There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.
Anais Nin

Photograph taken in my studio and layered texture treatments done in Photoshop.

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic. ~ Anais Nin

Edge of Gold Dahlias in an antique vase photographed against vintage satin curtains.

This week, I dug up the Dahlias for winter. I have the last of them in a vase in the dining room. Winter is coming. There are glorious colors on the vines on the house. I’ll photograph them tomorrow.

I’ve been working hard on launching another of my sites on Blue Weimaraners so haven’t had time to post lately. When I’ve been working hard, I feel a need to post a flower and a quote. It instantly brings a lifting to my spirits. I do hope it does for you too.

I feel an indescribable ecstasy and delirium in melting, as it were, into the system of beings, in identifying myself with the whole of nature. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Photograph taken in my studio with a single on-camera flash bounced into a white card. This image captures the spirit of this delicate-colored yet exuberant Dahlia better than photographs I took of the whole flower.

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it. ~ Lord Byron

Photograph taken today. I’m rather thrilled with a new approach I’m taking. I’m just getting back into photography, so I don’t have much equipment. I’ve been photographing with natural light in my Veranda, but the space is tight, and the light seems to either be too dull or too strong and it’s hard to see the LCD view. So today, I brought up this pot of Fuchsia to my studio, set it near the skylight, put an on-camera flash on the camera and then holding the shutter release in one hand, I held up layered translucent curtain fabric in front of the flash for a home-made soft-box effect. I’m pretty happy with the results. I got nice detail in the flower and nice highlights. Next step will be to put the flash off-camera and set up another off-camera flash for the background.

For the background, I took one of Michel’s blue T-shirts and pinned it to the wall! It looked a little too much like a T-shirt tacked to a wall though, so I softened the wrinkles and then “burned” in some color around the edges using overlay layers in Photoshop.

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that’s always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through. — Irish Blessing

Shirley Poppy in the garden taken late spring.

If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal—that is your success. All nature is your congratulation …
Henry David Thoreau

I took this photo of a pair of Morning Glories this week. I normally prefer photographing flowers under a slight overcast sky, but Morning Glories seem to light up from within when the sun back-lights the delicate trumpets.

I’ve been deeply delving into studying about back-end functionality and Internet marketing, so haven’t posted in nearly a week. Learning great stuff, but after a day of reading and taking notes, I felt a great need to finish the day with a flower. It’s nearly mid-night, but I’ll end the day with a Morning—Glory that is.

Nigella, Love-in-a-Mist, taken in my garden.

Use those talents you have. You will make it. You will give joy to the world. Take this tip from nature: The woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except those who sang best.
Bernard Meltzer

I woke today thinking about this photograph of a peony I took in my garden, realizing it would make a great screen wallpaper. I normally don’t like screen wallpapers. I don’t like clutter and busyness on my screen, I don’t want to hunt for my icons or to have background images battling my dock, so I’ve normally stuck to the generic subtly shaded Apple desktop pictures.

When I took this peony photograph, I was doing a study of super-close-up, out of focus flower effects. I loved the delicious colors and organic shapes. I knew they would make a great background for something, I just didn’t know what. A wallpaper is perfect. So, this morning, first thing, slightly bleary, coffee in hand, I pulled up this peony and changed my desktop. At first it was a bit of an overwhelming change from the neutral gray I’ve been used to. After a few hours of working with this luxurious color caressing me from the screen, I became aware of a clear beneficial energy. I felt a joyous expectancy of life. I realized I was experiencing color therapy.

I did a quick google search on color therapy and came across a page on color therapy on this site: Deep Trance

Magenta, the predominant color in this wallpaper was described as having:

Healing properties: Strengthens contact with your life purpose. Stimulates adrenaline and heart activity….Magnetism, to attract or speed up things, extra power, when immediate action and great spiritual power are needed, life purpose, life path.

Appropriate as I’ve been thinking the past few days of how I want this blog to not only be a joyous manifestation of my own life purpose but also to be an inspiration to you. Pursue your life purpose and see the great beauty around you.

I hope you will enjoy this on your own screen or iPhone. I’ll be putting up a wallpaper page, but for now, download here. It’s my first wallpaper, so please do let me know how this works for you and how it looks on your screen.

Enjoy.

P.S. Be sure to sign up for email alerts when I add new wallpapers. (see the sign up in the sidebar)

Peony Therapy Wallpapers (download image by control or right clicking the image that comes up)

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