Change

Growth is the only evidence of life. John Henry Newman I watched a Masterclass online for the first time last night. It was given by Robin Sharma who is an author, coach, motivational speaker, and leadership expert to many big companies. I clicked on Conscious Life News at around 6:30 p.m. in my mail and learned about this online class there. It was the last day to watch for free and I became interested because it said: “Robin Sharma says that the #1 purpose of life is to GROW!” I saw there were only two sessions left and I decided to watch the 9 p.m. which was the last one. ...

[caption id=“attachment_2933” align=“aligncenter” width=“5256”] “The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking.” – Deepak Chopra[/caption] It’s time to celebrate Easter once again. Like Christmas, Easter is one of the big celebrations in the Christian calendar year. The crucifixion of Jesus took place on Good Friday and the resurrection followed three days later. On Good Friday, many people go to church but not quite as many as on Easter Sunday. Even people who don’t attend church the rest of the year sometimes go to church on Easter Sunday. I once heard a priest lament about the numbers that come out for Good Friday services. He said that people aren’t as much interested in the death of Jesus as in his resurrection. Below are some interesting statistics I found on the internet showing the percentages of persons of different faiths (age-of-the-sage.org). As you can see, there are many people for whom Easter is just a secular holiday. ...

“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” ― Rumi I accidentally knocked over one of my favorite vases which has served me well for many years. As you can see in the above collage, it’s a very beautiful one. You can also see that it was broken into many pieces and beyond repair. I was disappointed but not devastated. Whether that has to do with the aging process and the “letting go” stage of life or some other process at work is not quite clear to me. ...

We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden (Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe) As another year comes to a close, it seems like a good time for me to look back on the year past and reflect for a short while on my journey through the course of 2014. It seems that it wasn’t so long ago when I began “Late Blooms” and wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. At the same time that I had the opportunity to make collages, I started writing, scrapbooking, and all the other elements you see displayed in my posts. I`m still learning and evolving as I go along and having fun at the same time. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that there would be 51,727 reads of my posts. It is very humbling and, at the same time, very encouraging. Thanks to all of you out there and especially to my brother of Simply Spectacular Designs who gave “Late Blooms” a totally new look just before Christmas and is hosting this blog. ...

Architecture is really about well-being. I think that people want to feel good in a space… On the one hand it’s about shelter, but it’s also about pleasure. – Zaha Hadid [caption id=“attachment_1661” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] “We have no options to renew. We’ve been here 15 great years, and 15 years later, market conditions have changed. That corner is quite a valuable corner. The landlord can get far more money than we can pay, than we will pay,” said McGowen. “We’ve always loved the location. It’s an iconic building with great architecture and heritage that goes hand in hand with a bookstore. The community has been terrific, supportive and loyal.” (Drew McGowen - Vice-President of Real Estate for Indigo Books and Music Inc.)[/caption] ...

 [caption id=“attachment_536” align=“aligncenter” width=“584” caption=“Fall at Niagara Falls”][/caption] A visit to Niagara Falls is always exciting. No matter what the season, the splendor of this great cascade of water remains. I took all the images for this collage yesterday morning. The leaves have changed colour and some have fallen. This is why this season is called Fall. Niagara is beautiful this time of year. As with the seasons that change year after year, we too have our seasons of life. Being so close to Nature as I was yesterday, brought home to me with poignancy, that I too am in the Autumn of my life. After years of struggle with this stage of the journey, I am beginning to grow into it. It’s beginning to feel more comfortable now. ...

[caption id=“attachment_192” align=“aligncenter” width=“584” caption=“Chao Phraya River - Thailand”][/caption] My first visit to the Chao Phraya River in Thailand was thirty-two years ago and was amazing. My second visit was thirty years later and was a different experience. The photos in this collage were taken on my first visit to Thailand. We passed this river many times as we were taken around to visit many of the popular sites. It runs through Bangkok. The city itself is fascinating and I observed the Thai people to be very hard-working and very good cooks. I loved Thai cooking from that visit even when it wasn’t a popular cuisine in the Western world as it has become now. We visited Wat Arun and the Grand Palace which are architecturally very beautiful. As with most conducted tours, we stayed in fine hotels and were shown everything that was fine of the Thai way of life. ...

This collage is for Mother’s Day. We all come into this world via the womb of our mothers. Whether we love them or hate them, they remain our mothers. The most well-known image of any Mother and Child is the one of Mary holding the baby Jesus. You don’t have to be Christian to have seen this one. The image of Mary and Jesus in this collage was done as part of a bigger mosaic for my son’s birthday. The pieces here are stained glass. I used pearls around Mary’s face and there is another piece of my jewelry by her neck. I don’t know why I undertook such a big project, other than to say, I did it out of love. The hands and feet of the little people in the other images are friends of mine. We all want to make sure that our babies have five fingers and five toes when they are born. ...

[caption id=“attachment_65” align=“alignleft” width=“300”] Nirvana[/caption] This collage is called Nirvana because if you look carefully, you can see a little Buddha head there. After a visit to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Thailand three years ago, my interest in Buddhism was peaked. Although I had visited Hong Kong and Thailand before, I hadn’t witnessed so many images and statues of the Buddha, as on this visit. In these cultures, there are many followers of Buddha. In addition, Buddhism is very popular now in all parts of the world. ...

Spring comes to us bringing its own magic every year. Nowhere is this more evident than in the earth coming to life and producing a spectacular showcase of colorful, fresh blooms to make our hearts joyful. Spring is truly the Earth’s Birthday. [caption id=“attachment_59” align=“alignleft” width=“300”] To everything there is a Season[/caption] As I went about the garden and neighborhood taking the photos that are in this collage, I was mindful of the seasons that have passed in my own life and of the old verse, “To everything there is a season.” These kinds of thoughts were remote to me when I was in the springtime of my own life as I’m sure they don’t come to many people at that time of life. We tend to take life for granted. ...