Cupola

This is another view of Sevier Middle School, as seen coming down Norwood Street from Yadkin Street. Don told me that Yadkin Street was called the "White Neighborhood" because most of the houses were white, frame construction. It is a pretty, but short drive down Yadkin Street.

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Sevier School

John Sevier Middle School was very close to the house. The first time Don took me down Wateree Street, I commented on the pretty cupola on top of the school. He was immediately impressed that I knew the word "cupola" because so few people around Kingsport seem to know it. LOL

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Engineering

I like the style of this building where the "Engineering Department" for the city of Kingsport is located. This shot was made at the traffic light on Fort Henry Drive, where Eastman Road crosses.

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Snowy day

Looking out the front door of the house, on a snowy day.

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Arise

On the heels of yesterday's blog entry about spirituality and beauty, it seems almost ludicrous to post something so amusing and worldly as today's photo. There is, believe it or not, a "method to my madness" as to the sequence of these photos, so here goes... I walked out of the hotel one night to take a smoke break and check the parking lot. When I thought I saw the word "arse" on the back window of a car, I had to examine it more closely. The decal actually said 'Arise Communications, LLC.' The middle "i" in the word "Arise" was intentionally left outlined, rather than filled-in, probably for artistic effect. So from a distance, it sure as heck looked like "arse" to me that night. LOL

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Beauty

Fabrics in India are often richly colored and beautiful, even among some of the poorer people. Jewelry is common and worn in abundance. In ancient times, even men wore colorful fabrics and jewelry as well. To the Western mind that has been beaten into submission by staunch corporate and clerical philosophies, this adornment may seem extravagant, vain, or over-the-top. There is a purpose to it, however, which is clear to the Eastern mind and those in touch with the Divine Feminine. "The Goddess is beauty and wealth. Prosperity is a gift of the Mother. We should be grateful. When we make the temple beautiful, we honor Her. When we make ourselves beautiful, we are showing our respect for Her. "Everything the Mother has created is beautiful. We should follow Her example and make everything around us beautiful. Beauty raises our minds to the highest. It gives us a glimpse of the truth. In India, we have a saying, "Satyam shivam sundaram." It means that God is truth and truth is God, and that God is beauty and beauty is God. God, truth, and beauty: they are the same. The most honored name of the Goddess is Maha Tripura Sundari. It means 'The Supreme Beauty in All the Worlds.' When you have beauty, you don't even need yoga and meditation. Beauty itself takes you to the highest. Beauty creates in you the state of meditation spontaneously. Therefore we worship the Mother by making the temple beautiful. When the temple is beautiful, the Supreme Beauty comes here to reside. When we make our hearts beautiful, She goes there to reside." —a Brahmin priest, as quoted by Linda Johnsen in her book Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India, p. 79 Exemplifying this sense of beauty is Sita — breathtaking and resplendent her clothing, veil, and jewelry — captured from an episode of the video edition of the Vishnu Puran, mentioned in yesterday's blog. Jai Ma!

©2012 Tiffany Reed

Jayanti

One of the Hindu religious texts, the Vishnu Purana, was made into a serial that aired weekly on television in India. The people who owned/managed the hotel where I worked were Hindu, and they knew that my spirituality was somewhere along Hindu/Buddhist lines. So, they offered to loan me their 23-volume set of the Vishnu Puran on DVD. Each DVD contained three or four epidosdes, each about one-hour in length. I was thrilled! I watched one or two episodes many mornings when I arrived home from my night-shift at the hotel, and Don watched many of the episodes with me. It was cool! We always enjoyed watching movies and TV shows together, and it gave us pause to talk about spirituality. (...like he and I ever needed a "reason" to talk about anything... LOL) The costuming was nothing short of magnificent. I drooled over many of the saris and jewelry worn by the women in the production. Some of the "special effects" had to be taken with a grain of salt, but hey... It was still very entertaining AND educational. It also stayed very true to the story lines and principles of the original Vishnu Purana epic. It also helped to explain many subtleties that are otherwise hard to imagine. I had to giggle one morning when I was in the kitchen fixing something to eat and heard Don in the bedroom singing the theme song to the series. That told me that he enjoyed watching the shows with me. Many of the women in the Vishnu Puran were beautiful. As an example, this is a screen-shot with my LG225 flip-phone of Jayanti, daughter of Indra. I want to be her when I grow up. :3

©2012 Tiffany Reed