Tag Archives: Photography

Spring!

Oh, sweet Spring, welcome.

She brings her volatile mix of winds, snow, rain, gropple, melt, growth, buds, fawns, raven babies, and the bright greens of new grass in the meadow, aspens and larch.

Rebirth and sprouting and earth’s bounty are bubbling with heated passionate energy to be expressed.

Bring it! Bring it all!

May 10

“It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what.”
-John Galsworthy

Tree Silhouette

 

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Sunset from Somers

Listening in the Silence

Living in San Francisco many years ago, I often spent time in Rev. Cecil Williams’ Glide Memorial Church to hear his inspiring message, and to get absorbed in the uplifting voices of the choir. What soaring voices they have!  The choir’s immense talent and passion took me for an exhilarating ride on an uplifting wave of gratitude.  Those moments brought  patches of peace during a difficult time.

Rev. Williams starts his message very quietly, with the words; “listen, listen, listen”…..

long pause.

Just that reminder put me in a quiet, reflective, tuned in space.

There is so much to hear when we listen!  The silence.  Our inner voice.  Guidance.  The wind…

True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. 

~William Penn

With the same letters of the word LISTEN another word can be formed… SILENT.  We must be silent to listen.

Listen to silence…

                                      …listen to the guidance, listen to the breeze, listen to your heartbeat, listen to your heart’s song, listen to nature’s beauty, listen to peace unfolding.

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don’t go back to sleep!”

-Rumi

Snow at Lake McDonald Lodge with Tracks

 

The Full Moon

Ah, the full moon pulling at the inner spaces with its questions and mystery.

Tugging the tides.

Illuminating the darkness.

Searching the soul.

Waking me from a sound sleep to come outside and feel the moonshine.

Now,

basking in the night’s light.

Here is profound simplicity infused with magic.

Here is wonder.

“This place of mine never is entered by humans for conversation.  Only by the mute moon’s light shaft which slip in between the trees.”

-Saigyo

Full Moon

Full Moon, January

 

 

 

 

 

“The moon stays bright when it doesn’t avoid the night”

-Rumi

Moon-Soft-Pastels-1038x576

“Watching the moon, at midnight, solitary, mid-sky, I knew myself completely, no part left out.”

-Izumi Shikibu

Moonrise-San-Juan-Island-Over-Victoria-1038x576

 

Treasures of the Day – Choices of Focus

Blue Spot in Dark Sky with Dark TreesEach day has its treasures, each hour its wonders.  When I find myself in the mind swirl of things to do and stuff to worry about, I am choosing more often to find something wondrous to put into focus instead.

That wondrous thing/person/feeling is always there.

Always.

Refocusing is possible with….

-a long, sweet breath of thanks-giving, of gratitude for being here, alive, at this moment;

-absorption in naRaventure while saying thank you out loud.  Wait for it… The raven will grace you with a low fly-by, the trees will rustle and sing in the breeze, the sound of silence will illuminate the moment;

-a peek into a treasured book while watching for the uplifting words that will shine forward and then into your be-ing….

DSC_0077

These are tiny movements that create immersion into a calm and gratitude filled space.

Each day brings more learning in taking an active role in moment to moment happiness.

Deepening into the simple life.

 “In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

-Mohandas K. Gandhi


“Smile, breathe and go slowly”

-Thich Nhat Hanh


Time out is a good thing. You can shift to Paradise in the next breath, and a sense of wellness and timelessness will be the wonderful result.

Cheryl Melody

Prism Over Trees

Dawn Comes After Night and Spring After Winter

 Nature’s peace and the knowing that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter, brings solace and serenity in all ways,

                        always…

 

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you Barn & Mountainas sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

-John Muir

Mountains with Driftwood“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

-Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Swift Current at Sunset from Many Glacier

 

Holding on to Winter

It snowed all day today, March 10th.

This event was met with dismay by every other human that I know – but not by me!

Why can’t I get enough snow?  I’m not ready for winter to be over…

(I haven’t said this out loud to any other person).

Snow Caps in Pasture, MarchThe writer, Rick Bass
understands what snow can mean, does mean, to this human be-ing (me).  I was reading his Winter (notes from Montana) this afternoon as the big flakes fell steadily and silently down.

Continually. Rhythmically.  Silently. Magically.

Bass writes from his perspective as a native Texan of his first Montana winter and his immersion in snow:

“I’ll never get used to snow – how slowly it comes down, how the world seems to slow down, how time slows…                                       I don’t mind the cold. The beauty is worth it”.

“I watch individual flakes;  I peer up through the snow and see the blank infinity from which it comes;                                                    I listen to the special silence it creates.”

“I stand outside in the snow for long periods of time, in the middle of it, looking out:  I cannot believe I am so rich,              getting all this snow….                                                                        Everything’s so quiet.”

“It’s more like an afterlife.  I never dreamed I would live in a hard country away from people, with such quietness.”

Snow & Deck, March

Re-reading, then typing his words, helps me to understand why I’m hanging on to winter and to snow.  I crave more of that special silence, that feeling of richness, that comes in the sweetness of falling flakes and under the snow blanket they create.  Even with the slowing of time, the season went so quickly, too fast.

Spring will come and I will relish the unearthing and the rebirth all ‘round.  But not yet.  For a few more days let me feel all the depth, serenity and solitude of winter.

Exuberance (Joie de vivre!)

This precious life… can we live it with passion, fullness, exuberance, gratitude and grace?

and at transition’s time move forward with that same passion, fullness, exuberance, gratitude and grace?

“Exuberance is beauty.”

                                                                                      -William Blake

Flathead-Sled-Dog-Days-4-Close-Up1-685x576

 

“For all that has been,

Thank you.

For all that is to come,

Yes!”

-Dag Hammarskjold

January 6 Rainbow

“Oh Wow, Oh Wow, Oh Wow!”

-Steve Jobs (his last words)

Full Moon, Venus & Mars

 

Juxtaposition

“Words are a pretext.

It is the inner bond that draws one person to another,

not words.”

Rumi

Copy (3) of DSC_0268

“…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.

Young Monks

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.DSC_0464

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.

Winter Zen

“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear”

Bare Treesfor Project

“No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place”

These are Zen proverbs that  I could endlessly revisit,  falling ever deeper into meaning.Leaf

 

Meditative absorption.

Direct understanding.

The Zen of Winter.

Branch on the Ground

“To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders”

Lao Tzu

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe”

Stones

“To attain knowledge,

add things every day. 

To attain wisdom,

remove things every day.” 

Lao Tzu

Wood in Fence

Reflections from the Mirror

“When you want only love

you will see nothing else”

Perfect Reflection Lake McDonald

I have this quote by my bedside (from A Course in Miracles).   When I use the love eyes this quote evokes my day is transformed – my eyes are seeing from my heart…

How much of what we “see” is a reflection of ourselves?

Lake-Reflections-Lake-McDonald

 “There are two ways of spreading light …
To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.”

Edith Wharton

“The experience of bliss will give you an insight into the very phenomenon of beauty. Not only does it make you beautiful, it suddenly transforms the whole world. The whole world becomes beautiful because the world reflects you, it is a mirror.”

-osho

…”beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
  But you are life and you are the veil.
  Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
  But you are eternity and you are the mirror”

Kahlil Gibran

Lake McDonald Reflections, January