The Helena Farmers Market is a hoppin’ place in August when the harvest is rich and our days are warm. People bring their shopping bags and market baskets, their strollers and dogs, and their dollar bills to give to our entertaining street musicians. Today we also celebrate the Lake Helena Watershed Festival at Women’s Park adjacent to the Farmers Market. Enjoy the gallery of photos.
Tag: earth
Learning to Observe Nature with kids
Kids love to investigate natural objects. To help children develop a strong, respectful relationship with all of life and the Creator, give them object lessons whenever you can. Here’s an activity to get kids interested in scientific inquiry. What could be cooler than a dissection? Despite the “ewwww-factor,” Ema and Adia were enthusiastic about dissecting an old wasp nest. We observed with our senses of smell, sight and touch then took nature notes and guessed about the stories of the wasp colony.
Garden Journal: Now’s a Great Time to Start One
In honor of Earth Day, this article may inspire you to start a garden journal. How to keep track of what you plant as well as your ideas, dreams and inspirations for garden projects.
Seen :: Layer Cake
this cinnamon layer cake
rising against
a buttressed bole
Seen :: willow dancers
willow dancers
reach and bend
an audience of shadows watches
Earth Day Prayer: Gaia, You Will be Healed
“Gaia You Will be Healed” an artwork by Maureen Shaughnessy celebrating Earth Day and honoring our Earth Mother who gives us life. Thank you for joining me in this prayer.
Archival inkjet prints on 100% cotton rag paper are available in my shop.
Contemplative Art in the Garden
If we strive to deeply understand and perceive our world as inseparable from ourselves, then we will have empathy for every part of creation. We are an integral part of everything. Every one of the ten thousand things is, in the true sense, part of us. And everything is perfectly arranged!
This — whether we paint, draw, sing, pray, dance, cook,write code or write poetry — this empathy makes every one of us an artist and a spiritual being.
Today, go out into a “Garden,” no matter where it is and see your connection to nature as a work of art and as an act of prayer: in a wildlife refuge, in your back yard, on your balcony, in a city park, in a plant nursery or just in a clay pot on your kitchen windowsill.
Find your connection with nature: watch the unfolding of leaf buds and see not just a “plant” but also freedom, flight, wings, wind, the lightness of a heart.