Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning. ~Lydia M. Child
Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning. ~Lydia M. Child
I like to think of landscape not as a fixed placed but as a path that is unwinding before my eyes, under my feet. ~ Gretel Ehrlich, in introduction to Legacy of Light (1987)
I must confess that I have a weakness of empty places. ~ Tony Hillerman in Travelers’ Tales American Southwest (2001)
I don’t think of prairies (or deserts, for that matter) as empty places.
I see them as open spaces, places where the eye can travel without abrupt barriers, where the land offers opportunity for connection, not a dis-connect.
. . . Fitting floor / For this magnificent temple of the sky. . . ~ William Cullen Bryant (1866, “The Prairies”)
I like to walk in the prairie landscape, in the desert landscape, and be able to see in the distance.
Not distance from a mountain top – there is no easy access to walk the landscape spread before me from a mountain peak – though the view from mountain top is exhilarating, awe-provoking.
No, my preference is to see the distant landscape, and know it is under my feet as well as beyond my gaze.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is getting re-acquainted with the prairie and grasslands in preparation for the next set of Wisdom Cards.
We all walk in mysteries. We do not know what is stirring in the atmosphere that surrounds us. ~ Goethe
There is a great deal of change stirring in the atmosphere that surrounds me today. Somedays it is easier to live in the present moment, and fully experience the present day than at other times. A close relative, one who has been a mother figure in my life for over three decades, is experiencing a rapid decline in her health. Her husband died earlier this year, and she is grieving and frail.
There is always the possibility that she will regain her strength, but this is a difficult time for her and for those of us who love her.
Today, though I am physically far away, I am practicing tonglen. It is not a practice she would be familiar with, but I know she will experience its benefits. Tonglen, in this specific case, is the practice of breathing in and accepting another person’s suffering, then breathing out while sending peace and calm.
That is what I hope for her – peace in the present moment, surrounded by the knowledge that she is loved.
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Bo Mackison wears many hats including those of photographer, writer, and daughter-in-law.
Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin
Rocks, sand, dried bits of plants, shallow roots which disappear into the earth and then reappear a few rocks over, and delicate flowers sprouting the tiniest of blossoms. Simple, yes, but in this square foot of the earth there is a sense of grounding, of balance, and the cycle of life.
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
It is about making space in your life for your important work. It is about letting go of thoughts which rob you of valuable brain space and time. Simplicity means re-thinking your commitments so that you have the time and energy to focus on your priorities.
It means cleaning up loose ends – old promises, unfinished business, a recycled to-do list – things that seem important but remain in a circular file in your brain, stealing time and cluttering valuable space.
. . . choosing simplicity whenever possible adds to life an element of deepest freedom which so easily eludes us, and many opportunities to discover that less may actually be more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is creating a deck of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.
This is a post assembled partly while thinking about last night’s dream and partly while checking my emails this morning — makes for an interesting juxtaposition of ideas.
The dream? A long walk across water on huge, irregular stepping-stones. The stones could have been a replica set designed by the creators of Stonehenge, the ancient English site of healing, ritual, and worship, but also a funerary and a celestial observatory. In the dream, I cautiously, tentatively, cross a sparkling turquoise-blue bay, intent on reaching the shore of pebbly rocks that always are just out of my reach.
Then came my morning message from Tut, a humorous, motivational email that I read every weekday. It informed me that today, June 19th, is World Sauntering Day. Tut provided a link as confirmation, and sure enough, today IS National Sauntering Day, a day dedicated to the art of sauntering.
According to Wikipedia – a source I trust on this sort of trivia – World Sauntering Day is thought to have started at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan in the 1970s. “The Grand Hotel has the world’s longest porch, 660 feet in length. It was a counter response by W.T.Rabe to a growing movement toward the recreation of jogging. The idea of the day was to encourage people to slow down and appreciate the world around them.” Love the idea of a sauntering day!
According to Thesaurus.com, synonyms for sauntering include:
amble
linger
meander
mosey
promenade
ramble
roam
sashay
tarry
traipse
wander
So today I intend to take a saunter around the neighborhood pond, wander through the grocery store, and meander in my garden. It will be a nice counter-point to the arduous struggle I encountered in my dream, leaping from one low stone to another, then swimming to the next stone, taller and angular, which I climbed with the strength of a fingernail grip.
Now I only wish I could promenade on the 660 foot long porch of The Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island this evening as sunset drifts into twilight.
Maybe in my next dream…
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores wherever she travels, even in her dreams.
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