Gems 5.173

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

5.173 Niki Flow

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”  J.R.R. Tolkien

=) SURPRISE! (=

Happy Saturday!  In case you are surprised to see a Gem today, please visit our new page ÉOWYN.  Every day for four weeks, from October 14 to November 10, we’ll be creating new pages for the journey from Bag End to Rivendell made by Frodo and companions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.  For the first three of these weeks, this will coincide with a walking challenge, walking through Earth and tracking miles on Middle Earth, being hosted on Kindspring.org from October 14 to November 3.  All welcome.   This began in on under1000skies in September 2015 and was meant to be at least a yearly event but life got in the way as it does sometimes.  Once this current journey and all the milestones are finished, we’ll do this at least once a year until all 18 walks through Middle Earth (17 official and one I’m winging completely) are finished. Continue reading →

Newsletter, Video 1.18, Peace, Éowyn

I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend. ♡
This week on ¤ under1000skies.org ¤

1.18 (1)

Photos by Skeeze, Pixabay (5.163) and Niki Flow (5.164-5.167)

 

GEMS 5.163 Continue reading →

Newsletter, Video 1.15

I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend. ♡
This week on ¤ under1000skies.org ¤

under1000skies newsletter 1.15

I’ve been experimenting on PicMonkey with templates to find one I like for newsletters.  They are awesome at customer service by the way.  I am really impressed. If you have any feedback about the newsletter design, I’d love to hear it. I’m self-taught. ♥. nf

Gems

Continue reading →

under1000skies Newsletter 1.2

under1000skies newsletter 1.2
“If you want to be a rebel, be kind.”
  -Pancho Ramos Stierle
Update 17jun19:  Pancho has been released and is in Tijuana with cousins.
“Today give a stranger one of your smiles.  It may be the only sunshine he sees all day.”
   -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Remember, we all stumble.  Every one of us.  That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand-in-hand.”
  -Emily Kimbrough
“Vulnerability is the core, the heart, the center of meaningful human experience.”
   -Brené Brown
With a special thank you to TH who helped us update our “About Us” page.
“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”
-Rabindranath Tagore
If you would like to receive our under1000skies Newsletter once a week by email, please send me a note.
I hope you have a great weekend.
♥.

under1000skies Newsletter 1.1

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
This week on ¤ under1000skies ¤

under1000skies newsletter 1

Gems 5.82 – +c.35 pix about 1st drafts (#1stdraftsarealways…)
If you would like to receive our under1000skies Newsletter once a week by email, please send me a note.
I hope you have a great weekend.
♥.

Gems 4.143

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

Nic Askew SOUL BIOGRAPHIES Nowhere

“This will take your undivided attention. Which is not an insignificant request…Warning. This is haunting. You might be haunted. It was filmed in front of an audience in the INNER VIEW METHOD.”

THE WHISPER AND THE ECHO

A man looked for meaning.
For his very place in life.

He searched high and low.

He’d often hear a whisper, calling
his name from the other side
of what seemed like a door.

A door that remained hidden
from his ability to see.

Frustrated, he’d knock on
everything that resembled
a door. Turning here,
and there. Turning
just about anywhere.

Then one day,
unannounced,
it opened.

And he realised that he’d been
knocking from the inside.
And that the whisper
had been an echo.

The echo of his own soul
reminding him that
he was already home.

-Nic Askew

 

I hope you have a moment to watch (full screen, with ear phones) this beautiful video, the latest of Nic Askew’s “Soul Biographies.”  I have wanted to take Nic’s “Inner View Method” course since I first saw Amo La Vida with Julio Olalla.  His incredibly beautiful method of interviewing is exactly the kind of biography I would love to offer for Volunteer Biographers.   It’s a dream.   Until then, Volunteer Biographers has three clients and we just assisted in the biography of a fourth client through transcription.  Also, today I’m very happy to announce that one of our homeless artists (who has made incredible changes and is no longer homeless) will be our next Volunteer Biographer client.  More on that in the months to come.  Meanwhile, if you are a photographer or videographer, you might find Nic’s course as compelling as I do.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Happy Mandela Day

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
¤ Happy 100th Birthday Nelson Mandela! ¤

 

Gems 4.94 Nelson Mandela good leaderGems 379 Nelson Mandela Freedom Respect

Mandela Invictus

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 4.96

I hope you’re having a beautiful Friday. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

Read by Thich Nath Hanh, chanted by brother Phap Niem. The creators of this audio track were Gary Malkin, the composer/arranger, producer, and collaborator Michael Stillwater. The work came from a CD/book called Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying, and it could be purchased by going to wisdomoftheworld.com. The creator of this video is R Smittenaar. This video can be downloaded at: https://vimeo.com/6518109 Visuals taken from: HOME, Earth and Baraka

Please forgive the lateness of this Gem.  The time/stamina I had today went to something that is deeply touching my heart:   Updates from Texas.  The chant came from a friend on KindSpring who is grieving the loss of a sister. I needed a way to let go of the anxiety that was building since I began writing this morning.  It really helped. It’s a beautiful chant.

Some news…

July

Next Monday we’ll feature our homeless artists, JohnnyO and Cord X’s beautiful creations in a Gallery Slide Show.  We’ll be taking the rest of July off except for any Spotlight Saturday interviews we might be able to line up.

August

August and ongoing, our theme will always be about the homeless and the struggle of homelessness.   We’ll use quotes, share news and feature those serving the homeless (more Spotlight Saturdays).

The exception to that is:

September

The 2nd Annual KindSpring Eowyn Challenge

Beginning on Hobbit Day (September 22nd) we’ll begin a new KindSpring Eowyn Challenge:  Walking through Earth and Middle Earth. All are welcome! All photos used will be original artwork, photos or those gifted for the limited use of the challenge.  I’ll supply the link to the challenge once it’s set up and ready.  I’ll also be continuing The Journal of Samwise Gamgee.  Since we didn’t finish that here due  to some technical problems in 2015, we’ll do the same walk as the first one:  Bag End to Rivendell with Frodo and Company.

Gems 4.72

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.72

 

820: nos corazon

you’re missing from me,
tu me manques, and I from you
equiponderant

ay, nos Corazon,
our beautiful Benjamin
rentrer à la maison

-nf

our heart / you're missing from me / (you're missing from me) and I from you /equiponderant / oh, our heart / our beautiful Benjamin / return home

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

 

Themes:

don't share but do drawDies Mercurrii

I beg your indulgence.  Today’s poem is a rare self-insert, but I cannot silence my heart’s keening. Some nights are like this.  Then, I surface. Hope returns.

Instead of monthly themes, we’ll be doing recurring weekly ones for the days when we don’t have any new creations to share from our homeless artists.  Recurring daily themes are: Monday – (fun)day – humor;  Tuesday – muse day (our biggest inspirations); Wednesday – dies Mercurii – Day of Mercury, mercurial day, water day (Japanese/Korean) “Water Star;” anything goes; Thursday – Thor, the gods, those we worship (God, god or otherwise); Friday – Frigg / Venus day, so LOVE; -or- TGIF what it really means.  Or bag all that and insert your theme idea here: 

→ _______________________________________ ←

♥.

Gems 4.70

I hope you’re having a beautiful Friday. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

The Stolen Child

W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we’ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he’s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He’ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand.

_____________

Did you know that three days in the Celtic Otherworld is three years here on Earth? I learned that recently while watching Myths and Monsters narrated by Nicholas Day.  I find the thought very comforting.

There is a new page here on under1000skies called Missing Benjamin. All updates about Ben will be kept here from now on.  All links from past updates to will be here, as time allows, in chrono order.

Have a beautiful Memorial Day weekend.  See you Tuesday.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.