Peace on earth...

Image by Yuya Horikawa, Kinkaju-ji Temple, Kyoto

 

The evening bell, solemn and bronze, sounds dimly in the melted

snow... slow beat of the mountain's heart perhaps.  Bell, mountain,

tree... symbol of quiet strength.  All seeking in this place.

All finding in this place... hidden but open to all...

peace.

 

Here are some images of my Christmas decor in my home this year.  I love naturals -- and have been collecting Santas for years.

 

xmas naturals added to my rock collections

 

basket of naturals with wrapped boxes

 

 

more wrapped boxes with fossils and naturals

 

 

Father Christmas, hand made by me

 

Another Father Christmas, hand made by me

 

My 9 foot tree decorated with Santas, bird nests, birds, natural balls, wrapped boxes

 

A new addition-- birched wrapped candle- hand made by me

 

Another birch wrapped candle

 

More birch wrapped candles

 

Leslie Avon Miller came for a visit and brought me this wonderful box of hand made gifts and naturals

Thank you Leslie... a very good friend.

 

My fireplace mantel  

 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak or act with a pure mind 

And happiness will follow you

My wish for you in the new year...  happiness, peace,

light   

 

The Poetics of Silence

Donna Watson, 8"x8" collage

"Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn?  Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends.... or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak..."  Norton Jester

uploaded by miichan at Flickr.com here

 

Behind all creation is silence.

Silence is the essential condition, 

the vital ingredient for all creation and all that is created.

It is power in its own right.

The artist starts with a blank canvas - silence.

The composer places it between and behind the notes.

The very ground of your being, 

Out of which comes all your thoughts 

is silence.  --- Theresa Lasichak

uploaded by Nora Louise at Pinterest.com here

 

The most wonderful silence is when snow is falling.  Sounds become muted.  Even the birds seem to be quietly waiting.  A moon-lit night is silent beauty.

October Moon, by Sarah Gillespie, more of her work found here

A wealth you cannot imagine 

flows through you.

Do not consider what strangers say.

Be secluded in your secret heart-house,

that bowl of silence.

Talking, no matter how humble-seeming,

is really a kind of bragging.

Let silence be the art you practice.

--- Rumi:  Bridge to the Soul

     Momoyama, uploaded by Michael Chandler, at Flickr found here  

It all happens in silence.  The way

light happens in the eye.

Love unites bodies.

They go on

filling each other with silence.

--- James Sabines, Pieces of Shadow

  Jo Van Rijckeghem

Sometimes a quiet piece of art can be achieved with subdued colors and minimal shapes.   Looking at art like this can be a place of refuge... of rest.

 uploaded by tokyo sanpopo at tumblr.com found here  

Elegance

All that is cared for.

Left alone in the stillness

in that pure silence married

to the stillness of nature.

--- Linda Gregg

   Akhra Ajinjal 

uploaded by Yubo Mojao at Flickr, here

The way to silence is through meditation.
When you arrive in your own silence
You will know true freedom and real power.
Stop, take a minute,
and listen to the silence within you today
Theresa Lasichak, found at Flickr here 

Quail eggs in a Japanese bowl by Sarah Gillespie

    
come to my quietness
I shall cover you with it, like
a white sheet that has blown all day in 
the sun, like a mountain lake
filled with spring, it shall slip over you.
--- Diane di Prima