graffiti on a cyber wall

People who can see me in non-cyber space know I love shiny rocks.  I pick them up.  I carry them with me. I randomly give them away. I accept them as gifts.
That is what this new fortnightly (sorry couldn't help myself) feature is about, sharing the gems and jewels I find along the way  (quotes, songs, thoughts, notes, websites, photos I take, photos I see).   I hope you like the shiny cyber rocks. I may update Shiny Rocks all during the day as I come across new shiny things.
If you have some shiny rocks you'd like to share leave them in the comments.   Let me know what you think.
May truth, love, and light embrace you and emanate from you.

Photography tips
The Path to Better Photography

One of the ways I try to improve my photography is by looking at other photographer's photos.  You might enjoy the work of these photographers.  
Michael Diblicek
Joel (Julius) Tjintjelaar
Hengki Koentjoro 

I spent a lot of time home the last few days recovering from an unpleasant sour sore throat.  I did a lot of reading and watched some TV.  Here are a few websites I bumped into as a result of the that reading and TV watching.
Bhagavan Das
AHA
Who-HA Da-DA
350
If you're in the UK, you can Rent a Rev.  Sounds like a business I could start.  Maybe I will. 

Have we come to the end of the growth economy? 

A little nonsense that floated by.
ahawhohadadababa
Be may the Pie Jot be with you.




 


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Many years ago or maybe not that many, the pulp wood men would go out into the forest and harvest trees.
Occasional these men would cut a tree containing an active squirrel's nest with baby squirrels inside.  A few of these men knew about my grandfather and once in a while they would bring him the baby squirrels to raise.

Throughout my childhood there would be baby squirrels in his house.  One day he lost one.  He looked for it off and on all day.  He finally found the baby curled up in the toe of his slipper later that night.

He loved the squirrels.  He kept nest boxes and feeding stations scattered through the black walnut grove that was his backyard.  These are the bottles he used when he fed the babies until they were grown and he could release them in his yard.

One of the things he really enjoyed was sitting on his front porch surrounded by the squirrels and birds that would come and eat out his hand.  For a child it was a magical experience.  All these years later it's still magical. 

I hope your life is filled with birds and squirrels and magic. 
    
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The White-tailed deer is a beautiful herbivore.  I always enjoy seeing them in the yard, woods, and along the sides of the road (have to careful not to hit one). This deer is popular with hunters both for it's antlers and meat (which is quite tasty). Sadly, hunting clubs are taking over a lot of the wild areas in the state. Even if that land is public land, once a hunting club leases it, the land is off limits to people who aren't members of the hunting club even if they aren't hunters. 

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A lot happened between the previous installment  and the trip west.  
 
Interlude:
 
While I was at Samford I was drafted to serve in Vietnam.  Being a hippie and an outspoken, highly visible, anti-war protestor, I wore underwear that said 'give peace a chance' on the butt to my physical.  Remember, I was living in Alabama at the time. It wasn't always safe to be a hippie walking down the street.   At my physical, they decided I was a conscientious objector.   I spent my two years doing civilian duty and continued to protest the war.
During these interlude years,  Jesus Freak me worked at His House, a Christian mission  helping the homeless, drug addicts, and runaways, had a gospel radio show, worked with special needs children, got married, spent 4 months traveling the country in a red VW micro bus, and discovered mushrooms.  The borders of my spiritual world began to expand as I transitioned from my narrow, rule based understanding of 'truth' to a more open understanding.  I was moving from intolerance to tolerance.  I was moving from being judgmental to being loving. 


With everything we owned packed in a Dodge van, no where to stay, no job prospects, and little money, we drove to Golden Gate Seminary  in Marin County, California.   Within the week, we had good paying jobs that came with a ranch style home and I was enrolled is seminary. Cool beans. The Universe provides.

There was a professor at the seminary who was getting a third PhD in biology.  He was easily in his 60s, maybe older.   I was curious and asked him why he was the pursueing this degree.  He said, 'God created everything.  If you want to know about God learn about what He made.  It says a lot about how He thinks.'  Around the same time I started watching Alan Watts on TV.  The intersection of these two events were a pivotal point in my journey.   The professor's 'learn about what God made' and Watts' blend of Taoism and Zen changed my mindset.  I no longer wanted to explain 'truth', I wanted to see it clearly without the filter that is language.  The word is not the thing.   The name of a thing is a label.  How do you know it's labeled correctly?

I have to toss this in the mix, learning to easily read the New Testament Bible in Greek was a real spiritual eye opener too.

Stay tuned for the next installment: The Bus Years

Don't forget we travel in at least four dimensions:  spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical.   I know I left out time.  We invented it.  It's part of the mental dimension.  I know I left out space.  It's mostly empty.   It's part of the physical dimension. 
MU

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Previous blog in this series
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1. At age 5, I got in trouble for throwing up in kindergarten.  The teacher and my dad punished me.
2, My parents punished me by spanking.  More like beating from my child point of view.
3. Based on their actions, it appears once people get to know me they don't like me.
4.  I once gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dying woman.  Days later I heard she lived. Never saw her again after the ambulance came. 
5.  My grandfather took me hunting.  We never shot anything.
6. I lived near San Francisco for 6 years.
7. My favorite job is the one I'm about to leave.
8. I don't have a wife and if I'm supposed to learn from history I never will.
9. I once drove down highway 78 at 120 mph in my mom's new Pontiac.  I could watch the gas gauge go down.
10. My favorite pass time in life is photography. 

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Art, handmade pipes, crafts and more from Ocean Starr

Jewelry & Incense from The Blended Path

BhunitaRamdass 
  
Lisa's Little Luxuries!
  
Candles from Savory Scents 

Fräulein Pfau Jewellery and Crafts 

Handmade Artists' Shop
"Our primary mission for the Handmade Artists' Shop is to support handmade. There are so many mass produced items out there that it often feels that the world has lost the respect for the small, independent merchant. It is so easy to go to one of those mega stores and get everything you want in one stop. Some of us think it’s better to take some time and create something with our hands and our imaginations. Our goal is when you visit The Handmade Artists' Shop you will feel the passion and understand that we truly love and support handmade." 

Sacred Circle Mandalas:  Art That Heals Your Heart and Soul 
 
Tsalagi Dreams offers Native American crafts
 
Naughty Fae's Textile Creations
   
Art in Clay by Becky Dennis 
  
 Art to Go
    
Photography  
  
Ashley Klemm  Photography 
    
Candice Smith Photography

Kim and Adam Wedding Photography

Abandoned Farmhouses of Oklahoma by John E. Glaze, photographer and author 

Cinnamon Studios 

Images by Stephen Davis