REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Postcards from Paradise: Veteran's Park Sunset

A few weeks ago the Redondo Beach Art Group held their annual Power of Art at the old Redondo Beach Elks Club in Veteran's Park. The park is about a block from my house and is right next to the Pacific Ocean and the the International Board Walk on the Redondo Beach Pier. I have lived in Redondo Beach since 1988 and as far as I'm concerned, it is paradise. I've watched and photographed many a sunset here, but when I noticed the sun going down the night of the art show, I ducked out the back door and got a series of shots including two where the sun is visible through the trees preparing to set into the sea. I had never seen the sun set from this particular location before. 

The Elks Club is very near the new Veteran's Memorial in the park that was dedicated about three years ago. The late John Simpson, a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Redondo Beach, was one of the people who worked hard to make the memorial a reality. I'd like to think that John is in paradise himself, rascal that he was, and Bob Metcalf, too, also from my church. Tomorrow, on Veterans Day in the park, all our veterans will be honored. John and Bob's names are on the memorial along with dozens of others. 

So, thanks Rebecca, for hosting us today at Postcards from Paradise. I hope that all of you, wherever you read this from, have the good fortune to live in your own paradise. 

 

 

Postcards from Paradise: Redondo Beach at Sunset

It's been a while since I've posted at Rebecca's Postcards from Paradise, but here I am late on a beach summer night and very much aware that I live in paradise: Redondo Beach, CA. The window is open and the sea must be calm; I hear no buoy bells or sea lions barking tonight. Just the hum of traffic somewhere a few blocks away. 

I remember distinctly the night I took this photo of Redondo at sunset in 2004. I had taken my then dog Cookie (who has since crossed the rainbow bridge) for a walk at the beach and took lots of photos of her with the ocean as backdrop. And then there was this. 

Be sure to visit Rebecca's link above to see all the versions of paradise. 

A Great Day at the Original Rubber Stamp Convention

For 30 years Kat Okamoto of A Stamp in the Hand has sponsored rubber stamp conventions (The Original Rubber Stamp Conventions) across the U.S. and I've been attending for about 10 years. Not remotely an artist some 15 years ago, a dear friend name Vicki Timmons introduced me to rubber stamping which was my first step toward art. In those early years I mostly made greeting cards and scrapbooks, and soon began subscribing to Somerset Studio and later Cloth, Paper and Scissors. Then I started horsing around with mixed media art and assemblage, taking classes from different teachers, and for the past years I've tackled art jourals. 

But, I always go back to my rubber stamp roots. By the way, the show has morphed way, way beyond rubber stamps and the vendors now incorporate countless supplies and demonstrations on everything under the sun. It's downright fun!

Here are a few memories of a really fun day at the Carson Original Rubber Stamp Convention. 

A flamboyant Brit named Diana was demonstrating art journal techniques at the Stampers Anonymous store which features all things Ranger. Ranger products are my favorites which includes all the distress inks, stamps, etc., made famous by artist Tim Holtz. Diana showed her new journal which will begin distribution by Ranger sometime in late August. It was fabulous! 

This is Stampers Anonymous's Steve who specifically showed me how to use my brand new Distress Ink markers on tag cards. I learned so much from him in the 20 minutes he demonstrated. 

I've become a big proponent of stencils for use, particularly in my art journals, and several vendors had new ones available I hadn't seen before. 

I'm a big fan of Teesha and Tracy Moore of Zettiology and here's Teesha in front of their new sign. I had the pleasure of taking a Journal Play workshop from the Moore's in Port Townsend, WA three summers ago. 

While I am at this convention, I take countless photos of samples and go to as many demonstrations as I can. My very favorite this time, in addition to the use of Copic Markers, were the art journal demonstrations. I loved this particular page. 

So if you are a "pure" artist who think rubber stamps are child's play, don't fool yourself. Get thee to one of Kat's Original Rubber Stamp Conventions and I swear you will find yourself in paradise. Which reminds me, I am submitting this to Rebecca's Postcards From Paradise today. 

Postcards from Paradise: Jianulla's Iconography

When I saw Rebecca's invitation to us today to participate in Postcards from Paradise, I immediately thought of my neighbor and friend Jianulla. She brought a beautiful Byzantine style Mary and child to church today that she created in a week-long iconography class at Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Palos Verdes, CA. Rebecca's words fit J's art and spirit perfectly. 

The class was taught by the Rev. Fr. Michael K. Courey, D.Min., Pastor of St. Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church in Redondo Beach.  If the class is offered again, I definitely would participate. 

Here is Jianulla, who is half Greek and half Irish, displaying her art today in our Christ Church Parish Hall. 

Postcards From Paradise: Victorian Love

On Sundays, Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon hosts Postcards From Paradise and since I just got home from a delightful film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I pulled up this Victorian postcard from Sterling Publishing's Memories of a Lifetime "Romantic Illustrations." 

This was how I envisioned it would be in my own marriage, but it didn't work out that way. Nowdays I find that men my age are largely interested in much younger women. But, it warms the cockles of my heart to think that many couples are in it for the long haul. I cannot recommend The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel enough. Like me, these people are in stage three of life (according to Jane Fonda) and with or without forever partners, they make the best of it. 

I'm a "junque" seeker for my mixed media and collage art and I was so delighted to find the Sterling book, with its CD, at the Peninsula Friends of the Library book sale for $2. Along with the gigantic golden full moon tonight and this delightful find, I'm a happy camper tonight. 

Happy Easter From Redondo Beach, California

What a lovely day it has been so far! It began with services at Christ Episcopal Church just down the street from my home. 

After church, the annual egg hunt was held on the church lawns--and what a delight it was to see all the kids scurrying to fill their baskets. 

This Easter was the first one without John Simpson, famous for his booming alleluias. When he passed away last year, we put up a small bronze plaque in church over where he always sat in his scooter. 

After church, my daughter Christy, my granddaughter Whitney, and Whit's dad Lorenzo came over and we went to breakfast at one of our local landmark restaurants, near my house--The Cozy Cafe. I was also celebrating my granddaughter's 25th birthday. This is my daughter, granddaughter and me. I'm wearing a top that my friend Lorna in Wonderland sent from Canada. If you click Lorna, you'll see a recount of when they recently visited California. 

Below is a photo of my daughter-in-law Laura with grandsons Zachary and Arlo on the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C. where they celebrated Zach's sixth birthday this weekend. 

My son Tony and his family were at Notre Dame de Paris on Palm Sunday a week ago and instead of palms, they brought me this sprig of green given to the tourists. 

Now I'm off to write in my journal on my sunny patio -- about Easter and spring's renewal. I like to use this day to refocus my own life each year and recount my gratitudes. 

 

Postcards: Palm Sunday Walk From Jerusalem's Mount of Olives

Rebecca's Sunday challenge is called Postcards from Paradise, but I guess it's hard for me to think of Jerusalem as paradise on this Palm Sunday 2012. I have relived our pilgrimage to the Holy Land over and over again and so much of it was pure joy. Seeing all the sites Jesus walked that last week of his life is forever imprinted in memory.

This is a photo I took of old Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in 2011 as our pilgrimage group made its way down the hillside to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

GoIsrael describes the awe and wonder of the Palm Sunday walk much better than I can. 

"The view from the Mount of Olives is wondrous: the densely packed walled city of Jerusalem embraced by the Hinnom and Kidron valleys, the Golden Gate to Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, Mount Zion, City of David and more, bring alive both prophecy and Psalms. It is from the Mount of Olives, with its view not only toward the Holy City and its green surroundings, but toward the wilderness, that one understands how Jerusalem got one of its earliest names, Zion (2 Sam. 5:7), which comes from a word meaning desert. 

On the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives is Bethany, where a beautiful church marks the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha (John 1:11), and where visitors can descend and emerge dramatically from the traditional tomb of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11:43).

The Palm Sunday Walk, which begins at Bethphage, follows the traditional path Jesus took in his triumphal entry to the Holy City (John 12:13-15). It stops in the quiet garden chapel of Dominus Flevit, marking the site where Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and then passes the ancient Jewish cemetery, where the deceased await the resurrection when the Messiah comes to the Mount of Olives (Zach. 14:4). This is an important place to pause and consider that the Mount of Olives is not only a geographical link between the desert and the fertile Jerusalem hills, it is the spiritual link between death and life, also emphasized by the resurrection of Lazarus in Bethany. 

In the early days of Christianity, monks came to the Mount of Olives in large numbers, seeking the solitude of its heights where they could deepen their understanding of these and other Scriptural truths.  

The Palm Sunday walk culminates in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of the most dramatic sites on a Christian itinerary." 

All I know is that studying scripture and the life of Jesus came alive for me last year and I am grateful I had the experience of following in Jesus' footsteps. 

Postcards from Paradise: Redondo Beach from Palos Verdes

Our weather in Southern California has been absolutely spectacular the past few days making me even more aware of how good I feel now compared to how I've felt the past four months. As I grow older I am no longer tolerant to cold and dark, but I just keep on keeping on. It's only when the days grow longer and warmth returns that I remember that emotionally there are two mes. One me has a sunny disposition in spring, summer and fall, and one me really slows down (hibernates in a way) when the days are so short and cold. All I can say is that when my mom and dad moved their family in the 1930s from Michigan to California, my sunny future was cast, and for that I am grateful. I was born late in that decade and I've lived in California ever since--different places, but in the South Bay area of L.A. County for the past 50 years. 

I took this photo about three years ago from a friend's home in the Malaga Cove area of Palos Verdes. That's Redondo Beach below with views all the way to Santa Monica. If you had a magnifying glass, you would see my townhouse somewhere tucked into the front third of the photo, two blocks back from the Redondo Beach Pier. 

I know I've said this ad nauseum, but somehow or other, never planned, I got plunked down in Redondo Beach after my divorce and I never knew I could love a place so much. It's nothing really special, I guess, compared to full-on resorts, but I am deeply moved by the fact or fluke that I am privileged to live here. Lorna and Dave are visiting from Canada right now and up until the past few days, it's been pretty chilly. In long Ottawa winters, they will remember these past few days, I'm sure. When my son and family visited a few weeks ago from Washington state, the weather wasn't as nice as it is now, but to them it was warm even when I thought it was cold.  

To see more Postcard from Paradise, visit Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon. 

Postcards from Paradise: Son and Grandson in Surf

As most of you know who are either face-to-face or cyber friends, I consider myself to be blessed to live in what feels like paradise to me: Redondo Beach, California, USA. Redondo Beach is not a resort by any means, but to live by the ocean was always a dream. This photo of my eldest son Joe and his son Zach was taken on Friday at the beach at Ave. A and the Esplanade in Redondo Beach. It was a beautiful day and dolphins would occasionally leap out of the water and pelicans were diving straight down. The Santa Monica mountains and the hills of Palos Verdes were crystal clear. 

My ex-husband came down and joined the family on the sand to watch Zach and Arlo play tag with the little waves. I was in awe that my first born, Joe, was home and it looks like his four serious surgeries for detached retinas are complete and he is feeling quite well. 

The fly in the ointment (but like Ecclesiastes, for every time there is a season), my dog Mollie bit Zach on the cheek later that evening leaving two puncture wounds and a black eye, but Laura, his mom, says he is functioning well during their San Diego weekend. I'm so grateful it wasn't worse and though Mollie has always seemed a mild-mannered dog, Zach was rough housing with her in a situation where she couldn't escape. I'll be far more wary about having her play too roughly with kids in the future, however.  

To see more Postcards from Paradise, visit Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon. 

Postcards from Paradise: Thinking Again About Thomas Merton

Because the late mystic Trappist monk Thomas Merton has played such an important role in my life in earlier times, I write about him periodically here. When I sat down to post to Rebecca's Postcards from Paradise Sunday, Merton was on my mind. This is my favorite quote of his from "Love of Solitude, Part II, 'Thoughts in Solitude.'" 

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

This is a favorite photo of him in the fields at Gethsemane Abbey where he lived in community until his death at the age of 57. (Credit: Sybille Akers)

His autobiography "The Seven Storey Mountain" was my introduction to Merton decades back. I own all the books he wrote and periodically watch the fine documentaries that have been produced about him. PBS’s Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton is one of the best; I highly recommend it. I did my M.A. thesis on Merton: Dialogues With Thomas Merton. Once, when I was traveling with students to Columbia University for a summer journalism program, I was given access to the materials about him in Columbia’s archives—and I made a mini pilgrimage that week to the places he had lived and frequented.

So, out of sight is definitely not out of mind where Thomas Merton is concerned. Monk, mystic, artist, author, poet, photographer. His all-too-human life has long been inspirational to me personally. 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Merton in the fields near the Abbey of Gethsemani.