Lensography of JPTanabe

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Jennifer Tanabe's Lensography - What Makes me Happy!


"Everyone, without exception, is struggling to gain happiness." I read that a while ago (later on I'll tell you where!) and it makes a whole lot of sense. Over the years I found a number of things actually make me happy. Since I joined the Squidoo community I've written lenses on some of them.

So this lensography is about me, jptanabe aka Jennifer Tanabe, and what makes me happy. Since I haven't finished writing lenses, or finding new things that bring happiness, there should be frequent updates, so check back again often!

Oh and the image here is one of my husband's paintings and it's based on our daughter. So since my husband, our daughter, and my husband's art all make me happy it gets to be the"Intro image"!

Pink Tunnel
from "World of Child's Imagination" series by Yuichi Tanabe
Buy from Zazzle.com

Tea

Afternoon Tea
Afternoon Tea
Buy at Allposters.com


So, I'm British! That means a "cuppa" is part of my life. One of my favorite sayings, not quite from a fortune cookie but close, is that "Life without chocolate is too terrible to contemplate." While that is true, life without tea would be even worse!

I drink coffee as well as tea, and one day I'll probably get to writing lenses on coffee. But while I love a good cup of coffee, it doesn't quite give me the sense of tranquility, that life is OK really, that feeling of contentment and happiness that sitting down with a lovely cup of tea does. Of course a good book, a gorgeous view, and lovely friends and family help complete the picture!

Table for Tea

Ghambaro Table For Tea


I usually drink black tea with milk, no sugar (gave that up in college when I realized I was buying bags of sugar almost every week just to put in my tea and coffee!). That's what I consider a "true cup of tea." But I also branch out into various flavors, and a variety of herbal blends too. So this section has a number of lenses on different types of tea and tea-related stuff. It's not complete, of course, so hopefully I'll keep adding to it - and enjoying more kinds of tea!

Some of my Favorite Teas

These are in no particular order, since I have no control over the order anyway! For me each kind of tea has its place, its time in the flow of life when it fits best. While one can never have too much tea, some varieties are better appreciated when taken in moderation.

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Tea Related Lenses

Of course not everything fit in the previous section! So here's what didn't fit, and is still related to teas in some way.
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Books!

What goes well with a cup of tea - reading a book of course!

Child Reads a Book in Front of the Hot Stove

Child Reads a Book in Front of the Hot Stove
Buy at AllPosters.com

So reading is another thing that makes me happy. All kinds of books are included. Here are the lenses I've written on books I like to read (and re-read!).
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Mythical Creatures

Mythical creatures, creatures of legend, lore, and fantasy, they just fascinate me! Some are beautiful, delicate, enchanting creatures that delight, amuse, and bring joy. The unicorn, phoenix and some fairies are in this category for me. Then there are the dangerous, scary, monster types that are intriguing but not necessarily what I'd want to meet on a dark night. These might include the basilisk, werewolf and even the dragon but only the Western kind that breathes fire, the Oriental dragon brings good fortune!



Dragon's Dream

Dragon's Dream
Buy at AllPosters.com


All of them though are amazing, they are either evidence of human creativity in dreaming them up, or a part of the incredible cosmos of which we are a part; either way I just love them. And the legends and tales that surround them together with such creative artwork make me happy! And you can even buy lots of them as figurines or plush toys. My zodiac sign is the dragon so that one just has to be featured here.

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Some Favorite Mythical Creatures

Actually not all my favorites are here yet, because some of their lenses aren't published. In the meantime just enjoy what I've done so far.
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Mysterious Monuments

All over the world are the remains of cultures that lived long ago, thousands of years in the past. Some of these remains are the things you'd expect - bones of animals they must have eaten, evidence of fires, human skeletons, a fragment of pottery, and for more advanced civilizations the ruins of buildings, jewelry and other treasures. But sometimes what is uncovered is amazing to us and our contemporary culture.


Pyramid and Sphinx, Giza, Egypt

Pyramid and Sphinx, Giza, Egypt
Buy at AllPosters.com


These mysterious monuments are not just simple "primitive" creations that we might expect from the distant past, many are structures that reflect knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and advanced architectural and engineering principles, not to mention a deep sense of beauty and creativity.


Ancient Moai at Ahu Ko Te Riku at Sunset, Easter Island, Valparaiso, Chile

Ancient Moai at Ahu Ko Te Riku at Sunset, Easter Island
Buy at AllPosters.com


Even if I don't get to see these amazing and mysterious monuments in my lifetime, the pictures and stories I've found about them give me a deep sense of connection to something that transcends our own time and space, and with that comes happiness.

Mysterious Monuments and who Built Them

These mysterious monuments are so cool I made a whole lens about them and their builders! Some are just enormous and it must have taken so much effort to create them, it's really a mystery how people from so long ago in the past could have done it, and why. So I also made a "caption challenge" lens and a quiz on them too!

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Favorite Mysterious Monuments

Here are some of my favorite mysterious monuments.
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Pyramids are Amazing!

The Castle (El Castillo), Also Known as Pyramid of Kukulcan, Chichen Itza, Mexico

The Castle (El Castillo), Also Known as Pyramid of Kukulcan, Chichen Itza, Mexico
Buy at AllPosters.com


I always thought the Ancient Egyptian Great Pyramids of Giza (and their Great Sphinx) were fascinating, but there's a whole other world of pyramids in the Americas too! So here are the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx. And from the pre-Columbian Mesoamerica come three more pyramid sites. Enjoy!

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Prehistoric Art

Prehistoric cave paintings have been found in so many places, created by so many different cultures, it's quite mind boggling!

These paintings were created thousands of years ago, so the first amazing thing is that they have survived. Some were sealed in caves where the environment remained stable and so they were preserved intact until they were discovered and opened up. Of course then tourists flocked in and the damage started! That got so bad, some places have been closed up again and replicas built for the tourists. Actually that works for me. Keep the place preserved and let a few scientists in to study them, and make a copy that we can all look at without damaging the originals.

Buy at Art.com
View of a Bison Painted at Lascaux Approximately 17,000 Years Ago
Buy From Art.com

The other thing that amazes me is the quality of art found in these caves. It's not just a few primitive attempts to draw the animals they saw, or a few handprints made by kids, kind of like fingerpainting, although those do exist. Some of the artworks show amazing understanding of artistic techniques, blending colors and making use of the structure of the cave and its surfaces to produce 3-D effects. Others show much better understanding of the underlying anatomical and skeletal structure of the animals than many artists today!



A Cave Painting of a Rhebok in the Drakensberg Range

A Cave Painting of a Rhebok in the Drakensberg Range
Buy at AllPosters.com



But beyond all that, there's often a spirituality about the pictures that evokes a connection to the animals or whatever was being painted that many are seeking today. It makes us almost jealous and want to regain that understanding.

Prehistoric Cave Art

Prehistoric cave paintings and rock art have been discovered on every continent. Some of it is incredibly beautiful, rivaling the artwork of many contemporary artists! Other examples are just fascinating in the way they reveal to us secrets of the culture of those artists who lived so long ago.

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Art of the Future - Cosmic Art

And now I move from the Prehistoric Art of long ago to the futuristic Cosmic Art! It's not to say that I don't like anything in between, or that none of that makes me happy, it's just that these two extremes seem to capture more of the essence of what really intrigues me.

Adam and Eve print
Adam and Eve
by Misticmedia at zazzle

What is Cosmic Art?

The cosmos includes the realm of mind, of thought, of consciousness, of spirit. So in addition to images of physical things in the universe like suns, moons, planets and such, it also often involves the realm of thought or imagination, even dreams, as well. It has that spiritual connection to things of eternal existence in a realm that is not just physical.


Moai on the Small Planet print
Moai on the Small Planet
by Misticmedia at zazzle


And some cosmic art is based on those mysterious monuments that are fascinating in their own right and already feature in my "things that make me happy" list; these cosmic artists just take their essence a step further into a new realm.

Cosmic Art Lenses

Well there's not a lot of these yet, but never fear more are on the way! It's just such an amazing category I had to give them a special listing right away.
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Amazing People!

There are people that influence our lives, and some of those that have been important in my life are featured here.

Oh, and it was Sun Myung Moon in the introduction to his Divine Principle who said that "Everyone, without exception, is struggling to gain happiness." So here's my lens on Sun Myung Moon!

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RocketMoms

The RocketMoms group is the brainchild of Bonnie, aka bdkz, a great Squidoo lensmaster. RocketMoms is "a gathering of the smartest women on the web, working together to make Squidoo lenses (and a whole lot more)."

I joined the 4th session of RocketMoms and it was a truly amazing experience! The RocketMoms are an inspiring group of lensmasters, mothers all, who enjoy Squidoo and enjoy making lenses together. In fact, I had such a great experience I joined Session 5 as well!

Here's my lensographies of all the lenses I made during those RocketMoms sessions.
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Cosmic Stuff!

I just love this "Eye of God"!

Helix Nebula print
Helix Nebula
by annaleeblysse


Yeah, cosmic isn't it!

For me, cosmic stuff should include the whole universe of physical things, naturally all the beauties of the earth and human beings as well as space and the galaxies, nebulas and planets out there. But more than that, the cosmos includes the world of mind and spirit. So here we should also find the connections to a world beyond our physical senses, fantasy and science fiction are part of it, but also thought and represenations about the world of spirit and the realm of the divine. There's just endless possibilities here!

Lenses on Cosmic Stuff

So this is kind of the "miscellaneous" group, those that don't fit in my other categories! Well, maybe some of them will multiply and produce whole new offspring that rate a group of their own soon. Meanwhile, here's the current collection of other topics that fascinate me and that I've made lenses on.

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Special places

These are places I have lived in or visited, that are in some way special.
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Music

Music is one of the most important things that make me happy, and definitely takes me into realms beyond the mere physical, realms of the heart, the spirit, the infinite. (Well, yes I do like New Age music.) So I hope to this selection of lenses about music will keep growing. Stay tuned!
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Halloween and Thanksgiving

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Christmas

Yes, Christmas can be the most wonderful time of the year! Isn't it wonderful to think of people wishing for peace on earth and goodwill to all? And decorations, festivities, gifts, and food - all good! So here are some of my lenses related to Christmas.
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Gifts

Related to Christmas, but not only to that holiday, is gift giving. Here I have some exciting gifts that would be wonderful for many people, including me! I always think it's better to give people things you actually like. So these are things I would love to have myself, or already have!

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My Most Recent Lenses

Here's a lens that features my ten most recent lenses. It's based on the great idea by lensmaster Linda Jo Martin. Isn't she smart!
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The absolute newest!

This group are the most recent lenses I've made. Hopefully they'll be put in appropriate sections soon!
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This lens was nominated for

"Best About Me Lens"
in the 2009 Giant Squid Awards!

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About Me

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Copyright Notice


Copyright © Jennifer P. Tanabe, 2009.
This page was created on July 25, 2009 and is the property of jptanabe (Jennifer P. Tanabe) and Squidoo, LLC. Please do not copy my material!

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jptanabe

I'm an academic type - got my B.S. in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Yes, I was born a Brit... more »

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