September 22, 2014

September 22, 2014

All images are mine unless otherwise noted.

To see photos full screen click on any image.

   On Saturday we enjoyed a trip to the South arm of Mount Desert Island to a section of Acadia Park called Seawall, which is right up the road from a delightful section known as Wonderland. All of this posts photos were taken at the Seawall grounds.

    The Seasons are changing and Fall is underway in its beginnings which are for me the most delightful time of year - next to Winter, Spring and Summer. I feel most fortunate to live in this part of Maine with the many small wonders that the woods and landscapes offer all year round. There are no grand mountains in this area, just an environment that seems to speak something of the lands inherent wisdom, older and more sure of itself, steady and predictable in its calmness and capacity to offer serenity almost everywhere. 

   Take a listen to this short expression of gratitude for what can be received on any given day in our lives. Last Saturday with everything we encountered, I am grateful for all God gave us to enjoy. For myself it was a day with Lee where we were present to all around us ..... and to each other. I am blessed. 

        Click here:      https://app.box.com/s/a7262dad1064ab730005  
                                
          (I have posted this before and it is always worth another listen.)

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Enter here

All those who enter here leave behind for awhile

all cares and concerns the world demands we hold. 

The day is barely cool, the sun invites with gentle warmth

while revealing the beauty of these woods. 

A day where we and the deer had no fears.

The last wild daisies are leaving their imprint on memory.

The backside of Fall reveals 

not the brilliance we expect of the Season,

but the source of Spring and Summer's nourishment,

and where where next years new leaves will appear.

Nothing dies without providing  nourishment for what is to come, 

the new life that is God's Promise.

This group of flowers is about two by three inches in size.

A strange Fall offering with brown centers.

Just add water and everything grows

On the way to Seawall.

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    Here are two images that perhaps speak of how the beauty of the world outside the usual tensions of our lives are perceived by some who have not yet learned to see the Gifts we are given. The world can appear colorless and our view can be myopic at times, unless we remember .... re-member .... what has already been given and experienced. 

   The first photo is my comment, the second is for your pondering.

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Some seasonal humor:

   Peace,

             Bill Lagerstrom

September 9, 2014

September 9, 2014

   All photos are mine unless otherwise noted. 

   To see images full screen click on any photo.

   Just back from nine days on Campobello Island which means more photos of the island. They are after the first image as a major event in our lives has happened - our family has increased by one with the birth of our grand daughter late Saturday night, our first grand child, Madeline Grace Medina. 

   This birth has moved me to tears of joy and gratitude. I am so proud of Bridget and her husband Rudy and the way they are conducting their lives with committment and a caring love for each other. Now, somehow a circle has completed its journey and brought a new life into this world that I sense a connection with that is simply, joyous. 

   In the photo below, taken by Rudy Medina, Madeline's proud father, I see the wondrous creativity of a loving God who chose to bring this new life into the world late Saturday night. I am in awe. Like Abraham Heschel, I asked for wonder, and I received it. We are all blessed this day. 

Madeline Grace Medina, age one hour.

     Here is a song of welcoming for Madeline, and for all the new life we are graced with by children, or by a changed self that we bring into being with each new discovery.

           Click here:  https://app.box.com/s/b23qpfc62nm4nueler8l

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                             A few scenes from Campobello taken last week

Three images of gulls taken last week:

The Gull Who Waited By the Water

(There is a silly poem here which you may call me out on)

My friend, Harry the Ring Billed Gull said to me,

"Here I sit waiting by the sea,

waiting for a fish to come to me.

I am lazy I know,

but the water is low,

and who knows, I have heard

it has happened before."

Feeling a little wacker,

 I gave him a cracker,

the gull who sits by the water.

The sea is its own artist,

painting itself anew each and every moment

    Here is the tent cabin Lee, a red squirrel and myself stay in each time we go to Campobello, The squirrel stays outside with the Juncos and the crows who never stop arguing with each other. 

Some humor:

   Peace until next post,

                              Bill Lagerstrom

August 20, 2014

August 20, 2014

    All photos are mine unless otherwise noted,

    To see images full screen click on any photograph.

    Our friend John Wilson has almost completed his 4,000 plus mile bicycle trip across the United States with only the last leg left which is to Lubec Maine  the Eastern most point in the country. Some of us who followed his journey will bear witness to the trip's ending as he dips his wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. John is in his fifties and is a wonderful example of what can be acomplished in life, in this trip and in his personal journey. John and his wife Bev are both remarkable people and I am glad to know them. Here is John's blog documenting his trip: 

     http://crosscountryridejohnwilson.blogspot.com/

    I have just seen a most delightful movie titled "The Best of Friends" with three lifeimes of acting experience by Sir John Gielgud, Dame Wendy Hiller and Patrick McGoohan. It is a made for television movie circa 1990 whose script ws adapted from the letters of the unique 25-year friendship shared by Dame Laurentia McLachlan (Benedictine nun), Sir Sydney Cockerell (museum curator), and George Bernard Shaw (playwright/critic). It is a great pleasure to see fine acting. a good script, superb screen direction and presence, and the obvious delight the actors have in delivering truly excellent dialog. This is a rare offering by the entertainment industry.

   I received a copy from our local library so it is most likely available. 

   This post is more of a tour of a few parts of Queens rather than some of the poetical comments I usually make. 

   I have just bound the second of two books on Campobello Island in New Brunswick which have some of my poetry on the page opposite each original photograph. These books are one offs - perhaps a legacy of sorts to be passed on after my return Home to God. I am finding this to be a more meaningful way to keep so many prints in one place away from the piles I usually build. If you happen to visit I will be delighted to show them to you, but there will be only one copy made so it cannot leave our shelves on loan. A great number of the images are in the archives of this blog so please be free to explore.

   As I was looking at last weeks images I saw that even though some of the photographs were good I wasn't really pleased. So, I went back to the beginning of August and worked on images that were taken then. The question is where were they taken? If you look only at the first photo see if you can identify the place. Identification follows the photograph.

   

   All the images in this post were taken in the borough of Queens in New York City on our trip to Bridget's baby shower. The photo above and directly below were shot within a block of where Bridget and Rudy live in the Forest Hills area. I did not step foot in Manhattan on this trip as time was short, a few days, so the attention was on the pregnant lady of Austin Street and Rudy, the fine man she married. 

Cleaning the fire escape on a residential building.

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The excellent Korean market at Roosevelt Avenue, Queens.

   Just around the corner from the Jackson Diner, one of the best Indian restaurants in Queens, I found this salon and an interesting image. There is a story here about New York and what it takes to look good in the Big Apple.

   This man is a security guard sitting outside a jewelry store in the Indian section of Queens on Roosevelt Avenue. The exquisite pieces in the window and in the store are usually bought as a dowery offering in the Indian and Pakistan communities here and in the Indian Sub Continent. Part of a necklace is below. These are all truly works of art rarely seen elsewhere. We priced one once and were given a twelve-thousand dollar reply which was something of a lower cost for what is available! The craftmanship is jaw dropping in its execution. A museum on the street where everything on display is for sale. Everything is 24 carat gold which makes a delicate decoration.

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One way to cross the street with patience.

Another way to cross the street. Becoming invisible and safe from harm?

   Below are two impressions of Queens taken with a slow shutter speed from a moving car. 

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   Some humor, perhaps a scene in some parts of Queens -

  Peace until next time,

                                Bill Lagerstrom