Sky photos - Kentucky and Cape Cod

1958 - the age of my innocence

I am reading a Jodi Picoult book called Sing You Home. One of her characters tells a story about getting Bazooka bubble gum comics and the opportunity to get x-ray glasses. She dreamed about getting the glasses and being able to see through things. When they came, you saw a bone imprint on each lens and she was sad she could not have x-ray vision.

My story of innocence is about this:

In 1958, I was eight years old and I lived in Cleveland Heights. A church on Noble Road had an after school weekly ongoing opportunity for children to come and listen to what was promised. I walked home from school every day on my own and my parents gave me permission to stop by for this. In 1958 children were very innocent about reality, not like today with the Internet.

Well, I may have missed some message the church wanted me to know, because when the final week came I thought they had promised me a live baby rabbit, and I was so excited. How did I surmise this from what had been said? I lived in my own child vision world then, and I believed that this is what they were telling me.

I was heartbroken when the final day came and they handed me some a bag of church info for my parents. This is an experience from a very young age I will never forget.

Finding your wisdom: try Lama Surya Das and Jane Fonda

I consider Lama Surya Das as a guru of the first order and have been able to hear him speak in person. His experience as a meditator and monk expressed via his American experience as a leader of Buddhist thought in the U.S., is important to me as I seek teachers.

I wish I lived closer to where he teaches at Garrison Institute or places he travels. Atlanta is not a big draw for those in this particular line of work.

He has a web site with a cartoon I really like, so click here to see it. He also has a new book out called "Buddha Standard Time, Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now" which I just got but haven't read yet.

An AP reporter whose story is posted on ABC News says it may be hard for regular Americans to follow the wisdom provided by Surya Das. This reporter has some good insights, but without Surya Das giving Westerners a look at a way to begin to embrace meditation and all the goods that come with a practice, a lot of folks will miss out.

No doubt it is hard for someone like me to explain how to move into a practice that respects Buddhism and its concepts, but I just say start reading, visit a Buddhist center, a meditation class, or other opportunity to learn. In her new book "Prime Time," Jane Fonda begins to understand this doorway after attending a week-long retreat at a Zen center. Check Fonda out on ABC News. You can read excerpts here from her book about aging meaningfully.

I haven't focused on skies on The Sky Badge Project for a while.

I noticed a new book described in the LA Times: The author of "The Cloud Collector's Handbook," Pretor-Pinney has always found clouds intriguing and considered himself an enthusiastic amateur before founding the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004, which has grown to include aficionados in 88 countries, including the U.S.

Another way to enjoy clouds and skies is to Like Clouds 365 Project on Facebook.

Here is one of my sky observations:

The sky starts
Blue, but
Heat will push it
Away today
I saw a yellow finch
On the purple cornstalk
Flower just now.