Dolphin Journey

I had the good fortune of going out on a boat with Dolphin Journeys in Kona, Hawaii. Nancy Sweatt takes small groups out to swim with the dolphins. I contacted her company because of her spiritual connection with the dolphins. She already had a group going out on the one day that I was going to be in Kona. After a couple of emails, they contacted the family and I was invited to join their party. 

The family I joined was kind and friendly and accepted me as one of their own.

The dolphins accepted me in as well. We stopped the boat to watch the dolphins jump and spin out of the water. Kavika, the Captain asked if anyone knew why the dolphins spin like that. No one had and answer. His reply was, "Because they can."

Once in the water, the dolphins seemed to disappear. I asked them to come back and spend some time with me. I began to hear clicking a chirping, but still did not see anything. Then in my peripheral vision, I saw a pair swimming toward me. The first visit there were 7 or 8 dolphins. They came so close and they swam along at my pace. After a little while, they were ready to move more quickly. The headed toward the surface, their tail fins right in front of me and they swam out of sight.



A little while later, the clicking and singing began again. Slowly a couple of dolphins appeared and then more and more. They were under me and beside me. So close that I could reach out my arm and touch them. I was one of them. They did not make me work to keep up, they swam with me. I kicked and watched. Amazed, content, wanting to remember every moment. There were mothers and babies, pairs and quartets rubbing against one another, they were turning and spinning below me. Often two of them would swim together, one up-side-down the other above and they would be touching their fins together. So happy it seemed to be in connection with each other.


As I watched and absorbed noticing their coloration dark to light from top to bottom, one drifted up next to me. I turned to look at the beautiful creature. It looked me in the eye. I looked back and it began to swim around me in a circle. I turned on my side and joined in the circle swim. Together we went around my back arched to water caressing me and a dolphin playing with me.


There was no other world at that time. It was just me and the dolphins. I was, for a little while, a part of their family.

25. That is the number of dolphins that I swam with during that magical journey. 25. "As you go though major life changes, expect the best and your optimism will be rewarded." That is what Doreen Virtue wrote about the number 25 in her book Angel Numbers 101.


I am blessed. I am thankful. I shall spin whenever I can.

Volcano

Darkness

Stars light up the sky.

Specs of orange glow in the distance

A slow flow down the mountain

Under foot, cooled lava back as the night

Pele moves at her own pace

In her own direction

This night she moves off in the distance

We watch from a home build on

Pele's black remains

Fire and a sparkling sky meet at the end of the road.

Avatar

Last night I watched the movie Avatar for the second time. I have to say I liked it even better. I could pay attention to the little details. I loved when they are in the tree and with each step the plants in the tree glow. The whole sense of the energy that runs throughout the film is wonderful.

Of course, I wonder what it will take to wake us up to the energy in our earth? That the energy has so much power and we need to live in harmony with it.

Let us reconnect with the earth and find that incredible connection that James Cameron depicted in his movie.

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10-10-10 @10:10

St. Francis' Prayer for Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Prayer for the Earth
Incredible Earth
Alive with growth and blooming
Let the people wake

Earthquakes volcanoes
Oil spills rising temperatures
Let the people wake

Eyes closed blaming him
Calling screaming begging earth
Let the people wake

Healing caring love
Peace forgiveness gently touch
Let the earth awake

Taro Planting Prayer

This taro field is up near Princeville on the island of Kauai. The leaves of the taro plant are heart shaped and shimmy in the wind.

E Kū-iki-olo walu –e,
I olowalu ka huli I ka mākālua a kāua.
I olowalu ke kalo I ola ka kahi’ ai,
I ola ka noho hale,
I ola ka ōhua
I ola ka ‘ohana,
I olo na malihini kipa mai,
A i ola iā u ia (ka inoa o ka mahi’ ai)
‘Āmama Ua noa.

O Kū-iki-olo walu –e,
May the taro top in our planting hole grow large.
May they grow large that I the planter may live,
That the dwellers in the house may live,
That the dependents may live,
That the family may live,
That the visiting stranger may live,
That I (planter's name)may live.
‘Āmama. It is free of tabu.

Collected from Daniel Kaonohiokalani Hoolapa © 1920 by Theodore Kelsey. A taro planting prayer in Na Pule Kahiko, edited by June Gutmanis and printed in Mana Cards: The Power of Hawaiian Wisdom by Catherine Kalama Becker, PH.D and Doya Nardin

This year I have felt a strong need to plant a vegetable garden. To grow some of my own food. It is a ecological and health decision. After listening to the book, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, watching Food, Inc., and reading so many other things about where our food comes from and how little nutrition is has by the time we put it in our mouths, I decided to take action. I have been purchasing fruits and vegetables at the local farmers market, but in Illinois, that is a limited time deal. I thought that I could heal the earth and myself just a little bit by planting nutrition and beauty. It is a challenge, and the above prayer is my mantra these days. I send it out into the world with love, and hope for healing and growth.

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Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico

Sometimes vacations are about relaxation and lazy days and other times, it is an opportunity to test out another side of ourselves. I went to Oaxaca, Mexico with National Geographic to test out who I am as a photographer. It was quite a journey, we went on 1 - 3 photo shoots each day and had edit and critic sessions with two N.G. photographers. This meant downloading pictures each day and culling through them to select the best 25 from the days shoots before showing them to the instructor so they could critic and select the best 4 -8 for the day. Each student's selected images were then shown to the group with comments by the instructor's about what made the image good, what could have been done differently, and in some cases how they might be used in a magazine spread. We were given two rules, no cropping and shooting in manual mode.

I chose the Oaxaca trip because I am intrigued by Day of the Dead celebrations. I have heard and read about this special day that falls at the same time as Halloween and I wanted to experience it first hand. Day of the Dead combines native beliefs with the Catholic All Saints Day. They believe that the dead come back one day a year, and the living celebrate that moment with a special altar in the home and a night in the cemetery. The days leading up to the Day of the Dead are full of preparation and celebration.

In Oaxaca, sand sculptures are created in the Zocalo with skeletons, angels, and skulls.


Bands play, people dance, and children dress up in costumes -- usually skeleton costumes, but as the Halloween traditions creep South of the border, pumpkin costumes appear more often.


We spent the days leading up to Day of the Dead visiting communities and families to see and experience life in Oaxaca. We visited the Zapotec Ruins at MonteAlban and the ruins of Mitla, We went to and animal market in Zaachila, and the markets of Octolan, Mitla, and Oaxaca.













As we headed into the Day of the Dead experience, we were all glad to have practiced shooting in in a variety of settings. We were heading into the unknown, shooting at night with candlelight and flash as our only light sources. I was a nervous wreck for the first time that week. I am not much for flash photography and I wasn't sure I understood anything that we had been taught about flash photography. My camera and flash are supposed to be able to work remotely from each other, but I couldn't figure it out. This would have allowed me to move the flash so that it would be less direct and provide added light without the high contrast. In the end, I managed to get some cool images in the cemeteries. Maybe it was all the spirits because it is not my new understanding of the use of the flash.

From the mescal cheer:



To the quiet family moment just before dawn:



If you would like to see more images from the trip, Check out my flickr page.