What is there in life ...

I set up this blog spot a number of months ago and never used it. Today, 5/8/08, I decided that I want to use this blog as a means of exploring my life, travels and interactions. I enjoy writing and have often felt that I should "be a writer." I have plenty of interests that keep me busy (thus the blog sitting idle for months) and just last week, I joined the knitting web community Ravelry and am inordinately happy about that. Many people have their own blogs so I have decided to set mine up and will include the link on my Ravelry page. This is an entirely new medium for me so bear with me as I learn the ropes.

My title photograph is the rose window at Abbey Chapel at Mount Holyoke College. I love that window. The rest of the chapel is very simple so the rose window really shines. I am a spiritual person, although not a particularly religious one. I like sitting in churches, chapels and temples because the energy is somehow different from the rest of the world; the quiet is palpable. I find it a good place to commune with myself. It's the same sort of quietude I experience when I'm knitting.

The other thing of which I've been very aware lately is just how many really wonderful people there are on the planet. Strong, courageous, kind, giving, compassionate, loving people. It's really amazing. I live in Manhattan but am from Vermont originally. I like smiling at people in the subway because it surprises them. People learn to keep a poker face when they are out and about in the city. I've been occasionally (pleasantly) surprised when someone I don't know flashes a smile at me so I've started doing it. It's really fun to see how people respond. Try it!

My slideshow is mostly from a trip to China last year (with a few of my cats thrown in--can't have a blog so titled and not feature my cats, now can I?!). I went with the Mt. Holyoke College Alumnae Glee Club. We had a wonderful time and most of these photos are from our trip to Xi'an where we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors. I still feel a great sense of awe about these statues ... they are like snowflakes, each unique. And awe at the size of the army created to protect the emperor in the afterlife. They've been excavating for 30 years and have barely scratched the surface. This is a monument to human ingenuity and creativity. I feel very fortunate to have seen it (and the Great Wall, of course).