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:

October 16, 2012

October 16, 2010

   All the photos in this week's post were processed in a new program for me, Photoshop CS6. I recommend that you look at them full screen which is to double click on any image and when enlarged to use the thumbnail strip at the bottom to toggle between pictures. To return to the main browser page click on any spot or hit the ESC key. These pictures are really a first try at this program which is somewhat daunting because of its size and capabilities. Like the spiritual life growth and experience comes slowly, one image at a time in this case.

   The photos, except for the first one were take last Monday at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in North Central, Maine. Lee and I stopped there on our way back from the Fredericton area in New Brunswick where we went for a long weekend. Some of those photos will appear in next week's post. The first picture was taken at a marsh around twenty miles from where we live in the Bangor Maine area.

   Autumn is already on its way out as this is written as rain and wind for the last two days blew half of the leaves off their precarious hold. The oak trees are next and they will have a wonderful brown color which will be with us for a few more weeks before the first days of winter arrive. 

   All the seasons are a delight here in this part of Maine, one which we take advantage of by getting out as often as possible. Since I had two surgeries over the Summer following a most painful spring with afflictions in both arms and hands we did not get out as much as we would have liked to. I am now well on the road to recovery and a return to getting out every weekend as long as the weather is not miserable will be the order of the day. Even bad days have been worth the drive to Acadia National Park - lunch in the car in front of wonderful views make even such days special. 

   I consider myself to be most fortunate to have Lee as my wife as we share the same enthusiasm for the outdoors and all that brings by way of birds, trees, ocean, weather, and being together whatever the day brings. God has blessed me beautifully and I am ever grateful for the gift that is Lee. 

   

All that Nature has available is available,

All that is required are open eyes

And an open heart.

God will provide the wonder. 

Soon the trees will be bare

but we are not abandoned by the Creator of everything,

winter will bring its own joys -

snow everywhere, a frozen stream, 

trees that wait patiently throughout the days

knowing as we do, that life will reappear

when the cold recedes into Spring.

This is the day the Lord has made

no matter what the day or time of year.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

The island that is is within us all

also has its seasons of change,

the necessary deaths we all have regularly

which clear out the old useless things -

Fall in all its glory and splendor

is to be celebrated and known well

as life moves through any weather with joy.

One leaf. One life,

gives a lesson for all living things -

Pass on with dignity and beauty,

offering ones self as food for what will be born

when Spring comes again.

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

Some humor:

In case you were wondering what the Ekert Principle is see below:

   Peace and Serenity until next week,   

              Bill Lagerstrom