 |
| Kayaking Among The Fallen Leaves |
 |
| 7:36 |
 |
| 7:52 |
 |
| 8:09 |
 |
| 8:20 |
One of my favorite poems, as relevant and frightening today as when it was written in 1919
“The Second Coming” - William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Well, I did it, slept in as we lose an hour, so I was up at 6:30 which 24 hours ago, would have been 7:30. This morning's sky was bizarre, different even for a morning sky. Light blue with streaks of white in the sky, a light fog below hovering over the lake. It's 43º and will get into the 50's later in the day.
 |
| On The Water |
 |
| Magnolia Duck Blind |
We woke up yesterday, excited to have a beautiful day ahead of us. After our coffee and breakfast, we got out our life jackets, put on our boots, and stepped carefully into our kayaks. It was a lovely morning to be on the lake, as we paddled down to Whitney Bay, often passing through patches of leaves, having fallen off the trees. Once again, we seemed to be the only ones on the lake, in fact, we saw few residents along the lake shore. We were out for a good hour, taking our time, in no hurry to get back because it was so pleasant, little wind, warm sun.
 |
| A Renoir? |
 |
| Grasses, Pond, Trees |
When we got back, Evie mentioned the trash and I had completely forgotten that I had to take our trash to the Transfer Center. So we gathered it up, plastics, cans, bottles and off I went to get rid of it, my only weekly responsibility, one I almost forgot. I then had a quick lunch, soup and Evie made me a fattoush salad, with toasted pita bread. We then got ready for a half hour drive to the Audubon Community Nature Center on Riverside Road, south of Jamestown. We were surprised at the almost empty parking lot on a sunny but pleasantly cool afternoon.
 |
| Following A Narrow Path |
 |
| Rusty Browns Of Late Fall |
 |
| Aesthetics of Verticals |
We have hiked the grounds before, knew what to expect but because we both brought our cameras, we always see something different along the trail, whether woods, ponds, grasses, or landscape. Looking for the perfect photograph makes us pay attention to our walk, avoid daydreaming, and we usually end up with a great photograph. And it's fun, being present, in the moment, mindful. We were out for little over an hour, which we expected. We then went into the center and I joined up, wanting to support the center which is really treasure in the area. I just wish more people took advantage of it. We hope to be back in the winter and cross country ski the grounds because it's relatively flat.
 |
| Cage Of Trees |
 |
| Into The Woods |
We then drove to Wegman's, our second of three planned stops for Saturday and left with a full cart though we started with a small list, compliments of my wife, who never saw a goodie she didn't want. Just kidding. We then made the mistake of stopping at Art Sample's Trees And Nursery. We bought a couple of trees from him last year and Evie just wanted to look...right. We left we almost a hundred bucks worth of plants and a tree, all a deal of course, at least half price if not more. We did get a Pee Gee Hydrangea for 12 bucks, a real deal. So both Evie and I have our work planned for today, Evie figuring out where to put the plants, me digging the holes.
We were home just before 5:00, in time for Evie to get our dinner ready, pulling our leftovers from Friday night's dinner out of the refrigerator, ready to zap in our microwave. And we settled down on our couch, with a glass of wine, some St. Andre cheese and crackers and enjoyed our last sunset of Daylight Saving Time. Tonight it will start getting dark around 5:00 rather than 6:00, as winter nears. When we got hungry, Evie microwaved the rigatoni and perch, and we had a pretty good dinner, with a salad and we treated ourselves to lots of laughs but also fear as we watched Bill Maher's Real Time. He finally got an interview President Obama which was interesting. Obama is so thoughtful, intelligent, and reasonable, a perfect foil for you know who. We did not go to bed until late, knowing we had an extra hour to sleep in.
This morning I have been listening to a debate on CSPAN about the role of church in politics, what the Constitution means by the separation of church and state. And since it is the Sunday before the election, we need to be reminded of the Founder's separation between church and state. Churches are to stay out of politics, are to avoid any 'explicit electioneering' (endorsing a candidate). Morality is the churches purview, not politics. And as conservative Republican Barry Goldwater reminds us, "Mark my words, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they are sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem...frankly, these people frighten me."
No comments:
Post a Comment