Shadows

Shadow and light, light and shadow.

I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather no shadow unless there is also light.

~ Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

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A Monday meander: Away and back again

The brilliant reds on the foliage of a blueberry bush in the rain garden.

With an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.

~ William Wordsworth

A Friday farrago: In the woods and swamp

A moment in the woods.  (Janes Island)

Peace is this moment without judgment. That is all. This moment in the Heart-space Where everything that is is welcome.

~ Dorothy Hunt

A Monday meander: Janes Island

Crown shyness.

But we shouldn’t be concerned about trees purely for material reasons, we should also care about them because of the little puzzles and wonders they present us with. Under the canopy of the trees, daily dramas and moving love stories are played out. Here is the last remaining piece of Nature, right on our doorstep, where adventures are to be experienced and secrets discovered. And who knows, perhaps one day the language of trees will eventually be deciphered, giving us the raw material for further amazing stories. Until then, when you take your next walk in the forest, give free rein to your imagination-in many cases, what you imagine is not so far removed from reality, after all!

~ Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees

Walktober 2018

Flipping the reflection. (Reflections on the pond at Pocomoke River State Park.)

The walks are the unobtrusive connecting thread of other memories, and yet each walk is a little drama in itself, with a definite plot with episodes and catastrophes … and it is naturally interwoven with all the thoughts, the friendships, and the interests that form the staple of ordinary life.

~ Leslie Stephen

A Monday meander: Loons

Yesterday evening out at the Point.

Anytime loon shows up as a totem, it is calling to you to pay attention to your dreams.  It indicates that they will be of greater importance, along with becoming more vibrant and colorful.  The haunting call of the loon may also be telling you that all those hopes, wishes, and dreams that you have tucked to the back of the heart are about to come to the surface.  The loon may be signalling you not to compromise them again, or you may truly find yourself haunted.

The loon will teach new states of consciousness.  It will also help you to deepen those you have already awakened.  Because it lives close to the water — at the shore line — it can teach you to use these various states of consciousness to open to new dimensions and other life forms…

… To most people, the call of the loon is its most distinguishing feature.  It is haunting and touches the soul in a primal way.  The loon is actually very talkative, and it has a whole repertory of calls — each different in sound and meaning.  One of its calls is similar to the sound of a wolf howl.  One is like a trilling laugh.  It will often use the call to distract predators away from the nest.  To many outdoors people, the loon call is the true call of the wild.  It stirs the primal embers within all who hear it — no matter how long those embers have lain cool.  It is as if the sound is calling forth all that we have ignored or shoved to the back of the closet in our minds.

~ Ted Andrews, Animal Speak

A ramble around the pond at Pocomoke River State Park

Reflections of autumn. (The pond at Pocomoke River State Park yesterday.)

If you catch a fragrance of the unseen,
like that, you will not be able
to be contained.
You will be out in empty sky.

Any beauty the world has, any desire,
will easily be yours.

As you live deeper in the heart,
the mirror gets clearer and cleaner.

~ Rumi, excerpted from Out in the Empty Sky