Magic at the Library

 My daughter works at our local library which is on my way home from work. Yesterday, I decided to stop in and say a quick "hi" to her and see how her day was going. She works at the circulation desk and no one was in line, so I just hung out there and we gossiped a little about what was going on in her day. 

A customer walked up to check out books with her two little kids in tow. I moved aside so my daughter could do her job and I headed to my favorite sections. 

This is where the trouble began. If I had just finished our conversation and said, "Okay sweetie, I have to go now," everything would have been fine. But nooooo, something was calling me from the inner most shelves like a tractor beam tugging at the Millennium Falcon. 

I didn't need to pick up any books. I already have plenty on my night stand. Most likely though, I would look around for a little and not find anything, tell my daughter "goodbye," and head home.

Of course that's not what happened. 

Libraries have this magical, serendipitous power. Fate can place a book that you never knew you needed to read on the top shelf of the stack you pass, someone can cough loudly next to you and you look over and see this book cover right in your line of sight. Some unknown force makes you reach out to grab the book and you flip to the summary on the back cover.

It's got you.

You can't put it down now. You know you have to take it home and read it.

Yesterday, seven books caught me in their spell. Could I have written their titles down and gotten them a different time when I needed another book? 

Sure!

But I was drawn to them in this moment and I let the serendipity lead me right to the circulation desk where my daughter checked out all the books for me. 

I know I probably won't finish all of them, but I figured it also helps the library to check out lots of books. In a time when funding for our libraries, especially in Ohio is scarce, it helps to show that they are being used often! 

So go to your local library to support them and let serendipity take over!

Have a beautiful day!

With Love, 

Kathy💕💕😀

 

Traveling Tuesdays: Ancient Temples of Angkor Wat--Otherworldly

One of many ornate towers of Angkor Wat

Ever since I heard there were ancient temples discovered in the northwestern jungles of Cambodia, I dreamed of one day visiting Angkor Wat. I thought of myself as an Indiana Jones type explorer trudging through the jungle...well minus all the bugs, spiders, and snakes. 

Actually, I'm not even all that adventurous. I'm terrified of being in the ocean or any big water. I'm scared of bears and other large creatures with big teeth, and I'd much prefer staying at a nice hotel than roughing it in the wild. But I LOVE to travel and see new places, it inspires me and fuels my imagination.

Luckily for me, my husband is adventurous and last April we ended up in Siem Reap, Cambodia as part of an extended trip around Asia. We only had two days in Cambodia so on the day we were visiting the temples, our Tuk Tuk driver, Tiger, picked us up in the morning from our hotel in Siem Reap. We drove about a half hour to the temple grounds which cover over 400 acres of land. Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples are deemed the largest religious site in the world. 

Devatas 

The temples were built over a 30 year period from about 1110-1150 AD. They were built by the Khmer people during the reign of King Suryavarman II and dedicated to the God Vishnu. Throughout the temples, the walls are covered in bas relief carvings of Hindu Gods, Apsaras, Devatas, and scenes depicting the ancient Hindu texts the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. 

Several years after the death of Suravarman, Jayavarman VII, ruled the Khmer empire and converted to Buddhism rededicating Angkor Wat to Buddha.

 It is now a fascinating mix of both religions, with statues of Buddha, Vishnu, and the Hindu inspired bas relief carvings.

I found out recently that Angkor Wat was never "lost" at least to the local monks, the Western world simply "rediscovered" it in 1860. That fact, though, doesn't take away from the temple's otherworldly mystery. 

The temple grounds are a hugely popular tourist destination and the day we were there was no exception. It happened to be part of the Cambodian Songkran Festival (New Year's) so many locals were visiting the temple as well as foreign tourists. 

In 2018, there were over 2 million people that came to visit. Many Buddhists and Hindus alike come on religious pilgrimages. They kneel before Buddha in silent meditation, leave offerings, light incense, and pay homage to the wall-length battle scene in the Ramayan where Rama defeats Ravana. 

Aside from the splendor of the architecture, one of my favorite moments visiting, was when a family with three teen girls dressed in the beautiful, traditional Khmer silk sampot, were trying to get selfies in front of the most photo worthy spots. They laughed and joked with each other as they posed for pictures-exactly like our kids at that age when we took them to New York City or Yellowstone National Park. 

Bas relief wall carvings 

Some times you dream of visiting a place for a long time and then when you finally get there, it doesn't live up to what you expected. 

Buddha with flower offerings

That was not the case here. It was breathtaking. At one point there was a steep staircase(almost scary steep!) that climbed nearly to the top of the temple where you can look out over the vast surrounding jungle. 

How many people throughout its 900 years have looked out over this same scene. It's eerie and beautiful at the same time, like somehow your connected to those souls that have set foot in the same place, you have shared that same space, not in the same time but nonetheless you can almost feel their presence, as if some of their energy stayed behind. 

Every so often we would come across a bullet hole in the stone walls. A relic from the more recent past, when the ruthless Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia.

It was pretty crowded when we were there around mid morning. Most of the travel sites suggest getting there early to see the sunrise over the temple and beat the crowds. I'm not sure if it would be less crowded since everyone advises it, but it would definitely be cooler at that time. 

It was an oppressively hot and humid day and my choice of clothing to modestly cover my shoulders and knees(required to visit) wasn't quite breathable enough, so I wasn't too disappointed that we only took a half day to see as much as we could. It was not nearly enough time to even see half of the complex.

The grounds were a huge maze of temples and forest intertwined. A few times, we met up with our driver, Tiger, who took us across bridges and through gates that led to other temple buildings. He told us much of the history as we drove and he pointed out special spots. One was the King's palace, I can't remember which king built it though, and one temple was supposed to be where he was buried. 

He told us what this gorgeously ornate temple was to the left--but I can't remember. There is far too much for my brain to absorb in one day. 

At one point, a monkey crossed our path on his daily commute, he didn't even seem to notice we were there. Another monkey, much more serious looking, sat on a shaded corner of the outer wall, like an ancient temple guard keeping an eye on the intruders. No more than ten feet from us a whole family of monkeys in a tree broke out into a turf war, screaming and chasing one another up and down the trunk. Despite all the human visitors, this was still their jungle.

Ta Prohm-"Tomb Raider" temple

Even the trees don't respect the man-made boundaries. At the Temple of Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed with Angelina Jolie, the trees are taking back the jungle, trying to erase our footprints. Their giant roots are consuming the temples, leaving areas of rubble in their wake. I'm not sure what was more impressive at Ta Prohm, the intricately carved temples or the trees here.

It looked like science fiction, like somewhere on another planet.  

If you ever have a chance go visit Angkor Wat and immerse yourself in this stunning other world. 

This video below shows the massive heads carved on one of the bridges leading to a temple gate.

For more info on Angkor Wat check these out:

Lonely Planet

Britannica.com

World Pilgrimage Guide

UNESCO

Have you been to Angkor Wat? Do you like to travel? What's one of your favorite places to visit?

Have a great week!

Kathy :)

My Little Babies in their Pots

3 healthy avocados and one a squirrel got 

I love my garden. When my hands are in the dirt taking care of my plants, whether it's planting, weeding, or harvesting herbs and flowers, I'm at peace and in the moment. It is my little time of "active meditation." 

My newest little babies are 5 brand new avocado seedlings. A couple months ago, my husband and I were really craving fresh guacamole, so I made a big batch and I had all these beautiful avocado pits left over. I decided to see how many I could germinate. Over the years of being a plant geek, I've come up with my own method for avocados.

Starting a new avocado pit

 I rinse the pits and then lightly wrap them in wet paper towel. I place them in an unsealed ziplock bag and hide them in a darker corner of my kitchen. I check on them occasionally, and after a few weeks, the pits have cracked open and the root begins to appear, it's pretty magical.

Out of the six pits that I wrapped, 5 of them produced roots. I planted all of five. Four of those sent out stems quickly, the fifth one looked like it was trying to but it wasn't making much progress. We've had super hot moist conditions all summer here in Ohio, so it's been good weather for them to grow in.

 Last week, I was disappointed to see that some animal, probably a squirrel, had climbed onto my deck and dug one of the pits up and eaten it in half, breaking the tree stem from its roots! But the rest were unharmed. In an effort to try to save the little guy, I've cut the end clean and dipped it in a rooting medium to see if he can survive, I don't have a lot of hope for him but maybe he can pull through. 

The little, slow seed finally did send out a shoot to the sky and he's doing fine at almost 6 inches tall! 

Slow little guy

Hopefully, they can all grow strong enough before October, to be brought inside and survive the cold gray winters in Ohio. 

My fresh guacamole :)

I'll share the recipe in another post!

Hope your week has been great!

Have you started avocados successfully? Do you have an "active meditation" activity? What good news do you have this week?

Kathy 😃🩷🩷