June 23, 2013

June 23, 2013

(Please Read: Google has reintroduced the thumbnails at the bottom of the photos after you double click on any image. All photographs are mine unless otherwise noted.)

     Further thoughts post our Grand Manan trip a few weeks ago. I am finishing a book by E.B. White titled 'One Man's Meat' containing his stories written  for Harper's from 1938 to 1942. A delightful collection of thoughts regarding his meanderings in Maine on a farm he bought to move his family to after quitting his job with the New Yorker magazine. Along with his family, dogs and friends and neighbors in the area around North Brooklin, Maine     ( check the spelling this isn't NYC)  he was a most observant witness to life in that rural area, along with having a remarkable sense of humor. The book is highly reccommended. 

   I started the book on Grand Manan and I am slowly finishing it a few stories at a time before going to sleep at night. My copy was published in its ninth reissue dated 1995 by Tilbury Press, fittingly a Maine company that carries on the legacy of E.B. White.

   The photos this week are taken on Grand Manan and adjusted to fit my impressions of the island for better or worse. At the end I am offering a song with lyrics sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter called 'Ten Thousand Miles' - a song already covered by tons of singers but none as effectively. I hear this song as a description of the Love Affair with God where either we distance ourselves from our Creator or God distances God's Self from us for awhile - for whatever reasons God may have - in my thoughts probably as a teaching exercise so we can fly solo for a bit, strengthening our wings for this Journey through life. Please take a listen as it is a wonderful song well crafted. 
   

   Primary colors for a primary industry that no longer exists on the island,

one building among many that employed over one hundred people preparing smoked salmon. 

Dreams of a life that has left

leaving only faint images 

of things once vibrant and alive,

----------------------------------------------

The solid land that meets the ocean

Is but a jumping off place,

Waves and wind that call each and every name,

One at a time, beckening all who hear, Home.

Across the sea grass lies the answer we seek -

The Shore of the Ocean that is God.

Let the Wind's Spirit take your hand,

To lead you to the Voice That Never Ceases.

The, the, Forest Octopus.

Be careful where your feet fall,

the woods are full of surprises.

----------------------------------

   Ten Thousand Miles, Click here: 

                     https://www.box.com/s/jp1lpg9y5fryk8dstvc0

Lyrics: 

        - Ten Thousand Miles -

Fare thee well my own true love
And farewell for a while.
I’m going away, but I’ll be back
If I go ten thousand miles.
Ten thousand miles, my own true love,
Ten thousand miles or more,
And the rocks may melt and the seas may burn,
If I should not return.
Oh don’t you see that lonesome dove,
Sitting on an ivy tree,
She’s weeping for her own true love
Just as I shall weep for mine.
Oh come back my own true love
And stay a while with me
For if I had a friend all on this earth,
You’ve been a friend to me.
And fare thee well my own true love
And farewell for a while.
I’m going away, but I’ll be back
If I go ten thousand miles.

  (Adapted from a mid-19^th century song about Lovers mourning their separation and wanting to return to each other. An easy reference to Rumi and some of his poetry on separation from God, an event that happens many times in life, by our or by God's doing.)

                                ----------------------------------------------

Some Humor:

   Until next week, Peace, Bill Lagerstrom