December 31, 2012

December 31, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   The Humor cartoons for a few weeks will explore life before God created Eve. 

   Feedback on this weeks photos would be appreciated as they are all about people and communication.    My Email-  lazarusmin@tds.net

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

 There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth. 

(Rumi)

   On the Sunday before Christmas Lee and I went to the Portland Museum here in Maine and as usual these days I took a few photos which are below. It is a small and lovely museum that was hosting a show on the work of Winslow Homer, Maine's famous artist who lived on the southern coast for many years. The exhibition had 38 of his seascapes along with several sketches which have become popular to hang by many museums hosting shows of major pieces from recognized artists. I studied Winslow Homer many years ago to get a sense of his self-taught composition which was useful for my own creative outlet of pre-digital photography. Many scenes were familiar and others remain in memory nicely tucked away. 

    Since Maine has only 1.3 million people it is good to know that there are a number of good small museums around the State including one in Bangor that is sponsored by the State University in Orono. The University also has a museum and gallery in the Collins Center at the main campus in Orono. We  go there to see occasional operas live from the Met in the Center's auditorium which also hosts the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. 

   The day was delightful and the drive of two and one half hours made more than pleasant listening to Tara Brach between conversations with Lee. Tara is the head teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Washington D.C. and her website is listed in the sidebar of this blog. Worth a look.

   Here are the photos labeled by my thoughts on the images -

The Widow

"One looks, looks long, and the world comes in."

                                                         Joseph Campbell

    Communication between people has always been a Problem. The couple in the painting cannot see each other, and the man with the cell phone has the same issue. Only the crows appear to be visible to one another.

Aftermath Of A Spat

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Some humor - Life before God created Eve:

   Peace until next week,

               Bill Lagerstrom

December 24, 2012

December 24,2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)
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   Before I begin take a look at this short video from CBS which is a piece of good news for a change - really good news! Please be patient during the commercial as this is the new ad technique on the net to hold us captive.  Click here:  

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/23/earlyshow/main1339324.shtml 

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    Tomorrow is Christmas, the birth of a human being who grew into a man and by example has shown us how to live with grace and dignity while at the same time offering all we become to any who come our way. 

    I believe that God incarnated God's Self into the human form of Jesus, and we too are also recipients of that same Gift, God's Living Self in our human form. 

   Our new births each Christmas season are honored in the celebrations of the birth date of someone well worth following. 

   I also believe that God's Presence is in the Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, as well as the founders of all the major religions, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. God is everywhere a spiritual way of life is practiced. 

   Here is a song that perhaps could be an inclusive seasonal offering - it is called "Ancient Love."

                  Click here:  https://www.box.com/s/el2zd844aaz1arbocxq2

   Happy Holidays in the celebration and honoring of your incarnated humanity.

                                                   Peace, Joy and Serenity to everyone,

                                                                        Bill Lagerstrom

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    Walking outside of where we live this morning I was greeted by a beautiful snowfall. Perfect for the season. Here are two photos that were taken just as the morning sun was coming over a stand of trees behind me. The light caught only the top of the trees in the pictures. Did I ever mention that I love where we live? This is my front lawn - so to speak.
   

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Lee's tree in front of my oak tree.

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   Lighting houses and lawns at Christmas is a major hobby here in Hampden, Maine. Here are two extremes of creativity, one sublime, the other looks like a wish to be in Florida - palm trees in latitude 44.74 ? Almost every house on some roads were lit as Lee and myself drove around a few nights ago and enjoyed the efforts of our neighbors. 

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Some humor:

Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

  

December 17, 2012

December 17, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   I start with a request that you take a look at this three minute video - it is simply remarkable to see just the few seconds of a hummingbird doing barrel rolls - and much more.  (Thank you Denny for sending this to me.)

  Click here:

        http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0

     Our trip to Grand Man Island off the coast of New Brunswick three weeks ago is still fresh in my mind today. From the southern tip where the cliffs fall into the sea, to Castilia Marsh where I became enamored with some of the most beautiful sea grass I have seen anywhere. I include a few photos that I hope you enjoy.

    Have a delightful holiday season. Here in Maine we are starting to see some snow and the land has taken on its Winter clothes. Part of the reason we moved here was for the Winter and its calming beauty, and even though it may not be "Real Winter" for the latitude - according to some locals - it is none the less a good start for me. I know that even here there those who get tired of the long cold months, and I agree with them around February and March when ice seems to be the primary condition along with sub freezing temperatures that make life a little hard. Several Winters ago we had a few minus twenty-five degree days. Nobody, really no one, and the car started without a problem. What Lee and I signed up for. However what is only a few inches of snow this late is probably due to the changing warmer conditions that the world seems to be going through. 

   There people who having lived here their entire lives choose to spend the winter months in Florida. They are called "Snowbirds" as migratory flight to the south is the yearly pattern. Most stay and together we get through the tough months of bitter cold. Like birds flying North in Spring familiar faces begin to appear around May and June on their return from warmer climes. 

The Land's End

I stood on the Land's End, alone and still.

Man might have been unmade, for no frail trace

Of mortal labour startled the wild place,

And only sea-mews with their wailing shrill,

Circled beneath me over the dark sea,

Flashing the waves with pinions snowy white,

That glimmer'd faintly in the gloomy light

Betwixt the foaming furrows constantly.

It was a mighty cape, that proudly rose

Above the world of waters, high and steep,

With many a scar and fissure fathoms deep,

Upon whose ledges lodged the endless snows;

A noble brow to a firm-founded world,

That at the limits of its empire stood,

Fronting the ocean in its roughest mood,

And all its fury calmly backward hurl'd.

Walter R. Cassels  1875

As in a dream the end of the earth at Land's End

brings a different view in memory's eyes,

softening the jagged cliffs

and calming the rugged seas.

God. in God's loving care for the world,

enters into view at times with remarkable softness -

The Spirit brings a message of warmth 

ever so gently as wordless words

 weave their way thorough the sea grass.

Sea grass, the last barrier to the Ocean,

the last hurdle to overcome 

as we travel Home to our Creator.

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    Here is a  ten minute meditation with the sounds and images of surf and the beach that you may find useful: Click here -

                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSBsycls5Aw

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Some humor: Could easily be Maine at times =

Peace and happy holidays until next week,    Bill Lagerstrom

December 10, 2012

December 10, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   Snow last night as winter begins here in Maine. a most welcome event which once again makes the decision to not move to Florida the right one for me. 

   A few only brief thoughts this week. The oak leaf from Autumn this year contains a view into the future for those who will take the look. The first photo shows in the hole in the leaf the blue sky that was there when it was taken. The second photo has through the magic of Photoshop a view into Winter in Maine for 2012/2013. I am having a bit more fun with my photos with this new program which appears to have everything needed to create images for the rest of my life.

    The leaf in Autumn according to biologists shows its true self - true colors if you will. The process of photosynthesis during Spring and Summer create chlorophyll which turns the leaf green and stops doing so in the Fall to reveal its inner beauty. I see this as a metaphor for the circle of life as we absorb all that family, society, television, trends, schooling, etc, throw at us our true self becomes mostly covered with all the things that are not us. So, as old ideas and habit patterns slowly die the "Real" that we are in our core is revealed. "Second half of life" is a good way way of putting it along with gained wisdom and a desire for something "Other."

Snow came last night and covered the world

outside my window -always a welcome guest,

as I became as quiet as the fallen snowfall -

God's Gift to my awakening.

An image from the web that is an excellent 

definition for what a 'paradox' is. 

Let me know if you agree.

I did this photo more than a year ago and I send it

as a reminder that when life gets distorted,

stop, take five breaths, and look again.

(A recommended practice from everyone.)

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Prayer Corner: A picture from the web at the Western Wall in Jerusalem the most Sacred place in Judaism.

Prayer in the modern era.

"Hello operator, get me heaven!"

A song that may have a bit of truth in it.

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Some humor:

   Until next week - Peace, Bill Lagerstrom

November 30, 2012

November 30, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   Lee and I spent the four days of Thanksgiving on Grand Manan Island off the coast of New Brunswick in Canada. We stayed at a wonderful cottage on the southern end of the island in a house named "Dorothy." It was not just a place to stay but a house with a delightful history. It was owned by a woman from New Jersey who spent her summers there and in her eighties sold the cottage to a couple who already have two other cottages close by. Her selling was finalized as she knew the place she loved so much would be used by many others who could have something of the experience she enjoyed for so many years. The current owners, Shayne and his wife Anna-Marie are keeping with the desire of the original owner and are holding her legacy in a most wonderful way.

    Take a look: 

http://www.grandmanancottages.com/Driftwood_Cottages/Welcome.html

   "Dorothy" in Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz was a girl of this world arriving in a magical place. "Dorothy" the cottage, with its charm and view of the ocean are not magical - I experienced it an eye opening event that was only about the present moment which let me know that I was in a special place removed from the usual passage of time of daily events that tend to fill the days. The words awesome, startling in its beauty, and the offering of a solid "Yes!" are inadequate to describe the joy of being there. The daily grind gives precious little of knowing that there is a 'self" within that can rise to the present moment and know something of the reality of God's immense gifts to us. 

   We were both Graced to have been there this past weekend.

   The photos and the captions below may offer something of the things I am trying to convey with words. All references to "Dorothy" are used as a noun, pronoun, along with the implication of an underlying adjective to express the 'soul' of the cottage and the experience of being there remembered. (Perhaps it can also be a metaphor for God's loving care for us.)

      The sun will not rise 

until Dorothy releases the dawn

from its nightly rest -

where she held the ever new day

with a gentle embrace

until the doors open

and the Light of day arrives for work.

 The angelic birds of heaven draw back the night

and lead it to safety into Dorothy's loving arms

 The Morning Light will shine through 

the cleansing surf as another day begins anew

for the shore, and for our awakening, each twenty-four hours

There are few words for the quality of mornings light.

The best way to see and know is to go and be there at sunrise.

   When Dorothy reclaims the day

She releases the night for its shift -

The cycle of the day,

is the cycle of our daily being present to the Gift 

that is given every twenty-four hours.

God knows we have built-in forgetters'  

and will remind us of our Creators patience

with great frequency. 

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   I have posted this short audio several times before and I ask that you listen to it again, or perhaps hear it for the first time. 

   Simple Grattitude:    https://www.box.com/s/a7262dad1064ab730005

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A little humor:  The current definition of  "partisan politics" - perhaps .....

Peace until next week,  Bill Lagerstrom

November 5, 2012

November 5, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   Creativity now appears to come from the place in myself that I have identified as the abode of the One who created and continues to create everything in this world and in the universe. There is a flow, an outpouring of desire to offer something of beauty that arrives without my invoking  this calling to "particular work." (See Rumi below.)

   The photo of the flower below, called a 'Cosmos," bloomed until late October as it ignored the cold nights and continued to offer its beauty to me each morning as I looked out the window upon wakening. A fitting metaphor for this  man in life's Autumn using photography as the vehicle for the creative flow that seems to arrive with great frequency these days. Age and Season have no bearing on vision and the offering of the movement inside me to give away what is presenting itself as it detaches itself from the loveliness that is ever-present in this body and in everyone.

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   "Here is one thing in this world that you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there's nothing to worry about; but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life. It is as if a Queen has sent you to some country to do a task, and you perform a hundred other services, but not the one she sent you to do. So human beings come into this world to do particular work. That work is the purpose, and each is specific to the person. If you don't do it is as if a priceless sword were used to slice rotten meat – or it's a golden bowl used to cook turnips, when one filling of insight from the bowl could buy a hundred suitable pots.

   Remember the deep roots of your being, the presence of the Only Being. Give your life to The One who already owns your breath and your moments."

                                                               Rumi

Looking at the back side of any flower

reveals its support,

a strong stem that is rooted

in the mystery of the earth,

anchored for a while 

as its marvelous beauty 

is revealed for our enjoyment.

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Sandy in Maine for a brief visit as a photographer

waits on the moment to reveal itself.

Below is a rendition of the photo that I like.

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One of the myriad of dirt roads in Northern Maine.

Nine miles north of Greenville on pavement and seven miles

East on this road. One pickup truck was seen in two hours.

I would go back except for the traffic.

Some of the colors of Autumn.

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   Here is a massive site on all things Therevadin Buddhist. You can find the excellent writings of Thanissaro Bhikkhu here - 

                                            http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ 

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Some humor for those who are not retired and may have a boss like this one:

                       Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

October 29, 2012

October 29, 2012

(All photos and pictures adapted from photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

   As Fall winds down and the onset of Winter is at hand, images seem to arrive at a fast pace which as I pause allow me to incorporate the old with the new in more than a fact-of-the-matter manner. The changing of the seasons is more than a scientific explanation which once known enables the miracles happening all around us to remove our habit patterns which usually place events neatly in small boxes somewhere in our memory banks. 

   A single leaf changes and before it dies offers a wondrous look at the beauty of  its final stage of growth. Yes, growth, as the next stage is to decompose into food for all that will be nourished, plants, grass, trees, everything, seen more clearly as our heart's eyes develop a different view of what God is doing in us and in the world. As we die, physically or of the things that are no longer useful in life, we can also show the grace and splendor of what has and is continuing to transpire as we grow into the fullness of who we truly are. 

    How? I hear the question asked. Listen to the beautiful answer of someone who "sees" in a most extraordinary way. It will take only five minutes of time -

                                 Click Here:  Listen With The Heart

Sonnet LXXIII: That Time of Year thou mayst in me Behold

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire,

Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.

Winter's onset

a violent abuse by Mother Nature

seeming to wipe out all equanimity..... 

Pay no mind

Spring, Summer and Fall

have stored their life deep within you,

accessible with the gentle touch of memory.

The Bird of God's Spirit

will emerge from our soul's depths

in an instant that sears the heart

with the memory of "What Is"

Never with what was, or what will be. 

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A Little Humor:

Peace until next week,

                 Bill Lagerstrom

October 23, 2012

October 23, 2012

   I'm far too busy this week to post so I will offer a few new pictures by way of apology.

   All pictures and photos are mine unless noted otherwise and can be viewed full screen by double clicking on any photo. To return hit ESC or any blank spot on the screen.

    The cartoon at the bottom speaks of Karma, or, what you did then will bite you sooner or later. Or, every action has cause and effect - what you do now always has an effect good or bad somewhere in the future. So, I will make more than every effort to respond to my emails and phone messages from here on out.

           Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

Our front yard here in Maine.

Two of the seasons offerings for our enjoyment

A little humor: