Widow's Endorphins: Earth Day Birthday

Widow's Endorphins: Earth Day Birthday: Happy 50th Birthday, Earth Day! April 22, 2020 is an Earth Day birthday like no other.  Tree huggers are totally embracing technolo...

Earth Day Birthday

Happy 50th Birthday, Earth Day! April 22, 2020 is an Earth Day birthday like no other.  Tree huggers are totally embracing technology! 

Rather than day long celebrations and rallies, in parks and on the streets, millions upon millions of participants will use technology to gather virtually. The Earth Day Network, which describes itself as, "the world's largest recruiter to the environmental movement", with 750-thousand partners in 190 countries, says it has the collective power of, "one billion individuals mobilized for the future of the planet". One billion people in their living rooms, or seated at the kitchen table. The Earth Day Network says that while the corona virus has forced people to keep their distance, "it will not force us to keep our voices down." The environmental movement has never been silent.

In 1962, Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring warned of the destruction of our water, soil, and air due to the use of pesticides. She raised awareness. Smog, oil spills, polluted rivers catching fire, and the American Eagle being near extinction, were reported on the evening news. Less than a decade later, the first Earth Day was held. On April 22, 1970, Americans took to the streets, arenas, and college campuses, in protest. Twenty million Americans, or, about ten percent of the US population at the time, participated in the event.

This is an Earth Day unlike any other. It's a year unlike any other! What we have witnessed in the last few weeks, is that we are coming together, while being apart. Technology has connected, and reconnected us. Earlier this month, Zoom, the online teleconferencing site, reached more than 200-million people per day, compared with 10-million daily participants in December.

Earth Day is believed to be the largest civic event in the world. This year, it will happen online. For 24 hours, the Earth Day Network, "will fill the digital landscape", with live-streamed global conversations, performances, video teach-ins, and calls to action. 

The Network says that no matter who you are, or where you live, you can make a difference. This year's theme is Climate Action. The Network says, "climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable".

The past few weeks of industry shutdowns, planes on tarmacs, and cars parked in driveways, has shown how dramatically the Earth heals, when given a chance. Clean air, pure water, and healthy soil, are not impossible.  

A final note...I created birthday cards for Earth Day's birthday. The images are a departure from my usual photographic style. Computer technology was used to create painterly, watercolour images from my original floral photographs...and I didn't spill any paint on the floor!

Widow's Endorphins: Anticipation

Widow's Endorphins: Anticipation: Anticipation: a feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen in the near future. We're all feeling it, as we im...

Anticipation

Anticipation: a feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen in the near future. We're all feeling it, as we imagine being with friends and family once more. We imagine what we'll do when the world is ours once again; when we're free to travel anywhere, dine out, or go to concerts. 

Springtime in Vancouver! I've been anticipating it for decades. The ribbons of pink cherry blossoms lining city streets, the Sakura groves in city parks, and private gardens, and even the petal snowfalls at the end of the season, have been on my mind for nearly thirty years. I was not going to let a global pandemic stop me from capturing the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms.

 

I saw them way back in November 2019 BV (before the virus). Even with bare branches, the vignette of a small group of cherry trees overlooking Vancouver's False Creek, filled me with anticipation. I returned earlier this month, expecting to capture their beauty with my camera. I was too early. Their buds needed a few more days of sunshine and warm weather to open. Anticipation and patience usually travel hand in hand. 

A few days ago, I journeyed two miles along the seawall walk, back to the cherry tree spot. What a disappointment! Instead of full, ruffled pink blossoms framing the blue waters of the creek, I could only see gnarly, gangly branches through my viewfinder. Things don't always turn out as we anticipate. 

I chose to enjoy the experience...to be present to the beauty around me. It was magical. Worth the wait.

While we're physically isolating ourselves, anticipating the day when we can live more normal lives, be mindful of the present. Enjoy every moment of life. My walks along the False Creek Seawall are always filled with beauty, and inspiration. The journey is the experience. Sometimes, when you're open to the world around you, you discover something unexpected, that you didn't anticipate...  

 

Photographs Copyright of: Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: 4/20

Widow's Endorphins: 4/20: Does anybody know what day it is? When every day feels like a Sunday, you don't have to be a stoner, to find yourself asking that qu...

4/20

Does anybody know what day it is? When every day feels like a Sunday, you don't have to be a stoner, to find yourself asking that question, day after day! It's April 4th, now known as 4/20, an international day in celebration of marijuana, and protest demanding its legalization. This year, those celebrations and protests are up in smoke. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to bans on large public gatherings, so concerts, picnics and marches have been cancelled.

As for rallies in support of legalization, it's already legal - for both medicinal and recreational purposes - in Canada. In the US, eleven States, and Washington DC, have legalized pot. It's a 14 Billion dollar business in the US.

Vancouver held the world's first 4/20 celebrations back in 1995, when activist Mark Emery held a day long event calling for legalization of cannabis. The event got its name from a group of Grateful Dead fans in California who met every day at 4:20 in the afternoon to smoke pot.and listen to the Dead albums (it was the 70's).

For me (who's never smoked anything), 4/20 is more than just a number...it's this little number: Marijuana Leaves Film Noir, available through my Art of Where shop.  I love the graphic edge, and sensual curves of the leaves. This is a super sexy dress!

Canna show you more of my cannabis inspired clothing designs? There's also smokin' hot men's boxer briefs, and t-shirts!
https://artofwhere.com/artists/ruth-adams-widow-s-endorphins-photographic-images-inc-/clothing

Photograph and Designs Copyright of: Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.

Widow's Endorphins: What We Gained During Lent

Widow's Endorphins: What We Gained During Lent: If you grew up Catholic, you know about the religious tradition of giving something up for Lent, the six-week period of sobre contempl...

What We Gained During Lent

If you grew up Catholic, you know about the religious tradition of giving something up for Lent, the six-week period of sobre contemplation and repentance, which ends Easter Sunday. In those long weeks between Mardi Gras and Easter, people often ask each other, "what did you give up for Lent?" The answer is usually chocolate, carbs, or alcohol.

This year, the answer heard around the world, in Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, and Atheist homes, is, everything. We universally gave up everything, from our freedom to travel, to our joy in holding our loved ones. From the right to have a neighbourhood block party, to attending a rock concert. Thousands have given up their lives. The World Health Organization reports that 99,887 people are confirmed to have died from the COVID-19 virus.

Even for those who are not among the 1,614,951 confirmed cases of COVID-19, there has been heartbreak. Life's BMD milestones - births, marriages and deaths - have all been touched by the pandemic. Weddings and honeymoons have been cancelled. Funerals are being held via Zoom, or not at all. Those who have lost a loved one in these times, are grieving alone, without comforting hugs, and a hand to hold. Friends of mine just had their first baby, born prematurely in this time of crisis. While both the mother and baby were kept in hospital for weeks, the young father was not allowed to be with them. Like a soldier at war, he could only look at pictures, and long for the day when he could hold his wife and baby in his arms. Many of my friends have a parent or parents in care homes, and are unable to visit with them. A lucky few, are able to communicate with each other through a window. We have given up so much.

We have also gained. We have gained our humanity, gratitude, deep appreciation for human connection, and above all, our love for one another. The pandemic has forced the most social of creatures - human beings - to self isolate for the good of all. We are witnessing a universal act of caring humanity. 

Nightly, in my own city of Vancouver, residents step out onto balconies and porches to loudly clap, cheer, and bang on pots, to show their heartfelt, and sincere gratitude to the frontline healthcare workers for their courage and dedication. Gratitude is also expressed in simple words of thanks, to store clerks, and security guards in grocery stores and pharmacies, who put themselves on the line, so that the rest of us can eat, and take our medication. There is also a deep gratitude for our health, and - in Canada - our healthcare system. In this country, our Federal and Provincial governments have all stepped up to provide funding for those who are out of work, and struggling to pay for food or shelter. No matter what our politics, Canadians, who've had cause for cynicism in recent years, have gained an appreciation for the good which governments can do.

More than anything, there's a sense of how important connectedness is to our wellbeing - to our very souls. We are social beings, who are meant to be with one another. The experience is giving us a sense of the loneliness and isolation felt by elderly people, and marginalized people. That empathy may give way to greater caring in the future.

Unable to physically be together, people are reaching out to connect online, and by phone. It's been wonderful to speak with people I haven't spoken with in a long time. How many of us have learned to use Zoom in the past few weeks? How many are telling friends and family that they are loved? No one is taking life for granted. There's been a transformation in our lives.

Blessings this Easter, for your health and wellbeing. May your life be richer for this experience.
I love you.

Photographs Copyright of: Ruth Adams Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.