Vacation

 It was wonderful to have vacation. Tim, finally got to see our newly purchased condo in Honokowai, West Maui, Hawai'i. Our condo is next door to my sister, who lives here all year.
 We needed to do some painting and decorating, but, that did not stop us from enjoying the beach, pool and gorgeous weather.

 The first pic is the condo property. It is lush with beautiful, established gardens. When you face east, as in the picture, you gaze at the wondrous, green, mystical West Maui Mountains. Breathtaking!

 A view of a rainbow from the deck of the property.  It appeared to be emerging from the ocean. Rainbows are abundant in Maui.
 The island on the other side of the rainbow is Lana'i. You can only see it faintly due to the cloud covering on Lana'i.

This is the beach a few steps from our property. One day, while we were swimming, we spotted two manta rays swimming between the reefs. Then, we saw a monk seal resting on the reef. It is common to see giant sea turtles here. They can measure up to 6 feet and weigh up to 2000 pounds!
 In the winter months numerous humpback whales congregate here for their amazing courtship and breeding.

  Lastly, the sunset looked like this everyday! The peaceful beauty was magnificent.

                                                             Good night, Hawai'i.

Milliande July Journal Page Swap

The first theme was "The Day The Earth Stood Still".  It was a film made in 1951. An alien and his robot, Gort, land on Earth with the message," The people on Earth must live peacefully or be destroyed as they are a danger to other planets."  I made a multi media piece starring Gort. 

 

The second theme was "Kites".  Kites always remind me of family, summertime and the beach. Tim and I would take our grandkids, Bethanee, Joey and Sammy to Seaside Park, NJ to visit my sister, Rosa, and her hubby, Mike. Every summer they would rent a home there.  They would graciously invite us to visit. At least one afternoon would be spent on the beach flying kites. What a great memory! Here is my interpretation. It is dedicated to Mike, who left this life suddenly in October 2009.

The Prayer Flag Project

A beautiful project is taking place. You need to visit Vivika DeNegre's site http://theprayerflagproject.blogspot.com/. I had never heard of Prayer Flags.  They are an ancient Buddhist tradition. A flag is made with a prayer, intention or devotion on it, then, hung outside to blow in the wind. In Vivika's words,  "it is believed that the prayers on the flags are lifted to God and spread throughout the universe as they flutter in the wind.  Everyone who is touched by that wind, is touched by the prayers.  The wind spreads the prayers through the world, extending happiness, good will, and peace. What a wonderful concept."
 I hand dyed my flags in the traditional colrs of the elements. I added purple. My hubby strung them on our back deck. I see them many times during the day and I am reminded to remember what is important.

  The first flag is blue(space). I used thread from all the other flags and sewed in a chaotic manner. My prayer is for "Peace".  My thought is peace can come from chaos.

 The second flag is white(air). I have been involved in raising two of my grandchildren. This series of flags are dedicated to grandparents and their grandchildren. This flag shows an elder person holding the hand of a child. "Hope"

Red(fire) flag is a prayer for "Love".

After dyeing the green(water) flag, I placed it in the sun to dry. I made a sun print of a fern leaf on it. I beaded the fern imprint and the prayer "Dream".

 Yellow(earth) flag is a classic Prayer Flag with a picture of Wind Horse or Lung Ta. The Wind Horse  is a symbol of the idea of well-being or good fortune.

 Last flag is a purple flag. I constructed the Flower piece by piece. My prayer is "Believe".

Willowing ATC Trades

June's ATC theme was Dream. Sarah was my partner. My two Dream ATCs went to her home in Indiana.

Milliande monthly Journal pages

I have been participating in Journal page swaps this year at Milliande. Every month two prompts are listed and at the end of the month a partner is named. It is wonderful to be able to receive such artistic works from women around the world. I love the idea that a piece of me is scattered throughout the world. Here are some of my pages.