We take a lot of photos too, which get shortchanged in the videomaking process. I'd never have time to make a video all this stuff even though I have footage of most of it, so here's a sampling (like anyone cares but me)!!!

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The Flora, Fauna and atmosphere of the North American Southwest.

A meditation in music and images.... the images are kaleidoscopes of my photographs. All are of wild, natural places, things, beings. The water, unfortunately, didn't translate so well when it was uploaded. Like "Sanctuary", this video is about feeling held by a loving natural presence and finding one's "place in the family of things" (as Mary Oliver would say). Many thanks to Josie for introducing me to the art and play of kaleidoscoping. Music: "Te Su Go" by Danone O'Sow Traditional Bete lullaby

Two <p> </p> <p> a response to LVbianSynic's "FEAR Chronicles: Invitation to Fear #1" </p>

*Warning* This game is over! Please don't tag Sylar! This is a re-post requested by Chig. Thanks and have a lovely day.

Three <p> </p> <p> Love and special thanks to Sandy for the "props".</p>

In response to ItalianStallionette's Pointless Information... Gina, when you asked "why the golly not?" I just didn't know how else to answer! Thanks Gina!

Some water, and then some more water, and then a little more.

Tagged by Syd a very longish time ago. I tried to run. I did.

In response to Masery's invitation to share a spirit animal or two. (Thanks Masery, for the inspiration.) Some days I feel a lot like a deer. Quiet, contemplative, leaping, joyous, peaceful. (okay, now there's a good day. On other days I might be a puma.) Deer seem to show up when I'm in the woods and don't seem to mind me being nearby. Sometimes they move towards me with a funny look, like "hey... aren't you kinda tall for a deer?" As if they can't quite figure me out. (Me neither.)

CallMeHol's visiting the Federated States of Micronesia de Santa Fe from her home state of New York, and we had a lot of troubles we needed to get rid of, so we went to the annual burning of Zozobra. (I hadn't slept at all the night before and the burning is surreal so I'm kind of walking in a dream throughout.) I edited this in a way that helped me to re-shape the experience into one that was not as overwhelming as it actually was. (I'm a bit anxious in large crowds...) The official Zozobra site: <a>http://www.zozobra.com/</a> Here's a 17 second clip of Zozobra with the crowd and his moaning... <a>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvgyFTFI-ks</a> <b>Thanks to INTERNETENEMYSINNER for setting me straight on Burning Man being a rip-off of Zozobra and not the other way around. </b> <i>Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn't have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in ablaze of fireworks. At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory. Viva la Fiesta!</i> - A.W. Denninger <b>Music:</b> Tracy Chapman- "Another Sun" Lila Downs-"Benediction & Dream" Gustavo Santaolalla- "Apertura"

Five Random Things Tag: Tell about them and then tag 5 other people. This has made its way around YouTube BIGtime but not here at LV yet. It was only a matter of time...

I tag CallMeHol- mwahHAHAHAH Story tag- started by Atomikgurl & Emma #1: NobodysChild99 & Little Monkey #2: ndclark #3: digitalbrian #4: ohjoannabanana #5: blancheNoE (blame her for breaking the one-line rule...) #6: Ravensinger (blame her for continuing the rule-breaking...) #7: LVbianSynic (blame her for nothing- she's an innocent) #8: CallMeHol #9: #10: The End The story so far is: " I went into my kitchen filled with smoke then more... turned around and saw a giant giraffe. The giraffe looked at me and said, "I am from Jersey. How you doin?" "What's in the oven?" I asked nervously as I watched smoke pour from the oven door. The giraffe didn't say a word, but when the smoke cleared and I looked into the oven I saw the strangest thing, inside was a tunnel that led to... The presidential library,..and it smelled like mold and there were cobwebs everywhere. It was like it hadn't been used in 7 years,...and it was so sad, all those books and noone to read them. Then, I heard the doorknob turn on one of the big double-doors leading into the library, so I hid behind one of the bookcases. My heart sank as the door slowly started to open. My pulse was speeding up...until...it was the custodian. The custodian walks toward the bookcase that I'm hiding behind. Apparently, he was going to dust it off. As he was starting to dust, he noticed that there was a book lodged behind the other unread books except this book looked clean. Could it be a book by Michael Moore? As he began to pull the book out just to make sure the whole bookcase started to move--the entire thing--you know in one of those Scooby Doo episodes (or Abbott and Costello). The whole bookcase moved around. He held onto the bookcase so he wouldn't fall and as the bookcase turned he found himself in another room. I, however, was met with daylight as I found myself suddenly outdoors. “Hey, you down there…!” a voice called from out of nowhere. I looked up, and squinted to see where the voice was coming from. “He- hello?” I said, meekly, still not knowing where I was. “Did you see him? Did you see the president?” It was, to my surprise, a talking lizard, staring down at me from the top of a large tree stump, pointed at the top. “The president!! Did you see him?” “I…no…no, I didn’t. But I just came from his office, I guess. He…wasn’t there.” “Oh, no…it’s true then. We’ve lost him.” “You’ve lost the President” “Oh, no…oh, no, what are we going to do now that we’ve lost our president? We’re doomed.” ”But he’s not lost…he’s just not in his office” “Lady, you don’t understand…he went to your leader to plead our case and he was never seen or heard from again! We warned him that the humans wouldn’t believe a talking giraffe. OH, how we warned him…” “Wait.. did you say ‘giraffe’?”

Relax for a minute or two, and breathe. (These are kaleidoscopes of some of my nature photographs.)

Five

THANKS LIVEVIDEO for the Video Of The Hour Feature! This video follows the creation, dismantling, and releasing of a personal sand mandala. I borrowed from the Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala ritual, but this is in no way intended to imitate a Buddhist ceremony. It is my personal ritual around allowing and letting go. This mandala design came out of a series of artworks around being seen. The first minute of images represents 10 hours of work to complete the sand mandala, done over the course of two days. I'll post a video in the next few days that describes more about the whole process.

A poem-story in response to the LiveVideoWritingChallenge to create a story including a fairy tale character, a bomb shelter, and self. The Darkest Mother Baba Yaga Has A Fence Made From Bones. It Needs One More Skull. Lost, I Stumbled Upon Her Hut. Fierce Yaga Loves The Dark Place, The Deep Place, My Fear Finds Shelter. No Windows, Underground, One door. I Leap Into My Grave Awaiting Dirt. She Stands With Shovel At The Doorway. Sweet Yaga Intends A Story From Me – Where I Outfox Her To Find My Way Out.

This is my 30 second snip-o-bliss for the CollectiveSoul July collaboration. Ahhhhhhh.

A reverie on what it's like to feel safe and held.