(photos of the stunning oak trees taken in Audubon Park in New Orleans) 
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
** Make sure to visit this week’s Poetry Party — one more day to submit your poem and be entered into the drawing to win a set of Spring Prayer Cards **

Posted in Visual Meditation | 6 Comments »

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Dropping Keys
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
-Hafiz
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(a simple meditation this week — photo is of a collection I have of old keys from Austria) 
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
** Come back Monday for our next Poetry Party […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Visual Meditation | 6 Comments »

Into the Wild
The cancer began so small,
just a hummingbird
caught in the house.
It could be gently removed
without much fuss,
flying from the window, opened.
But, a whole other nest was found.
Hiding in the corner,
this cancer was not so innocent.
As the eggs cracked
and babies grew,
they brought a frenzy and chaos within.
Although these were
just small wrens,
the surgeon wielded his knife.
Poison […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Visual Meditation | 10 Comments »

What, gazing on the garden of the world, does the heart desire? 
-Hafiz

(Photos from top to bottom:  Deer on the San Juan Islands (taken by my husband), seagull on the Dingle Peninsula, horse on the Aran Islands, ladybug in the Killarney Forest, cow near Newgrange, and of course Abbess Petunia on the bottom.  All photos except […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 11 Comments »

My hermitage faces west over the water, so most evenings are magical.  I love the twilight time when we get ready to embrace the darkness of night.
Let Evening Come
Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.
Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 12 Comments »

It has been crisp, clear, and cold this week in Seattle (and below freezing temps which is unusual for our climate), which means stunning views of the mountain ranges that surround us.  Top photo is Seattle with the Cascades behind them (taken from the ferry).  The two middle photos are the Olympics from my hermitage.  One above […]

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When we were in Whistler over Christmas we had the delight of seeing two different rainbows, which I realized were actually “snowbows.”  One of them looked like a traditional arc (top and bottom image), the other hung suspended in the air upside-down (middle image).
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
**Come back Monday for our […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 12 Comments »

 -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(photos taken along the shore of the Hood Canal)
The winner of this week’s Poetry Party drawing will be announced later today! There’s still time to add your poem — currently up to 23 participants which is a wonderful outpouring of creative energy.

Posted in Photos, Season by the Sea, Visual Meditation | 11 Comments »

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(photos taken over the Christmas holiday while at Whistler, British Columbia)

Posted in Photos, Visual Meditation | 10 Comments »

***** 
Blessings to you dear readers in these winter days when the trees invite us to contemplate our essence and the faint light traveling low across the sky beckons us to rest.  The Winter Solstice is tomorrow, when the earth begins her slow tilt to welcome back the light. 
The Abbey is on sabbatical until the New Year.  Christine, John, and Tune […]

Posted in Photos, Visual Meditation | 21 Comments »