Articles by Bo Mackison

Not Just Beach Friends

Kure Beach in Duotone

Kure Beach Boardwalk © 2013 Bo Mackison

If we are to honor the gift of being human, we must embrace our true nature and teach our soul to fly.  https://bettierose.co.uk/patricks-barn/ ~ Michael Teal

Tramadol For Sale Online I spent the last week on the Carolina Coast, visiting a friend.

We first met when we began following each other’s blogs in 2008. We connected in a big way. We are both nature lovers and photographers. We are writers and naturalists. We are explorers and caretakers of the earth. We even use the same camera!

For years we conversed through blog comments, Facebook, emails, and telephone calls, and as the years passed we were amazed at the many similarities in our lives. We even have birth dates – not just birthdays – only two days apart!

https://www.52editions.com/personal/ And so…we embraced adventure and made plans to meet in North Carolina.

We walked the beach every day — sometimes in mist, usually in sunshine. We walked during sunrises, we walked mid-day, we walked as evening shimmered into twilight. Always the sound of the infinite waves wove its way through our conversations.

We traveled the coast, drawn to the same sites: out-of-the-way, funky shops and consignment stores; an amazing aquarium; historical parks; river walks along the Cape Fear; historic architectural districts.

We took ferries to coastal towns that were so much like sacred places, they spoke to our spirits. We wandered through art galleries and walked boardwalks through salt marshes and maritime forests. We explored fishing piers, gardens, outsider art, and diners. We chatted with fishermen, a leatherback sea turtle specialist, artists and photographers, a shark tooth collector, and fellow oyster-shuckers.

follow url It was a magical, mystical time of connection.

We laughed, shared stories, took a thousand photographs, inspired each other, and solved a few of the (smaller) problems of the world!

When I boarded the plane to return to Wisconsin, I waved so long to Debi, but we didn’t say goodbye. We’ve already made plans for Tucson in 2014!

Carolina Coast

Kure Beach Sunrise, November 8, 2013

Kure Beach Sunrise © 2013 Bo Mackison

“. . . I creep out into the Night or the Morning and see what majestic and what tender beauties daily wrap me in their bosom, how near to me is every transcendent secret of Nature’s love and religion. . .”  Buy Online Soma ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

source site I am visiting the Carolina Coast.

I’m staying in a lovely place, only a block from the Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday, I awoke to a shifting sky, and slipped across the street as dawn was nearing. It was cold and dark.

https://www.52editions.com/referrals/ I stood in silent awe as the waves crashed upon the sands and retreated, relentlessly, infinitely.

A thin line in the dark sky shone red, then orange, and then the clouds fringed with scarlet light. The sun slid above the cloud line; the sea shimmered in tremulous gold.

https://thelonelycreative.com/softcover-notebooks/ Ah, ocean, I stand and watch, grounded in the shifting sands.

Exploring the Eastern Coast

Kure Beach

Kure Beach © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The desert and the ocean are realms of desolation on the surface.
The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out, to desiccate into dust.

The ocean is a place of skin, rich outer membranes hiding thick juicy insides, laden with the soup of being.

Inside out and outside in. These are worlds of things that implode or explode, and the only catalyst that determines the direction of eco-movement is the balance of water.

Both worlds are deceptive, dangerous. Both, seething with hidden life.
The only veil that stands between perception of what is underneath the desolate surface is your courage.

Dare to breach the surface and sink.”

https://hymnsandhome.com/recipes-3/ ~ Vera Nazarian

West Bluff – An Autumn Journey

West Bluff, Devils Lake State Park

West Bluff, Devils Lake State Park © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world.”  go ~ Rebecca Solnit

https://www.completerehabsolutions.com/contact/ There is something about hiking in a natural setting that is grounding and restorative.

The pounding of city pavement is an altogether different experience than walking upon earthen paths, climbing rocks dispersed in the last glacial age*, scrambling along boulders that eventually dammed glacial flow and created the lake I hiked along. (Devils Lake, the central feature of Devils Lake State Park in south central Wisconsin.)

In an age where many of us take our cars to get just about anywhere, and the average American walks 1.6 miles a week, mostly in malls, grocery stores and walking back and forth from parking lots to buildings. it is easy to forget that a day spent in nature is not only rejuvenating, it is a basic human need.

I am, by choice, a slow walker.

I do not get pleasure from counting steps and computing miles. But I do know I need to walk every day in the natural world, even if I am only walking through a nearby nature conservancy,  along a path in a prairie restoration, even in the neighborhood park, a place filled with the recreational amenities of a neighborhood — playground, ball field, basketball hoops — but also open spaces and fields of grasses.

I take my time on these walks.

This is not aerobic exercise, but an exercise for my senses. I see a forest in shades of yellow, gold, orange, red, purple and every color of green and brown imaginable. The wind picks up and blows cool against my face. The sun passes in and out of colors, forcing me to perform an awkward dance of sorts while walking the paths — coat on, coat off, coat on again.

I pick up leaves of oaks and maples, the textures soft and pliable, their colors brilliant and mottled with specks of decay. I kick the piles of leaves at my feet and I gaze at the faraway countryside from the top of the bluffs, land quilted in peak autumn colors – a few farm fields, patches of hardwood forests, prairies, and rolling hills.

A smorgasbord for the senses.

*Wisconsin Glacier – 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. Not only did its receding create the lake that I hiked around, it also created such notable features as the Great Lakes, Long Island, Cape Cod, and Niagara Falls.

November Sky Watch

November Sunset over Lake Kegonsa

November Sunset over Lake Kegonsa © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore

We had a string of days with lots of clouds, and little sunlight. And then yesterday, as we were driving south of Madison, the sun streamed through a narrow space between heavy cloud cover and horizon. We were treated to a few moments of sunshine and then a blood-red sunset.

So I give thanks to the clouds, for adding such stunning color to my sunset stripe.