Don't give up on peace

 

Fiona and I spent time with the letterpress yesterday printing our peace weather grams to send out for International Day of Peace in September. Why so early I hear you ask? Well we needed to get them printed, dry and posted before we head off to Scotland.

I really like the opening  and following photo because they demonstrate the ephemeral nature of weather grams; but also seem to speak of the fragility of peace. On Ken's sculptural chair you can see worn weather grams from a few different years that have fluttered to the ground out of our magnolia tree.

This year I have chosen to print - "don't give up on peace". Given all the wars created by weak bully boys  it would be easy to just say we can't do anything - but we can - individually and collectively we need to push for peace through our individual efforts and by pushing our own politicians.

Following are a few images of the printing process and outcomes.

And a couple of Fiona and I at work in our micro but very functional printing space.

May we all continue to push for peace.

At times it seems there is so little we can do for peace - but let us not give up

 

The need for peace and peace action seems to surface so often in our lives - and yet it seems that there is so little we can do for peace. But we will not give up; we must and we will continue to act for and vibe for peace. 

Today is International Day of Peace (IDP - 21 September each year) - the fact that there is such an international day is a poignant reminder that peace is important and we must never let it go no matter how terrible the opposition to peaceful paths seems at time.

Each year in our home we pause to mark International Day of Peace. We do this in a number of small ways including using our letterpress to print weather grams and cards that can go out across the globe to attempt to create a few peace ripples.

The weather grams at our place again this year are hung in the  magnolia tree out the front of our home. As you can see from the photos below this year's weather grams accompany some of those hanging in from 12 months ago. They also hang with copper peace doves that are a permanent fixture in the tree.

Around the house there are other reminders of peace including a copper peace dove and a stash of older   weather grams that have fluttered to the ground but are gathered to continuing their work of reminding us to remember to vibe for peace.

This year I also made some giveaway peace tokens from melted salvaged metal.

Today, and every day, may we strive to encourage each other to find the ways to peace; and reject the ways of war.

Pieces for peace

 

International Day of Peace (IDP) is to be held on Sunday 21 September. 

To recognise this day of peace and to encourage folk to send positive peace vibes on the day I made a stash of metal (pewter) peace tokens to give away. The opening photo and the one below show some of the cleaned and polished peace tokens.

The melted salvaged pewter metal peace tokens was poured into forms that had been pressed into metal moulding sand - the pinkish sand in my case.  The finished pieces are a bit rough as my moulding sand has been reused quite a number of times and is becoming too dry. I melted the pewter to 750 degrees so that there would be plenty of times for me to pour metal into each depression in the sand.

During the week Fiona and I gave the pieces away in preparation for Sunday. There are so many wars going on in the world at the moment. May we all pause for a moment on Sunday and just send strong positive vibes to encourage the perpetrators of war to cease and to choose a peaceful path. 

 

International Day of Peace 2024

 

There is no doubt at all that in so many places and so many corners of the globe we need peace. On 21 September once again we pause for peace - on International Day of Peace we can send vibes out that maybe we can give peace a chance.

This afternoon in preparation for tomorrow Fiona and I installed our peace doves and peace weather grams on the fence and in the plum tree beside our cottage in Scotland. Before we left our Maleny home we installed doves and weathergrams - giving peace a chance at our two homes.

In the opening photo and following are a few images of the peace weather grams and peace doves. At the cottage some of the doves and weather grams are installed on barbed wire - we think the barbed wire symbolises war and unjust and illegal imprisionment.

Tomorrow morning Fiona and I will pause by the fence and tree and consciously send vibes of peace to wherever they are needed - may peace have a chance.

Putting peace in place

This year we will be in Scotland on International Day of Peace (IDP) (21 September). We will hang our weather grams and peace doves at our cottage for IDP. But we also have our weather grams and peace doves hanging in the tree out the front of our Maleny home. Saturday afternoon was a great sunny afternoon to put peace in place on the tree - image of me above and Fiona below.

I liked the fact that some weather grams from previous years are still hanging in there - see below.

And a few more of peace in the tree.

Finishing with a couple of peace images - on Ken's sculpture at the front door and couple of sculptures under the tree.

One cannot have too many shoutouts for peace. This year I chose to print the words "create peace here" meaning peace starts at the local level - between individuals and communities  - and ripples out across the globe.

Preparing for IDP

 

Fiona and I are fully into preparing weather grams for International Day of Peace (21 September 2024). This year we are both printing weather grams on recycled brown paper cutlery holders from local food outlets - collected by family and friends.

In all we had enough cutlery holders to print 240 weather grams. On Friday night we had a gathering with a few friends and over some wine and cheese we punched holes in and threaded cord through all the weather grams - see opening photo for some of the completed weather grams. The photos below shows the start of assembling of the weather grams. A lot of fun was had in assembling the weather grams, sharing food and wine and friendship.

Following are a few process photos. You can see that this year I have printed the words create peace here - meaning start by creating or offering peace locally. Fiona has used peace is every step - a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh. The weather grams were printed on one of our presses at Deckled Edge Press using 48 point lower case Placard Bold metal type.

These weather grams will make their way out into the world so that they can be tied in trees and on fences etc to flutter and fly on International Day of Peace and hopefully send a few ripples of peace into the world.