It's not over till it's over

  Sharing some thoughts from the other day...

I posted on my Inner Workings blog from the newsletter "The Flowers are Speaking" in her article "At the Edge of the Woods," by Mary Porter Kerns.

This is what struck me first as I read through it. And I reread this paragraph several times. 

I am comforted in one way, with a strong sense that the Earth will be fine—our Great Mother Earth will always generate new life. Yet, my grief in knowing we are losing the worlds that generations of our ancestors knew and loved is overwhelming when I allow myself to think about it. It is scary to contemplate how all that we depend on for our food and shelter might be radically changing over the coming decades. And so, I usually don’t. I may even delude myself occasionally into thinking that since I am in the later years of my own life it won’t affect me. But of course, it will, because my life is bound to the lives of my children, all the descendants of those beings currently living, and the worlds we will all be born into again and again.

 The lifespan I'm currently experiencing had become so overwhelming, I forgot about the lifespans of other things and reincarnation.

Needed to get back to nature, eh?

Kerns said: "...as she dealt with the invasive species of Oriental bittersweet, she listened to its voice...

Oriental bittersweet and their beautiful orange berries shared this wisdom when I sat with them at the end of last season, but I had not fully digested their wisdom until now. They said, “Allow us to help you trust that a new balance will come. A new equilibrium often takes longer to achieve than the span of a single lifetime. Let us help you sit with your discomfort. Remember that new life always arises from the ruins of the old. For now, trust that each curve of our vines holds our desire to create new life from the dirt that holds us both.”

This made me copy the whole article, because it's so rich in its simplicity. Dealing with unwanted growth - anyone with cancer can identify with this probably.

Or just disease processes of any kind. Or discomfort from unexpected avenues.

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Sharing with Thankful Thursday, and Skywatch Friday

I did go back to nature...as best this ole body can do these days. Drove up to my favorite lookout (Tanbark Ridge, 3175') on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Breathed fresh clean air (with whatever pollen was still floating around). Set up my folding chair and settled in for a half hour of higher altitude breath work.

Besides occasional tourists stopping by to take their photos with the mountains, there were occasional jets overhead. A faint contrail can be spotted in the sky. But I mainly looked up with that sparkling little round cloud among all the mares' tails.

The slide above the fronds of the bush shows the roadway of the Parkway on the other side of the valley. And if you look very hard (and have a better screen than I do, maybe you can see the car which just is to the left of the mudslide. The next time I go I think I'll put fresh batteries in the old Nikon which at least has a zoom capacity. Where I can connect its photos is the question, since I no longer have the computer where that app worked. We shall see if the card reader works, and if I even have a card in the camera.

What fun things to do when I should be seriously taking care of more business-like parts of life. But today is rest.

Having a flexible mind makes navigating life much easier, as you are not thrown off course easily.

And I went back again on Tuesday for another half hour, catching some sun on toes and shins for a half hour. Breathing wonderful highly oxygenated air from all those woods. Hot for that half hour, but our weather is due to get wet again, so changes of plans.

“[In] all this inky black void, the Earth was there with this beautiful blue hue to it. The blue marble.”
—Frank Borman, astronaut

My sunrise photo from the Parkway, May 20, 6:52 am. This will be my next header...

Just saying...

 

What is this? I just found it saved in my iCloud photos...and I didn't take it! How could someone else's photo get saved there? Well, that's my Monday morning dilemma, while drinking my coffee and reading a few blogs and emails. I'm getting ready to go to the dermatologist this morning for my yearly exam. Whoopee!

The neighborhood slowly awakens to dawn. 41 degrees F. Due to be sunny today.

Yesterday my maples treated me to swinging in the breeze...as I awoke these long limbs just swayed every which way with the gusts of wind. It was estimated by Weather Channel at 17 mph...but these were surprising gusts coming through. What a symphony of movement.

And from the internet...

Adding another list just to include peruse, which AC mentioned in his comment:

Today over on my other blog: Open Yesterday's Pages - Louis Daguerre

The sun and the moon and the stars

 My recently retired friend was game for a early morning trek.

Not on foot fortunately.

We planned on going early Thursday up on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the sunrise. Well, I'd never seen a sunrise on the mountains here, so I thought I'd better check that off possible events of note.

She retired in January, and goes to a South Carolina beach for long weekends and sees an ocean sunrise there. I've done that too.

Then there was an announcement on Facebook that 5 planets would be in alignment with the crescent moon on Wed. Aug. 28. We agreed we'd try to see that too by going on Wed.

As it happened...

We could see the crescent moon and several stars right above my trees, though the silly iPhone messed up the setting and washed out the moonlight. I may have not held the phone still for the whole 3 seconds it took either. 

Once we got to our seats at the overlook, we could still see the moon, but the stars were harder to see as it was getting lighter out.

First light gave us plenty of light, but where was the sun?

Our cameras picked up some orange in the sky which wasn't very evident to the naked eye.

The mist in the valleys seemed to grow as it got lighter.

There were others there also to view the sunrise. Two vehicles (one a camper) had children in pajamas walking around barefoot, while they also had some food to keep them busy. A car with an old guy who was observed smoking a cigarette which fortunately didn't blow smoke our direction also stopped. He had two dogs, one on a leash. The other was tiny and the kids enjoyed him.

Yes, it takes a village even to watch a sunrise apparently.

The weather people said sunrise was at 7:00 am. We sat there as this perfectly nice dawn light was all around us, waiting for Old Sol to make his appearance.

At 7:18 it looked like it was on the verge of  appearing.

And at 7:22 it really shot into our eyes.

So I took a selfie with the sunrise, and went to breakfast.

After two coffees, a scone, and hours of being out and about, I went home and slept for 2 hours!

Today's quote:

It isn’t more light we need, it’s putting into practice what light we already have. When we do that, wonderful things will happen within our lives and within our world.

PEACE PILGRIM

This day

This sunrise was so welcome.  I know it's a bit fuzzy because it's through a window and screen.  But I loved to see the promise of a beautiful day.

And there were other beautiful views as I just went about my day.

The last of my leaves, these on a neighbor's dogwood, shine against that blue sky.

And if that's Greybeard that I can see over my roof, look at the snow from Sandy still on the upper flanks!

The remaining cherry leaves frame the snowy mountain in the distance.  Sorry, I am still learning about how to get things all in focus.  I will try again tomorrow.  I must have had the macro setting still on.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour tonight!  Me too.

Working at home

Painter is enjoying her breakfast.

I sneak outside to welcome the sun.  At equinox it pours directly up my street over the tree tops. The neighbor's dogwood is turning brown mainly, but there's a bit of red beginning.

The last of the Crepe Myrtle shows in glaring white against the shady background.

I think of the folks in that plane above the oak headed to Atlanta probably, and to more travels.  They have no idea what a simple life I'm leading down here below them.  And I've only been part of the "jet set" life a few times myself.