Some People Are Like Jackfruit…

“Some people are like jackfruit. They may seem rough and tough on the outside…

… but are really sweet inside.”

(From backyard to table) 🙂

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Is It a Bee or a Moth?

This little critter was happily sipping nectar, not minding me at all as I snapped away.

 

It doesn’t seem like a butterfly (wings would have been folded vertically).
Not a fly either (eyes are not “goggles”}.

The orange and black stripes look like that of a bee, but many insects mimic this pattern to dupe potential predators.

Definitely not an expert, but this could also be a moth? 🙂

Raindrops After the Rain: Roses

The rain falls and the rain goes.

It washes.

It nourishes.

Fresh start.

Looking Down on a Mosaic

I know we can’t live life from a distance, detached.

But occasionally we want to see things from above, looking at the whole  and the how the parts of the puzzle fit together.

“Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.”
– Charles Lindbergh

Aesop said, “It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.”

He may have meant something else when he said that, but oftentimes the situation does become clearer when seen objectively.

Stepping up sometimes means stepping back.

Grand Entrance Stairway in the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library

The McKim Building of the Boston Public Library doesn’t fail to grab your attention whenever you are in Copley Square.

But there are more surprises and treasures inside. Let me just focus on one for now, the grand entrance stairway.

Aside from the marble floors and walls, it is a gallery in itself, with murals done by the French artist, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

It is easy to miss the works of art on the walls.

Oftentimes in our daily rush we fail to notice the beauty around us.

Sundown at the Farm

Moments before the sun disappeared
Like an orange balloon
Pricked by a pin.

Our Public and Private Atlas

In Greek mythology, Atlas was tasked by Zeus to carry the sky and celestial bodies for eternity as punishment for siding with the Titans (who lost to the Olymplans).

(Lee Lawrie’s sculpture of Atlas at the Rockefeller Center, NY)

This public image of Atlas “carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders” seems heroic and even admirable.

Since no one is immune from personal burdens, sometimes this image is translated to one’s personal circumstances, the ability to persist and carry the load.

“I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.” Atlas was said to have begged Zeus.

(A sculpture at The Breakers, Newport, RI)

But sometimes this can go too far. Oftentimes nobody is punishing us except ourselves.

“Drop the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. The world would go on even without you. Don’t take yourself so seriously.”
– Norman Vincent Peale

These are words of wisdom worth bearing.