News and Notes
Video-I Am Bear
18 January, 2010
Video-Triple A, Double D
18 January, 2010
Sadness Spoke Softly
18 January, 2010
A few days ago a friend and I went to search out the Shoe Arch in the Goldfield Mountains near where I live. We serched long and hard only to become very frustrated because we could not see it. Sometimes it can be hard to find things when you are looking for them. Reminds me of a line from a Bill Stains song. "The harder I try, the less that I see with my eyes." The Shoe Arch would not appear for us no matter how hard we tried. A few days later I received pictures and words from Ted Tenny, who has written a book on the Goldfield Mountains. The Shoe Arch is no longer! It was destroyed by vandels. It's true! How can someone go out and destroy an arch in the mountains? Destroy nature? Destroy a part of themself? Of course that seems to be what we as a people are doing to the Earth! I guess that's something to write about later. For now I will kiss the earth! I can't believe how sad I am.
Leaf Lessons
14 September, 2009
Today, part way through my morning walk, I sat down on the stump of a white pine. Gazing into the woods, amazed at all the color, I noticed leaves floating to the forest floor. There was not a great rush of leaves, but rather a leaf or two every few seconds; so I could watch each one float down. It got me wondering if leaf just decided to go to ground, or if it was tree that decided to let go of leaf? Does it make a difference? Sometimes I see myself like that with life. Who's in charge here? To quote a song: "If I was a green oak leaf, growning on a tree, I would help to clean the air and be proud as I could be. But in the fall, I surely would, as my color changed to brown. And tree would finally set me free, to find my way to ground." I'm getting ready for another great round. Leaving the North woods for the SW desert. Joining with countless other creatures who travel from place to place each year. A lucky creature I am! So does tree hang on to leaf or leaf hang to tree? Perhaps there is an agreement between both. When the time is right. When they both realize!!! Perhaps I am like that as well! "Nothing dies the circle says!" And so I rise from the stump and give thanks for the lessons, if not totally learned, at least taught.
A wise dog's death
9 August, 2009
Our dog, Charcoal, just shy of her 17th bithday, went on her morning walk on August 6 and never returned. Quite old for a dog, she was mostly deaf and mostly blind; but she still seemed to enjoy her morning walks through the wet grass holding her tail high and using her nose, which still worked well! My wife and I have looked for her. We've traced the paths she love to walk. Hunted in the thick woods all around our cabin. Stood quiet, as we listened for any sounds she might make. She is gone. Perhaps she ran off in search of people who'd give her more treats! Maybe she was picked up by someone who felt sorry for her, lost and alone. She may have fallen in the lake, and not being much of a swimmer, drowned. Perhaps she was eaten by coyote. Or bear. Or.... Or.... Or maybe, just maybe, she went out into the woods to die on her own. Her own choice. Perhaps she knew she was to die soon and simply wanted the dignity of doing it her own way. That's what I choose to believe! Of the many possibilities, that's a choice I can make! Rather than being taken to the vet, as our family was close to doing, she went off on her own and did it her way. It causes me to wonder if I'll have a chance to do that? If I'll have the aility? Strength? Courage? The common sense? I wonder! The dignity of dying the way one chooses; I'll remember Charcoal for that. I'll keep that memory in my bag of memories and pull it out when I need it. Dying is something that must be done. Dying with dignity can be done. I thank a wise dog for that!
A Death?
3 June, 2009
It's foggy today. Can't even see across the lake; but I can tell you it's green. Spring green! Even the hardwoods, although not yet fully formed, blessed us, again, with their leaves. All the hardwoods, except one! An oak tree. She has stood not more than 8 feet from our deck since before we bought this cabin. This spring, like the others in the woods, she pushed out buds; but after they grew a quarter inch long they just stopped. Now she stands bare, as if she thinks it is still winter. She still stands bare within this spring green woods. I still have hope! I still give her encouragement each day. Perhaps she's waiting for warm weather! Perhaps she decided it just wasn't worth it this year; saving her strength for next! Perhaps she died. It's foggy here today!
The Great Round
13 May, 2009
I've just completed another round. A great round! Like some winged ones and fin folk, who, year after year complete their great round; so have I. After leaving behind warm desert, driving through snow covered mountains and across flat plains; we arrive in the country of woods and lakes. Lake is not frozen! Birch and poplar just beginning their bud. Earth starting to shoot out green. Spring will be seen a second time this year! What a lucky man I am!
HOPE!
20 January, 2009
I can feel the hope today! I can feel the hope!
Another full Moon
12 January, 2009
Full Moon again! I've been reading essays by Thomas Berry. They make my head hurt at times, but fill my heart with hope. As humans, just another species of the earth, we have reached the point where we are determing whether the basic life systems of the earth will live or die. As we become more aware of where we came from, the Universe, the Earth; we are acknowledging our role in the human-earth relationship. There is hope, but we must come together as a species. Please take time to listen to Thomas Berry. "Evening Reflections" "The Dream of the Earth". Please listen to the Earth.
Full moon in October in AZ
14 October, 2008
If there are thousand lovers looking up at moon, then there are a thousand moons! What a wonderful sight. I've been in Arizona for a couple of weeks now and have been busy listening to and performing music in the Valley of the Sun as well as Prescott, AZ. What a treat it has been to visit with some friends who also believe in acoustic music. I travled with my wife from Minnesoat to Arizona by National Parks it seems. We were in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Brice, Zion and the North rim of the Grand Canyon before finally arriving in Apache Junction. I was struck by the variety of the land. Even with all the struggles we are going through at this time, we live in a wonderful country. We live in a wonderful world! As I see moon rise someone else is waching her set only to be seen as rising as I see it set! Isn't the universe good?
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