🤫 It has suddenly become very quiet, and I am sitting in gratitude of that. As Skoobs said on his blog recently,
…the chaos of this world, to be able to sit or lay in a room with no chaos to speak of is a luxury that can’t be overestimated.
🍃 We appear to be experiencing weather of extremes right now. After a dry spell (grass starting to turn yellow), we have moved to very windy weather (with intermittent rain).
🤕 I’ve been offline for a couple of days now. A bad migraine has taken me down. I haven’t had one this bad for a long time. I’m waking up on day 4 still feeling a throbbing, albeit a lessening to what it was. A humbling reminder of how quickly things can change - good heath, bad health.
A Prayer for Peace
H.H. Dalai Lama
Today is the fifteenth day of the first month of the Tibetan Calendar, and the culmination of the annual Great Prayer Festival (Monlam Chenmo), a two-week-long festival that begins with the Tibetan New Year.
In accordance with our tradition of dedicating the merit gained from these prayers for the well-being of all sentient beings, this year too I fervently pray for greater peace and understanding in our world. It saddens me to see so many people suffering as a result of conflict, in Ukraine, in Gaza, and other parts of the world. By now we might have hoped that human beings would have learned from our history of violence. In all such conflicts, it is the innocent who bear the heaviest burden—living in fear, facing the loss of so much, even our lives, and constantly enduring the challenge of uncertainty.
One simple truth remains: every human being, each and every one of us, wishes not to suffer and only wants to be happy. If we recognize our shared humanity, recalling that the welfare of one depends on the welfare of all, I truly believe we can find a peaceful resolution to even the most intractable conflicts. But to do so requires a willingness to enter into dialogue and negotiation. I therefore appeal for concerted efforts to create a more compassionate, peaceful world free from violence.
With my prayers and good wishes,
The Dalai Lama
14 March 2025
I have just finished reading Colin Walker’s (@colinwalker) ebook It’s Only Words, based on his love of writing and his learnt experience of the challenge that he set himself, to post to his blog every day for a year. While not having undertaken such a challenge, I could hear within the struggles that Colin speaks about during that year of writing, similar trials that writing can unexpectedly bring up for me. A good read, download it from the link above, and an inspiration to write. 📚
These two photos capture either end of this morning’s rainbow, which although the ends were visible, there was no join in the middle. 🌈
This evening’s rainbow…just. I caught it just as it faded into the sky behind it. 🌈
The Bunker: Saturday 8th March, 2025
Saturday, March 8, 2025
All credit to the artist(s) 🎨
No sooner do I put up a post saying that there have been no updates to The Bunker recently, than there is…a new mural on The Bunker!
This morning’s rainbow 🌈
Droplets on a garden light.
The Bunker An Update
Friday, March 7, 2025
To those waiting for the next Bunker mural, I have not forgotten you. There simply have been no updates since the beginning of the year. When I started this series I had number of photographs of past Bunker murals and so I was able to get several photos out quickly. Now we are down to the regular pace of Bunker updates. In the past I have not paid so much attention to how often a new painting was added to its face.
Offa's Dyke Path
Friday, March 7, 2025
Offa’s Dyke Path is a walking trail, part of the United Kingdom’s network of National Trails. The path is a 177 mile (285 km) walking trail which follows the Dyke that was ordered to be built by King Offa in the 8th century. Offa’s Dyke runs the length of the border between England and Wales, running from Sedbury Cliffs near to Chepstow on the Severn estuary in the South, to Prestatyn on the Irish Sea in the North.
🌧️ We have woken up to wind and rain this morning. I am singing! 🎶
There was a sprinkling of rain last night and this morning grey clouds are lurking above. I welcome the rain when it falls here. If we get too much sun, a subjective measurement depending on my mood, I can yearn for an overcast day or days with rain falling.
This might sound ungrateful to those experiencing more inclement weather. I put it down to me growing up in Britain, for which the weather (and its unpredictable and not always very pleasant nature) is quite often a topic of conversation, if not the opening gambit….and hey, look at this post, a Brit talking about the weather!
I like some variation in weather.
I have said it before on this blog, that we live in one of the wetter parts of Maui. All the same, we are going through a dry winter - I can see the grass in places starting to adopt a hay like hue. So on top of and more important than me wanting rain, the island is in need of rain. The storm a few weeks back dumped a lot of water on us, but the plants will use that up in time.
A dry winter, usually the wet season, does not bode well for the summer ahead. Here’s hoping that the rain starts falling soon. A little is forecast tomorrow and Wednesday, so fingers crossed.
🍿
Last night we sat around a fire saying goodbye to old friends, welcoming a visitor to the island and catching up with news from close family and friends. Above us an inky black sky dotted with stars and a sliver of a setting New Moon.
The VOG has now gone, but all that volcanic dust in the air sure did produce some beautiful sunsets. This one looking over the West Maui Mountains a couple of evenings ago.
Grass Therapy
🤞 The wind is just beginning to pick up. I hope that this means that the VOG will be gone soon. Being outside is not pleasant. The VOG is just hanging in the air. It has been like this for two days now. Sometimes the wind dies down to nothing at night, but I hope that this increased breeze is the beginning of change in the weather and clearer days ahead.
Those Moments
Friday, February 28, 2025
The author reflects on cherished memories of sharing Fred Basset cartoons with their late father, highlighting the bittersweet nature of reminiscence after his passing.