The Dance of Living

We dance the steps of the living
And for each step, we are grateful, we are joy.
Moving through each reality
With mindful paces
We are fleeting
Turning away, we are gone

Thank you to the monks of the Rambok Monastery, Sikkim, India.

A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures

There are days when the camera is better left behind; days when it is better to see with the eyes, than through a lens.

In The Forest

The day was cold and crisp, and the sun was hiding away behind a cover of clouds. I had been out into the forest just days before, late in the afternoon with the sun low and the shadows playing. I tried to capture the forest then, and to some extent I did, but her true glory remained elusive to my eyes until this day.

I was struck by a light that emanated from deep within the forest. The light shimmered, and as I walked closer, it began to multiply as thousands of leaves formed a canopy that was spun in 24 carat gold. In obeisance, lower layers of reds and oranges faced the golden tree, fanning her royal branches with gentle breezes that could not be felt with human skin. Rebellious though complimentary, flashes of green, those last holdouts in the golden age of this arboreal society, made their statement of attempt to remain what they have been, though they too will change, and they too, will fall.

I didn't capture what I saw into digital perpetuity. Am I to be faulted for this?

Autumn Glory

Because we truly are dying
And have spent so many seasons
Hiding behind a cape of shade,
Perhaps that is why we have chosen this time
To let passion touch our faces
Without running from what we are.
Knowing that next month
The season will have changed
And we will once again be asleep.

A Word to the Three Graces

Each morning as the dawn arrives, my cat, Marlow, jumps off the foot of the bed and goes to stare out the window at the dawn and the first birds of the day. I pretend to sleep a while longer, staying huddled under warm covers. Finally he can't stand my slothful inattentiveness anymore and he jumps back onto the bed, walks up toward my face and then jumps off the bed as I reach out to pet him. He sits just below the bed and stares up at me, occasionally calling out to me as if to say "Get up! The day has arrived!" Suddenly the light hits the window and I am charged with energy in a way no animal can inspire. I run up the stairs with my camera, to see how The Graces across the field will look today. I am in awe of their stature and beauty as they are struck by the first rays of the morning sun.

Solidly rooted, you remain unchanged,
as the world around you swirls.
Every day you remain unchanged,
but through my varied lenses,
I perceive you differently.

Morning

How lucky I am
To wake up to this beauty
Dancing in the dawn

Freedom

In the fenced in field in which we live,
we presume to be free.
We will run quickly and kick our heels high,
and though the late shadows chase us,
we will not see them.

In the end, the night will fall,
and we will sleep deeply,
even through the howling wind,
we will not awaken.

Red

Red, creeps up her bark
Lit and flamed in ardent fire
The forest ignites

A rainy day

It is difficult to think, in this season, of anything but the dismal gray of politics and the economy. Wouldn't it be nice if instead our thoughts danced on about how good the grass tastes when it is wet, and how the mountains look with a light mist shroud? I'd like to set my mind alight with those kinds of things...

Losing weight: Notes from the Kitchen

I'm totally off of sugar which feels great. For the most part I just eat nothing sweet, but when I NEED to have it, there is an (albeit expensive so you will want to conserve if you aren't rich) product called Organic 0 by Wholesome Sweeteners which is almost as sweet as sugar, and is made from sugar, but does not harm you, it is an organic and naturally occurring process.

I'm off of butter and have reduced other milk fats. I'm eating a non-transfat spread from the health food store which is just fine. I am eating non-fat Greek Yogurt and that is just as yummy as whole milk yogurt, I want to make it myself so that I can save $. I eat reduced fat organic cheeses and they are just fine. Olive oil and nuts, etc. are fine fats that help, but milk-fat doesn't do anything for you. I still have half and half in my coffee. Fat free half and half seems to have corn syrup which is evil.

I don't have wine every night, but switch between red wine and kombucha, which I make myself.

I eat cacao nibs instead of sweetened chocolate. Last night, I made tapioca pudding with unsweetened chocolate powder. I used the Organic 0 to sweeten it, and I put cacoa nibs and greek yogurt on top. Yummy. I gorged. Today I was less than yesterday on the scale. I love that.

It is gently raining outside right now, a wisp from the far off distant tail of Gustav which is currently over Louisiana and ruining everyone's life.

Hope

What means this Hope?

Hope is a future that is entirely sustainable.

Hope is a green energy policy that will bring us beyond oil.

Hope is an abundance of good jobs to implement a sustainable future beyond oil.

Hope is a passion for local food, and the end of unsustainable corporate agribusiness that use unstainable farming practices and unstainable energy practices to bring guilt ridden, unhealthy food to the table.

Hope is a healthcare policy that will include all Americans as their inalienable right.

Hope is our youth never having to go to war.

Hope is ethical banking and credit practices that don’t give credit to those who can’t afford it.

Hope is a coming together of people from all races and religions to a cause higher than prejudices of the past.

Hope is a joining of all nations to unite in a common cause of peace, justice and liberty for all.

And Hope is the Global turning back of the environmental mess we have made, so that end the end there will still be someone left…

to Hope

A Drink of Water

After a long dry summer, Fay appeared to cry all over Western North Carolina.

And that will be nothing compared to the tears I will cry if Obama loses this election.