SUNNY AND COOLER

The art farmer and Chai (Bengal Cat) and Panda (Guinea Pig) are grateful for your kind thoughts during this difficult time. Panda has not been well either. Fortunately for all of us here in the Pacific Northwest, it is cooler today.

Here's one of the art farmer's photos of Chai and Panda from a few weeks ago:

LOOKING EAST / LOOKING SOUTH / IT WAS STILL HOT AT SUNSET LAST NIGHT

Yesterday, from my Dalai Lama notepad calendar:

"We can see that all desirable experiences that we cherish or aspire to attain are dependent upon cooperation and interaction with other sentient beings."

IN THE RECORD-BREAKING HEAT . . .

The Swimming Song Revisited.

89 DEGREES ON THE PORCH / 9:30 A.M.

Swimming Song

SUMMER DAY

THUNDERSTORM

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.
(Walt Whitman)

On action alone be thy interest, never on its fruits.
(Bhagavad Gita)

And listen to this.

SEND LOVE

The art farmer's Bengal Cat, Chai, is in critical condition. Panda (Guinea Pig) and all who love Chai ask for your kind thoughts and for prayers from those who pray.






















Loving portraits by the art farmer.

INDOOR GARDEN / WORK IN PROGRESS

Above is the first blooming this year of the Poor Man's Orchid (left) and the second blooming for the Streptocarpus (right).

Have taken a few days off from studying the medical transcription textbooks and from transcribing medical dictation so that I can work on my book. The 98-page version (printed by Apple) with my drawings, paintings, sculpture and poetry costs more to produce than most people are willing to pay. Two friends and one of my cousins have bought the 98-page version anyway at the single copy price. If I ordered 100 or more copies from Apple, each book would still cost me $43.31, plus tax and shipping.

Encouraged by those three people who bought a copy of my book, I checked around town and found a digital printing company which gave me an estimate for a run of 100 books, which would bring my cost down to $18.60 per book. Unfortunately the proofs simply did not have the quality of the Apple version.

A few days ago, as an experiment, I duplicated the book twice in iPhoto and edited it down to two more affordable versions. The art work-only version is 46 pages, and the poetry version (with one photograph and one painting) is 42 pages. At that page count, the art version costs me $22.73 ($29.66, including tax and shipping). The poetry version costs me $20.77 (27.54, including tax and shipping). If I order 25 or more at a time, I get a 10% discount, bring the price per copy down to $20.43 and $18.67, respectively, not including tax and shipping.

So, with the edited versions, I'm back to about the same price per copy that I would have paid for the 98-page version that the local printer would do and have not sacrificed quality. Clearly I'm not going to make any money on my book this way, but it is a way to make it available. I'm happy with that.

Here are the front covers-in-progress for the 98-page (art and poetry) version, the 42-page (poetry-only) version and the 46-page (art-only) version of my book:

VOICES IN THE COTTONWOODS

Thanks to the art farmer for directing my attention in their direction late in the day yesterday. Can you hear them? At least one of the two is a fledgling.

Listen.

A RITUAL FOR CHANGING TIDES

Goodbye Sadness

Hello Happiness, wherever you are,
I hope you hear my song.
(Yoko Ono)

AIEE! / IN THE LIGHT OF DAY

He loved me. I loved him. He punched me in the face during a nightmare after he returned from Vietnam in 1971. He was never the same after that night. He could never trust himself not to hurt me. He didn't get help until the last months of his life in 2008. Gary Trudeau is telling our story and the story of countless couples throughout the history of war. I'm shaken but grateful to see this in the light of day.

I woke up early in the morning of July 19 after a nightmare that had its source in 1971. I'm not going to elaborate on the nightmare, but a thought I had at the end of the nightmare was:

"We ALL need help. We are not getting it."

The nightmare had turned thoughtful. On the other side of fear was insight and love and community.

I still need to ask for help as I go on with my life, knowing that I am not alone and never was.

What Gary Trudeau is inadvertently bringing to light is that although there is help for veterans, girlfriends of troubled veterans may not find the help they need or even know that they need help, too.

SHE GOT THE MOON IN HER EYE

Wow!!! Listen to my nephew sing.

WHERE MY CAMERA WAS LOST AND FOUND

Almost lost my camera a few days ago.

But when I drove back to the trailhead parking lot twenty minutes later, I found it sitting "viewer up" on the gravel where it had fallen from the tailgate of my friend's small truck. She had been concerned when I set it down there, but I assured her that it would be safe. Little did I know.

Tender Mercies.

WHERE WE TURN AROUND AND GO BACK INTO THE WOODS

MID-JULY RED AND GREEN

Thanks to Solitary Walker for his link to the Seamus Heaney Nobel lecture from 1995. As Solitary Walker wrote, "Do read it."

WE WERE WALKING AND LAUGHING IN THE GARDEN WITH THE SILENT DEER (LISTEN)

Many thanks to Alive on All Channels for this and
this :-)

FORGIVENESS / THE HEART ACCEPTS EVERYTHING

"Forgiveness: The heart accepts everything"

"Forgetfulness: The heart loses its sense of purpose"

From VOICES OF THE HEART, by Ed Young.

Listen to Forgetful Heart

"Constancy: The heart is faithful"

GREEN SHINING LIKE THE SUN

TALKING FIVE-LEAF CLOVER

And a song with a life of its own:

Here and Here.

IN THE HEART

See Loren's pictures of a new generation.

And many thanks to the art farmer for sharing words about ahimsa and to Nancy who sent me bulbs via the art farmer. I look forward to their flowers late in the summer and early fall.