groupings

gifts from god

early out this morning,there was a remarkable sunrise.  

if one believes in "red skies in the morning, sailors take warning",

 one should be warned.

plus and best of all in the northwest over the mountains was the gift 

and perhaps it wasn't a miracle, 

but it felt it.  

huge wide end of a rainbow with no rain.  

it was a stop right there and pay attention time.

they come now and again and I am grateful beyond words.

so later, a ps here from Mt. Washington Observatory

"Happy Tuesday! We were able to witness a brief, but spectacular sunrise this morning.
 The sun lit up the Northern Presidentials and reflected off of the incoming virga,
 causing a partial rainbow seen above Mount Clay.
 (Virga is precipitation that falls from a cloud
 but evaporates before reaching the ground). "

mighty fine walking

We just walked across the field this afternoon to visit our part time neighbors from MA

who will move here after they retire in 4 or so years.

Perfect day for the outing.

After the rains the past 3 days, the winds have picked up and there are stuning big clouds

yet it is clear with a tad of cool.

Nice autum this year.  

Certainly has been a delightful few months.

No mushrooms to speak of so far,

but tons of acorns and pinecones.  

No two years are alike weather or anything else wise.

Sure does make it interesting.

Hunting season starts next week and I striped the trees on the bog road.

Was surprised so many cars were going in, some to hunt and some to recreate.

Most of the time we aren't aware of what is going on down there.

frost mountain morning light

the bog in the morning

oak leaves finally coming down

coming home through the woods, much more sky without the leaves on the trees

different views

My niece told me she could not live in this climate of cold

 that she would need to be wraped in a blanket full time.  

She loves the sun, adores and lives at the beach.

You will seldom see her covered.  

I on the other hand am always cold and covered.

Me at the beach with long sleeves!!!!

  I like getting cold and coming in and enjoying warming up with a hot tea 

and a read by the stove.

I understand where she comes from for sure.  

Here is not easy, but here has much to offer besides cold. 

One that pleases me is that it has fewer people
 and four distinct seasons.

Tough place to make a living~ many here are having trouble making ends meet, 

yet it seems more real. 

At this stage in my life,

 I don't handle hot, big and lots well.

Hot used to make me quite happy, bathing suit all summer When I looked like my niece.  No longer!

 Huge houses, big cars, lots of clothes, top of the line, brand names 

make me feel uncomfortable

 particularly in this world of haves and have nots. 

 Having said that I was raised in a huge nice house, 

at one time I owned tons of shoes and clothes.  No longer! 

We grow and change.

What makes the world go round is not that we are all cookie cutter molds,

 but that we are all different with different views and needs. 
Individuals

Part of the problems in these times is that some want us to be like them, 

in our standards, customs, religion, politics

 AND hasn't that caused unrest, unhappiness, disrespect and hurt.

 Suppose we all wanted to live at the beach and not in snowy areas or vice versa.  

We seem to accept and understand that trees, grasses, are not all alike, 

but us people seem

to want to change people into the same animal.

in a cloud ~

The fog is an illusion— 

A master of disguise, 

Which hides the tangible

Before our very eyes.

autumn is one awesome time

Can you hear the wind

moaning between boughs of trees

Chronicling sad tales.

As the cold winds blow 
And the tall trees start to sway 
I'm the first to fall 

I laugh in the spring
and grin in the summer but
I live for the fall.”

in the beginning ~

The Beginning

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formlessand empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Quaker Logger

Found this in my Northern woodlands magazine 

and wanted to hold on to it so here it stays.

Theology of a Quaker Logger

Below is a message delivered by ESR student Martin Melville at Williamsburg Friends on Sunday, April 14, 2013:

On several occasions, F/friends have expressed surprise when I told them I am a logger and that I find logging to be deeply spiritual work. How, they ask, can it possibly be spiritual when you’re out there raping and pillaging Creation? The question itself belies a limited understanding of resource management.  The fact that they can ask such a question earnestly has led to introspection on my part to try to understand specifically what it is about this work that is so deeply spiritual, and how I might try to explain. Perhaps equally important is the fact that the decisions of landowners, the public, and my peers in the forest products industry can all have either positive or negative influences on the environment. Our current social fabric encourages us to pick a position based on whatever information we have gleaned from sources we deem credible. For whatever reason, we tend not to seek opinions or positions or people that don’t agree with what we have established as our worldview. One result is that many well intentioned positions actually degrade the environment. Ignorance is no excuse. For example, opposition to clearcuts (gasp!) results in subtle (or not so subtle) changes in the species of trees that grow in the forest, which affects the animals that can live there (no food or shelter, no animals). Oops.

This work is stewardship. A steward is one who cares for and is responsiblesomeone or something. Practiced correctly, and I must emphasize correctly, logging is the implementation of forestry, essentially where the rubber meets the road in stewardship of God’s creation. It is a weighty commission. Forestry is driven by silviculture, analogous to agriculture for farming, but more complex because of the many amenity values forests provide compared to crop fields. Its essence, though, is to mimic what occurs naturally in nature. Water stays clean. Animals have food and shelter. Carbon is sequestered and oxygen is produced. Trees die and let light in to the forest floor. Sometimes storms blow down large swaths of forest. Seeds germinate and grow into trees. Through management it is possible to more or less double the amount of merchantable wood on a plot of ground over a given amount of time. Out of all of this, it is possible to garner, to harvest, some amount of both timber and non-timber products which we as a society need and use in increasing quantities every day.

Work is a great way to experience the Presence. Consider Brother Lawrence, a 7^th century monk who found it easiest to be aware of the presence of God while performing “menial” tasks. Among his favorite places was the monastery kitchen, doing the dishes. Brother Lawrence’s experience lacked the intense physical exertion which can be a great framework for deep meditation. Anything that requires concentration can serve to bring us into awareness of God near us: kayaking, mountain biking, working out at the gym, running…logging. One could refer to it as intensely physical meditation. 

Any kind of work where the product of your work can be seen at the end of the day gives a sense of accomplishment, gratitude and thanks. The typical logging job is large enough that it won’t be completed in a day, or even a week. You come to understand that those trees will still be there in the morning, waiting for you. Forestry works on an even longer time frame: often what you do today will not be yours to complete. Trees grow, but a tree planted today may take 80 years to be harvestable, I’ll not be around to see it.

It becomes apparent that what is important is the outcome, not so much how it was arrived at. I often say that if I learned nothing else from Geometry in school, I learned that there is more than one way to prove a theorem. The same is true for work. As long as safety and care for the environment are observed, I allow employees (almost) complete freedom in how they perform a task. In general, it is also helpful if each person tries to make the work the next will perform, a little easier. For example, there is usually a range of about ninety degrees in the direction a tree can be felled. The feller should choose the direction that will facilitate taking the tree to where it can be picked up by the truck, while minimizing damage to trees that will remain. Job descriptions are fluid. Ultimately they all boil down to the same one: in Pennsylvania-speak “if it needs done, do it.” To extrapolate to life, a range of solutions is usually available for any given problem. In most cases, we can be intentional in making our actions so that they make the life of those who follow, a little easier. If you see a place you can help, part of being faithful is acting instead of just watching.

A third, multifaceted, way logging is spiritual is the direct experience, the immanence of God. I believe, and experience that God is everywhere. I take the perhaps old fashioned approach that we are to worship the Creator, not the creation, (Romans) though I have come to understand that this is perhaps a narrower interpretation of the Presence than other religions, for example most eastern wisdom traditions and many aboriginal ones as well. One aspect of this approach is that God is accessible at all times. You could call it God wifi. Answers are just a prayer away. If we choose to be aware of it, we are constantly bathed in grace.

I became aware of that omnipresent grace at least in part because of the inherently hazardous nature of the work. Even a piece of branch 2 feet long and 2-3 inches in diameter has enough force to kill a person when it falls from a sufficient height. Every day, every action, every night you get to go home, all of life becomes a gift. Life in the woods is dangerous. I once provided some OSHA inspectors with felling instruction. They commented that all the branches and vines and other tripping hazards wouldn’t be tolerated on a factory floor, but out here they’re part of the job. You can get clobbered by a springpole,  a small tree bent into a tight arc packs a tremendous amount of energy. If you cut it off and you’re in the wrong place, it’s boom boom. Out go the lights. Trees can roll. They can sling debris back toward the stump as they brush past other trees on their way to the ground. If you can imagine it, it can probably happen. 

One of the early safety workshops I participated in used an analogy to drive home the point of risk and grace. “I have a bottle of 300 pills. Thirty of them will make you sick. Would you take one?” The instructor asked. The guys hemmed and hawed. “Yeah, maybe,” someone ventured. “OK” said the instructor. “I have the same bottle of 300 pills, only one of them will kill you. Do you still want one?” He asked the fellow who had volunteered earlier. “No way!” was the response. The 300 represent the number of close calls where there is no injury. The thirty represent the chances that the close call will result in an injury (1:10). And the one represents the chances that the close call will be your last. God tries to get our attention. He tries to get us to change our ways. If close calls don’t do it, sometimes an accident will wake us up. We are given many opportunities to see what is in front of us. If we’re faithful, attentive, (some would call it lucky), we recognize that tap on the shoulder and have an ah-ha moment.

Another place I became aware of grace is in recognizing just how frail, how ephemeral our earthly bodies are. As mentioned above, we can be killed by a small piece of falling branch. If you’re hit, you just crumple onto the ground in a heap, like the wicked witch of the west when Dorothy throws water on her. Then there is the dawning of the knowledge of how physically weak we are. That is the extent of the earthly power we possess.  I can maybe lift 150-200 pounds. In the power of the Lord, I can move mountains. All things are possible in the presence of God’s grace. 

If you spend time in nature, you know that it is easy to see God at work in the order of things and all around you, the essence of transcendence. It ranges from the intricate beauty of a Queen Anne’s lace plant to bird songs to…anything you see, smell, hear, touch, the presence is all around you. It is revealing to me to observe the difference between human notions of order and God’s order, the way nature looks before we’ve interfered. The woods is neat. So is the thicket. Every twig has its place. On the one hand, God is immanent: present at this very moment. On the other hand, God is transcendent, over-arching, one might say detached.

rewriting history

Trust yourself; you know more than you think you do.

Benjamin Spock

Over the years and there are many now, 70, I have had disappointment.
Kenny two feather says if we have expectations we shall be disappointed.
Well some of these I did not really have expectations
however
I might have preferred a different outcome if I were voting. Best that I did not get that vote.
How I could have screwed that up!

I truly believe we receive what we need.
Having said that if I were to rewrite history ~

I would have liked my mother to be with us rather than be unhappy with the whatever
that made her disappear from her life and ours.

I would have preferred a huggy warm family.
I would have liked to have had a cat when I was a child.

I would like to have been heard occasionally, not just seen.
Took me forever to find my voice for I had learned well that
Children should be seen, 
 not heard.
No one told me when this ended.

I would have loved to know my family's background,
how did they meet, fall in love, why they moved, what terrible or good things made them who they were.
I wish I had met/knew all my grandparents, not just one.

I would have preferred some input and help on what I was doing well or not.

I would have have liked not to have taken romantic novels so much to heart.

I would have preferred to have had friends stick, rather than disappear/

I would not have gone from my father's house to my husband's.
A year to travel, to work, to be on my own, is what I would recommend to all young people
Figure out who you are, then bring in another.
When you marry, think 40 years ahead not 40 days or 4 years.
You and they will be very different people in 40 years.

I spent too many years worrying about what I wanted to be when I grew up,
I still haven't totally gotten it under control.  I am closer,
What I know is that the college years and diploma that I did not get, was not a loss.
Instead I got real experience and learning
from many companies training me, many people who allowed me to apprentice with them
which was much richer and worthwhile
 than the stuff college felt I needed to have a degree.

I am hard.  Because of this I have pissed off family, loved ones and friends
and some have moved away from me
yet
if I were not me, this hard person,
my life would be different, and not as it should be. I would probably not be here, now writing this.

So while life has had its disappointments,
I am not even slightly sad, or upset that is has gone as it has.

My life has been blessed beyond believe
and
I am incredibly,
thankful.

the pond and I

Dome pond this year had one wintered over green but it was sad looking.  

I purchased 3 small plants for the pond~ just 3 

and they have been happy and beyond happy 

as have the fish, snails and whatever else lives in that water.

There were so many plantsin the pond, I started moving some.  
Some became compost 
and others went into the ourdoor pond.  
There they flourished.

Winter is coming on and who knows what will become of the ponds' greens.

fog in fall fantastic

Fall  ~  Autumn

is

my utter favorite time in Maine, in life.

It is mystical and magical.

It is my time with the great mystery, and with nature to the highest level.

It is that time when the veil is thin

and you can almost walk/see into the other world.

Summer overwhelms me, suffocates me.  It is too....too~~ Way way  busy, 

big with

..too much energy, too much muchness.

It is not my time.

then 

comes the pause that stops all the growth, energy

and everything shifts

and 

I sigh a sigh of relief. 

nature slows, the bugs are gone, the birds migrating, the heat is gone

and the trees and flowers finish their wild growth, 

and we all move into that time

when nature is finished, harvest done, seeds appear, color changes

and  

light changes, days shorten

the leaves start to drop....

It is a time of slowing. A rich time 

I am a Virgo, girl of autumn, perhaps why I find this time awesome.

Something incredible with this shift.  I await this.  I love this time.

Nature slows down yet there is still much going on, but at a slow pace

I do the same.

Deep breathe.

So god bless fall ~ autumn, this equinox, this shift

and particularly a morning when autumn is in a cloud

where nature surrounds you

when nature envelopes you

and blinds you with her beauty.

red is so much more than red...

Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds.

 Fall is the artist. ~Animal Crossing

Autumn is the perfect time to take account of what we’ve done, 

what we didn’t do, 

and what we’d like to do next year.

 ~Author Unknown