Category: photo

  • not so long ago…


    Shanghai view, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Two years ago today, I was just returning home from a whirlwind trip to China. It seems so very long ago now!

    What I remember well:
    –the air: how wet and misty and ethereal it was.
    –the food: excellent and scary sometimes (I stopped asking what I was eating and just tried everything. I learned to love SPICY!).
    –the shopping: I was so tired of Chinese touristy crappy stuff by the end of the trip–I came home with suitcases nearly empty except for cheongsam for CatGirl and myself and a few trinkets.
    –the bathrooms: thinking LAX toilets were just heavenly after 2 weeks of squatters and no TP
    –the people: endlessly interesting to watch, to listen to their voices, to attempt communication.
    –fun: crazy taxi rides to the night markets with Dora, Mom and new groovy friends
    –the massages. ’nuff said there….
    –the escape: getting away from everything familiar for enough time to find parts of myself again.

    :)

    Lingering Garden

    Tiger Hill

    Summer Palace bridge and lake

  • books


    books, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    This is just one section of one of the bookshelves that we have in our home. You can see from this picture how we’ve tagged all of our books (like a library). Tagging and cataloging our books is my secret weapon.

    We have thousands of books. There is no better way to know exactly where each of them belongs. Before organizing our books I couldn’t find them when I needed them, and John & I had unecessary duplicate copies of many of our books.

    I know it’s geeky to do stuff like this. But I’m okay with that.

  • fresh


    strawberries, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I picked these strawberries in my garden this morning. Along with a bagful of lettuce for my lunch salad. I also picked a zucchini and some basil for our homemade pizza dinner tonite.

    Yum :)

    UPDATE: This really was today, this is not a ‘classic’ post from summertime!

  • fall


    abandon, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    The leaves here don’t really change colors like in the colder areas of the country. Rather, they just turn brown and die during the Santa Ana winds.

    But they still make for a fun photo opportunity. I love how GameBoy’s arms look super long and strong as he throws up his bundle of leaves.

  • pilgrimgirl classic: proclivities

    Originally posted 4/10/07


    pink&purple, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Picture: Close-up of a small purple flower with pink stamens.

    Recently we watched the movie “Amazing Grace” (which I highly recommend to each of you). The main character, Wilberforce, realizes that he could easily spend his life enjoying nature–studying spiderwebs and gazing into flowers. He find so much satisfaction in his communion with the natural world. Yet he comes to realize that this isn’t his mission in life. Instead, he becomes a politician and is instrumental in ending the British slave trade.

    Some days I feel like I lose myself in a flower. Time flies by while I’m in my garden and I start to only care about growing things. The rest of life seems so mundane in comparison. Yet I also have this feeling that I am supposed to do so much more. That gardening is important, even bedrock, for my life. But it’s not the whole of it. There are books to write, and children to raise, and friends to meet. And the flowers will continue to grow. Whether I am wholly absorbed in them or not.

  • all dressed up…


    Here’s how John and I ended up looking at JourneyGal’s Halloween bash last night. I never found any vampire teeth so I went as a goth gypsy. :) And I should, of course, mention that this is one of the very few times you’ll see me in make-up. I typically only wear it for Halloween and I only dress up every few years. It’s always such a surprise to see myself with dark smudges at my eyes and with red-stained lips.

    John, a priest, won the costume contest along with a friend who dressed as a pregnant nun. Very cute photo op with the two of them together! GameBoy dressed as a ninja and CatGirl was a cat (no surprise there!).

    Sam took this pic–his awesome camera made me green with envy even under all that makeup….

  • queen


    Lap of Luxury., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    Because EllyCat is THE QUEEN around here, and she knows it oh-so-well.

    I am reading Assassination Vacation right now. Can I just say that I feel like I’ve made a new friend who loves the ghoulish bits of the past maybe even as much as I do? Her visit to the Army Medical Museum (or whatever it’s called nowadays) made me so jealous that I had to physically restrain myself from not scrawling on the copy of this book that my Friend loaned to me. That is MY MUSEUM–even thought I’ve never been there and have just fantasized intensely about the day I’ll actually get to visit.

    People, Sarah Vowell is one of my people. And it’s so comforting to know that I’m not alone in this big, dark, history-apathetic world….

    And to Johnw/H: you rock. Thank you for loaning me just the right books at just the right times….

  • haze


    Mr. Golden Sun., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    John’s photo shows the odd orange skies from the ash and firesmoke.

    FYI, a local professor put together a website to match housing opportunities with those who’ve been evacuated from San Diego and other SoCal fire regions.

  • flying mountain


    IMG_4499, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Tonite I watched an interview of housewife-turned-Buddhist-nun Pema Chodron with some friends. Chodron spoke about many common Buddhist concepts, with her own unique spin on the issues of pain and suffering and the goal to be ‘fully awake.’

    For me, the most provocative quotation from the program was this one:

    “We are all capable of becoming fundamentalists because we get addicted to other people’s wrongness.”

    She spoke at length about how this addiction, or ‘getting hooked’ as she calls it, sets off a chain reaction of suffering. By removing ourselves from the addictive cycle we can have more peace and compassion.

    I love that idea. I am certainly guilty of being addicted to other people’s wrongness just as I am guilty of being addicted to my own rightness. I recognize that this is a very rigid way to live, but it is so human…sigh.

    What I really want…to see the divine in each person I meet and not to feel anger and self-righteousness when someone believes differently than I do. So I will keep trying….

    Note: the picture above is of some Buddhist carvings on the “Flying Mountain” at the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, China. The day I visited the temple nearly two years ago it was rainy and cold, the ground so slippery underfoot that it was difficult to walk around the temple and monastery. Yet there were still dozens of worshipers lighting huge bundles of incense outside of the temple and saying their prayers. I was impressed by the devotion of the adherents. That day I also felt very homesick for my family back in the states. At the foot of the Buddha I said prayers for their continued safety and felt great comfort.

  • hot & cold


    Hey!, originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    Today it was ghastly hot. Santa Ana winds with the smell of ash & smoke on the air. Nearly 90 degrees. We went to the library after the beach and a woman there got a citation from the police for leaving her dog outside–it was so hot that the dog’s health was endangered.

    Unbelievable for nearly-November! And the predictions are that it will near 100 degrees by mid-week. Oh my!

    But despite the heat outside, the Pacific waters were cold on my toes! In this photo John captured my grimace as the water came up to my calf and it was a kind of delicious pain. :)

  • hot & cold


    Hey!, originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    Today it was ghastly hot. Santa Ana winds with the smell of ash & smoke on the air. Nearly 90 degrees. We went to the library after the beach and a woman there got a citation from the police for leaving her dog outside–it was so hot that the dog’s health was endangered.

    Unbelievable for nearly-November! And the predictions are that it will near 100 degrees by mid-week. Oh my!

    But despite the heat outside, the Pacific waters were cold on my toes! In this photo John captured my grimace as the water came up to my calf and it was a kind of delicious pain. :)

  • paris


    Last Day in Paris., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    The family at the Hotel du Levant a few years ago. Wearing my way-cooler-than-jaime-somers bionic leg.

    Ahhhh,……Paris!! :)