Pride

163:365


The circle of life was close today.

I spent the morning at the PRIDE parade here in downtown Albuquerque, and it was a joyful celebration of life and love. Colorful costuming, floats, music... it was vibrant and alive and exuberant.
This evening I gathered with a circle of women for a new moon ceremony. Grounding, releasing of negativity, thankfulness for what we have in life... hopes and intentions for the future... all important aspects, and covered with love and grace.

And tonight, as I watered my plants and said my reflections on the day... my dogs discovered a severely injured baby rabbit in the yard... and potentially injured him even more as they brought him to me. As I said prayers of thanks for this little life, and tried to convey my deep love and caring for the baby... I ended his life as humanely and peacefully as possible; knowing that there was no way that the baby would recover or be able to live a wild life.

While I feel absolutely horrible about the bunny situation (and those of you who know me know how much I adore rabbits)... I feel fortunate in that; in spite of the fact that he was alone, confused, scared and hurt... he was able to somehow end up in my yard... where I was able to help him go on to the next phase of his life where he will hopefully be running around happily and safe from harm.



To read more about new moon rituals.... look HERE
(*photo by Elaine A. Russell)

PrideFest 2009



...................photos by Elaine A. Russell


Ok. I have never been to Pride, but have many friends and family in the community... and it was simply awesome to go to the festival. Never have I been to such a big event, where people were loving, kind, polite... and generally happy. People who came to my tent were gracious, friendly, and complimentary of my work. It was fabulous.

OK... there was one girl fight near my booth. And the horses on display were a little fragrant...and I got massively sunburnt.... but it was great.

I have to tweak some of my photos from the event (mainly cuz I have a crappy lens with spots all over it )... but I will be posting them to my FlickR account ----> see link to the side, here.