December 27, 2014

words I have posted before

Be humble for you are made of Earth. 
Be noble for you are made of stars.
Serbian Proverb

December 26, 2014

alan watts and words







“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.” 





“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.” 




“Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.” 





“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” 




  
But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.



December 24, 2014

December 21, 2014

embrace

Embrace the light 

for it is 

Solstice! 



"Yule, is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. 
Starting today, the sun climbs a little higher and stays a longer in the sky each day.
 Known as Solstice Night, much celebration was to be had 
as our ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King,
 the Giver of Life that warmed the Earth. 
Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops & trees 
were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider."

 - Yule Lore

December 19, 2014

it's beginning to look like....

The holidays I enjoy
are those nice old old old as in ancient holidays
that most miss 
not the three day sale weekends to celebrate 
wars, or politics or relatively new religions, 
but
Solstice, Equinox and others that celebrate nature.
Those of pagan origin thus nervous making to many.
These are the holidays that early people and cultures celebrated long before 
Christ and Christmas and Easter.

Right now with Solstice right around the corner,
Trees seems right as do lights.


Let us celebrate the change from dark to light again 
A new year will begin with the light.   
Blessed be.








December 18, 2014

December 16, 2014

December 12, 2014

weather so far is squirrelly ~


snow, freezing rain, sun, fog, sleet, rain, 
mist, winds, snow, 
warming, 
freezing

mixed 
bag 
of
weather 

thus we have our spring vernal pond in December




December 11, 2014

what to do on a rainy day ~



focus on things around you 






December 9, 2014

brother lawrence



It is a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times. 

You need not cry very loud; he is nearer to us than we are aware of.

We ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, 
speak to Him frankly and plainly, 
and implore His assistance in our affairs. 

God regards not the greatness of the work but the love with which it is performed. 



Our biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer 
is different from any other time. 
It is all one. 

Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.

 Our only business is to love and delight ourselves in God. 

God does not ask much of you : 
a little remembrance from time to time, a little adoration

. We need only to realize that God is close to us and to turn to Him at every moment.



December 8, 2014

such love


Wring Out My Clothes 
~Francis of Assisi


Such love does
the sky now pour,
that whenever I stand in a field,

I have to wring out the light
when I get
home.

"Wring Out My Clothes" by Francis of Assisi. 
Text as published in Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West

December 5, 2014

December 3, 2014

that time of year


Those that live in the south or who don't use a woodstove or fireplace 
to heat don't get to see this view.
At our house there is wood cut, split and seasoned all year.
This time of year under the deck off the house is full and waiting for cold. 

 This wood will keep us warm from November through April.
  Each time I go out with the dogs, I swing by the deck 
and pick up an armful. 
On the nice days I make extra trips to make sure the house is full of wood 
so I won't have to go out on those sub zero days or nights
 or in the rain or snow or ice to refill the wood.

Makes one feel a little noble and old fashioned. 

This has been done forever all over the world.







December 2, 2014

think milkweed, think monarch butterflies




 this year we had lots and lots of milkweed,
 but we had only one monach butter
that I saw. 
 Heartbreaking what is happening to our world 
and the critters
in it.


They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go 
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot


They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot


Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now, they paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not?


November 28, 2014

November 27, 2014

thankful for

the storm






November 24, 2014

on a low cloud day









Photography is (a means by which we)…learn to see the ordinary. ~David Bailey

Photography is my meditation. ~Czar Anthony Lopez

November 23, 2014

this weeks favs

I am back on 365 putting up pictures.  It makes me take picture taking seriously.
I don't work with a fancy camera or software, 
but I take pictures that please my soul. 

For every twenty I keep, there are many more deleted. 

The other part of 365 is seeing what others put up.

The good, the bad, the sensational and many that should have been deleted.

what a treat are good photographs.





  • “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
    — Ansel Adams


  • “You don’t take a photograph. You ask quietly to borrow it.”
    — Unknown


  • “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
    — Dorothea Lange



  • “When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.”
    — Anonymous



  • “Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.”
    — Imogen Cunningham