I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
♡ Happy Birthday America. ♡
Artist/Photographer Unknown. Graphic art by Niki Flow.
“I pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof!” -John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, November 2, 1800.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
John Olander, known to his friends as “Johnny O” is a self-employed change-maker currently living in Denver Colorado. He has been “on a camping trip” for over ten years and understands life on the streets better than most. Yet this hardship has not made John bitter, only better. Nearly every day when he is not engaged in a search for food or shelter, John is helping others on the street. Johnny O and I became friends about a year ago when he became one of the first supporters of under1000skies. He is very dear to us all here, and we look forward to more creative content from Johnny in the years to come.
May you find joy every day,
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
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Occasionally, some of your visitors ma
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Welcome to our third ¤ Gallery Show ¤
Created using a PicMonkey template. Artist unknown.
Thank you so much to all the contributing artists and creatives who have helped under1000skies every day since we began in 2015.
In 2013, under1000skies was just a site Niki Flow created for random poems, photos and sketches.
She didn’t do much with it in 2014. Then on November 14, 2014, Niki’s whole life changed. She wrote a story about it here: It Begins with Me.
Year 1: Gems 1.1 to 1.81. It took almost a year to solidify a plan to keep the promise made in the November 14, 2014 blog. On September 2, 2015, the first “light-filled gem” was published: Gems 1.1
Year 2: Gems 2.1 to 2.82 On March 2, 2016, Niki’s oldest son Ben Archer, disappeared. Ben was one of the main contributing photographers and one of Niki’s staunchest supporters. As of this writing (1 year, 3 months later) none of his family nor any of his friends have seen or heard from him since. Many of the posts on under1000skies were about Ben that year, but the family decided to take most of those posts down. They thought Ben might be embarrassed at all the fuss and would come home when it died down. So we took down all the blogs, waited and never gave up hope. We never will. Ben’s case is also now on the Federal Database here: Ben Archer: NamUs MP # 33696 All updates about Ben are being kept here: Niki Flow. In October of 2016 we started an Instgram Account for under1000skies and in November of 2016 we started a Twitter Account. We’re also on Tumbler, G+, Pinterest and Facebook.
Year 3: Gems 3.1 to 3.65 (so far). In 2017 we began a brand new year with new photographers, artists and, for the first time, our first contribution from one of our homeless creatives, “Johnny O.” We also began our first Spotlight Saturday and hope to continue these at least every other week in the years go come. We also finally designed a signature logo and a website logo.
There’s a lot more coming in the next six months of 2017.
We’ll be getting under1000.org up and running as well as our stationary store under1000skies.com.
On or about August 1, 2017 Niki Flow will be begin a USA tour which has three objectives: (1) to meet volunteers and supporters of under1000skies around the United States; (2) to get the word out about under1000skies with road shows, poetry slams, music shows, and on-the-road gallery shows. We’ll have a table set up with information about us as well as boxes of stationary, volunteer packets, and artist packs; and (3) to follow in the footsteps of Niki’s son, Ben Archer who was a traveling artist. He visited 25 states in 2015 from one coast to the other and went to dozens of artist shows. This is where Niki will set up her under1000skies table with the Gallery Show and Ben’s photo prominently displayed. If anyone has seen Ben, it would be these creative folks he loved to spend so much time with. If you would like Niki to stop in your city; if you’d like to support this road trip with materials, a bed for a night, supplies, a meal or even a few hours of company, please write to us at Gems@gmail.com.
To all our artists, photographers, writers and advocates, quote suppliers, cheerleaders and especially to our homeless creatives and those who love and support them too, with all our hearts, thank you.
With deep thanks and lots of love,
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Poem “History Shelf” by Johnny O (John Olander); photo “Blue Denim Skies” by Niki Flow
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo “LBI Jetty” by Niki Flow
I found this quote today while looking for a quote that combined vision (to go along with the photo ^_^) and “silence.” What a gift that search became! It not only led me to this beautiful excerpt from “Seven Sacred Pauses” (which is now on my “want to read” list) but it led me to Macrina’s website. This is how she describes herself in her about section which is so lovely I included the entire thing on today’s Gem on under1000skies:
Windows are openings to life, providing scenic views for inspiration. If you come to my window I hope you will find the blessing of a scenic view that inspires you. Perhaps it will be a supportive message from my blog, a poem, a quote or a prayer. It could be the discovery of a good book to read, or a movie to view—perhaps an invitation to attend one of my retreats.
When someone asks where I’m from and who I am, this is how I like to introduce myself: I come from the meadows, vineyards and forests of Altus, Arkansas. The country is a cherished memory of what I call first home. My childhood companions were animals, birds, insects, trees, plants, wild flowers and angels. I come from a family that was not without flaws. By today’s standards we may even qualify as a bit dysfunctional yet in spite of our defects I have always felt a unique and beautiful bond with my family.
My second home is with my Benedictine community of sisters, St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We follow the rule of St. Benedict with the gospel as our guide.
from About Macrina on MacrinaWeiderkehr.com
Monday June 19 to Saturday June 24, we’ll be offline (medical stuff). We’ll return on Monday June 26th. The theme for this last week in June is “silence,” “listening,” “stillness,” and “sacred space.” If you have a favorite quote about any or all of those, please let us know. Also, we don’t currently have a theme for July. If you have any ideas, please let us know.
As always, we would love to feature your creative visions! If you would like to contribute photos, art work, short poems/stories, quotes, time, etc., please see our “About Us” page for details. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day of your journey through life,
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo “Age of Silence” by Niki Flow
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Persian: جلالالدین محمد رومی) (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273) was a 13th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the “most popular poet”and the “best selling poet” in the United States.
Rumi’s works are written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic, and Greek in his verse. His Masnavi (Mathnawi), composed in Konya, Turkey, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language. His works are widely read today in their original language across Greater Iran and the Persian-speaking world. Translations of his works are very popular, most notably in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the United States, and South Asia.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Urdu, Pashto, and Bengali.
from “Rumi – Wikipedia”
Our upcoming Spotlight Saturday will be really special. I had the chance to speak to Dr. Bell of Sheltering Grace in Georgia and can’t wait to tell you about that interview. It just filled me with joy.
Monday June 19 to Saturday June 24, we’ll be offline (medical stuff). We’ll return on Monday June 26th. The theme for this last week in June is “silence,” “listening,” “stillness,” and “sacred space.” If you have a favorite quote about any or all of those, please let us know. Also, we don’t currently have a theme for July. If you have any ideas, please let us know.
This is the first and probably last self-portrait I’ve ever done for under1000skies but this is a subject close to my heart. It’s ridiculously terrifying to post this all over the place which is why I knew I had to do it.
From today on, I’m practicing something my friend told me about recently, a Burning Man way of life that encompasses everyone and everything. It’s simple, wise and really beautiful:
* Radical Self-Expression
* Radical Acceptance
He wrote,
“Embracing those two principles starts with [‘Radical Self-Expression’] — being introspective to figure out how to be yourself. What do I want to do? To be? How can I express that? And then you try stuff on. And some of it fails miserably. And some of it is awesome. But all of it can be fun. You always learn something… “Meanwhile, ‘Radical Acceptance’ requires you to suspend judgement of others–to give them room to express themselves. It’s pretty hard to do that and to attempt ‘Radical Self-Expression’ without learning how to give yourself that same room…”
I love simple wisdom because it is the kind that sinks into your bones and extends across ages, cultures, all borders. Like Rumi’s poetry.
As always, we would love to feature your creative visions! If you would like to contribute photos, art work, short poems/stories, quotes, time, etc., please see our “About Us” page for details. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day of your journey through life,
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo “Good Day, Sunshine” by Niki Flow
German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
from Wikipedia.com
Special thanks to Marleen for today’s quote. The theme for June is “silence,” “listening,” “stillness,” and “sacred space.” If you have a favorite quote about any or all of those, please let us know!
As always, we would love to feature your creative visions! If you would like to contribute photos, art work, short poems/stories, quotes, time, etc., please see our “About Us” page for details. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day of your journey through life,
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo by M. Nota, FreeImages.com
Alfred Brendel’s place among the greatest musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is assured. Renowned for his masterly interpretations of the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Liszt, he is one of the indisputable authorities in musical life today and one of the very few living pianists whose name alone guaranteed a sell-out anywhere in the world he chooses to play.
from AlfredBrendel.com
Special thanks to Ann C. for today’s quote. The theme for June will be “silence,” “listening,” “stillness,” and “sacred space.” If you have a favorite quote about any or all of those, please let us know!
As always, we would love to feature your creative visions. If you would like to contribute photos, art work, short poems/stories, quotes, time, etc., please see our “About Us” page for details. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day of your journey through life,
♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤
Photo by PicMonkey
The theme for June will be “silence,” “listening,” “stillness,” and “sacred space.” If you have a favorite quote about any or all of those, please let us know!
As always, we would love to feature your creative visions. If you would like to contribute photos, art work, short poems/stories, quotes, time, etc., please see our “About Us” page for details. When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.
May you find joy every day of your journey through life,
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼ We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.
under1000skies 