Searching the web seems to be a new pastime for me lately; looking for new and different things for the journal.

I came upon this website (www.clusterballoon.org) and met a very wonderful person who is willing to share himself and what he does with all of us. His name is John Ninomiya and he is from Solana Beach, CA.

John is a licensed hot-air ballooning instructor, and is involved in a ballooning project called States of Enlightenment, (now you know how I wandered onto his website). States of Enlightenment is a performance project consisting of a series of fifty helium cluster balloon flights, one in each state. The inaugural flight took place in Oklahoma City, OK in August 2002 and it continues at a rate of three to five a year.

To my surprise (small world) John was actually here in Maine in May of 2007 for his Maine flight in Skowhegan, at the Skowhegan Arts and Air Festival sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce; the Maine flight was his thirtieth. There are some great pictures on the website of Skowhegan, the flight there and other flights that John has made.

New Hampshire was the ninth flight, Massachusetts number thirty-three and Connecticut is still left to go, so if anyone would like to sponsor a flight contact John at www.clusterballoon.org

"States of Enlightenment celebrates the pursuit of dreams and the liberating force of creativity and eccentricity in life both historical and contemporary."

John also shares that this was conceived as an excuse to combine his love of travel and that of being carried away into the big sky by colorful helium-filled balloons. "In some Eastern traditions, the 'state of enlightenment' is nirvana, the quest for which is of great spiritual significance. For the present project, I have tried to reinvent this quest with a child’s literal-minded simplicity. Being lifted by helium-filled balloons is a very physical form of 'enlightenment' and the 'states' involved are the states of the geography lesson rather than states of consciousness. The spiritual journey becomes a physical journey: a summer vacation road trip in a pick-up truck, going to balloon festivals. Like most childish misinterpretations of our adult profundities, the results are amusing, aggravating, and, I hope, occasionally wise. Enlightenment -- are we there yet?"

There are many ways to obtain Enlightenment, being present with our physical experiences is probably the most accessible to us at this time, but one thing is for sure—John, your way looks like a whole lot of fun and is way cool!

This to my inner child puts new meaning to getting closer to God. At least at one time that's where I thought "He" lived. Now I know that it just might have been John floating on by. Enjoy John's pictures throughout the journal.

THANKS FOR SHARING ALL THE GREAT PICTURES JOHN!