well, my blog is moving anyway

i am moving over to typepad

the fact that i couldn’t do a blog roll was so sad to me .. along with many other things .. but i couldn’t find another template that i really enjoyed

i think typepad will work better for the long-term

i hope you will come visit me in my new blogging home!

(links above, but if you can’t see them, i’ll be @ retinalperspectives.typepad.com/retinalperspectives )

“anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn’t he danced his did”

-ee cummings

“Stillness is found when the question of love is answered and the whole body is breathed in a Yoga of celebration.”

- Sofia Diaz

painting is very good for my inner perfectionist

first, paint gets everywhere

there is paint on my carpet, paint on some of my dishes, paint in my kitchen sink, paint in my bathroom sink, paint under my fingernails ..

i am learning to let it be

second, my paintings never turn out exactly how i expect or intend

for instance, this painting was supposed to show the kaleidoscope behind my eyes during some recent reiki sessions (it’s orange and pink and white – clearly not this) but when i added the white, it looked like there was a spider web on the painting so i painted over the whole thing

i am learning to enjoy the process

“Every object, every being,

 is a jar full of delight.”

- Rumi

may your weekend be full of delight.

I don’t think there is a Michael Jackson song that I don’t love .. but one of my favorites is Man in the Mirror:

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself, and then make a change”

Always a good message.

May he rest in peace.

I thought I’d take a quick break from the hot air balloon festival for weimaraner wednesday.

I am beginning to think that Atlas (or, I suppose, me) is the Pied Piper of cats. We are attracting them like wildfire. One morning, in maybe a quarter mile walk, we saw nine of them. Yes, nine.

This morning, Atlas made a kitty friend. The cat wandered towards us, stopped a few inches away (possibly wondering whether he should be alarmed at the giant eyes fixated on him), wandered around us for a bit, wandered up and sniffed Atlas’ foot, wandered around some more, wandered up and sniffed Atlas’ nose, wandered around some more .. foot .. nose .. foot .. I could barely drag Atlas away and home.

The thing I always feel bad about is that when Atlas does make friends, he rarely gets to sniff the cat back – when he finally broke his statuesque pose to try to sniff this cat (who was standing with his back to Atlas, butt in his face at the time), the cat gave a little hiss. It seemed rather unfair. But .. perhaps it just takes time to convince them that he really can be trusted.

eta: We ran into the cat again this evening. Apparently she lives on the route and doesn’t like to be indoors. She let Atlas sniff her – and he followed her around and around and around like a love-sick puppy. It looked like they were taking a walk together. I need to try to get video – it was hilarious.

can you see what caught my eye

immediately

and made me giggle

?

this was the last balloon to launch

I was happily eating pancakes (there was a pancake breakfast at the festival) when I noticed it in the air

the pancakes were yummy – nice and round like the balloons and my belly (I gave up wheat last week because it really doesn’t agree with me – but I seem to make lots of exceptions)

have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon? it looks like such fun!