Namaste
Red Raven Retreat, MN | July 2012
I see the delicate web of your wings, the fingerprint of you.
I see the amber color of your downy back, as the sun warms you.
I see the glasp of your legs, with head bowed.
We come together to share the space and energy of the beats between.
Gathered
Red Raven Retreat, MN | July 2012
It seems as if the ferns have gathered my tears
Pooled with the reflection of the sky
Let these tears nourish all things living
Let these tears inter all things that have passed
Direction
Gull Lake, MN | July 2012
If my aim is true I head in the direction I intend.
My velocity is the effort I put into that aim and the depth is a product of that effort.
If my aim misses then I must accept I have ended up in a direction differing from my vision but if I accept I will always better my depth.
Should time run out and I no longer can take aim and cast out, then it will be time to turn in and savor all that has past before.
Bill took some amazing photos of the first moose and then the second set we viewed on our trip to Fairbanks Alaska.
Great eye Bill!
Let the Rain Fall Down
Stampede Trail | Healy, Alaska | July 2012
Never curse the rain
Never fear the thunder
Never run for cover
Going Green
Fairbanks, Alaska | July 2012
How green is your forest
How tall are your trees
How fresh is your air
Fireweed
Fairbanks, Alaska | July 2012
I never tasted a flower so sweet when spread on toast as a jam.
Wild Blue Yonder
Whenever I think of Alaska I will always remember, the wild blue yonder of the eternal day-lit skies.
Chena Dome Trail | Alaska 2012
“The name for the Chena River in Fairbanks is derived from the Tanana Athabascan name Ch’eno’. In this case the literal meaning is quite interesting. The word is composed of the “indefinite” possessor plus the stem meaning ‘river’ and thus literally means ‘river of something’, where the ‘something’ is a veiled reference to game animals, especially caribou. The inference to be made is that this was a good place for hunting caribou — so good, in fact, that it was worth avoiding explicit mention of that game.”
Hidden
Hidden inside the bleak torrent of the thunder storm
Folded in a tight bud
Summer waits
For the expected
Deeply Exposed
Drawing a life between rough edges
Obstacles of varying size, shape, matter
Strength shadowed at times
By casualties beneath tough exteriors
Rings of wisdom hidden
Gnarled pockets of thought
Seasonal whispers hushed
Misplaced trust deeply exposed
Partial Eclipse of the Sun
*Same* Bridge Deck | *Still* St. Paul, MN 2012
And to quote a lyric from one of my favorite all time hands down best album
“and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.”
Only this time it is a partial eclipse.
Sunset
*Same* Bridge Deck | *Still* St. Paul, MN 2012
Again, no filter.
What is sacrificed in clarity is compensated with color.
A huge thank you to my partner who puts up with my wanting to climb over bridge decks
and hang out staring into a view finder watching a solar eclipse sunset.
MoonDogs
Bridge Deck | St. Paul, MN 2012
Solar Eclipse May 2012
Moon Dog shadows.
Refraction of light because I did not use a filter.
Returning
Red Raven Retreat | Willow River, MN 2012
“In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things.
In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me.”
~ John Fowles
New Life
Red Raven Retreat | Willow River, MN 2012
Ferns are sprouting new life in the woods.
Uncurling from their tight buds of soft downy fur.
A first leaf born from a newly sprouted stalk ~ expands.
Totem
Red Raven Retreat | Willow River, MN 2012
The Ravens call our arrival.
I swear they follow the black truck from the freeway exit.
They fly over and watch and wait.
As I watch and wait as they fly over.
Shelter
Oberg Mountain | Lutsen, MN 2012
These trees remind me of my son and me.
Two strong and independent individuals.
Both with scars from growing and learning.
Just as a parent attempts to shelter their young…
There comes a time when that life must seek out their own sunlight to bask in.
The trees are leaning toward that same light
The younger planted straighter, with an eager reach pulling away.
Still the two are one and the same, one born of the other.
It is time for the aged cedar to relent…
As the day will approach when the new growth
Will take the place of the wizened cedar as it falls to rest.
Snowman
Living in a land that is covered with snow for 1/3 of the year I found the only way to survive is to get out in the elements.
We have snowshoe’d in weather as extreme as negative 20 degrees, photos of frozen hair to prove it. There are some who say “your nuts” to those I merely smile and say “yes, I am”!
The tree and snowscape was taken at a local state park Wild River State Park in North Branch, MN
The image of the man in the snow was taken during a photo shoot with a kindred spirit and friend.
This is my attempt at merging spirits, Mother Earth, Old Man Winter and a wise Shaman.
follow the Twisted Root 