October 10, 2014

October 10, 2014

   All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

   To see images full screen click on any photo.

    Last weekend we were in NYC to see the new granddaughter who was three weeks old with the capacity to endear our hearts with a love that surprised us both. The last photos on this post are of Madeline and a few of her expressive moods. We are most grateful to Lynn Sherman, Hank Halperin and their remarkable daughter Laura who were most generous in putting us up in their house for our stay. It was a good visit with them and I am most appreciative of their gracious hospitality.

    Lynn and Hank took us to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Park just outside Kennedy Airport where, just in time for sunset, we spent a few hours with an old friend - the Refuge. Lee and I haven't been there for nine years now, the place where we went birding every weekend before we moved here to Maine. 

   Here is a special moment from that all too brief visit.


   

A tree in the refuge after the birds migrated south.

Below:

Catbirds occupying the tree during their Summer residence here 

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      We are all invited to the Dance of Life where we are given the Gift of our child who may not have learned how to move with grace during our growing up. A second chance to find inner freedom of expression. 

   I managed a few hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I revisited a favorite sculpture that always speaks of a freedom to be myself with wonderful clarity. I was not surprised to see most who passed by this delightful expression of life with indifference to its joy. I do not blame them as the Museum is overwhelming with its huge collections of art, sculpture and human history. Visual overload is something I fought for years until I learned to stop only at a few new works for at least some minutes and visit old friends for a bit longer. After two hours I have usually been filled with visual beauty to capacity. 

Here is an article on museum overload from today's N.Y. Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/travel/the-art-of-slowing-down-in-a-museum.html

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   Fall has arrived and once again I caught a little of the Season of that permeates a great deal of life here in this area of Maine. People celebrate the Season putting out pumpkins, dried corn stalks, Fall flowers and much more. It seems driving down the roads that almost every house has some decoration in its yard and by the entrance doors. 

   Most of the following images were taken at a small farm market a few miles from where we live.

These are the actual colors of a maple tree I saw.

No color shift or enhancement was applied.

Perhaps the low afternoon light had something to do with it

Lee has taken up photography. Some of her images are on her Facebook page.

Something of an impression of the Season that I made.

It is a great deal of fun to work on a photo in this way.

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   Okay, its Madeline time. Bridget and Rudy have managed to bring a delight into the world that was missing. Thank you both for your marriage. I am proud  of  the way you are handling life and the Gift God placed in your hands. I have no fears for the three of you for your future. Well done!

    The dog is named Rocky and his job will be to teach Madeline how to box. He loves the new addition in his house and in his way is most protective of his recent charge. Walking on the street if he could not be close to the carriage there was a struggle to close the gap. Lee is holding Madeline and Rudy is petting Rocky.

   Below: Some of the moods of Madeline. Please feel free to add your own captions.

Ah ...   sweet Madeline Medina

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A little Humor:

   

   Peace until next post,

             Bill Lagerstrom

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