Taking Wing With The Spirit

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

3-13-2014

March 13, 2014

Photos can be viewed full frame by clicking on any image.

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

Been busy this week getting a show together for two local photographers here in the Bangor area. Their work is excellent and if you are in the area a visit to see their images would be worthwhile. Here is the invitation for the opening of their show.

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Last weekend Lee and I went to the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, which is now the largest museum in the State. It is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon at with its fine collections in a newly renovated building.

The first three photos are from the museum and with the exception of the first one I support the work of the artists. The first, Golden Knots 2 is not painted in oils, it is oiled plywood, or maybe a clear acrylic as a coating - hard to tell. I only hope that the artist intended this to be a joke. So much for any comments on anyone else's creative process - you will never see a comment like this from me again. Putting out my work in photography leaves me vunerable to like comments, so I will watch my step in the future

Description of the first image.

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Two paintings by Alex Katz, above and below.

I did not take the name of either painting but I would call the above,

"Half A Woman in the Company of Paired Friends:

Below - you give it a name.

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Colby College, a different view.

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I went alone to Acadia during the week and saw an interesting group of trees at Jordan Pond. Not only the trees drew my curiosity but also the fact that I was the only one there for at least an hour. Ice everywhere restricted my walking, but it was a lovely experience none the less. It seems that Mainers did not like the weather, or are just plain tired of Winter and stayed home. Today, Wednesday brings another 12-15 inches of snow here in the Bangor area, so tomorrow or Friday the snow shoes that I left in the car will be readily accessable for us.

Two photos of those trees:

Taken last year during a Northeaster at Acadia.

No big wave storms this Winter so I reflected on what was.

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Here is the website for the Eastern Maine Camera Club based in Bangor,

a good group of people with skills covering the whole spectrum of interest in photography. I joined them last year and I enjoy get-togethers and competitions twice each month. If you have an interest in photography and are close it is worthwhile dropping in to see what the club is about.

http://www.easternmainecameraclub.org/

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Some Humor:

Peace, Bill Lagerstrom

Sunday, March 2, 2014

March 2, 2014

March 2, 2014

Photos can be viewed full frame by clicking on any image.

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

This has been a busy week in the "do-ing" and in the "be-ing" of full days taking me in two directions relentlessly. The learned habit of taking five breaths when overwhelmed has served me well in practicing the many returns to the present moment where balance lives. It is the center between the pulling of the world and the serenity of inner peace that provides the stability I need to function in both the secular and the spiritual sides of life. Practice, practice, practice to get to play at Carnegie Hall and to get through difficult days as well is the remembered advice I give myself. I will never get to play at Carnegie Hall but I can always arrive at an attitude of willingness each day to continue in the day, and play the song whose title is, This Twenty Four Hours .

The first five photos photos posted below, which were taken last week, are for me a reflection of "Path," the journey we all travel on through our lives.

Some music for the Journey:

Click here: https://app.box.com/s/2b67gp5wfm28y1afxnqf

-Steps-

The mystery, and the known reality,

Emerges from darkness,

Springing, unexpectedly,

From its source, as it is released into the light.

Soften resistance to the Never Ending Calling,

God’s longing for our return to where we belong.

Beginning again is the first step,

Providing all we need to continue the journey Home.

Disregard the escape hatches on both sides,

As moving ahead one step at a time

Keeps the focus on the path God set us on.

The passageway is ever held securely in our heart.

Bill Lagerstrom, 2014

A gray overcast day in Acadia on the Jessup Path.

In the cold and somewhat dismal days of Winter,

there is a path that will take us to home,

safety and warmth, because we know the way.

In the depths of the forest

there is always a trail.

Sometimes covered in snow,

sometimes obscured by Autumn's leaves -

there is always a path to follow.

When the end of each road is reached,

stop, pause. and enjoy the view of what lies ahead.

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The earth left to its own devices never completely dies. We, as guests to this wonder, have the priviledge of witnessing the joy of nature which invites us to look with new eyes at the miracles of each season. Hope that we will come alive after each of our season's passing is something of what I sense is offered every time I walk in woods and in forests.

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Here are two rather abstract photos of flight that I found appealing. I have no explanation for their attraction, only that there is something in the images that may at some point reveal their message - or may not. Sometines the sense of 'something more' is what is written in the visual dispatch sent from the spirit's abode within. To put it simply, a felt sense of something of value is received.

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Some Humor:

(We have a twelve foot mound of snow left from plowing outside our door which may never melt. I am thinking of putting a stamp on it and sending it to the devil. Everything can be of use.)

Peace until next week,

Bill Lagerstrom

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

February 20, 2014

February 20, 2014

Click on any photo to bring up in full screen.

All Photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

Very little talk this week, just the photos from last weekends snow here in our part of Maine, and two images taken a few weeks ago. Peter Ralston, a well published and remarkable photographer who has a gallery in Rockport here in Maine says, "There's a story in every photograph that is worth telling." I agree and also believe that the story can be fact of the matter, or a metaphor that begins in the heart, that wonderful vehicle that expresses every emotion we are capable of setting free.

I would suggest that you not take my story line for the images on this blog, but that you let your own words flow from the center of yourself in the language of the Spirit's Wind as it is set free to roam without restriction, through all that we are, as receivers of wondrous insights.

The storm arrives over Penobscot Bay

with all the drama it can muster -

dark and violent as its passage rushes toward Camden.

Trying hard but not succeeding in covering several clouds

that refuse to surrender their light to the furies.

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Winter closes its gate to the arrival of Spring,

not yet ready to cede defeat in the face of changing seasons.

When the first green shoots of Spring poke their noses through the snow,

Winter will release its grip on the land and on our lives.

Then, and only then, will the joy of being out in snow covered woods

be replaced by the delight of walking the paths in Spring's new life,

bringing another resurection into our waiting hearts.

(The following five photos are a reflection of what I felt and pondered as the movement of the wonder of Winter's beauty met my eyes. The expressed delight of God's creativity is to be found everywhere, and for me is seen in all directions as long as I stop, look, and listen to the Song That Never Ends. )