"you were blessed with 84,600 seconds today, have you used one of them to say thank you?" ― bodhinku, blessed
understand that not everyone is as blessed. the holidays are difficult for so many people. so please remember, not everyone feels "the joy that christmas brings" or "thankfulness on thanksgiving"...way too many of us miss loved ones lost recently, or truly feel lost without their absence this time of year. their loss in our lives goes deep as we miss their love and presence in our life, especially when we see so many other people with happy families are getting together, and celebrating the holidays with one another. thankfully i am so blessed this year, i will not be alone. for me, i'm blessed with besos to share this season with, but i will always really really miss the dude (december 3, 2003 to may 9, 2018)
i'm blessed to have the hope of her, and my doggie besos, and all my friends, and parents, and blessed to be able to take lovely photographs to share with others, blessed to see in person the scenes i capture in my image, and blessed to have people support my artwork financially and spiritually...
what in the world do you do when you feel happy and content with everything in your life? you simply smile, full of gratitude to be so blessed...
i hope everyone has a blessed holiday season, full of great memories, full of smiles, and especially full of love, oodles of love...
"i'm blessed with having you in my heart now...and i'm right there in your heart, if you ever need me, you will find me there" ― bodhinku, blessed
this beautiful tune went all the way to #1 on the music charts for weeks in 2004...and this song is like a story of my life and how my path to love was twisted and dark at times, hurtful and belittling. all so difficult to understand those painful hardships i've had to persevere and pass though. so hard to see the meaning of the path, that is until i can finally look back on it, look back once i've found what i was always hoping for: being truly blessed and finally finding love in her arms, but as i write this, i'm still trying to find her, or have her find me..: "bless the broken road" by rascal flatts ... (just click on any of words in the powder blue links to listen to the song)...
"i set out on a narrow way many years ago, hoping i would find true love along the broken road. but i got lost a time or two, wiped my brow, and kept pushing through. i couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you. that every long lost dream, led me to where you are. others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars pointing me on my way into your loving arms. this much i know is true: that god blessed the broken road that led me straight to you. yes, he did...i think about the years i spent just passing through. i'd like to have the time i lost and give it back to you. but you just smile and take my hand, you've been there, you understand. it's all part of a grander plan that is coming true. every long lost dream led me to where you are. others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars pointing me on my way into your loving arms. this much i know is true: that god blessed the broken road that led me straight to you...yeah, and now i'm just a-rolling home into my lover's arms. this much i know is true: that god blessed the broken road that led me straight to you. that god blessed the broken road that led me straight to you" ― rascal flatts, bless the broken road
"i was truly blessed to experience such a winter wonderland, truly blessed to be able to witness this magnificent marvel of mother nature before it disappeared. blessed to be able to create a permanent recording of it with my camera to share with others to see" ― bodhinku, blessed
"with all the hassles of the winter storm closures: roads, trails, hotel, eateries, and cities, it was still soooo very worth it...i was blessed to get the opportunity to capture so many unique and wonderful impressions in the snow" ― bodhinku, blessed
this is the picturesque multnomah falls in the columbia river gorge near portland, oregon just after a huge snow and ice storm blasted the pacific northwest in february of 2021...
i flew up to the pacific northwest last february during my winter break from teaching in the classroom, and came face to face with the coldest and nastiest winter storm to hit washington and oregon in decades. snow two feet deep literally blanketed and strangled seattle. and ice literally shut down portland and all of the freeways. it was a mess, ugly and difficult to maneuver. but with rare snow like this in places never usually seen, it created the best set of photo opportunities of my entire lifetime to date.
just getting from san diego to seattle was a major hassle and strain on the nerves, with all of the airlines cancelling flights. then once arriving in seattle, thankful for having caught the last flight on alaska air of the night at close to midnight, getting to the hotel turned into a massive chore...
took the airport shuttle bus over to the airport car rental facility, but my rental agency was closed and i was left abandoned (i was told by the car rental agency that someone would be there waiting for me no matter what). so back over to the airport on another shuttle i had to go since i had no vehicle...
once back at the airport, taxis/ubers where at a premium with all the deep snow, many cars were out of service since they had no clearance (like a toyota prius) and were unable to drive on the roads, but still many people on the arriving flights were trying to get from the airport to downtown or to their homes...
ended up hopping in a car with another man who was going north of seattle, and we ended up splitting the extra high uber rates...
so finally made it to the hotel room, got some sleep, and then it was crazy finding transportation back to the rental car agency at the airport in the morning, because the roads had such deep snow on them, and nobody was prepared for any of it to be so bad. most businesses simply closed for the day...but was able to find a dude out of luck that had been a driver for uber and offered to take me back down to the airport for $50...
then i get to the enterprise rental car agency, who i deal with almost exclusively, and who has always taken exceptional care of me, often giving me nice upgrades por gratis...but because of the new high and obvious demand for high clearance vehicles due to the snowfall, they had rented my 4x4 suv i had reserved in my reservation, stating i was a no-show the previous night, even though over the phone they guaranteed the night before they would honor my reservation even if my plane arrived late, and they would have an agent there for me (which my plane landed way late, and enterprise left me abandoned)...
after some heated words with the manager, i was treated to a very nice upgrade of a gmc yukon (extra long) 4x4...which i hear rents for $380/day, and i got it for $48/day...
the whole trip would be filled with many more exploits and frustrations due to the snowfall and ice, with road closures, blocked roads, trail closures, whole city closures, hotel sell-outs, eating place closures, and dangerously deep snow combined with freezing rain that looked like 2 inch lamination on the car windows...but it was all totally worth it in my honest opinion...
during this trip i was truly blessed...the front ("take the time") and back ("spiritual") covers of my new upcoming book #8 were captured, and one of those pictures ("take the time") won the best in show award at the 2021 fallbrook artist guild show this past summer...and i have been sitting on this gem you see here today waiting for the winter to approach again before releasing it...
never in my life have i ever seen these falls so blue as they were on this late afternoon about half an hour before the sunset...the water was this blue, it has to do with all the new snow and ice that's present changing the way the light wavelengths are absorbed and thus seen by our eyes...
this blue color is caused by the absorption of both red and yellow light (leaving light at the blue end of the visible light spectrum). the absorption spectrum of ice is similar to that of water, except that hydrogen bonding causes all peaks to shift to lower energy - making the color bluer. this effect is augmented by scattering within snow, which causes the light to travel an indirect path, providing more opportunity for absorption.
from the surface, snow and ice present a uniformly white face. this is because almost all of the visible light striking the snow or ice surface is reflected back, without any preference for a single color within the visible spectrum.
the situation is different for light that is not reflected, but penetrates or is transmitted into the snowy/icy water. as this light travels into the water, the ice grains scatter a large amount of light. if the light is to travel over any distance it must survive many such scattering events. in other words, it must keep scattering and not be absorbed. we usually see the light coming back from the near surface layers (less than 1 cm) after it has been scattered or bounced off other icy grains only a few times, and it still appears white. for deeper layers, most of the light is absorbed and not reflected, so only most blue makes it through...
in simplest of terms, think of the ice/snow layer or water depth as a filter. if it is only a centimeter thick, all the light makes it through; if it is a meter thick, mostly blue light makes it through. this is similar to the way coffee often appears light when poured, but much darker when it is in a cup...
because of the frozen wall of ice behind the falls and the darker rocks, there is little light making it through, and in the case of these falls surrounded by snow and ice, only mostly blue light made it through creating the soft blue color you see here...
and again it would seem, i was blessed to have taken this image when i did. because only a few minutes after capturing this impression, the large v-shaped chunk of ice at the very top-right of the falls separated and fell to the bottom. and this collapse caused the flow of water to dramatically increase, and with all the extra volume of water, it changed the waterfall to muddied brown. and even after the dingy colors flushed themselves away, all the blue tint disappeared totally...
i was truly blessed to experience such a winter wonderland, truly blessed to be able to witness this magnificent marvel of mother nature before it disappeared. blessed to be able to create a permanent recording of it with my camera to share with others to see...
i hope you love this scene which i have created, hope it brings you cheer this holiday season...happy holidays!
"the water of life is blue, spiritual, and free. it's liquid breath. it exists in its purity, refreshing the body and soul with its wisdom of cleansing peace...let it flow into you and through you" ― bodhinku, spiritual
HISTORY
"live life unbound and never let anyone or anything hold you back or control you...just let go of your restraints; express yourself, be free-spirited and let your amazing true colors flow freely...once you do this, you'll be guided by all that is natural and real from your heart and soul, you will abide by your inner truth and your spirit will soar..." ― bodhinku, spiritual
the word multnomah being the name given to the indigenous inhabitants of this area before the europeans ever settled in this area of oregon... legend has it that this waterfall got its name because it was created by the great spirit in honor of chief multnomah's daughter...
the story maintains that the tribes along the columbia river had been celebrating the marriage of chief multnomah's daughter to a neighboring tribe. the happiness didn't last long, however, before the area experienced an illness that affected all of the tribes along the river. the tribal medicine man claimed the great spirit had told him all of the tribe would die unless the spirit received a sacrifice; but not just any sacrifice, the chief's daughter's life...
the chief wouldn't allow it, but when the daughter saw the sickness affect her loved ones, she willingly left in the middle of the night to go to the top of a sheer cliff overlooking the columbia river. she threw herself off the cliff. when the chief found his daughter's body, he prayed to the great spirit for a sign that her spirit was well. water began pouring from the cliff and became known as multnomah falls...
when you're weary, feeling small
when tears are in your eyes, i'll dry them all
i'm on your side, when times get rough
and friends just can't be found
like a bridge over troubled water
i will lay me down
like a bridge over troubled water
i will lay me down
when you're down and out
when you're on the street
when evening falls so hard
i will comfort you
i'll take your part, when darkness comes
and pain is all around
like a bridge over troubled water
i will lay me down
like a bridge over troubled water
i will lay me down
sail on silver girl
sail on by
your time has come to shine
all your dreams are on their way
see how they shine
oh, if you need a friend
i'm sailing right behind
like a bridge over troubled water
i will ease your mind
like a bridge over troubled water
i will ease your mind ― paul simon, bridge over troubled water
"how does a part of the world leave the world? how can wetness leave water? do not try to put out a fire, by throwing on more fire. do not wash a wound with blood...no matter how fast you run, your shadow more than keeps up. sometimes it's in front. only full overhead sun diminishes your shadow. but that shadow has been serving you. what hurts you blesses you. darkness is your candle. your boundaries are your quest" ― jalaluddin rumi, bridge to the soul