Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

The balance of the photos from the outing to Figgate Park in Edinburgh. Click back to yesterday and Friday if you want to see the others.

The gull in flight was not the sharpest shot, but is fun.

These cygnets in a line was just too sweet to not include. By next spring they will be as white as their parents and their beaks will be pink.

It is true that swans have a bit of a 'bad rep', but then so do geese. Still love them though!

(For those who asked - and those who didn't - the berries up top are a hybrid variety of Rowan.)

Menosukhi Meanderings; more from the little park outing.

Figgate park turned out to be one of those little community parks, tucked away in suburbia, where one finds many folk out and about making the most of the little bit of countryside on their doorsteps. Friendly too. Everyone was willing to nod and pass the time of day, and some were quite chatty. Popular with animals too.

We met Rex and his owner at one end, then met again at the other end of the walk. At which point, Rex decided he liked being photographed!

Not a large dog and of no particular pedigree, Rex was rescued from the RSPCA some eight years earlier. He is loving and happy, said his owner - and he made sure she got her exercise! He was certainly happy to take ear scritchies from myself and Mac1.

As we wandered through, at a distance I spotted a cat. It appeared over a fence from a garden. Birds were catching its attention, but efforts of chase were rather half-hearted, it has to be said. Not underfed, that cat. Could do with a grooming though!

Mac1 was particularly keen that the father and I meet Mother Willow, a tree of which she had become rather fond on her runs in the park. All the trees round the place have immense character - but Mother has certainly 'seen life'...

As we passed other, more upright and sturdy willows along the stream, there was an enormous screeching going on from a crow, half a dozen magpies and, it turned out, two grey squirrels. What a ruckus! The single crow was busy buzzing around with feathers at full spread and cawing at the very top of lung capacity. At one point I thought it was going to land on my head! The maggies were conferencing and as for the squirrels, well, who knows what they were about; whichever way it went among the three parties, territory was almost certainly the bone of contention.  Fudge missed the dive-bombing crow and is pretty bored with magpies, but did have a go at capturing the squirrels...

Not the best, but it was a long way up. Later, as we came back, peace was restored to the magnificent specimens.

Clearly the squirrels are very much part of the park, for they even feature in the under-bridge mural.  More piccies tomorrow.

MenoSundays; Life Lived Lovingly

Most of you by now know that I am fond of creating mandalas; of late they have been produced in rather basic style on Voo-voo the Vaio. Some years back, though, it was hand to paper and up on the wall.

I tell you this because mandalas are quite widely known these days, but what is less well-known is that they are 'living prayers', or 'active meditations'.

मण्डल /pron. "mundle-uh", with no specific stress on any syllable (unlike the general usage of "maan-daala" or "mun-daala") is Sanskrit for 'circle'. One of the very many words for circle, to be precise. Another word with which you will be familiar is चक्र /chukruh (not "chaakra" or "shaakra"!) The word again means circle, but is specific to a circular depression, a cupping, if you will.

The use of the circle in reference to the spiritual world can be found all over the globe. Here in the Bonny Land, some of it highly sophisticated, but often kept simple. Even as Christianity took hold, the circle remained, making crosses of these regions very distinctive. It does not take much to understand that the circle is a symbol of completeness, of the wholeness of things and of the eternal movement of life, the universe and everything.

As decorative mandalas developed in India - and particularly within the Buddhist and Jain movements - they became almost entirely associated with spiritual pursuit.

Try it! Draw a circle. Gaze into it and allow the blankness of the paper to become a place for emptying the mind. With the freed up mind, allow the hand to begin filling the circle with pattern. Don't judge, don't assess, don't second guess. Simply flow around and within the circle. You may be surprised!

This image is one of my hand-drawn ones from 20 years back. It is the Heart Chakra, represented by the twelve- petaled lotus and the Sanskrit letter यं  - "yunm". That is a nasal 'm' in the same manner as used in OM. This letter becomes a chant for the heart and for Love of the capital kind. Why not have a go at humming "yunm" as you practice working within the circle? Go on. Give it a go.

Nothing to lose, lots to gain.