Thursday, April 23, 2015

April 24, 2015

April 24, 2015

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

To see images full screen click on any photo.

   This is a short blog word wise as our grand daughter Maddie and her parents, Rudy and Bridget are here for the week. Things are busy.

   Last weekend we went to New  Hampshire along the Kancamagus Highway where winter still had some grip on the land. Hoping for a rushing river swelled by the Spring runoff we were disappointed as the water was low. Still the area has great beauty and is worth a trip in any Season. 

   The first seven images are of New Hampshire taken along the Kancamagus. The girl by the column was taken at the grand hotel just south of Crawford Notch where we stopped for tea. The last two photos are of the Spring run off here in Maine. 


























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      A poem in praise of the earth by John O'Donahue -


    -  In Praise Of The Earth –
The imagination of the Earth
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Among the stillness of land.
Of things dreaming of voyaging

And the light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.

When the ages of ice came
And sealed the earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.

Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.

Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.

The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of Spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent slow nurture
Of the seeds self, coaxing it
The trust the act of death.
The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.

The kindness of the Earth
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.

Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.

Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.

That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.


                            John O'Donohue

                            From: A Book Of Blessings

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Peace until next post,   

    Bill Lagerstrom








Monday, April 6, 2015

April 6, 2015

April 6, 2015

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

To see full screen click on any image.


   On Saturday Lee and I took a fast trip to the Colby Museum in Waterville Maine and the sixth through the eighth images were taken there. The last images were taken at an iron bridge just off the street where the best bread in the State of Maine can be found, a small store called Universal Bread.  If you are ever in Waterville stop by early, before one PM else there might not be any loaves left. The address is 19 Temple Street. Here is the baker's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Universal-Bread-Bakers/1479879418900808

   Have a listen as you look at the bread page above -

    https://app.box.com/s/tim2uikiiiv2y7ago0qc

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   On Saturday Spring leaped into sight for the first time this year and this man responded - winter's books on the ground and not on his feet.

Then Sunday arrived ......


Icebergs on the Penobscot River just north of Bangor.
No, this is not the arctic, just Maine in Spring only for a few months we hope.


   Down the road from the icebergs we hit one of a bunch of snow squalls and stopped to take a few images of these horses waiting on a change in the weather.

The snow squalls hit suddenly,
   warnings were not considered in this fast paced age;
   such is the mindset of weather these days.
The horses were both frisky and resigned,
   moods shifting one second the next,
   matching the sudden shifts
   of the prevailing atmospheric winds.

And, so it is with our internal weather systems,
   sunny and warm in disposition one minute,
   stormy, cold, wind blowing the next –
   one's equanimity battered yet again.

Experience tells us to buy and have on hand
    all manner of storm protection – an umbrella at least –
And then, a beautiful Spring day arrives.
Winter's sentries are sent home – furloughed,
   until Mother Nature, still irate, is not finished
   with Her tirades for this Season …
Still, I know, that even She will settle in after a while.

                                                        Bill Lagerstrom, 2015



   Did you know that those from Maine who move to Florida for the Winter are referred to as 'Snowbacks ?" Well some snowbacks stay here all year as witnessed by the horse above. Soon the migration home to this Northern region will begin as the hordes of people for whom cold weather does not exist in their vocabulary return.


Groomed for Spring.

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Three from the Colby Museum -





Lee taking a photo. Wonderful light.


Artwork


Work that becomes Artwork


This image is for your thoughts.

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Some Spring Humor:



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Just something nice -




Peace until next post,

                     Bill Lagerstrom













 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March 25, 2015

March 25, 2015

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.

To see images full screen click on any photograph.



     Last Friday Lee and myself went to Rockland along the coast here in Maine to spend a few hours in the Owls Head Transportation Museum where planes, cars, motorcycles of all vintages are on display. It is a fun place to go to especially when they have special events such as a fly in of vintage planes. There are two images of the museum at the bottom of this post. 

Here is their website:  http://owlshead.org/  

   Driving the few miles back into Rockland Lee suggested we walk the Main Street and look in the galleries. Since the Farnsworth Museum had nothing new this walk was in effect a museum in the streets and most worthwhile. 
Since we went to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Mass the week before and were taken with the "Audacious" exhibit of sculptures whose medium was wood, I have been seeing works of wood more than I ever noticed. We walked into the Gray Fox Gallery on Main Street and were greeted by another artist who worked in wood and were astounded by the pieces on display. 

   The artist is Ashley Gray, a Maine resident who lives in the Rangely area. The opening photo and the following seven are all his work - carved and painted wood. If you can get to Rockland please stop in to his gallery, I do not think you will be at all disappointed. 

    Here is his facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/grayfoxgallery

   And his Website with quite a bit of his work:


  All my photos are details which is what arrested my interest.

 I offer no further comment on the sculptures. Please enjoy what you see.
















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   Here are two images from the Owls Head 


The long wait in a hanger for outside air -
Flight is Winter's dream and Spring's reality.


When was the last time you saw extensive chrome on a car?
This is a Rolls Royce or a Bently from the 1920's

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    This was taken a few days ago and I thought it would be the last snow of the Season - sadly mistaken we had two more storms leaving another eight inches of so. Mama Nature loves to taunt those who long for a release from Winter's grip. This morning, five degrees - yesterday was a delightful eight above. Not really a complaint, but I do long to walk on dirt and grass once again.

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Some humor:


   Peace until next post,

                          Bill Lagerstrom