Spring is early this year in Northern California

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Blossoms are hard to ignore ~ "STOP AND LOOK AT US" they sing out.   Contagious delight!     Why is this annual happening always a surprise? One day the branches are bare, the next day blossoms appear, on the third day the whole tree is glorious, as though risen from the dead! Muchas Gracias!  

Soul Sentinal. Lee Vining, CA, USA

Stop with me to share this timeless moment. All is still - no wind - and it's very, very cold. 

The blanket of snow lays a quiet hush over the gravestones behind us.  Thick fog hides Mono Lake and the Sierra mountains before us.  Our tree stands as a lone sentient guard for the spirits resting here.  In peace.

Stop and Look! at the bottom of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco

One of the most famous images of San Francisco over the past 70 years has been Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill.  If, on some fine April day, one were to wander down the hundreds of steps to the bottom of the hill, near the waterfront, this display would be the reward! 

Actually, I was driving to work, and had to choose to go right or left in the face of this vertical cliff. As is sometimes the case in life, there is a third "outside the nine dots" choice: to stop the car, jump out, and revel in the beauty!

Stop and Look! near Klamath, California

A roadside attraction in Northern California that called to us.  What is the story contained in this image?  The building and trees have grown old together, and time seems to have stopped. Both their past and future are mysterious. What will happen next?  Does anyone care?  

Stop and Look! Grand & Harrison

Back to Oakland, California, where the chance rays of the setting sun transform a serious commercial building into a delightful reflection. From order to a bit of chaos. From sophisticated architecture to the strangeness of an amusement park distortion mirror, in which we can laugh at ourselves. 

Perhaps this also reflects our human communications!

Stop and Look! in Palestine

On the way to Jerusalem from Hebron. This, my first pilgrimage to the Abrahamic Holy Land, filled my heart and memory with thousands of images to accompany my prayers for peace..

Stop and Look in Kolkata, India."accident prone zone"

On a journey to sacred sites in India with URI interfaith colleagues in 2008, we spent some time at this intersection in Kolkata (Calcutta).  Teeming with life and color, many lives briefly intersect with one another here.  We are on our individual journeys together in our divinely diverse world.