Today I realized with a jolt that the Summer Solstice is in 10 days. This is because I stood outside at 8 am and it was still light, and I was genuinely confused. I have lost track of the seasons. We went straight from Winter to Summer this year, and I feel disoriented for so many reasons. Perhaps you do too.
Over the years I have pursued my passions of travel and photography, and wildlife photography has become a particular focus. I don’t know if or when I’ll take another photo safari, but part of what has gotten me through these last couple months is meditation, and returning to some crystalline moments of face-to-face encounters with majestic beasts.
I am sharing here 2 portraits of a mother and son Cheetah pair, from my trip to Tanzania in early 2018. I wanted to share this moment with you.
We got up before dawn and took off in the rover out onto the Serengeti. It was our 3rd day on the Namiri Plains. The day before we had come across a wounded Cheetah in the shade of a bush, with another worried Cheetah standing guard. We got close enough that we could see her shallow panting. We worried about her that night.
The next day again we were up before dawn, driving out as the first pink and orange streaks set the Acacia trees into silhouette. We traveled for several hours back to an area near where we had seen the Cheetahs, and then we saw them! Our guide guessed it was a mother and son. He thought her wounds were from fighting a male lion in the area…her attempt to protect her almost-grown young adult cub.
They walked right up to our vehicle where we sat quietly, the sides of the truck open to the elements for easy photography. There was a puddle of muddy rainwater in the tire tracks a few feet beyond my seat. The mother slowly and painfully limped to the puddle, and carefully bent down to lap the water. Her son kept watch with a worried but distant look, scanning the distant flat horizon of the Namiri Plains.
I will never forget the sound of her lapping at the puddle, or how she paused to look up at us. She was likely mortally wounded, and tears ran down my face as she got up and weakly staggered away towards that far horizon with her son a patient shadow.
Our lives are blessed and cursed with moments like this – moments captured in our memory that will be with us forever. Whether it is the day Kennedy was shot, 9/11, or perhaps you have had a moment like this during these recent historic events….we also have crystalline moments of great Joy and Beauty. Whether you find peace through meditation or prayer, it is those quiet moments of introspection…often as we are sewing and quilting…that help us to remember the bittersweet moments of Joy and Beauty, and help us through life’s challenges.
Please take a look at these artful stitched meditations that were submitted, after I asked for ‘Prayers for Peace‘ last week. Perhaps you’d like to make one too. Thank you to the artists who responded with a small work of inspirational art.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
* The photo collage above includes 2 photo portraits by Luana, plus a new digital wildlife fabric from Rubin Design Studio.
