Gems 3.10

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

SONY DSC

Photo © Alisa Reagan.  Used with permission.  Thank you! ♥.

“I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago
And people that will see a world
That I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.” Special thanks to WaY for submitting this wonderful poem from J.R.R. Tolkien.   If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!

May you find joy every day on your journey,

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

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Gems 3.7

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

thunder-road-bruce-springsteen-photographer-unknown

Photographer unknown. (If you know, please leave a comment so we can credit this beautiful photo!)  “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen

 Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!

Today I’d like to thank Nicole and Lisa, our volunteers in Denver, Colorado, for agreeing to hand out artist packs.  Thank you both so much!  We couldn’t do this without your help.

This is a letter that goes with the artist packs which our volunteers give to homeless creatives:

dear-creative-soul-page-1

dear-creative-soul-page-2

Just a quick note.  None of our artists or photographers so far are currently homeless.  Until we get this up and running, we depend on the contributions of everyone who cares about creativity and homelessness.  People have been so generous and we are so grateful!

In the years to come, we hope to feature creations every day from homeless artists and photographers.  Our new website (coming later this year) will have a forum where folks can talk every day to each other about their projects and inspirations.

When we link to others who love beauty, who are passionate about the things we love — even for a few minutes a day — we don’t feel so alone.

May you find joy every day on your journey,

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Save

Gems 3.6

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

gems-3-6

Photo © Niki Flow – under1000skies

 Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!

May you find joy every day on your journey,

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 3.5

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

SONY DSC

Photo © Alisa Reagan 2016.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission. Thank you! ♥   Quote submitted by Rajni. Thank you! ♥

 Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!  Also, we don’t do fund raising.  Our only source of revenue is donations and the sale of Elanthian Love Songs – A Bard’s Tale by Sara Michele O’Sullivan (Niki Flow).  Starting in 2017, 100 percent of the profits from the sale of this book go to buying artist packs.  If you would like to contribute photos, artwork, writing or to be one of our volunteers, please contact us at the email address at the bottom of our About Us page or leave a comment below.

May you find joy every day on your journey,

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

TGIF 7: This Week under1000skies

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s what’s happening ¤ under1000skies ¤

This week we featured a beautiful photo and poem from MJ and photos and art work from Niki Flow.  Our About page also got an update:

T.G.I.F. – What It Really Means

Today’s TGIF is just for fun. I don’t know who took this hilarious photo or who made the meme, but it made me laugh when I saw it. I hope you enjoy it.  Have a great weekend!

tgif-giraffe-duck

clu

 Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Save

Gems 3.4

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

under1000skies-pale-crab-ball

Today we’re featuring a sketch from Niki Flow’s #the1000dayproject on Instagram (which is accompanied by a one-minute recording there)..  Niki was invited to this project while listening to an interview on Awakin.org with Elle Luna (author of The Crossroads of Should and Must).  Every day for the past 69 days she has used a post-it note and a sharpie to do broad sketches, inspired by a story Elle told during the interview about designing for IDEO.  Today, inspired by her friend MJ’s poetry contribution yesterday, Niki decided to begin to show her poetry to a  wider audience.  As we announced last February, 2016, profits from  Elanthian Love Songs – A Bard’s Tale go to funding packs for under1000skies.   When we published it was 50 percent until we paid our artist, the fabulous Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (Shadowscapes.com) and our editor.  At the end of 2016 we did so and now we can contribute 100 percent of the profits from the sale of Elanthian Love Songs to funding artist packs.   This is part 1 of one of the poems in Elanthian Love Songs.  Parts 2 until the end will be recorded one minute at a time (the limit on Instagram) and will be illustrated there every day with Niki’s post-it sketches.   The plain text of this part of the poem is below since the type is small.  Please pass this on and let others know to support our only way to raise funds.  We don’t do fund raisers or solicit funds of any kind.  This is in line with the gift economy and Nipon Mehta’s beautiful economic vision called “Gifivism.”  Thanks so much for supporting under1000skies.

PALE CRAB BALL

(Part 1)

A long time ago, or perhaps yesterday,

I heard a sad story of lovers betrayed.

‘Twas a pity.

The story begins a short distance from here

In the time of full moon, in the Spring of the year

near our city.

For during that time you can hear a strange call,

“Come one come all to the pale crab ball!”

near the river!

“Tis a day to be merry, to dance and to sing

“So come little crabs, let your pincers ring loudly

with rhythm!”

With eyestalks that wiggled, inside eyeballs jiggled

On quick little legs, they skittered and zigged

by the dozens.

And with them came one, a shy pale-crab lass,

Shell polished and sparkling, to this her first dance

with her cousins.

Now off to the side, a band was beginning

With reed pipes and grass lutes, and shells for a’pinging.

The dance started.

The pale crabs all rose up on multiple legs

And gracefully spun with each other and swayed,

so lighthearted.

(To be continued – here – tomorrow and ongoing.  There are approximately 7 more minutes to go (49-50 stanzas or so.  )

clu

 Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote or poem about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment!

♡. under1000skies
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Save

Save

Gems 3.1

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

gems-3-1-journey-matsuo-basho-niki-flow

 

clu

Journey Notes

The theme for the month of January is “journey.”  If you have a favorite quote about “journey,” or the journey of life,  please leave a comment! As you may have noticed, we started a new number series.  The Gem today (“3.1.”) begins our third year, and is the first we’ve published.  Happy New Year from all of us!

Your Creations

As always, we would love to feature your creative visions.  When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.  If you would like to contribute a photo, poem, story or piece of art for limited use on our website, please send us a note.  You always retain full rights.   Your work will be shared on Instagram with credit, and the link to the page here shared on Twitter and Facebook.

About US

Our About Us page got a update today.  This is our new logo/blurb to explain what we are about in a few words:

under1000skies-logo

May you find joy every day of your journey.

♡. under1000skies

Gems 2.79

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

oqsa3873

Photo by Niki Flow.  Edited with PicsArt

 

 

clu

What Do You Find Joyful? Beautiful?

The theme for the month of December is “joy.”  If you have a favorite quote about “joy,”  please leave a comment!  As always, we would love to feature your creative visions.  When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.

May you find joy every day.

♡. under1000skies

 

T.G.I.F. 5: “What It Really Means”

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s what’s happening ¤ under1000skies ¤

This week we featured four photos from Alisa Reagan (thank you)  ♡

2.752.762.77 and 2.78

 

TGIF – What It Really Means

Totally Gorgeous, Incredibly Fit:  The Remarkable Story of Ernestine Shepherd

There is nothing more joyful that regaining fitness and health after it has been lost.  This week’s inspiring TGIF story is about 78-years YOUNG Ernestine Shepherd.
Published on Feb 4, 2014 on Prevention’s YouTube Channel

“Do healthy, ripped bodies only belong to the young? Not if you’re Ernestine Shepherd. At 77, she’s the world’s oldest female bodybuilder and in our original documentary short, we follow a day in her life.”

https://youtu.be/na6yl8yIZUI

This is a more recent photo – she’s 78 here:

ernestine

And here’s her daily routine:

ernestine

clu

What Do You Find Joyful? Beautiful?

The theme for the month of December is “joy.”  If you have a favorite quote about “joy,”  please leave a comment!  As always, we would love to feature your creative visions.  When we show each other what we find beautiful, we get a glimpse into each others’ hearts.

May you find joy every day.

♡. under1000skies