Monthly Archives: September 2012

A Visitor

Posted on September 21, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I had just started on a conference call to Seattle last night and this fellow showed up on the back deck. He seemed curious and I took the picture with my PDA through the window. When I did open the door, he was gone before I even got open a crack. I think it is a western northern flicker woodpecker, but am not 100% sure. It is the first time I recall one showing up in my backyard. The ashtray served as a landing-place. It is not used for anything else.

Today, a visitor called

Briefly paused and rested on the stoop.

He seemed uneasy

Still, made himself to home.

Furtively, glanced about

Perhaps, hoping he would go unnoticed.

He seemed likeable

I moved to greet him

Suddenly, he slipped away

Gone, as quickly as arrived

I wish him well on his journey.

6 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, nature, photography, poetry, teacher as transformer, woodpecker. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on September 20, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Yesterday, was a busy, hectic, yet productive day. I checked Mimi’s post and found this; a gentle reminder “to slow down, [I] move too fast” to paraphrase Paul Simon. Take care and have a wonderful day. Feel groovy.

Waiting for the Karma Truck

I hesitated posting this because I know of no one who hasn’t read this before. And yet it’s so perfectly accurate, that to ignore the message is to deny the peculiar juxtapositions in our lives today. It is no less astonishing when one pauses to consider that we have constructed this catch-22.

Perhaps we would be well-served to step away from our lives every once in a while and define our perception of success. Certainly for me, my kids have always been at the top of the list. There have also been times when my well-being was at the very bottom, while I rode the wave of wanting more – more money, more responsibility, more stuff, more of everything that would furnish my life with the accoutrements of success. I have never surfed in my life, but I was really quite good at riding that wave to the shore, and…

View original post 415 more words

7 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on September 19, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I have not done this for quite a while; reblogged on back to back days, but this is a special day. Please celebrate and share an Arr with someone special. Be a pirate and talk like one.

4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Posted on September 18, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I am sure many children I taught over the years were ADD/ADHD, but this also describes me. I like to wander.

Live & Learn

Now you can more fully understand why the exercise in the last post was such a struggle.

Source: themetapicture.com

View original post

9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

The Bridge

Posted on September 18, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Kathy and I enjoyed our break at the retreat this weekend. I feel a little under the weather, but during the retreat itself that simply found a backseat in the peaceful environment we were in all weekend.

When I attend spiritual retreats, I find part way through I question myself. We often talk about compassion in these settings, but I struggle at times to be kind to those who I feel have offended me in the past. I am sure it is human nature. This weekend, I recognized there is worth in the small offenses, I find the good as I turn a little on the circle and shift my senses. I can see the world slightly differently. It is the bridge I need to walk across the abyss that appears, but it is only visible one step at a time. I trust my judgement and that of those who help me take those steps.

I know some might look at this picture and say,”That isn’t much of a drop or bridge.” I am so afraid of heights even this was a challenge the day I crossed.

I stand on the edge

The abyss yawns

Take the first step

The bridge is safe.

Built on compassion

Crafted from wisdom

Supported by community

It will carry my weight.

If only I trust my self

Take the first step

Trust my instincts

And those who travel with me.

18 Comments

Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Uncategorized and tagged community, creativity, Mindful Practice, nature, photography, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Retreat

Posted on September 14, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

Kathy and I are attending a retreat this weekend, so I am off-line for the weekend. I will leave you with Mindful by Mary Oliver. This poem reminds me to keep all my senses open and welcome that which is around me into my heart and mind.

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for –
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world –
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant –
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these –
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

Kathy took this picture of the frost on the Ponderosa Pine which sits in front of our house.

15 Comments

Posted in Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry and tagged Mary Oliver, mindful by mary oliver, Mindful Practice, nature, poetry, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

What If Nature Could Remember or Dream?

Posted on September 14, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

After I posted Open Heart; Open Mind, I recalled a Wendell Berry poem entitled In a Country Once Forested. I wondered what if nature really could remember? What would that be like? What if nature were a dreamer of dreams? I think Wendell Berry says it beautifully and wisely in this poem.

The young woodland remembers

the old, a dreamer dreaming

of an old holy book,

an old set of instructions,

and the soil under the grass

is dreaming of a young forest,

and under the pavement the soil

is dreaming of grass.

I think nature is can recall and able to dream dreams. It might look like this.

7 Comments

Posted in Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized and tagged Mindful Practice, poetry, stewardship, transformative education, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

Open Heart; Open Mind

Posted on September 12, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

I walked out of the house and looked up at a clear sky. The Moon stood out in the sky and just below was a morning star. It is not a great picture, but it reminded me I live in a metropolitan area of over 1 million. I find my self rewarded when I take the time and see nature in that place. They are there; I only have to look for them.

See what I want

Hear what I choose

Instead, open my whole self.

Behold nature’s gifts

Hold close to the heart

Hidden only when I choose.

Nature waits for me

Quietly reveals its self

Open my whole self.

6 Comments

Posted in Community, Haiku, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments and tagged creativity, Mindful Practice, nature, photography, poetry, teacher as transformer, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

9/11

Posted on September 11, 2012 by ivonprefontaine

A friend asked this morning, “Where were you?”

I was in my car driving to school when the news broke. It seemed surreal like H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds must have. When I got to school, I found a TV, and we watched it in my classroom. Other teachers did not take the same approach which surprised me. In today’s world, the interconnectedness is so real.

It is easy to say this could not happen in Canada, but on September 10, 2001 who would have thought it would happen the following day? Who could predict the consequences of the act of a handful of men that day and their impact on our lives?

That infamous day

I recalled today

A surreal moment

A nightmare.

Senseless tragedy

Grief shared

Touches one;

Touches all.

Time to heal

Hold memories close

Loved ones gone

Not forgotten.