January 14, 2013

January 14, 2013

(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 photo below reminded me of being present at the death of a man who neglected his body and yet God used him to reveal a great truth to me. The poem following  the picture tells the story better than I can with my meanderings in the realms of prose. I cannot tell you why the photograph brought up those memories, I can only acknowledge the pull to find the poem again and share it with you. 

                   - Nelson –

Nelson died today at thirty-four,

Because he ignored his body’s warnings.

While he hoped to start life anew in these Northern Reaches,

He forgot that immortality lies beyond, not in this short life.

I bow to you my now deceased fellow traveler,

You had much to give me, even though you couldn’t speak.

Did you know your role in our short interaction ........... 

Perhaps God’s Intention for your life was to be my teacher today.

Only two attended your bedside in those final minutes,

A cousin from the Midwest, and I, a stranger.

The nurse disconnected the machines with quiet attention,

No fanfare, no gasps, and two minutes later you met your Creator.

As I bow to you Nelson,

I bow to the One who gave us both life.

I bow to Jesus whose peaceful face

I saw reflected in your dying today.

                                                          Bill Lagerstrom, Maine 2010

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    Frankfort is a very small town of around one thousand some twenty miles from where we live in the Bangor area. By small I mean just that as the photo below shows the entire village center save for the post office, a small building on the right of its sign. One can drive through Frankfort at twenty five miles per hour in maybe six or seven seconds. But the town has a certain aura in spite of its aging structures I can only describe as something less than the fabled New England charm so well touted. I do enjoy going through when I go down towards the bright lights of Belfast as there is nothing pretentious about Frankfort - the place has a sense of honesty about it. 

   Enough words, I will let the pictures speak for the town.

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   A small eatery in Winterport, Maine. 

Next time through I intend to stop and give it a try.

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Some humor - the mother I never had -

   

                    Peace until next week,

                                        Bill Lagerstrom

January 7, 2013

January 7, 2013

   I am not sure how many make it to the humor section at the bottom of each post so I am putting it on top this week as this is probably the funniest cartoon I have ever seen. The strange humor of George Booth of the New Yorker -

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(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.)

   Winter in Acadia, Maine's National park where we have gone probably two hundred times in the last eight years. The day was overcast and most would say it was downright gloomy but to my eyes it was as usual, a wonderful day. Most of the park is closed for the Winter but for us and other "locals" access is never a problem as at least twenty percent of Acadia is available if one knows where to go. The Ocean Drive is always open for a short stretch which is where the first two photos were taken. The rest of them required walking around the car barriers and going on the parks barren auto roads or any of the carriage roads. The thirty miles of carriage roads are always off limits to cars and Lee and I walk them often all year round.

"And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. 

It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous. "

Rumi

A lone seagull stands Winter vigil on a broad rock

Admiring the handiwork of the Author of the Season -

The wonder of snow etching the shoreline

In ways to make any artist jealous.

I came across a strange sight, 

a woman trying to hold an animal on her head.

It fought valiantly but lost the battle.

When coming to a fork in life's road,

A decision is required ....

Take it or not is the question.

Walk number 150 or so on the Jessup Path,

a two mile loop that has given many pleasures

over the years that keep on adding up -

filling memory's notebooks to overflowing.

A scene I never saw on any of avenues of New York City.

 Desolate?  

Not as lonely and forbidding as New York City Streets

unfriendly, and unkind in the same "dead" of Winter.

 The trees of all the Seasons

have become my friends

full of many stories and advice 

at any time of year.

All I had to learn was to stop, and listen. 

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Until next week, Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

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