Trees

I'll confess, I've never really thought much about the value of trees.

Oh, I've often been aware of their beauty.

As a kid, I climbed among their strong branches and up their trunks, at times even attempting to construct a house in the air.

Occasionally I've cursed the unruliness of certain varieties.

And, I've enjoyed the shade provided to my mostly all-window back porch.

But as far as the personal, actual value, the utility of a tree, I've been in the dark most of my life.

Standing on "the Corner" changed that for me.

We've been out there most weeks for the past 15 months.

During that time, I've learned to take refuge under a very ugly, unwieldy tree.

But, strangely, the tree has become my friend.

In the rain, it acts as a needed umbrella.

In the heat, it provides more than welcome shade.

Even in the winter, windy cold, it blocks the sting of freezing temperatures.

As I've related to the tree, it has occurred to me that trees are in large part a generous gift to people who have no home.

I truly believe God made trees for people like the ones I meet with on "the Corner" every Thursday afternoon.

Somehow I just can't look at trees the same anymore.

Judged by the music of their songs, I expect the birds agree with me.

Amazing beauty. . .

Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland 2011 from Flatlight Films on Vimeo.

Presence

"By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers."


- Teilhard de Chardin

Beauty, power in the city. . .

Inner City Beauty

Most people don't think of inner city communities as "beautiful." Mine is, especially in the fall and spring. I captured these images from my front lawn and looking up and down and around my street.

I'm not saying it's Vermont, but fall is beautiful in East Dallas!

Happy Birthday, MOJ.

Words Not Necessary: Mothers' Day and Spring Time in Texas!

I suppose I go to the flowers and the fields on this first Mother's Day after the death of my mother, Mildred Oleta James. Mom passed out of this world on December 14, 2008.

We miss her.

She loved the flowers, just as the other mothers in my life--Brenda, Jennifer, Joanna.

Happy Mothers Day!

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Winter blue

The stars seem close tonight

Closer than my neighbors

Closer than the town

Five miles down the road.

Snowshoeing at night

In winter woods

The way lit by moonlight.

Down to the beaver flow

Down to the gurgle where black water

Forces its way up through clear ice.

To listen for a few minutes

To the winter woods

There is nothing much to hear.

Maybe I go so that

When I return to cabin and woodstove

I appreciate them more.

It is so still out here

So still, so quiet, so white, so blue.

Roderick W. MacIver, Heron Dance

[Note from MacIver about the painting above--"When I started Northern Goshawk Looking, I planned to do a semi-abstract painting much in the style of Coastal Cougar, but with a blue background. As I painted, I got more and more into a realistic representation, inspired by the Goshawk’s interesting facial patterns and powerful gaze.]

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The beauty of reconciliation

Wonder if reconciliation across all the "dividing lines" of our world is even possible?

Disturbed by all the hatred?

Concerned about some of your own feelings of alienation and despair?

Take the time to sit back, possibly grab a beverage, relax and just watch this amazing story brought to you by YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZjZQ6KkiUk.

I'd really appreciate your reactions.

Peace.

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Trout and Better Living. . .

Trout fishing--well, simply put, there is nothing quite like it.

Since my college days in in the Ozarks, when I scheduled classes to allow for plenty of "stream time," I've been hooked on the sport.

I prefer fly fishing, but I've caught more than my share using spinning gear, not to mention country boy garlic cheese set ups! the soybean farmers taught me a lot about landing Rainbows!

Watching a Brown run at a dry fly, breaking the water as it scoops up what appears to be a tasty morsel--hard to beat in my book.

Rainbows, Brookies, Cutthroats, Goldens, Browns. . .each is so unique and truly beautiful.

Catch.

Observe and appreciate.

Release, unless it is lunch time.

Just being out in the woods, wading a stream, camping on a river bank--it all adds up to renewal and regeneration.

I'm a card carrying member of Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org/).

Trout magazine comes with membership. In the latest issue (Winter 2008), I learned that what's good for trout turns out to be good for people.

The editors of the magazine published their legislative agenda in this issue. I was amazed at how each point, if enacted by the Congress, would make life better for both fish and humans.

Here's a sampling for your consideration:

In the current Farm Bill (the same one that funds the Food Stamp program for low-income families, as well as the free and reduced lunch programs for our children), TU is lobbying for $6 billion in funding for conservation and water improvement projects to protect the habitat we humans share and enjoy with the fish of the land!

Hardrock Mining Law reform provides for action to improve 40% of Western headwater streams that have been degraded by pollution from abandoned gold and silver mines. The recommended bill would clean up old mines that compromise the health of fish and folks.

Clean Water Restoration Act (H. R. 2421 and S. 1870) would allow for the ongoing regulation of streams and wetlands development--again, provisions that benefit trout and the rest of us.

The Energy Bill needs strengthening so that regulatory protection does not allow oil and gas exploration on public lands without the application of Clean Water Act regulations.

Fish-friendly agency budgets that fully fund conservation programs, including fisheries and a number of conservation projects, are also targeted for support in the next authorization legislation.

Trout lists several other legislative issues, but you get the picture.

Take care of the trout and we'll be insuring higher quality of life for ourselves!

Got a pole? Or, maybe a canoe?


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God, miracles and children

"In music, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness ... I see what people call God in all these things. "
- Pablo Casals

"The child must know that he is a miracle, a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been and until the end of the world there will not be another child like him. He is a unique thing, a unique thing, from the beginning until the end of the world. Now, that child acquires a responsibility: “Yes, it is true, I am a miracle. I am a miracle like a tree is a miracle, like a flower is a miracle. Now, if I am a miracle, can I do a bad thing? I can't because I am a miracle, a miracle.”
- Pablo Casals

[Original watercolor, "Traversing the Hills" Limited Edition Print by Roderick MacIverUnframed Original from Heron Dance A Pause for Beauty #197-- www.herondance.org.]

Day Dreams. . .

Yesterday I read about an interesting opportunity in Anderson, Alaska, population well under 500. Nestled in the beautiful and expansive Nenana Valley, 70 miles from Fairbanks near Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley, Anderson is an absolutely breathtaking little village.

It seems the City Council, with the help of a group of high school students from Anderson, has come up with a land giveaway.

That is right.

If you show up early enough tomorrow, Monday, March 19 at City Hall, you will be eligible to receive a free lot of just over an acre in size.

The plan is to incentivize new housing development and population growth in Anderson. Cities and towns all across the nation could learn from this group of leaders about how to change the face of a community for the better.

Ever daydream about just "throwing in the towel" and "getting away from it all"?

I'd say that if you haven't, you are the exception!

So, just for today and after the week I've enjoyed here in Texas, I'm letting my imagination soar a bit.

Just for today, I'm imagining what it would be like to build a house (a log home as a matter of fact!) in Anderson, Alaska! Just for today, I'm wondering what it would be like to live in a place where the temperature ranges from 90 in the summer to 60 below in the winter?

When you daydream, what fills your thoughts?

Lew Welch

THE SONG MT. TAMALPAIS SINGS

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

Human movements,

but for a few,

are Westerly.

Man follows the Sun.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

Or follows what he thinks to be the

movement of the Sun.

It is hard to feel it, as a rider,

on a spinning ball.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

Centuries and hordes of us,

from every quarter of the earth,

now piling up,

and each wave going back

to get some more.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

"My face is the map of the Steppes,"

she said, on this mountain, looking West.

My blood set singing by it,

to the old tunes,

Irish,

among these Oaks.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

Once again we celebrate the great Spring Tides.

Beaches are strewn again with Jasper,

Agate, and Jade.

The Mussel-rocks stand clear.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

Once again we celebrate the

Headland's huge, carin-studded fall

into the Sea.

This is the last place. There is nowhere else to go.

For we have walked the jeweled beaches

at the feet of the final cliffs

of all Man's wanderings.

This is the last place

There is nowhere else to go.

Day Dreams. . .Great Memories

If I don't manage to get to a river at least once every 12 to 15 months, I feel as if I am cheating myself out of the kind of renewal and pure joy that can fuel my soul for an entire year of hard work in the city.

When I was a college student living in central Arkansas, I spent lots of time wading the Little Red River fishing for Rainbow Trout.

I remember almost always packing my skillet for a meal on the riverbank.

Nothing tastes better than fresh trout cooked up over a camp fire out in the woods after a few hours of "hard work" fishing up and down a section of fast-flowing water. I can still taste those meals!

It was always great being with a buddy or family fishing that special stretch of stream. We had lots of fun and plenty of laughs!

But, I also found it very satisfying being there alone in the beauty. The leaves, the water, the breeze and the challenge of the pesky Rainbows--it all added up to great times that I'll never forget. Fall days on the river were particularly satisfying.

I expect those memories, as much as anything else, continue to drive me toward rivers in other parts of the country.

There's nothing like fly fishing for trout in a swift river.

When you day dream, what fills your mind and heart?