I keep blurry pictures. They remind me life is not always in sharp focus and there are times to step back, pause, and reflect.
The spirit wearies
A voice from within speaks
Seeks reflective time.
Quietly turn inward
Listen to an inner voice
Seek counsel and wisdom.
Pay homage and celebrate
While pain reveals character
New paths carved into wilderness.
Cherish each moment’s gift
Arrival and departure
Grateful for life.
Kathy and I are back on the road this morning. It will be Monday before I post again. I disconnect to reconnect. I feel on the edge at this time of the week and summer. I go back to work next Wednesday and, for the first time in my career, I am not looking forward to going back. I am on the edge and find faith in something other than me.
Each step
Brings me to the edge.
Uncertain balance
On the edge.
Instability dances with stability
Harsh with the gentle.
Quiet the self
Hear the soul’s gentle words.
A still space reveals wisdom
A spirit of Faith.
Look forward;
Look down.
Go forward
Accept hands proffered in similar Faith.
This lonely tree stood all by itself on the crest surrounded by the pretty ones.
A true survivor
Separate from the crowd
You are on your own.
The elements take a toll
Your hair is thin
Your skin pale.
Yet, you stand straight
Limbs reach forward
Belief in something more.
Valued for who you are
Individual, non-conformist
Separate from the crowd.
Lonely, but not alone
Spacious solitude
Create your own beauty.
It was a perfect day. We wandered in Jasper, enjoyed great scenery, and I was with my favourite person.
We found the best at the end of the day. I posted a picture of a bull elk on Yellowstone 2005 in May. I took the picture from about 15-20 metres. Today, Kathy duplicated this with a picture of a cow elk chewing her cud. She seemed aware of our presence, but we were quiet and as others joined us in a secluded area she posed. The wall is about 1 metre thick wall and a similar height.
We hiked for two hours in the Valley of Five Lakes and could have spent more time exploring the small lakes. We crossed the Wabasso Creek and its valley before beginning our ascent. What is surprising about this hiking area, is it is only about 10 minutes from the town site.
We had no easy access to the first lake (they are unnamed), but I used the trees to frame the lake and its prettiness. One of the things we noted about all the lakes was the way they mirrored their surroundings.
The second lake mirrors the mountains and trees vividly in shimmering waters below.
The third lake is a deep green and is very deep in the middle. This lake reflected clouds and trees. The green appeared to be algal growth and not from the source of the water.
We could not get a good angle for pictures of the fourth lake, but it was the home of frolicking dragonflies. Kathy captured this one with amazing patience.
We only got glimpses of the fifth lake. Thick foliage and steep banks surrounded it. We tried several different paths but to no avail. One thing along the paths was the frequency of large rocks left by glaciers which formed this valley and its small lakes.
I enjoy Robert Frost’s The Road Less Traveled. As we began our hike, we saw this path and wondered where it went, but stayed on the main path. As we climbed back out of the Valley of Five Lakes we had a choice: go right or go left. We chose right and found ourselves on the path we wondered about almost two hours before. We took the road less traveled. It was a challenging part of the trip physically.
And, at the end,
We emerged at the beginning
At the trail head,
Mountains rediscovered
Blue skies gone
Clouds not only threatened;
They delivered a promise
Like our day.
Kathy went to the farm yesterday and walked in from the road. Although it is overgrown, it is full of memories. One can think of the farmhouse as uninhabited, but visitors still abound. We sat at the kitchen table many mornings, watched the barnyard, and viewed assorted wildlife that found safe haven. Yesterday, this deer visited while Kathy visited and stirred memories.
The farm is in west-central Alberta and on clear days (yesterday was not) you can see the Rockies in the distance at various points on the drive out.
Sense serenity
Surrounded
By nature and memories.
Some visible
Others invisible
Each appears.
A home for being
A work place
A learning place.
A deer poses
Momentarily safe,
Human memories stir.
Since arriving home, it has been a slow process. I resist the routine or rut I was in when we left for Spokane. It is hard work, but one thing I noted today, I am not alone in my travails. It seems universal and I am glad for company. As I went through blogs I recognized transformation is a patient process, a slow process, and a personally purposeful process. I looked at the pictures we took on our travels and for all of nature’s ability to change rapidly, most change is slow and transformational.
I wait
Often impatient
Desire for something better
Lean into my steps
Transform
Slow, patient, with purpose
Without plan
An invisible blueprint.
Journey
With one’s self
Often with companions
Break bread together.
Trust
Moments of devotion
To each another
Change together.
Embrace
No need to explain
Words sometimes fail
A smile assures.
Turn back
A worn path emerges
Look ahead
Share paths.
I am unsure whether I will be back today. We are sorting out our home Internet issues. We think the router blew up in a recent storm. This was good, because it was an unplanned daily Sabbath for me.
On a routine morning drive, I observed the sun rising in my rear view mirror with the moon still visible. It was early in the school year and I had just returned from BC. I began that morning’s haiku class with poems which described phenomena I took for granted most days. I try to emphasize for students poetry is the routinely observed. Poetry lifts it to the extraordinary nature of things often taken for granted. I try model this through poetry chosen and shared i.e. Pablo Neruda and Mary Oliver and I write poetry on what I observe in life.
Majestically,
Touching endless sky above
Roots firmly grounded.
Greeting and adieu
Sun and moon share the one sky
Guide our daily drive.
When I walk in nature and see the panoramic creation, I recall this is a gift. Each day I am present and stop to meet what is there, is a day I move beyond my ego. I am grateful for simply being . It is the greatest gift.
The Woodcarver
Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits.
The Prince of Lu said to the master carver:
“What is your secret?”
***
Khing replied: “I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles, that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set
My heart at rest.
***
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain and success.
After five days
I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days
I had forgotten my body
With all its limbs.
***
“By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.
***
“Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand it also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
And begin.
***
“If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.
“What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work.
Which you ascribe to the spirits.”
***
Palmer, P. J. (2004). A hidden wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Parker Palmer attributed his source as The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton and published by The Abbey of Gethsemani in 1965.
I struggled today. Starbucks’ Internet was intermittent and my day was cleaved in half with an appointment. I reflected on what my blogging and there has been a substantial change in the tone and voice of the blogger. When I began, I was doing it for all the wrong reasons and was driven from ego. Transformation is about my self and not about what goes on outside me.
I influence the world and as Gandhi wisely said, “Be the change you want to see in the world” is important.
Change
Occupies an idle mind.
Denies, oppresses
Another self.
Transform
Inner terrain.
Who is this self?
What life does this self live?
Mature
Through life.
Define
the self who lives this life.
Emerge
from chrysalis each day.
Present
A thoughtful gift
Transform my self.
Reveal through selfless acts
Flourish beyond rhetoric
Beyond fad.
Journey with others
Appreciate
Valorize.
Kathy took this picture while we walked along Waterton Lake’s beach. She thought it would inspire me. I wondered what might emerge. Last night, I scribbled ideas into my journal about wisdom and its sources. I enjoy and enjoyed listening to stories told by my parents, Kathy’s parents, our grandparents about life in past generations, and many others I come in contact with each day.
Flotsam on the shore
Washed up and unusable
Life’s wisdom wasted.
Polished piece of wood
Fine tuned by life’s travails
Reveals the wisdom.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 