I am developing an awareness of my connection to all things--to God and to everything else in the world. When I feel connected to all things, I tend to treat them with more care and compassion and I am reminded that I am not the master of the world.
I cultivate humility by releasing the poses and images I project into the world and remember that I matter no more and no less than anyone or anything else. I accept who I am and recognize that I am a spark of the Divine. I treat all beings as if they are God—because they are.
Adapted from Simple Kabbalah by Kim Zetter
Nothing can block or impede the progress of Life.
When joy is elusive, we must actively seek it out. 
Do not dwell in the past.
I took this picture of a paper mulberry tree in blossom a few weeks ago at Quarryhill Botanical Garden, a unique and beautiful Asian woodland in the Valley of the Moon, on the rolling hills above Glen Ellen. Although the garden is quite showy in the spring, it is a wonderful place to visit any time of year. Founded in 1987, Quarryhill features one of the largest collections of documented, wild-collected Asian plants in the world. It is hard to imagine that every plant, bush, and tree has been grown from seed. www.quarryhillbg.org.
The four o’clock flower, also known as Marvel of Peru, is said to have been exported from the Peruvian Andes in 1540. The flowers usually open from late afternoon onwards, then producing a strong, sweet-smelling fragrance, hence the first of its common names. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued moths and other nocturnal pollinators attracted by the fragrance.
