thai Sky

The King's Palace in Bangkok is a spectacular place to view the sky.

For more skies of many hues, look here.

What would you rather have?

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." 

 --Emma Goldman

Me too.

Prayers flags, snow, wind and sun

What a day!  Today I attended the 8th District Juvenile Court Child Welfare Summit.  With dwindling budgets and increased workloads our task is to determine how to provide and improve service delivery to children who have been abused and neglected, those who struggle with substance abuse issues and criminal charges, who live in and out of foster care.  On the positive side something good could happen in our community because there were 80 people registered who care about kids and want them to live in healthy and safe families.  Can we do it?  I hope so.

I came home, got online for stress management purposes and noticed it was time to post something for My World Tuesday.  I had hoped to get another entertaining dinosaur picture but guess what?  It didn't happen, maybe next week.

So, I walked out to my porch which faces north and took some late afternoon pictures of the prayer flags, snow and sun.  Prayer flags have Buddhist prayers printed on them and the wind sends those prayers out into the world.  When we were talking about them last night, my daughter's boyfriend said most aptly, "We need more flags." 

"May you be at peace, 

May your heart remain open,

May you awaken to the light of your own true nature,

May you be healed.

May you be a source of healing for all beings."

Land of the Thunder Dragon

Another Scenic Sunday shot from Bhutan shows the dramatic landscape after a rainstorm.

Sometimes it snows in April

Today is my birthday and I have now been on the planet for 56 years.  My first reaction was to consider myself on the downhill slide to 60 and to make self-deprecating remarks about getting OLD.  But events of the week have caused me to seriously reconsider.  A friend of mine, quite healthy and fit, died unexpectedly on Tuesday as a result of surgical complications.  I saw her alive and happy Friday night, as did many other friends who attended a Celebration of Life party.  It is an annual event to celebrate the life of another friend no longer with us.  Now Ann is gone too and we are all reeling and saddened, concerned for her husband and closest companions.

No matter how long 56 years might seem sometimes, it is really fleeting.  When I was young, life seemed to stretch out ahead of me into some kind of infinite realm of possibility.  Now looking backwards I'm thinking that time seems very short.  I have accomplished some things and there are things I still want to do but wonder if I will.

I woke up this morning to a surprising amount of new snow.  It's April and it's supposed to be spring.  Actually, it is springtime in the Rockies which means that it can snow any time.  It is quite beautiful even if it isn't what I wanted.  What I want usually isn't all that important in the great scheme of things.  It's only the little desires of my ego pecking away at my serenity.  

The snow won't last.  The flowers will bloom.  The trees will be green.  Just not today. 

But today, the male finches are turning yellow and they are beautiful.

"What is life?  It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

--Crowfoot, April 1890

Castle Cove

This is the mountain I consider "mine."  Esther will know what I mean.  I see it every day from my southern windows, drive by it every day, watch it change colors with the seasons and the weather and the sun.  It's beautiful and special but really belongs to the Bureau of Land Management.  They don't know  it but it's mine.

For more beautiful skies around the world, check here.