A Crack in Everything

Danger - Thin Ice

There is a Crack © 2012 Bo Mackison

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

~  Anthem by Leonard Cohen

The link is to the song on YouTube. Interesting, thought-provoking lyrics, interesting talk-sing voice. I love the line “forget your perfect offering.” I don’t usually post a lot of quotes on one post, but I kept finding quotes about imperfection that I wanted to remember, and this seemed like a good place for this compilation. It is a good thing to remember — no one is perfect. Imperfect is human, humans are imperfect.

Both our senses and our passions are a supply to the imperfection of our nature; thus they show that we are such sort of creatures as to stand in need of those helps which higher orders of creatures do not. ~ Joseph Butler

If you look closely at a tree you’ll notice it’s knots and dead branches, just like our bodies. What we learn is that beauty and imperfection go together wonderfully. ~ Matthew Fox
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Imperfection clings to a person, and if they wait till they are brushed off entirely, they would spin for ever on their axis, advancing nowhere. ~ Thomas Carlyle
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Persuade thyself that imperfection and inconvenience are the natural lot of mortals, and there will be no room for discontent, neither for despair. ~ Ieyasu Tokugawa
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The fastest way to break the cycle of perfectionism and become a fearless mother is to give up the idea of doing it perfectly – indeed to embrace uncertainty and imperfection. ~ Arianna Huffington
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There is a kind of beauty in imperfection. ~ Conrad Hall
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Bo Mackison is a photogrpaher and owner of  Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

 

Here Comes the Sun – Sunrise at the Grand Canyon

A tribute to the winter solstice, with heartfelt joy that each day will now start a bit sooner, last a bit longer.

Sunrise at the Grand Canyon:

Grand Canyon Sunrise 7:55 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 7:55 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:05 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:05 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:19 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:19 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:23 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:23 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:24 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:24 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:29 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:29 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:33 AM

Grand Canyon Sunrise 8:33 AM © 2010 Bo Mackison

The wonder of it, the wonder of the sunrise. Each morning, one of the grandest shows on earth, available for your viewing pleasure. Weather permitting.

Sunrise at Black Sand Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Viewing Black Sand Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison

Black Sand Basin is a rather isolated group of thermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. There are several jewel colored pools and geysers in the area, but I had a hard time concentrating on the specific geysers because the earliest light from the sunrise hitting the steam in 40˚F weather had turned this area, already a Wonderland, into a gigantic, purplish-yellow kaleidoscope of almost unnatural, but dazzling color.

There were only two other visitors at this time of the day, but it was one of the highlights of my three days in Yellowstone. Later, when I watched Old Faithful–the big geyser draw in the park–amongst a noisy crowd of onlookers, I kept thinking I had already seen the real show — at sunrise in Black Sand Basin.

Driving at Dawn

I had a busy Saturday planned. I had an assignment to do some travel writing at a destination about 2 hours north of my home. The festival started at 8 a.m. with a tour of a National Wildlife Refuge, then a 10 o’clock workshop on nature photography by the Refuge Artist in Residence, and an afternoon trip to a cranberry bog. Plus a chicken dinner and the unveiling of this year’s edition of Whooper Brew after the bog trip.

(Hint: I went to the Crane Fest held in Necedah, Wisconsin, and I’ll share some stories and a few photos on the cranberries, the beer, and the whooping cranes in a later post.)

I haven’t been sleeping well for some unknown reason, and so when the alarm rang at 5:30 this morning I was none too excited. I managed to drag myself out of bed after getting maybe 2 hours of sleep, and I was rather grumbly as I got in the car. It was foggy and gray, and I was relieved I didn’t have to do the driving.

Wisconsin Countryside at Dawn

Wisconsin Countryside at Dawn © 2008

And then I blinked open my eyes as the skies lightened. Wow! I woke up pretty darn fast.

Wisconsin Farm at Dawn

Wisconsin Farm at Dawn © 2008

I fumbled around in the back seat until found my camera. Needless to say, we didn’t make it to the festival at the appointed time.

And Finally, A Rearview Mirror Sunrise

And Finally, A Rear View Mirror Sunrise © 2008

Finally, after we pulled over to the side of the road for the fifth time for just “one more photo,” the sun actually appeared, and the dawn was over – so we could get on with our drive.

Sunrise at Sea

Sunrise at Sea © 2008 Bo Mackison

Sailing off the Florida Keys, the sun’s rays light the skies above the ocean,

Days later, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, the sun disappeared. Diagonal winds crossed the ship’s deck at 45 mph and the ship sailed through 12-18 foot waves. After all day turbulence (as in staggering while walking,) the formal dining rooms were quite empty for dinner. No surprise.