AJC 2011 Itinerary 17: Verb: CYCLE

Or “Embrace the Goo”

The Butterfly is often depicted as a symbol of Spiritual Transition, going from a seeming ‘death’ to a glorious new Life form.

..” Before a caterpillar can become a butterfly, it must become goo.
Yes, goo.
Within the cocoon, the form of the caterpillar totally dissolves into a liquid that is rich with nutrients and potential.
It's super goo.

From this super goo, the butterfly is formed.
Aside from the goo there are, imaginal cells.
These cells contain the image, the genetic template of the butterfly.
The goo feeds these imaginal cells and as the goo is digested, it transforms into a butterfly.

Only by letting go of the old forms can you make space for something new to be born.
In spiritual literature. the goo, is called the dark night of the soul.
If you're longing to fly, to deepen your life, to expand your horizon of awareness - embrace the goo…”

Excerpted from the March 04/11 newsletter produced by the wonderful folks at Wisdom Heart. to whom I give a Grateful Thank You for continuing to inspire me (especially when I'm stuck in the 'goo'. lol)
Blessings
Shanti

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Credits and Kits:

Monarch Butterfly life cycle photos: c/r free Wikipedia
Background paper frame, Polaroid photo frame, Buttefly chrysalis, caterpillar, butterfly stamps: all from Tangie-Decrow Parcel 17
Sample Envelope: Tangie’s FieldNotes (Spring)
Fonts: Tangie's Tweedledee, Jefferson and me own

AJC 2011 Itinerary 17: Simply Started: BREAKING FREE

What if stars were born from Galaxy Chrysalides? NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured a glowing stellar nursery within a dark globule that reveals the birth of new protostars, or embryonic stars, and young stars never before seen. The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Within the globule, a half dozen newly discovered protostars are easily discernible as the bright red-tinted objects, mostly along the southern rim of the globule. These were previously undetected at visible wavelengths due to obscuration by the thick cloud ('globule body') and by dust surrounding the newly forming stars. The newborn stars form in the dense gas because of compression by the wind and radiation from a nearby massive star (located outside the field of view to the left). The winds from this unseen star are also responsible for producing the spectacular filamentary appearance of the globule itself, which resembles that of a flying dragon. Credits and Kits: Butterfly Chrysalis and Branch: Tangie-Decrow: Parcel 17; coloured and re arranged by me) Background: Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/W. Reach (SSC/Caltech): Flying Dragon part of the Elephant Nebula

AJC 2011 Itinerary 16: Verb: TRY (For Bitte)

"The Best Way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.” - Mark Twain -

One of the joys of this Caravan are the online friendships we make along the way.
This page is dedicated to Bitte, a precious soul who is going through a hard patch at the moment.
Sophie came to me last night and said: “Why don’t we do a page for her?”
So here it is with one of my favourite Nordic sayings, though of course Sophie had to put in her two cents worth!
My friend may live in Sweden, and I on the west coast of Canada, but through the magic of the Internet, we can still 'pull up a chair and share a pot of tea and of course cookies!'

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Credits and Kits:
Table, chairs, teacups, plate, teapot: L Davision: FallingLeavesAutumnTeaParty
Laptops: Tangie’s What I Love To Do
Cookies and flags my own collection
Stars from Colour Wheel: Tangie’s Colour Kit
Background Brushes: Tangie’s Colour kit
Background Map: Wikipedia
Font: Tangie’s Tweedledee

AJC 2011 Itinerary 15: Verb: COLOUR

Dumpitydumpitydumpity Dum BO NAN ZA!
Dumpitydumpitydumpity Dum dumty dumdum DA…

With that galloping horse melody, Bonanza was THE TV SHOW that had everyone in my neighbourhood, adults and kids alike, glued to the set every week, waiting to find out what was going to happen to the Cartwrights on their half million acre spread, the Ponderosa Ranch.

Our house was the First in the area to get a TV Set and we watched Bonanza in good ol’ black and white with shades of snow mixed in for good measure (especially when the south’easter storms would kick up and make the home made antenna bounce)
That antenna was connected to an ‘aerial’ consisting of 4 ten foot upright peeled logs with wire clothesline strung between them.
The cure for the snow was either to pound the set, twist the ‘rabbit ears’ or go up on the roof to adjust it.
(Usually we just pounded the top of the set causing the ears to twitch.)

THEN CAME COLOUR.

A family down the way, beat my Dad to the punch on that one: we were all invited to come over and watch BONANZA in COLOUR on their brand new RCA TV.
It wasn’t too long after that we got one too.

Credits and Kits:
Bonanza TV show images: Wikipedia
NBC Peacock: Wikipedia
Rope and colour splash: Parcel 15 – Tangie-Decrow – World of Colour

AJC 2011 Itinerary 15: Simply Started: MY ATTENTION

Spring Cleaning vs Spring Greening

My Attention (these days) is torn between
The ‘shoulds’ of Spring Cleaning
Or the Woods of Spring Green --
And it’s towards that Greening I’m leaning.….
LN © 2011 Spring

Credits and Kits:
Vacuum photo: annoying advertising flyer (recycled)
Gateway, teapot, teacups, wagon: Lori Davison – Falling Leaves Autumn Tea
Vintage Books: Mzimm
Tag on vacuum: Tangie: What I Love To Do
Font: Tangie’s Tweedledee
Background photo: St Peter’s Church grounds – grape hyacinth and oak.

AJC 2011 Itinerary 14: Simply Started: (Naturally) WE HAD to...

…visit Ye Very Expensive And Exclusive Hatte Shoppe and buy Sophie a Very Special Chapeu.

She has been invited to a Royal Wedding Party in honour of the Upcoming Nuptials of Wills and Kate and wanted to look her best.
Here she is in her new outfit: Rose lace, pink bejeweled stockings and amethyst encrusted toe slippers.
Of course Her Hat is La Work Of Art: Satin Roses with pink sequined netting and a dark burgundy Fleur De Lis to top it all off!

(Thanks to Billizetti for the Inspiration – btw it’s all your fault, Sophie looked at your Royal Wedding Party site and those Hats and the rest is l’histoire!)

Background composite: Louvre Palace (Book of Hours) and Royal Ball (the 12 Princesses) c/r free – Dover
Illuminated Letter: Tangie-Decrow – Medieval Faire
Sophie’s Hat: Coiled satin roses, and black corner element (bejeweled and pinked by me): Parcel 15 Tangie-Decrow – Silhouettes
Fleur De Lis – Tangie-Decrow – Medieval Faire

AJC 2011 Itinerary 14: Verb: KNOW

Having shared tea and scones with HG Wells and receiving gracious permission from him to use his Time Machine anytime we liked, Sophie wanted to see the Library of Alexandria.
I set the Dials to 283BC, and off we went.
While we were there, (since we had plenty of Time) Sophie not only finished her Degree in Advanced Camelology (or How To Deal With Humans) but successfully defended her Thesis and had it published as ‘Sophie’s Book of Wisdom.’
One of her most famous quotes is reproduced here and can be found on page 47.

Credits and Kits:
Background: Tangie Holliewood QOC2 (Queen of Cupcakes)
Vintage Volumes: CU Mzimm
Sophie’s Degree Key: Silhouettes Tangie-Decrow
Quote: Sophie’s own
Font on Book Cover: Stone Temple
Font on Page: Tangie’s DirectorBold

AJC 2011 Itinerary 13: Verb: HOPE

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.
- Emily Dickinson –
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“Hope lies across the sea.”
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Through a hole which has gradually been scraped and worn in the Brick Wall of the Years, the view of the Lower Mainland can be seen.
This is where the Diamond Health Care Centre is located and where indeed ‘our hope lies’.
My husband Mr Bear is on the waitlist for a kidney.
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We don’t (as a rule) have the Midwest Bluebird of Happiness, (unless it was blown off course on its way to Mexico!) but as a surefire substitute, nothing can beat our Midnight Turquoise Blue Stellar Jay!
Their noisy raucous cries may not strike the ear as melodious, but they can still lift the heart in the morning, as their weighty bodies swing merrily back and forth on my bird feeder attempting to get the Very Last Sunflower Seed that they can reach.
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I chose to put Dark Green ribbon ties on the Light Green Button as these two colours are the Colours of Hope for the Organ Donor and Transplant program in Canada.
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Credits and Kits:
Seaview Background Paper: AJC11 Beginnings Parcel
Vari-coloured Pink Orange Background paper (representing all the various coloured Ribbons of Hope out there): Dance Like Everyone’s Watching Papers
Green Brick Wall Paper: Dance Like Everyone’s Watching Papers
Green Button: AJC11 Parcel13 – Hope
Ribbon tie: AJC 11 Parcel 13 Hope (recoloured dark green by me)
Stellars Jay: c/r free the net
Font: Tangie’s MadHatter (spray painted graffiti’d by me)

AJC 2011 Itinerary 13: Simply Started: ONCE THERE

“Once there, Sophie discovered that being a Bouncy Weightless camel, not only was FUN, but definitely had its UPS and Downs.” – pg.91 –
- Sophie: First Camel On The Moon - H.G. Wells.

Backstory:
A few weeks ago, a rather large wooden crate was delivered to our door addressed to Sophie in a rather flourishing script. It was from none other than H.G.Wells in England!
With a great deal of crowbar’ing and hammering, we managed to get the crate open and inside, was the most amazing apparatus with this note attached to one of the side panels.
“To Sophie, thank you for sharing tea and scones with me the other day and for being my inspiration! Here is my latest volume, I hope you like it. Use my Time Machine to come visit me again” Sincerely H.G. Wells.

Addendum: I have recently heard that an undiscovered book by H.G. Wells mysteriously appeared in the Library of Congress bookshelves and has caused great consternation among the Archive staff who swore that it was not there yesterday.

Credits and Kits:
Earthrise Photo: NASA
H.G.Wells: c/r free photo
Sophie’s Space Suit: Deviantscrap: SteamTown Detectives
Sophie’s Bubble: Bkerr: Bubble kit
Vintage Book: CU Mzimm
Font: Antique Type