“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”
-Langston Hughes
“A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods.”
-Rachel Carson
The sweetness of rain showered the earth all day with nurturing. I learned to love the rain while living in Hawaii and have continued to love it since. On an island where fresh water is a life force, the rain is always a blessing. The Hawaiian language shows the respect and honoring for rain in its more than 100 words of description for the gift of falling water. “Awa” is a mist or fine rain, “Kawa” is for heavy rain, “Ililani” for a storm, “hikiki’i” for rain that comes at a slant. Earlier in this blog, I enjoyed writing about the Eskimos many names for snow, and my 200 names for Love. It is this honoring of the essence of things and of taking the time needed to notice, acknowledge and feel the nuances and differences, that bestows the rain, the snow and love with such depth and breath.
During a brief respite between showers I found sparkling diamonds of rain drops scattered everywhere!
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So many ways of seeing, feeling and honoring the rain!
Ruth Bebee Hill, in her book of the Lakota, Hanta Yo, first introduced me to the nonexistence of a “weed”. I was in my twenties when I first read her words and hadn’t thought of a weed in just that way before. In her dedication to authenticity, the author translated the entirety of her book to the Lakota language from English, then back to English again for publication (this has since been disputed). She stated that she had a deep sense that she had not captured the essence of the Lakota experience on her first try in English, and in learning the language, and therefore the worldview and conceptual landscape the culture lived in, she was able to give the reader a more true feel and understanding of the life and connections of the Lakota (ethnologists again disagree). No word for “weed” exists in the Lakota language (this I believe they do agree on!). They do not have a concept for a throw away or non-respected plant in their world. There is an honoring of all that is given as useful, unique and sacred. This is a good way of living on the planet.
I captured these images (slideshow will load below) in my yard and woods. Not planted and unplanned, these living wonders are gifts given by nature. Beautiful and appreciated beyond measure. Certainly not “weeds”.
“What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”
I have rocks everywhere. In the yard, found unearthed after the winter, stacked, lined up, appreciated where they are, in the house, on windowsills, the desk, tables, in my pockets… These stones in myriad colors and vibrations surround me with a feeling of sustaining nature. There is an embedded remembering of what has happened through time – and is continuing. Quartz crystals help to ensure calm and clarity, colored stones assist in healing, stones with holes in them bring protection… simply holding a stone in your hand can center and calm. Our original peoples consider the Stone People to be holders of history and energy.
When in tune with an environment a stone may come to your attention. Pick it up! It may help bring a calm centering or have a message for you. (*if you’re thinking this is too “woo-woo” nonsense, take a look at the research being done on “memory that will outlast civilization – dimensional memory in crystals”).
“The data is recorded via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz, which is able to store vast quantities of data for over a million years.
The information encoding is realised in five dimensions: the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures.
Fused quartz created from practically pure silica is used as the core component.”
So here in northwest Montana, I’ll keep looking for and listening to the rocks, carrying them in pockets, and enjoying them around the house. Another of nature’s gifts to be thankful for and to be learned from!
“You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.”
Click onto any image to see a full size version – then use right/left arrows to see all photos full size.
From Nile Guide, for travelers by locals website (Bryce Canyon Travel Blog):
1. Interesting fact: Water, ice, and gravity are the natural forces that formed the geological “hoodoos” that make Bryce Canyon unique.
2. Fun fact: This park is named after Ebenezer Bryce, who started ranching the area in 1875. Upon showing the canyons to visitors, he is said to have remarked, “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.”
3. Cool fact: Prairie dogs were wiped out from the area in the 1950s. In the 1970s, they were reintroduced.
4. Bryce Canyon’s rocks are among the youngest of those on the Colorado Plateau, dating back a mere 65 million years ago to the Cretaceous period.
5. Interesting fact: Paiute Indian history says the colorful, wildly-shaped hoodoos were “Legend People” who were turned into stone by the trickster god Coyote.
6. Fun fact: On a clear day, visibility from Bryce Canyon can exceed 100 miles.
7. Cool fact: Most rural parts of the U.S. have 2500 stars visible on any given clear night. At Bryce Canyon, that number jumps to a whopping 7500. Currently, these essential remaining dark night skies are being threatened by mining in the nearby community of Alton. The mining will potentially adversely affect the clear skies. It is a hugely contentious situation.
8. There are 400 hardy plant species in this high desert environment.
9. Cool fact: Lions and foxes and bears, oh my! Foxes, mountain lions, and black bears inhabit Bryce Canyon, although they are rarely seen.
10. Bryce Canyon is situated along the southeastern rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The word paunsaugunt comes from the Paiute Indian language. It means place or home of the beavers.
11. Geological fact: Bryce Canyon isn’t actually a canyon. It’s actually a natural amphitheater.
12. Weird fact: Marmots, a high-elevation mammal found here, are often called “rockchucks” by the local population.
This morning’s tree song was mesmerizing. Their movement and expression held me. Swaying, bending, rustling, growing, being. I hung out with them for a long time, seeing with my heart and feeling with my eyes. Still , I watched through the window as they danced…
Then, as if by magic, I found these words by Hermann Hesse that I’d never read before. He understood the dancing, singing, and wisdom filled trees.
At the end of the words by Hesse is my gallery of trees…
“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farm boy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.
A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.
When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.
A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.
So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”
― Hermann Hesse, Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte
Living in the woods, our little town proves itself a nearby haven of good food, community, gatherings, parades, celebrations, galleries, farmer’s markets, the Depot, and even night life! It is a sweet, rustic, western, town that provides a warm, lively, hub of activity for locals and visitors alike. For me, the simple life is tremendously enhanced by this small town, so full of unique personality.
A few black and white photographs of Whitefish at night are in the gallery below (slideshow will load below).
“In the great cities we see so little of the world, we drift into our minority. In the little towns and villages there are no minorities; people are not numerous enough. You must see the world there, perforce. Every man is himself a class; every hour carries its new challenge. When you pass the inn at the end of the village you leave your favourite whimsy behind you; for you will meet no one who can share it. We listen to eloquent speaking, read books and write them, settle all the affairs of the universe…..
― W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore
It is the inner bond that draws one person to another,
not words.”
Rumi
“…as human beings we all need affection.
Warm-heartedness gives rise to the self-confidence
and inner strength
that supports a calm mind.”
Dalai Lama
The timeless words from Rumi, along with the recent words from the Dalai Lama, create a word tapestry for the photo from Bhutan that is featured at the top of this blog post. This spontaneous moment was caught in time as the foursome sat on the bench overlooking the peaceful valley below – two travelers and two young monks – not so far distant in heart – drawn to each other by the view and each other.
Ah…Bhutan, where “success” is tracked by virtue of happiness.
In thinking of a simpler life, Bhutan is ever present in memory from travels there.
Since, 1971 the country uses formal principles of GNH – that’s Gross National Happiness! Encompassing the citizen’s health in spirit, in body, in their communities, in social interactions and in the health of the natural environment, gross national happiness is fundamental and foremost to all decision making – material growth is not the focus.
Well Be-ing.
The sweet embrace of the people, the green verdant valleys, the beautiful carved wood of the homes, the matriarchal way of life, the unabashed celebration of life and fertility, the music and temples, all combined to imbue in me a deep and abiding love for Bhutan that I will hold close forever.
Simple life indeed.
Deeply satisfying.
The gallery below holds a few more photos from Bhutan that I hope will bring you a sense of peace, beauty and simplicity…
*Slideshow will load below. Hover in the black area below the photo to pause, or go forward and back.
Trains, train depots, and train travel speak to me of slowing down, of the journey being the destination, of savoring long conversations and of the gentle unfolding of time. Adventure, travel, new experiences – all good things! There is time on a train trip to absorb the beauty as it passes by.
My cross country train trip was a quiet and reflective journey and I’m looking forward to more train travel. In the meantime I love going to our Whitefish Train Depot to feel the energy of adventure and anticipation, and to get some photos…
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemingway