A Mother’s Gift

1 A Writers thoughts

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.
~Norbet Platt

Today has been a difficult one. I spent all morning working on what turned out to be the most challenging client photos I’ve ever done. I finished them, but I’m not sure if I succeeded – my client hasn’t seen them yet. So I’ll worry until she sees them and gives me her feedback.

But more difficult is that it is Mothers’ Day. My Mom passed away last year, the day after Mothers’ Day. So this is my first without her. I’ve tried to keep my mind off of it, but it’s there, always at the edge of my thoughts. I’m well and truly a grown woman, but when I think of her, it’s always as her baby. I also lost my sister this year. She was much older than me – she was married before I was born and I have nieces very close to my age. Growing up, she was a surrogate mother. It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that we came to have a relationship of sisterhood.

I miss them both.

So what does all of this have to do with the quote I opened my post with? Well, while I rarely actually ever write with a pen and paper any longer, I often express my feelings by putting fingertips to keyboard. My avatar, on the other hand, is quite content to sit under a tree in her garden, scratching her thoughts into a notebook. I sat watching her and suddenly, I heard the birds singing, I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face, feel the gentle breeze against my bare toes.

And most of all, I felt my mother’s love. And my equilibrium settled slowly back into place. Her Mothers’ Day gift to me.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Patterns – The 9 Art Planets

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I’m back on track with the Weekly Photo Challenge after missing out last week. When I saw the prompt, “Patterns”, I knew there was a multitude of choices in Second Life for this theme. I went to my standby, the Destination Guide, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I was immediately drawn to The Nine Art Planets, which is described as ” an art installation to give visitors nine different emotional feelings, reflected through subconscious minds. Inspired by a variety of immersive artists, this is one installation you don’t want to miss.” It is a riot of colour, sound, and experience.

The patterns are mesmerizing, the music is primal, and the entire experience is a bit surreal. You will receive a HUD on arrival – wear it, and click to the various areas of the installations. You won’t be disappointed.

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For those of you unfamiliar with LEA, it’s the Linden Endowment for the Arts. You can read more by checking out the link on the Second Life Wiki page for LEA. It’s well worth checking out more of the installations. I’ll try to add more visits soon.

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You can check out more of the Weekly Photo Challenge entries by clicking this link and going to the comments section.

If you happen to click on one of my photos, you’ll notice it takes you to my Flickr page. I’ve lost my Add Media button on my post editor, so rather than spend more time trying to figure out how to get it back, I’ve just added the photos to Flickr. Fixed!

Milestones and Moments

Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.
Rose Kennedy

This is my 100th blog post. I’ve been thinking about it for about a week, knowing it was coming up. I wanted to do something different for it, since it’s a milestone. I’ve been trying to come up with some sort of a special photograph to go along with it – a new location, a new technique, something different.

But my inspiration failed me.

It’s been a good week for me, in many ways. I have reached daily and weekly highs on views of my blog, I hit 100 blog followers (not counting Facebook followers), and I won my first photo contest. But a couple of comments and events in Second Life upset me, and I’ve barely logged on. Oh, well…we appreciate the sunshine more after the rain, right? I’ll get over it and I’ll soon be prancing my way happily through SL again soon, drama be damned.

Instead, I’ve decided that the moments are more important than the milestone. So rather than stress over an all new photo for this post, I have created a gallery of some companion shots of those I’ve blogged before. Most are new edits; the others are ones that for one reason or another, I didn’t choose at the time. But each one represents a moment in the evolution of my journey.

You can click on a photo to enlarge it, or just glance over the thumbnails. Either way, this is a glimpse of my story thus far.

Thank you for being a part of my world. This blog has come to be a reflection of who I am. Each moment I share here lets you see a bit more of who I am. Not just Peep, but the real me.

I hope you stick around for the next 100…and more.