East, West, flying, floating or at rest

The Woven Voices prayer flags have been traveling. This blog posting will be mostly to share images of flags that have traveled East to the Bosphorus, West to California and flying here in New England. My college friend Susan's daughter Gillian took a set of prayer flags to the Bosphorus, a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. She writes in her blog about the view where the flags flutter ~  

"Curled on a sofa in a cozy apartment, I am gazing out the window onto the Bosphorus. It's a cloudy day, but it's warm in the bright and airy sitting room. I can see Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and Galata Tower. Across the water way I see Asia, though I sit in Europe. Ferries speed between the two continents, fishing boats dance in their wake. A small island of a cruise ship is parked in my sight-line, little ant people walking swiftly up in their black coats or brown jumpers. Every time I look up from my little computer I am awestruck."

 She continues ~

 "Don't fret, the windstorm only unhitched one side of the flags. I've tied them back up and they're fluttering away."

And then ~ "Unfortunately it appears the flags have blown away in a real windstorm we had a few days ago. I would have loved to see them weather away." 
So somewhere, either in Europe or perhaps Asia a set of Woven Voices prayer flags has taken flight!

Closer to home, this photo came with this letter: "The beautiful flag that you had given me last year....is tied to a bush that produces the sweetest flower clusters in the early spring, after the daffodils and tulips have arrived but before the trees have budded. It's fragrance permeates the air as you enter the front door of the house."

In late March I went out to Mill Valley, CA to take one more course towards my Masters of Art and Healing . The course was held at a retreat center that was nestled in the Mount Tamalpais foothills. At lunch break each day, I would hike in these hills, that offered a spectacular view of San Francisco.

It was warm (compared to Maine!) and I felt like a flower unfolding in the spring. The red woods were amazing, tall and graceful. There had recently been a fair amount of rain, so the mountain streams were flowing.

On the last day of the course, I went back up the trail and hung a prayer flag in a scrubby tree.

From Mill Valley, I traveled south to visit a RISD colleague who lives in Malibu. We spent five wonderful days together, hiking, eating, reminiscing, laughing, and feeling grateful for our long friendship. One day we hiked up in Corral Canyon, part of the Malibu hills on the Backbone Trail. This trail overlooks Simi Valley and Santa Monica as well as Malibu. The ancient rock formations attest to the power and beauty of nature, what was once sand lying flat is now vertical rock.

I hung a prayer flag in a shrub tucked into the shade of the caves.

On my last days in Malibu, Lori and I decided to go to the Getty Museum. I had this idea that it would be cool to hang a prayer flag somewhere on the museum grounds and to document it with a few photos. It was a warm gorgeous sunny day. When we got up to the museum site, we sat in the sun at the edge of the main fountain, checked out a few exhibits and had an amazing lunch sitting outside on a small patio.

This idea began to percolate in my mind...this vision of seeing the flag floating in the fountain pool. Could I pull this off without one of the guards catching me?? Could I document it with a few photographs? Here is the story of what happen....more than I could have dreamed.

The pictures tell the story of how the prayer flags catches the boys' attention. They scoop it up out of the water it, read it out loud and then toss it on a rock. Later they pick it up again, toss it around and then carefully lay it out to dry on the flat marble. The wind then takes over and tosses the flag on it side. I walk away and let it go.