A (Praying) Mantis in the grass. I was pleased to see this one. It had been lying on some concrete 24 hours earlier looking none to happy. I had moved it to the earth beneath the grass. Assuming that it was the same one, it must be feeling better to have had some strength to climb up the grass.
They are coming thick and fast at the moment. This afternoon’s double rainbow. 🌈
While I was out of action this last week because of a migraine, a few rainbows appeared in the sky which I have not posted here. When my health and tolerance of light due to the migraine allowed me outside, I grabbed shots of some of those rainbows - one (maybe two?) a double. I’m sharing them here. 🌈
There’s nothing like the right conditions being in place for me to experience a step back in time.
Outside it is wet, overcast and windy…and there’s a nip to that wind.
Inside classical music is playing, my wife is enjoying breakfast in bed…oh and I didn’t mention that it is Sunday.
With all of this in place, I am transported back to the Sunday mornings of my youth. Mum is upstairs eating breakfast in bed. Downstairs dad is working his way through the Sunday crosswords, and classical music is playing.
Finished reading: Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh. I read this book many years ago, and Thay’s teachings have been in my orbit for as long. With the current world climate, I felt that I needed a reminder, a good reminder of holding onto peace of mind when adverse conditions arise.📚
Outside it rains, steady showers, water trickling down the down pipes. Inside it is quiet.
Please leave me here all day.
Another rainbow from this morning as the sun rose following last night’s showers. 🌈
This morning’s rainbow. This one has lingered for a good hour. 🌈
🤫 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. 🌈
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.
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 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.