BE STILL...and SEE Photography

Reflecting on who I am...what is important to me...and the gifts I offer the world, I have reorganized this PhotoSchmoozer blog into separate pages for your viewing. I am about so much...people - relationships - drums and rhythms and especially photography...and I realize that although separate, they are all so INTEGRATED into the Whole of who I am!! It's a very peaceful thought and I am thankful for the intuitive gift to see the connections and the relationships. Enjoy the journey through the blog...and WELCOME.
Contemplative photography is about being totally present and seeing exactly what is before you, without filters or judgment. It is about seeing with your heart.Doesn't everyone see what is before them? Not really. You may see a candle on a table. Do you also see the shadows it creates? Or the reflections that the light casts on it? Or it's underlying shape and form?



DRUMS, Rhythms and Relationships

Friday, May 31, 2013

Remembering Phyllis...Her Cactus and her Memory live on!!


Years ago, I was a Hospice volunteer - and I mean many years ago because I remember being at training.  We had to draw a time line and place ourselves on it - thinking about ourselves.  I drew it and placed myself right in the middle - so that means way back then, I was 50 and I believed I was halfway through my life!!  Certainly optimistic - and why not??
So what does the cactus have to do with it??  I was assigned to be a volunteer for a small frail woman named Phyllis in Franklinville.  We visited every week for awhile - we shared stories and had some really special times!!  After a few months, Phyllis' niece decided she would like her to move to Florida so they could be close to one another.   Phyllis had no children, her husband had passed, and her niece was her closest relative.  She was unsure about the move, but needed to be near family.  On our last visit before she left,  we were walking around her yard and the cactus was in bloom.  The yellow flowers were totally awesome - strong yet delicate and well protected by all of the pricklies on the leaves!!  I asked if I could dig a piece to bring home to remember her by.  Of course she said yes and we worked - very carefully - to dig it up!  I placed it in our garden by the stump of a giant mulberry tree we had to have cut down.  The first winter after I planted it, I was concerned when it looked like it was withering and gone!  I let it be and in the Spring - ell it was amazing.  The cactus leaves started to fill out, stand up straight and after awhile, there were new leaves and buds for flowers.  Needless to say, the cactus...and Phyllis' memory live on into perpetuity in our garden!!  The leaves are from this year - new growth.  The flowers - last year's as we eagerly anticipate the ones that are coming this season!! 
It's a lovely memory - a gift from Phyllis and the garden every Spring!!

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