Wabi Sabi Flowers of the Prairie

Autumn Flowers

go to link Wabi Sabi Flowers © 2013 Bo Mackison

see url That art which matters to us – which moves the heart, or revives the soul, or delights the senses, or offers courage for living, however we choose to describe the experience – that work is received to us as a gift is received. ~ Lewis Hyde

https://www.mssbizsolutions.com/1sokmdy I walked the prairie yesterday, or more accurately, I walked a prairie remnant yesterday. So little of the prairie remains, but I am grateful for even the bits of prairie that I explore.

source url I imagine a time when the prairie would have been endless, a spaciousness of waving grasses, stalks of eight feet tall flowers, and no space to even place your feet as you walk through the dense habitation. A prairie is dense.

https://www.mckenziesportsphysicaltherapy.com/3lak76tysn For a while, I followed an animal trail, probably deer, until the path simple vanished and I was in the midst of grasses, browning stalks of plants, all several feet higher than I stood. I stood there awhile, just absorbing the spirit of the autumn prairie. The prairie is no longer deep greens studded with summer yellow flowers; it is muted blue, golden, russet, yellow-green.

Buy Valium Diazepam Uk Standing in the prairie, taking a few photographs of the prairie, I recalled one of my favorite quotes. It is about art, but I can easily apply it, word for word, to explorations in nature. In the midst of this remnant prairie, the experience moves my heart, revives my soul, delights my senses. And yes, surrounded by the natural world, inhaling the dusty air,  studying the flowers turning to seed, and watching the grasshoppers leap from leaf to leaf, the prairie experience offers me courage for living a meaning-filled life.

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go to site Bo Mackison is photographer, book-maker, collector of stories, naturalist, curator and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Today, once again, I walked the prairie and found answers to the questions swirling in my head.

Wandering in Bumpass Hell

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go here First View of Bumpass Hell © 2013 Bo Mackison

follow site http://lisapriceblog.com/s3m45vqur Bumpass Hell is a geothermal area that spans 16 acres in Lassen Volcanic National Park. It has various hot springs, fumaroles, and mud pots accessible by a 3 mile trail. What a sight, once the thermals are in sight.

Bumpass Hell

go here Thermals © 2013 Bo Mackison

go to link The area is named after Kendall Bumpass, a cowboy who lived in the Lassen area in the 1860s. One day Bumpass stumbled upon the area and he was injured when one of his legs broke through the thin thermal crust. He told his friends and townspeople about it, describing it as “hell.”

Bumpass Hell

watch The Reward at the End of Bumpass Hell Trail © 2013 Bo Mackison

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Bumpass Hell Thermals

go to site Wandering in Bumpass Hell © 2013 Bo Mackison

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Bumpass Hell Thermals

https://tudiabetesbajocontrol.com/relanzam/diazepam-order-zolpidem.php Boardwalk through Bumpass Hell Thermals © 2013 Bo Mackison

https://opponix.com/mcztkf9 Boardwalks wander through the thermal area, often with no side rails. it’s a bit daunting to realize that one misstep and the fall could result in severe injuries. But it does give one a clear view of the marvels of the thermals.

Thermal Creek

follow url Kings Creek – Thermal Waters © 2013 Bo Mackison

Buy Diazepam In Bulk The creek running south from the thermals is a milky white, carrying minerals and hot water.

Bumpass Hell Thermals

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Wandering in Bumpass Hell

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Wandering in Bumpass Hell

Bumpass Hell © 2013 Bo Mackison

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Green Vegetation in Bumpass Hell © 2013 Bo Mackison

Some of the areas near the thermals are cool enough to allow vegetation to grow close to the hot springs.

The descriptions were abbreviated because, not only are the National Parks closed during the budget battles, but the National Park websites are also down.

Instead of descriptions, just enjoy the photo travelogue of Bumpass Hell Thermal Area in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California.

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Bo Mackison is photographer, book-artist, collector of stories, naturalist, curator and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Enjoyed hiking the Bumpass Hell trail when I visited California in August.

Listening to the Trees

Redwood National Park

Green © 2013 Bo Mackison

“A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.

“So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”
~ Hermann Hesse

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Bo Mackison is photographer, book-artist, collector of stories, naturalist, curator and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Today I wandered through my many notebooks and journals, in search  of quotes about trees.

Integration – A Prairie Wisdom Card

Integration - A Prairie Wisdom Card

Integration – A Prairie Wisdom Card © 2012 Bo Mackison

Spider teaches you to maintain a balance – between past and future, physical and spiritual, male and female. Spider teaches you that everything you now do is weaving what you will encounter in the future. ~ Ted Andrews, in Animal Speak

The spider’s web is intricate and purposeful. It is a visual reminder that whatever is woven in the gauzy fabric of our past will have an influence – sometimes delicate or unseen – in our present and our future. As the central figure in our life’s web, we are reminded that we are the weaver of our lives , using the threads of our thoughts, words and actions.

“In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real…” ~ Libba Bray

The INTEGRATION card offers activities for contemplation, art, and writing and a call to action:

  • Art activities: Chiaroscuro, an art term, is used in the above quote by Bray, a metaphor for the illusions of light and dark that make up the human spirit.
    • Renaissance artists coined the term “Chiaroscuro” to describe how light and dark convey depth and volume. The word Chiaroscuro is a combination of two Italian words. Chiaro means clear or light + oscuro means obscure or dark. These artists discovered that the use of shading and tonal variety gave a 3D look to a 2D object, transformed a flat drawing into an illusion of dimension.
    • Draw a line drawing of a simple object — perhaps a piece of fruit or a ball. Then shine a light on the side of the object and draw it a second time, adding simple shadows and highlights. Compare the two drawings.
  • Contemplative practice: Compare the differences, nuances, and depth of character between a two-dimensional person and a three-dimensional person. When is a person more likely to be less dimensional? More dimensional?
  • Journal prompts: In your journal, discuss how the combination of shadows and light affect a simple drawing. Discuss how learning about the dark and light characteristics of oneself makes one more authentic, more self-aware, more fully responsible for his or her actions.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a set of Prairie Wisdom Cards, second in her series of cards based on natural habitats, and used for exploration and self-discovery. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, are now available.

Yes, These are Redwoods and They are Magnificent!

Redwood Abstract

Redwood Abstract © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”
~ John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley – In Search of America

Look at these trees.

Coastal redwoods stretching three hundred feet towards the clouds. Examine the details. Can you separate the grooved bark from the whispers of sequoia needles? Can you see your way to the sky? Can you hear their silence, your heart beating as you imagine standing in the red earth of ancient redwoods, peering at this generation of trees?

We hike the Cathedral Trail in Redwoods National Park.

Aptly named. Standing under the these giants, dwarfed and insignificant, this is more of a cathedral than any humanly constructed cathedral ever entered.

I creep into this time vacuum, standing with my palms pressed tightly against a tree’s bark.

I feel the heartbeat of the earth. Standing in redwood earth, crumbled mother tree from ancient days, her offspring encircle me. Nine trees in a ring, I stand and peer through leafy air, see only a suggestion of blue beyond treetops.

In rare sunlight, a potpourri of dust motes swirl about our faces. We are in the presence of the ancients, in a world we barely recognize. Silent soliloquy, the trees speak.

 In August, I stood in the redwood groves of the coastal California.