Paths to follow

No matter what Gaia, Mother Earth, is doing all over the world these days, she has supported the life systems that we humans enjoy.  Trees, flowers, animals, streams, and beauty.  Sometimes there are terrible catastrophies, and some of them are man made, and some where man and nature intersect.  The bombing of buildings in New York and Washington DC sixteen years ago were man made catastrophies.  The named hurricanes are nature-made, but the problems that human-made cultures have with these storms are often exacerbated by how humans build with little regard to nature.

So go back to Robert Frost and 2 roads which diverged in a snowy wood.  I wasn't in a snowy wood, but did see several roads/paths which diverged.

Choices.  We've all had them, and will continue to, every day of our lives.  Do we choose the path well travelled?

From the memorial garden on the other side of Flat Creek, there are steps leading down to the stream

In high summer, the undergrowth wants to take over the path.

The deer path, is what I've always called this deadend path leading down to the stream.  It has a lot of steep slopes coming down now, and perhaps will just be filled in by vegetation soon.

  A maintenance road goes straight and true, but the gravel path to the left has promise also.

Ah, there's my route home, across the bridge.  But there's also another gravel path beside the white sign thanking the gardeners who built the path and planted indigenous plants...the path which meanders along Flat Creek.

Camping out

A camping trip is:

 















. 



• a chance to get back to nature

High Falls, GA

• an opportunity to live out-doors

Blog posted in April about ropes to hold canvas up

• a way to re-establish your skills dealing with the unknown (man vs. nature!)

• a chance to relax (how many times did you bring a book? and read it?)

Pisgah National Forest, NC

• a different view of the world

•  connect to the lives of your ancestors who lived a lot rougher life

• a way to cook over a tiny stove or an open fire

• an opportunity to have a campfire
• 

Lake Tomahawk, NC

• a place where exercise is available

• a place where there will be less distractions between family/friends and better communication

a way young people can frolic around without many restraints

• a place where there is limited cooking/eating/clothing/bedding as well as the way to care for them

• 

• a way to set limits on the luxuries that we're used to

• a place to stay that's less expensive than motels/hotels/restaurants

Clay model of Gypsy Vardo wagon on blog in 2012

• a place to rest on a trip to somewhere else

My sculpted Model of camper on blog in 2012

• hot/wet/muggy/cold/dry/uncomfortable in some way

 

• full of bugs and nasty creatures

• a way to look for new creatures on nature walks/hunting?

• an opportunity to meet other campers/hikers

• and a great way to appreciate coming home! 

I'm sharing these photos (a mix of mine and the internet's) for Sepia Saturday this week.

a way young people can frolic around without many restraints

a way young people can frolic around without many restraints

appologies for the awful formatting which blogger gave me when I tried to put bullet points into it! Argh!

More inspiration and art.

Great design work by Escher.

I thought, briefly, of doing something like this on my pottery.  Well,  I did think about it!  Stop laughing at the absurdity of me being able to paint with glazes anything like this.  I am still considering it.  Mainly I'm thinking of how shape, form, depth of coloration, line, mass and so on make something happen that is beyond the simple design.

Large bowl with bee and flower, an order that's late being delivered!

Quote for today:

Because we instinctively know that nature is good for us on many levels, it's not unusual to feel powerfully drawn to it.   
Madisyn Taylor - Daily Om

Summer Solstice 2017

There's all kinds of talk about the August eclipse...plans are being made.
I don't do that.
I figure it will be raining or cloudy and we'll just notice a dimming of the light.

I used to figure out where would be a good place to see celestial events.  A week ago I even walked into the parking lot and found a place between street lights to look for the International Space Station as it flew overhead.  I saw only scattered clouds, and not a single star, either stationary or zooming along with people inside it.

But the sun will come up on June 21, somewhere.  So I can honor the longest day of the year, which is considered the official beginning of summer these days.

I have a new ritual.  I take the cat in my arms, which she only allows me to do when she is hungry when I first wake in the morning.  We then talk and walk to kitchen and open the door which faces east, and will share a view of the earliest peek at sunshine.  Of course it's coming through tree branches, but it's still bright enough to blind my poor sensitive eyes.

The purr from my friend makes up for the lack of chants by a choir of pagans or others.  Birds may chirp, but seldom will fly by to entice the interest of my friend.  She's found they do live outside our windows in the bushes, and may sit for hours watching their lives. At times a feral cat may wander along, and she may rush from one window to another to get a better view, but doesn't ever call out to the other.  We have our fish tank still, and she may watch the Nature Shows on PBS with me, especially when a small cat or fox is hunting. Such is nature in my neighborhood.

I love driving out into the lanes and parkways nearby, and often sit in woodsy areas to absorb the setting, the air, the breeze, the sounds.

So no matter what the weather may bring, I celebrate my connection to all life, to the Source of all, the sun without which we'd never have come into being.  Pretty awesome.

Quote for today:

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"  - L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables)

Breathe

On Mother's Day I tried sitting out in the warm day to enjoy the sunshine, on the front porch.  But within about 10 minutes the cough took over, and I had to move inside.  My allergies and age...I guess.  So I enjoy being out in nature when I can.

My dear friend, and old friend who I was in 7th grade with, gave me this little brownie person who sits under the geranium.  Rosie is my best friend forever. I'm sorry she's fighting cancer these days, and send her virtual healing energies, with what else, but virtual brownies flying her way every day.  Actually our relationship is through the internet these days as she lives 3000 miles from me.

This gorgeous Mountain Laurel is right next to my front porch! Achoo for you, cough cough for me.

I hope your day is full of joy, good weather, and love!

Support-fish

Also known as...
when you need a friend!
And I'm not soliciting any help to support any piscean adventures.  

The last of their kinds...black tail is either a Molly or a Platy.

Goldie is either a Molly or a Platy. I forgot which one was which a long time ago, about when the other 3 of their kinds had disappeared.  Nope, no bodies.  Those guppies are not only cannibals, but well, they eat other fish besides their own kind...usually after they die.

So black tail hasn't been doing so well.  And there was goldie helping her up to the top to get something to eat.  She just encouraged her, and kind of lifted her along the side.

The guppy in the background was watching as well...would this be dinner tomorrow?

Nope, the next day black tail was doing much better.  She made it to the top on her own to eat breakfast.

I have a gazillion guppies, who are all sisters/brothers.  Only one mother seems to give birth, and I did a quarantine of babies for about 6 weeks so some of them might survive the hungry adults.  So now there are many more than anyone would want, and probably way beyond the population density for the 10 gallon tank.

But they are mainly boring little silver minnows, and I didn't get any of the markings of the pretty orange and black and speckled male dads...except a few black spotted tails.  I'd never make a good fish breeder, cause I respect all life, no matter how pretty or ugly!

Update note: Just today I found the black tailed orange fish wedged in a corner under a rock, with those glazed eyes.  So she was ceremonially flushed with wishes for a good life next round. Maybe I should go purchase another orange fish to keep the one survivor company...but with so many guppies, that really doesn't make much sense.  So she's now the lonely little goldfish among the minnows, so to speak.

Today's quote:

When it becomes too cold to be outside with nature, bring her inside through your meditation. Madisyn Taylor