Taking Wing With The Spirit

Saturday, November 2, 2013

November 1, 2013

November 1, 2013

All photos can be viewed full screen by clicking on any Picture.

The new holiday that was said to replace Christmas as the favorite among those under thirty is Halloween. I decided that instead of dressing up as a zombie, or as a research bureaucrat in non public service I would instead decorate my favorite cemetery for the occasion. I walk here three to four times a week as it is around a half mile from where we live, which gives me some sort of an edge on knowledge of the afterlife that runs rampant every October 30th. My continuing education program - there are a few teachers buried there which gives us a chance to converse regularly.

Here is my halloween photographic effort:

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I track the seas off midcoast Maine to see when a storm brings waves of a respectable height to make the sixty mile trip really worthwhile. Lee and I are in Acadia frequently as witnessed by the photos on this site since its conception, so the drive is not a big deal. The National Weather Service showed waves of fifteen plus feet so off I went to Schoodic Point which is a peninsula just North of Acadia and is a part of the National Park that is well exposed to the ocean thereby offering good wave watching for the intrepid. Schoodic adds around thirty miles to the trip and it is a really delightful part of the coast showing what Maine looked like before far too many houses were built on the seaward side of the State.

Here are a few of the photos taken yesterday.

Waves fifteen feet, wind 35-40 miles in speed, heavy rain and spray and a Laughing Gull weighing around a pound and a half has no real problems with the ongoing search of food. In the center a Herring Gull drops down to see if something is edible.

A point on the Schoodic peninsula

Unbothered by the storm seven to eight Eider Ducks and a gull are the dark specks in the photo's center. The adaptation of birds and mammels to live in the ocean is a wonder to me as to how such a light, fragile creature can survive in these conditions. Yet, there are hundreds of millions of seabirds making a living in the open ocean all around the world.

Taken yesterday, a woods scene in a windy overcast storm sky.

The last yellow colors of Fall, Schoodic Point.

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Some humor: What we may have come to in the information age ...

No Blog next week as I will be traveling.

Peace, Bill Lagerstrom

Friday, October 25, 2013

October 25, 2913

October 25, 2013

All Photos can be viewed full screen by clicking on any picture.

Before I say anything in this weeks post I would like to offer a link to another blog that has been a joy for me to read every week. As you may know I spent most of my life in and around New York City fully caught up in the vastness of what a great urban environment can offer. Clifford Browder, who is a well published writer offers wonderful weekly insights as to how life in NYC was, and is currently. His writing is excellent, thoughtful and beautifully crafted - well worth a look and a read. Reading his blog for me is a reminder of some of the conversations we have had over the years about everything that came up and how important it is to stop and listen to those who are open fully to what life has put in front of them.

Worth a look - click here: http://cbrowder.blogspot.com/

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On a gloomy day in Acadia last weekend the woman below reminded me of my own wait for the ending of Fall and the coming of Winter. I felt a nostalgia that gray days between seasonal changes tends to bring, a small saddness for the ending of warm weather while looking into the horizon for what is coming.

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Labyrinth - a walking meditation in the form of a circular maze on the ground that leads one in a continuous path to the center and back our again. It offers a spiritual walk that takes us out of perceptions of order and knowable direction into the unknown, where we learn over time to be comfortable in a space that may have always felt scary, perhaps to be avoided as well.

Below are four images of a single crooked tree that I offer as a visual labyrinth to be viewed slowly to see what they may offer as you go from one to another. I welcome any insights that you may have in this brief "walk."

- Start here, return here by coming back through the images -

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

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Here is the famous labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral that has been walked since the 13th century. Click on it and 'walk' it with your mouse or finger in full screen. One always takes one's time in a labyrinth, a slow walking meditation.

Enter here

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Every leaf has Light within its form

which, when it is allowed to escape

into the open eyes of a beholder,

brings forth a hither-to-unseen beauty.

Sun on the Autumn trees with rain clouds nearing.

(This is the road Lee and I live on.)

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Until next week, Peace, Bill Lagerstrom

Some Humor:

Friday, October 18, 2013

October 18, 2013

October 18, 2913

To view photos in full screen mode click on any image.

Acadia National Park here in Maine was closed for the last two weeks due to the government shutdown. The park service tried valiently to keep everyone from entering and enjoying our heritage which is promised to belong to the people forever. They failed miserably. What transpired was a small revolution where visitors walked around barracades, lined the roads parking as close as possible to any and all access points. I too broke the law and spent two truly wonderful days in the park with not only great Fall scenery but with an air of freedom and joy in everyone I met along my paths. It was a celebration of sorts where claiming "My park" was the gentle rallying cry everywhere.

I generally receive a real sense of exhaling tension whenever I in a place where the trappings of modern soceity are not permitted to enter, where there are no houses, utility poles, advertising or any traffic in which the drive is to get somewhere. Acadia is one of those places where a pause can be taken and the creations of God can be enjoyed carefully and as fully as possible. We are fortunate here in Maine to have a lot of access to spaces where one can practice being at one with nature and to continue to learn to observe so many things that are usually passed by in the rush of daily comings and goings.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake

The first three photos this week were taken in Acadia last weekend with the first a view of what some thought of the closing.

Breaking the law as walkers on the Ocean Drive in Acadia National park walkers take back what cannot be taken away, their park. This is not a protest, just people out for a walk on a beautiful Fall day with gentle overtones of a healthy rebellion. The park rangers left to guard the closure simply disappeared and let all walkers and have a good day in the entire park.

An Autumn Fall scene at a rather remote lake in Acadia adorned with all the finery trees save for the gala celebrating the end of one season and the beginning of Winter on the way.

The following link is a wonderful short narrative of the beauty that surrounds us everywhere and is seen by eyes and senses that stop for a few moments to observe what is in the present moment. (I have posted this before but it is worth another listen.)

I would like to suggest that you click on the photo above and in full screen listen to the following.

Ckick here: https://app.box.com/s/a7262dad1064ab730005