Well, it's been quite a full almost three months since my last post. Sorry for the gap. Starting a new career while trying to get a mountain cabin compound back in order after leaving it for a year and a half has been something. And in the midst of all of that, my finest friend and companion vanished. Honeybear, you expanded my heart and soothed my soul more than I can express, and I hope you have peace, love and lots of half & half wherever you are now.

Getting the career going has been a lot of fun. In addition to working at the cabin, I was practicing in Clarkesville (a small town about 20 miles from me) in a wellness center with Network Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy and Hypnotherapy (along with Qi Gong and Yoga classes), and that was a nice re-entry to the mountains and an opportunity to meet some folks in a community other than my own. Unfortunately the office space was too small for me, so I consolidated my practice to my home office in the log cabin. I just typed "unfortunately," but actually I rather think it was fortunate. Driving back and forth all the time and carrying my table around was a bit of a drag, and further developing my practice in the log cabin has been really sweet, in so many ways. My clients have been wonderful - and they keep coming back, which is most reassuring - and the cabin has always liked visitors, so it's happy too. Also, at this point in my life, it feels really right to be growing into both my space and my work in a new way, and honoring the process of that. Spending more time here, and a different quality of time, has been sort of a ripening. I haven't forgotten the art. I have been enjoying the iPhone camera along and along, with some fun photographing a forest cathedral in the Smokies on a camping trip, the mighty Chattooga, of course, some sunrises out at the lake and continued lily photos around my pond here in Moonfrog Hollow...

Always, the water...

This particular trip to the river, I noticed how the water and stone mimic each other - in these photos I can see how they run right together, almost indistinctly. This fascinates me - that water and stone can so mimic each other and appear as one...

Of course the contrast of soft water and hard rock is somehow reassuring...

And if you live in the mountains, you know how amazing almost everything that blooms has been this year. I have never seen such prolifically beautiful blooms in my life as I have this year - these rhododendrons are a prime example - they just go on and on, and so paper white...

And of course, good, quality time in the woods with special friends needs no further explanation, and I am grateful for these folks who are even willing to follow me bushwhacking into uncharted territories...

Home

Well - I made it back to Georgia last week, and although I'm still unpacking and getting moved into the cabin, I am already set up to work down in Clarkesville at A Garden for Wellness, and I have my home office set up, too.

Yesterday, though, I made it out to the wilderness with my river pal, Laurence. We had a wonderful outing and it was a delight to all the senses along with the Soul!

Fragrance of Fraser Magnolia, Dog Hobble, Galax, river mud, and other blooming things; delicate beauty of Pink Lady Slippers, Trillium, Clintonia,new ferns, bright Bluets, ghosted Hemlocks, Carolina Silver Bells scattered like a light dusting of snow, a hundred shades of green, dwarf irises, more Solomon's Seal than I have ever seen, beautiful bark of old black gum, May Apple blossoms hanging sweetly, Jack in the Pulpit all by himself, orange Flame Azaleas, magnolia blossoms; tart evergreen flavor of young Hemlock tips, fresh green taste of Smilax shoots, hot tea by the river; cool river flowing around toes and shins, heavy rocks to balance on boulders, smoke drifting from kettle fire; sounds of warblers and cardinals, crows, woodpeckers, gurgling creeks, rushing river, quiet crunch of dried brush underfoot, knocking sound of ruffed grouse, and on the way out, ruffed grouse slowly ambling across the gravel road.... It was a wonderful afternoon, and now I feel like I am truly home and ready to get back to work.







Thanks to Laurence, the Ellicott Rock Wilderness and as always to the mighty Chattooga.

Resonance, or what feels natural...

It's feeling like an early Spring here in Gainesville, and I imagine up and down the east coast. I have still been adjusting to living in a new place and slowly feeling my way into a new career and even more slowly leaning toward some kind of social life. This is the most elusive piece for me lately, which is strange because it's never been that way for me in other places. And this is ironic, because when I got to Gainesville and started school the better part of a year ago, it looked a lot like I was in a place more rich with my tribe. Things don't always proceed as we expect, though, and change is always happening.

(These first few are taken on Payne's Prairie in Gainesville, around sunset)






Lately, though, I have had some really special - if fleeting - visits from out of town friends. They have reminded me of the richness that can be found in kindred connections with soul friends. They have reminded me, also, that there are folks out there who share my frequency. Maybe it sounds silly to say this, but I tend to forget this for long stretches of time, and sometimes forget who I am when not often encountering clear soul mirrors.




(These are taken in Washington Oaks State Park south of St. Augustine, FL - A place I always love to visit when I'm over that way. Bruce and I had a nice outing there when he was visiting, and we found some circles...)





Speaking of clear soul mirrors, these are all recent photos from my iphone. I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying taking photos with this phone, and it feels really good - this hipstamatic app is like the instant gratification of developing and printing film without the darkroom time.

(These are from a local park here in Gainesville, about 3/4 mile from my house. I love to go there and stomp around in the primordial creek and find shark's teeth and other treasures... )





I was drawn away from the path to this amazing tree (below) by the beauty of its bark and it's spirit. Would you believe that although I was curious about the depression in the bark and photographed it, I did not see the arrow until I later downloaded the photo....


(And back on the prairie again the next weekend...)



(And then to the beach again...)


This last photo I'm posting not because it's a nice photo (obviously it's not), but because I have been thinking about the dophins. I have been a bit concerned because the last couple times I've been over to the beach I have not seen any, and in between these visits I have seen news postings about mass beachings of dead or dying dolphins. Also, I had a dream of dolphins in shallow waters breaking the water's surface and lifting into the air, then turning into birds and then simply vanishing.

When I got home from the beach late last night and downloaded the photos I took at sunset, I saw the dolphin in this photo. Look at the cloud in the center, top of the photo. I see a dolphin....

New Toy...

Ok, so I got an iPhone a few weeks ago, and then yesterday I finally figured out how to put a cool photo app on it. So far I had only enjoyed the much nicer ring tones than my old 6 year old phone (that was dying) and the calendar that synchs to my laptop (very cool and very useful, considering my budding new career). Now I can take fun photos! And it's a square format, that I have missed so much since borrowing Heinz's Hasselblad while at SI. Here are some of the first shots... Enjoy!


(see if you can find the full moon in the image below)





(full moon)


(full moon)




Also, in the last several days, I have watched a group of 5 soaring sandhill cranes circle overhead five times - making their way up to warmer, faster air, found 5 shark's teeth in a local creek, gone to a party where I didn't know a single person there on arriving, yet met some cool peeps and had some great conversations, I received the best massage ever, have breathed deeply, have given chair massage to some really interesting folks at the hospital, and to some caring teachers at a preschool (some of whom came crying because since they were being surprised they thought they were in trouble) - oh, yeah, was licked by a lemur - and today, before the beautiful full moon came into view, a passing swallowtail butterfly, fluttering by, peed on my lip. I think things are shifting...

Dancing the Shadow

I was in a bit of a funk for a few days. It happens sometimes. And it just is what it is - not something to get hung up on or feel bad about, but something to notice, feel, give a little attention to and simply let it be. Yesterday morning, when a lot of folks were at church, I went to the park, where a crystal clear creek runs. On my last visit I had scoped out just the perfect tree to sit in, that hangs over the creek - so I am suspended in the tree, over the water, under the owls and other tree- and sky-dwelling creatures. It was a beautiful day, and just as I had hoped, I got there at the right time to have the sun shine on me while I was in the tree. It was very quiet, the only noise that stood out was the call of a hawk in the near distance. It is hard to be in a funk while at perfect peace, sitting in such a spot.

Afterward, I continued on to the coffee shop to read over some dreams from the last year and see if I could find some threads that stood out. While there, I got a phone call from a dear friend with some bad news about his health. Pretty devastating news, actually. I was speechless, and sad, and in my mind was looking for the right words to say, the right thoughts, something useful. Shit.

Any funk of mine was history, and now I was in a wholly different space. A space of expansion. The expansion that happens when our Oneness is at hand. When it is viscerally evident that we are all the same, all One, all part of the same whole. I feel it as if it were my own news - is it mine, this disease? I was muttering to myself all the way home on my bike. And when I got home I was very quiet and peaceful, feeling the expansiveness of the Oneness in a different way.

I noticed the light in the back yard - sun slanted low in the late winter afternoon. What was illuminated was a vine in a late stage of life, yellowed and yet still vibrant and alive.


And I noticed the shadow of the vine and tree, seemingly interacting with them. The tree and vine dancing with their shadows, or really vice versa. Later in the evening, still in the haze of the news from my friend, some words came in response to the images.

It is light that defines us
shadow refines us
solidity is only an illusion
we can only see our shadow
from our delusion of self
our true Self contains us
while the ego just claims us
as different, as separate, as whole
our Oneness becomes us
as we see the wholeness
that mostly eludes us
when we look as from loneness
we’ll continue this dance
with our shadows
as long as we walk in the light
and just as we dream
in the nights in between
it’s ours to keep our life bright

My dear friend is a hearty soul. I know that however his journey continues, he will meet its path wholeheartedly and steadfastly, as always, and because of this, I know he will keep whole and bright.



Oh, and if you look closely at the second photo, to the right - in the midst of the shadow - there is a door.