Friday, February 15, 2013

February 18, 2013

February 18, 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.)

   Henry the talking Gull has retired to a life away from Gertrude and from us, those who are onlookers to his meanderings. Henry sends us his best while Gertrude says, "Poo! Go away!" Oh well, its not been easy communicating with birds on any level. Too bad as I would have liked to have a pen/beak pal in the avian world. 

   Last night we saw a show on Nova titled "Earth From Space." I was entranced with the realization that every event in the physical world we live in is connected. Even lightning is part of the life chain. It seems that a lightning flash separates the nitrogen molecules which when they attach to oxygen in the atmosphere produce nitrate. Nitrate is a fertilizer which is then absorbed by rain which when falling and absorbed by the ground becomes food for plants and trees. The trees then produce oxygen which we breathe enabling us to think and see clearly and of course to stay alive. With our sight we are able to see and enjoy this marvelous creation we exist in, the world in front of us. 

   The show was a real eye opener and I highly recommend watching it as it is available on line in its entirety. You can view it on the PBS site at:       

                     http://video.pbs.org/video/2334144059

 It shows up well on full screen which is to the right of the CC button and is in 12 chapters so it can be seen piecemeal. 

   This weeks photos are a melange starting with a reminder that Spring and flowers are on their way. 

   I seem to be ready to post on Fridays these days which is why you are getting this today. 


- Night Flowers -

Observe the flowers of the night,
How quiet they stay, moonlit and secure -
Listening to the birds of the later hours
Singing ballads of love to their Creator.

Once morning arrives, and night retires to sleep,
The blooms that stayed awake all the dark hours
Will also find their way to slumber and rest,
As the evening birds retire among the shadows
When the music of the day shift begins its song.

My friend Rumi says,
"Stay awake, open your window to catch the moonlight
as it illumines the life God wants you to see.
Let what is outside be inside your heart.

                                                            Bill Lagerstrom,  February 2013 


  Lee and I went to the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport Maine a few Saturday's ago and found it to be a delightful visit as we spoke with several people who truly enjoyed the work they were doing. they have a number of buildings that were not open in the Winter and the main Museum shop and its exhibits were available to us. The main exhibit had quilts from a century ago that are truly works of art. The handiwork, sewing and designs were a joy to see and enjoy. The patience to do this kind of work belongs in the arena of women as the archetypes of patience for seem to exist in the feminine side of humanity. This is not to say that men cannot  not do quilting, I just haven't seen any work by our brothers in this area.
  
    It strikes me that men prefer to have hobbies (or vocations) that are slanted in a different direction - for instance the patience to build exacting models of ships, trains, and the like. Yet I have known several men who have taken up knitting and produce remarkable things including wall hangings, some of which are in museums. I do not have the kind of attention to knit, embroider, sew, or use a loom. An archetypal block of some sort. Creativity comes from what is in our heart and is put there by God who I believe wants to co-create with us the things we use our willing hands for. What flows from our center is the current we must follow to be true to our Callings.

   So, here's a few images from our visit to the Marine Museum -





- The House With A Blue Roof - Belfast, Maine -

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

   A little humor:



Peace until next week, Bill L.









Friday, February 8, 2013

February 11, 2013

February 11, 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 following dialog has been translated from English into Herring Gull. A brief snippet is heard here: https://www.box.com/s/rzoxyxj0506hwrmpmji3 




 Henry replies to Gertrude, (See last week for the start of this dialog.)

    "Gertie, Until recently the form and function of the male/female bird relationship, and marriage in particular, were carefully prescribed by family, society and religion. Marriage had a central place in the flock, providing a stabilizing influence and supporting the social order. And avian society supported it in turn: if a marriage was unhappy, community pressure held it together as long as was possible."

     Henry bowed his head, opened his wings as a sign of humble sincerity and continued, "That being said, dearest Gertrude, I am leaving to become a hermit gull and I will live out my life with no one to bother me except myself."

    Gertrude replies,  "You batty bird! Your out of here? Bushtit feathers! I'm going home to mother where I'm appreciated!" And she flew off.

   "Ahh ….. said Henry … peace at last…  psychology really works."  He then slowly closed his eyes and took a nap.

    This was the tale of Henry and Gertrude, famous in avian circles the world over, retold again and again as it seems that birds really don't have a lot of stories to offer. 


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

   A year and a half ago we took a trip to Machias Seal Island which has a population of five to seven thousand Puffins that nest there during the mating season. We were given forty minutes in a blind with the birds just a few feet away and they were unafraid of our peering eyes. I revisited the trip by taking a look at the photos taken that day and thought that even though this may be a Puffin repeat on this Blog that I would continue the seabird motif that started with the Gulls above. All birds are marvelous creatures, God's creative wonders that I enjoy completely. Watching any bird through binoculars or scope becomes only about the present moment - the only place where God can be experienced - not in the past, not in the future, in the Now.

   Before continuing take a listen to the puffins themselves as recorded by the National Geographic. Click below:

Listen.  Listen. This wondrous sound takes us back to Puffin Island:






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

Enough of the birds .....

Some Humor:

A Dog's Day




Saturday, February 2, 2013

February 4, 2013

February 4, 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.)




- Bird Song -

She says,  "If you really loved me you would bring me lox and bagels not those crummy crabs and eels which you know I hate. Furthermore I am really tired of you going off with your friends fishing everyday when I know you just want to get away from me ...are you listening Henry? All I do all day is try to get you to talk to me - we never talk anymore you know. I wish you would tell me about your feelings and your emotions .. honestly Henry I really don't know you because you don't talk to me about the things that are important to me. Yadda ...Yadda..Yadda...yad....."

He hears, "Yadda ...Yadda..Yadda...yad....."

   
(Next week, Henry responds.)

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

    Oliver Nelson, the great Jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger who died early at age 43, produced one of the best Jazz albums of all time titled, Blues and the Abstract Truth in 1961 with an all star ensemble. This album came back to me as I was preparing the following six photos which I took a few days ago as Lee was discussing arrangements with a hotel in Bar Harbor to host a conference later in the Summer. Abstraction rarely attracted my attention during most of my time in New York City even though I frequented the major citadels of Modern Art hanging in the Museum Of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, or the Whitney Museum. Somehow lately I became fascinated with digital photography and simplicity in images, not necessarily abstraction, is becoming something I desire to capture here and there.

   The above mentioned album is in its own way smooth and easy going, yet complex in its vision and execution. It seems that is a lesson I know very well, before anything reaches its essence, its simplicity, a lot of effort and work go into being able to say at long last, "Now, I understand. Now I know what I am seeing is telling me." This is a state that is beyond words - it must be experienced after all the words have gone home and the heart becomes quiet. 

   Here are a few things that I saw at the hotel which captured my attention. I offer no further explanation except for a hope that you will tell me if something is moved in you by any of the images. 

   An example of what complexity of music can bring listen to the following tribute to the superb Sufi singer Nusrat Fetah Ali Kahn. If your heart wants to dance to the music, that is the transformation into simplicity.


  By - Cheikh Lo Zikrouhahi, Titled "A Prayer For Nusrat" 













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

Some Humor: 



Until next week, Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom