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