Spring Ramble

Ooo I've been busy! Which is nice! I like to do things! :) As far as work-play goes, I made an Etsy shop for Eye's Gallery called Eye's Vintage. I took photos of cool vintage jewelry and modeled some too, for example this African pendant:

Love it! I just came back home from hooping and drumming with Daniel in a nearby park. Spring and summer are here in one warm bright shiny explosion! The other day I celebrated and purchased two used books: Ariel - Poems by Sylvia Plath and Tulips & Chimneys by e.e. cummings. YEAHH!! This is part 5 of cummings' "La Guerre":

O sweet spontaneous

earth how often have

the

doting

 

            fingers of

prurient philosophers pinched

and

poked

 

thee

, has the naughty thumb

of science prodded

thy

 

      beauty     .how

often have religions taken

thee upon their scraggy knees

squeezing and

 

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive

gods

       (but

true

 

to the incomparable

couch of death thy

rhythmic

lover

 

        thou answerest

 

them only with

 

                         spring)

I met with Wendy Laudiak who's a yoga teacher and gourmet vegan chef. She's having a yoga and self-exploration adventure in Costa Rica in June, I made a yellow and to-the-point poster for her :)

Speaking of yellow, I've decided to always have flowers at home simply because they are so wonderful. There's a florist around the corner and their chrysanthemum bouquet is 4 dollars and you get free greenery with it.

That's Green Tara in the background, who personifies compassion.

I contemplated this for a while and concluded that flowers are one of the wisest investments one can make. Who is not brought happiness by seeing flowers? ??? ?? ?

Sylvia Plath, I guess. Her poem 'Tulips' is so touching and her word combinations are so crazy, you should read it..

I've been obsessed with decorating for a couple of weeks now. I love everything that's going on in the home decor pics above. A part of my obsession has to do with my new side-career as a painter. Yes, I was hired by a painter with life-time's experience to assist in the painting of Philly zillionaire's walls. When I started I had never even held a wall-painting brush and never paid attention to quality of painted walls but now after four days of painting, I can't stand the horrendous paint job at my apartment, or pretty much anywhere I go :P Yes I now inspect the walls wherever I go. !!?

Besides decorating, I've recently totally fallen in love with vintage stuff. Not just jewelry and clothing but some seemingly unnecessary things too. Like old wooden boxes, books, home decorations, frames, magazines... Check out this Life magazine from September 1968 that I picked up from my next-door thrift store's free box:

Did I introduce you to this lady? She sits on the window sill of our art/mess room and looks pretty with her Tulasi and Rudraksha meditation beads and (again) vintage blouse.

On her left side is my mermaid lamp :) And bunch of wallpaper scraps. I went to a wallpaper store to rummage through the scraps for art projects and Paul, the owner, gave me them for free so I can make collages and put them for sale in the store. How awesome is that!

Happy marching through March! Who knows how your life will change because of what you do today or tomorrow! Or the next minute! Words of wizdum from Bhakti the Easter Egg!

Birthstone Poem

The onyx ring I wear all the time that my mom made many years ago <3

I was writing a post at work yesterday and came across this poem that was first published in 1870. It's originally from the Gregorian calendar. There are many other calendars for birthstones too, such as mystical which draws from Tibetan sources, ayurvedic and stones by signs of zodiac. Sooo what's your birthstone? :) Mine appears to be onyx, peridot, diamond and sapphire. I actually wear onyx or sapphire almost every day, now that I think of it!

By her who in this month (January) is born
No gem save garnets should be worn;
They will ensure her constancy,
True friendship, and fidelity.

The February-born shall find
Sincerity and peace of mind,
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they an amethyst will wear.

Who in this world of ours their eyes
In March first open shall be wise,
In days of peril firm and brave,
And wear a bloodstone to their grave.

She who from April dates her years,
Diamonds shall wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow; this stone,
Emblem of innocence, is known.

Who first beholds the light of day
In spring's sweet flowery month of May
And wears an emerald all her life
Shall be a loved and happy wife.

Who comes with summer to this earth,
And owes to June her hour of birth,
With ring of agate on her hand
Can health, wealth, and long life command.


The glowing ruby shall adorn,
Those who in July are born;
Then they'll be exempt and free
From love's doubts and anxiety.

Wear a sardonyx or for thee,
No conjugal felicity;
The August-born without this stone,
`Tis said, must live unloved and lone.

A maiden born when September leaves
Are rustling in September's breeze,
A sapphire on her brow should bind
`Twill cure diseases of the mind.

October's child is born for woe,
And life's vicissitudes must know,
But lay an opal on her breast,
And hope will lull those woes to rest.

Who first comes to this world below
In drear November's fog and snow,
Should prize the topaz's amber hue,
Emblem of friends and lovers true.

If cold December gave you birth,
The month of snow and ice and mirth,
Place on your hand a turquoise blue;
Success will bless whate'er you do.

PS. You might notice this post is full of links to Wikipedia. It's because 1) Wikipedia is really useful and 2) the English Wikipedia will blackout on January 18th for 24 hours to protest the SOPA and PIPA which I think is AWESOME. If you don't know what those are, start here.

Rainwater :: yet another embarrassing song by me

Rainwater by Omwoods

I stick my tongue out

and taste rainwater.

Nothing in this world

is clean or pure.

Nothing of this world

is perfect or pure.

I collect rainwater

in a bucket and a barrel.

Nothing in this world

is without fault.

Nothing of this world

is without some fault.

Yet we try

and act surprised, get surprised.

Rainwater,

rain harder.

I pick up a leaf and lift

a beetle floating in a puddle.

Nothing in this world

is what is seems.

Nothing of this world

is what it seems to be.

Dark clouds

there is no rush, touch closer.

Rainwater,

rain harder.

No temporary thing

is gonna satisfy your soul,

no matter how you cut it.

It's whacked out.

it's a reflection.

But the arrangement

of this place is perfectly done

and without fault

because its source

is truth.

Lift me,

pick me up.

Rainwater,

rain harder.

One rainy day I thought about stuff and wrote this song :) Lifeupdate: Chicago today. Same old crazy Warped Tour schedules. Tomorrow night driving to Shakopee MN, guess MN means Minnesota. Lately loving polypro hooping, the lightness and fastness of it makes me feel like a jedi ninja lightning. When oh when will I have time to make a hoop video. Philip and me made plans for life after Warped: hanging out by the ocean in Oregon, going to Redwoods, mountains, hot springs, driving across USA (yeah for like the fourth time this summer) and taking pictures. I want to take some interesting or beautiful pics but haven't come up with an idea yet (I don't want to take only nature pics). I wish I had some fairy girls in a suitcase that I could pull out at gorgeous locations and take pictures of. Accepting photo ideas!! Accepting suitcase size fairies!

Touch Her :: Nature Quotes

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." William Shakespeare

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars." Walt Whitman

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." e.e. cummings

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." Kahlil Gibran

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." e.e. cummings

"How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!" Emily Dickinson

Nature quotes from my favorite poets and photos by my favorite nature people, Gopal and her family! It looks like it's her little daughter's, Avani's hands in most of the pics. Gopal sent me these photos for our movie project but they came too late to be included. They're so beautiful I wanted to share them anyway! Thank you Gopal & fam!

I'm in Tennessee right now, getting ready for Bonnaroo music festival so I will not be able to go online for over a week. Lots of bare feet touching nature will be taking place, as well as super hot Tennessee sun touching my poor Scandinavian skin ;)

In Finland I had some really nice moments in the nature, just walking in the forest and getting my head very clear, nature does that to you. I need to take the time to do that more often. If you have any nature memories, inspirations, quotes, or photos to share, I'd love to hear from you in the comments! Let's touch her more!

Full of Winds :: a song ::

 by Omwoods

FULL OF WINDS
.
at night when everyone's asleep
I leave the monastery
and go glitter yellow
by the shore
.
you come before me wise
and full of winds
you come before me wise
.
I write a letter to a sage of yore
put it in a pretty envelope
and watch it float
on the waves
.
you come before me wise
and full of winds
you come before me wise
.
city lights calm my ache
my ache is a breeze
that you released
on the other side
.
you come before me wise
and full of winds
you come before me wise
.
at night when everyone's asleep
I walk the streets alone
and go glitter yellow
by the shore
.
you come before me wise
and full of winds
you come before me wise

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Water Dance by Lauri Blank

So (in this video with Oona Elena) we talked about being ourselves and being freaks if that's who we are. A beautiful poem 'The Invitation' by Oriah Mountain Dreamer really goes deeper into the topic and I wanted to share it with you! While you read, listen to Kaisu and Mani sing and play. They are truly manifesting this spirit of uninhibited expression, and freely flowing...
.

.
"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'
.
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.
.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."

New Songs: Fairy Princess ASAP & Lonely

.

Lonely

.
I noticed suddenly that I'm a bit lonely sometimes because I live on the road and can never hang out with anyone for too long and this song Lonely came out of those feelings. I can't tell, I'm not that musical apparently, the harmonies may be kind of totally off kilter in the end but well it was just one take, and I'm lazy like that.
.

.Fairy Princess ASAP

 

.
What can I say, one too many vampire drama for me I guess. 
.
Find lyrics for Lonely here, and lyrics for Fairy Princess ASAP here. Maybe I should be more embarrassed for sharing my weird, unpolished, unprofessional songs :) But it's so much fun making and singing them, why not share them too.

Make a Poem with Poem Machine!

There's this website, runokone.com (runokone is 'poem machine' in Finnish) and they have an option to create a poem in English here. Please go do so! And post your creation in the comments here, I would love to read it! You just fill in some words and the poem is constructed for you. It's a lot of fun.

I made another one too:

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                 i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
.
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
.
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
.

.
My favorite love poem ever: e.e. cummings
Photos: Minna Kulmala
Box Holder Heart Carrier: Kaisu

Buddhist Barbie

In the 5th century B.C.

and Indian philosopher 

Gautama teaches "All is emptiness"

and "There is no self."

In the 20th century A.D.

Barbie agrees, but wonders how a man

with such a belly could pose,

smiling, and without a shirt.

.

poem: Buddhist Barbie by Denise Duhamel

painting: Saint Barbie by Mark Ryden

These Quotes Drive Me Up the Walls

Yesterday me and Philip were at the Princeton University, met with students and passed out Bhagavad-gitas to those who were interested. Surprisingly many were actually really into it. Anyhow, being a quote maniac, I couldn't pass these walls without taking some pictures. This is a cool idea and totally doable. If I had more walls I would totally paint my favorite quotes on them.

These Spiritual Window-Shoppers

These spiritual window-shoppers, who idly ask, 

'How much is that?' Oh, I'm just looking. 

They handle a hundred items and put them down, 

shadows with no capital. 

What is spent is love and two eyes wet with weeping. 

But these walk into a shop, 

and their whole lives pass suddenly in that moment, 

in that shop. 

Where did you go? 'Nowhere'. 

What did you have to eat? 'Nothing much'. 

Even if you don't know what you want, 

buy something, to be part of the exchanging flow. 

Start a huge, foolish project, 

like Noah. 

It makes absolutely no difference 

what people think of you. 

Rumi (1207-1273)

Photos by Mario Covic

Dear State Police

Beep, beep!
Beep, beep!

What I bought for breakfast,
the places where I’ve been,
the name of my mother,
it’s all there on your screen.

I’m a straight-edge spiritualist,
peaceful as can be, oh pray
tell why I was flagged so
you’ll detect me two miles away.

Well, little do you know:
I have learnt the science
and microwaved for precisely
five seconds my driver’s license.

You should harass me less,
this should have done the trick.
No beeps and zero privacy, but
one more melted microchip!

Magnetic Fridge Poetry

Here in Finland my mom has two sets of word magnets, both in Finnish and English, on the fridge door. This morning I took a few pics of my favorite creations. The above haiku-ish frustration came from me like two years ago, and it's still intact on the fridge :)

The following is also by me. My mom first thought it was about my relationship with my husband.

Actually, it's coming from a dog's perspective. There are two dogs running around the house, Rebel and Sara the Foxy Lady, and they directly inspired this one. I'm using the word 'breast' because there was no 'best' available. Good enough, no?

'loony miss fingers a pie

beloved sweet must be eaten

today a burp

but she jumps then

when belly is thick'

This last one is either by my sister Kaisu, or my mom. Probably Kaisu. She loves honey :) Have you ever tried magnetic poetry? Here you can try it online. Please post some of your creations in the comments!

My Teenage Poetry Project with a Hooping Omen

I was going through my old stuff here in Finland and found an old high school poetry project, along with some photos and drawings. This is the cover of my poem collection, it just says "Poems", and a few nostalgic pics I came across:

I made the poems in the following pic by circling out cool words and phrases in our math book, to form a poem when you read only the circled words of one page. Needless to say my math grades were incredibly low, if I happened to pass the courses at all. But my Finnish class was consistently A+, LOL!

Do you see that cosmic love hooper in the middle?!?! Now this was very early 2000's, I was 17 or something here, and had never even heard of hoopdance, what to speak of seeing it. What an omen! Maybe I should make this my hooping logo or something? :)

A more recent funny little thing I wrote:

"Hoop like no one's watching,

Hoop right from the heart.

Twirl and spin! Without, within!

Hoop from star to star!"

I Find No Sweeter Fat Than Sticks to My Bones

Here are my favorite quotes from Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Don't you just love these:

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars."

"Be curious, not judgemental."

"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle."

"I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my bones."

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."

"Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul."

"Simplicity is the glory of expression."

"Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?"

"If you done it, it ain't bragging."

Beautiful Haikus by Issa

I'm in a library and happened to pick up a book of haiku poems by Issa (1763-1827). I love it how in haikus the last line gives everything a surprising twist - these are my favorites:

Full moon;

my ramshackle hut

is what it is.

***

The toad! It looks like

it could belch

a cloud.

***

Writing shit about new snow

for the rich

is not art.

***

All the time I pray to Buddha

I keep on

killing mosquitoes.

***

Blossoms at night

and the faces of people

moved by music.