The fog-laden green soaked mountains are calling to me. I do not hear the waves of the sea or the sea gulls, like some do. But I hear the sing-song of happy birds flitting among the dense forest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I see the gentle, ancient mountains, wind-swept and softened with age and wear.
I look upon the mountains as if it were the first time. The lapse of a year rekindles the flame of love I have for them. Something mystical about them makes me ache for climbs to the top. Something about them energizes my imagination. Somehow, adventures are held in the palm of the daily hand. With what is given, the beauty of nature expresses itself so easily.
This is where I pay attention better. This is where, among the aged trees and the chilled waterfalls, I feel God's presence and so much of my own past. Here on these mountains my family has camped and spent many hours hiking the trails from when I was a little girl. Memories mix with a spiritual renewal, and I am filled.
To build upon the past, here we will meet again.
It's one of those mornings where I have to fit 25 different things (errands, chores, tasks) into a very short amount of time. It's one of those weeks where every hour is filled with important things that must get done. The feeling of being stretched thin comes to mind. I can hear Bilbo Baggins in my head saying he feels like butter being scraped over too much bread.
But that only make me hungry.
I have been going, going, going at work and outside of work. Sometimes it becomes so much of my subconscious, I have dreams about it. And I have had some strange dreams lately. I wake up in the midst of one, stranger than the previous night's and as I stand up and make my bed in the morning, I think about it and why on earth I would have had a dream like that. But as I make coffee, it is already fading away to the back recesses of my mind.
Are we given too much to handle? I don't think so. I think God equips us with what we need to get it done. We may not choose to see that, but He is still there. I may feel overwhelmed sometimes with work, studying, and all the things that need to get done once I leave work, but it is temporary. It waxes and wanes each week like the moon. Always shifting and changing with schedules and plans. It won't last forever. Relief will come, and it may be unexpected. It may be a welcomed burst of rain on a hot, dry day. Like all the days we've been encountering lately.
At the end of the day, I glance out my window at the sunset and stand there for a moment.
A pause.
To appreciate the work of creation that our Creator displays. It is a beautiful sky we live underneath, is it not? It is different each day, but it is always built upon the days of old. The beauty and creativity of our Creator lives inside of us, too.
Sometimes, I want to let my photographs tell the story. Sometimes my brain is overflowing with words and thoughts.
Where do I go with my thoughts at the end of a long day, or week? As the sky rumbles with thunder and the dark clouds drop water molecules, where do I go? When my brain is crammed with so much to think and do.
I wonder if we were to add an hour or two to the day, how that would affect everything. Schedules would be a mess. All the clocks would be wrong. Our sleep patterns would be horribly disrupted. We would think, at first, that it is a good thing. Extra hours in the day to get more done. How strange our world would quickly become.
The rainstorm at present is a cloudburst. Heavy and unyielding. A sudden river formed in the alley behind my home, flowing down toward the end of the street. Leaves are floating along, rushing down the narrow passage downhill. Since I am at the top a hill (hill in the Florida sense), it all flows away.
What if the flow suddenly reversed and decided to run toward me? Uphill?
What if the rain that falls decided to defy gravity and simply hang in the air as droplets? How strange our world would be is one small thing of our world familiar was altered. It would seem like we were dipping our minds into the imagination.
Our lives are like streams that flow in one direction. Once we pass through the grassy field of delight we cannot go back. But up ahead is a lovely trail we will pass through, so pay attention, because time only goes one way.
A God in whose words there is such a height of figures,
such voyages, such peregrinations to fetch remote and precious metaphors...
- John Donne
Be calm.
Just be still.
The sky is reaching twilight.
A cool mint blue is fading slowly, resting on the horizon. Sinking lower under the weight of the deeper blue. Glowing fades into a gentle midnight as the minutes pass. Darker and darker the world becomes.
I sit on my sofa with my study materials. A cup of tea is steaming on the table next to me. The summer heat outside may be intense, but in here it is chilled, and I pull on my long cardigan. The cool air swirls around me and I am thankful for it. It keeps my mind awake.
It all fades to black, or deepest blue if it is the sky. I think about how another day fades. Was it productive? Did I make the most of the hours today? What do I need to do more of?
Pray.
That is what I need more of, always. More time in a meditative, thoughtful posture with prayerful musings. Be still. Know that God is God. Listen and be attentive. And the prayer will flow out of those moments.
Collected and compiled into a small, square book are some of my favourite photographs from my recent stay in Oxford. I open up the book and flip the first page and I am back at Lincoln College, looking outside the windows toward the library. Then, I am walking back to Turl Street Kitchen, where I will be drinking endless cups of cappuccinos.
I will gladly walk these streets of Oxford again, and I can do that easily with this little book I made. And I can also let you walk the streets, in a sense. Use your imagination, okay?
I wanted to make a little book of photos to pull out of my bag and show people, and I am so impressed with the quality of the paper and the images, especially the colour. I will happily share my delight in the loveliness of the book. My book of Oxford.
There is something special about the tangible photo. I've always loved a handheld memory that you can easily show someone, or tuck into a book as a bookmark. This book is what I can tuck into my bag and bring along with me.
If you are thinking about making a photo book, or some prints, consider Artifact Uprising. They make some beautiful prints. All these photos were from my iPhone. I imagine an SLR would produce something even better.
Afternoon delight via Oxford Exchange
- A cup of coffee and a cappuccino
- People watching
- Contemplating more time spent like this
- Talking with good friend Emily about whatever pops into mind
- Browsing the book shop
- Thinking about reading all the books
- Sitting on mustard yellow chairs
- Taking in a scene while taking a deep breath
- Enjoying a cappuccino to the last sip
- Admiring a girl's brown book that stuck out of her bag
- Dreamily imagining oneself on holiday
- Watching other people order coffee
- Staying cool inside while the heat of summer rises
- Feeling thankful for the little moments of rest and enjoyment
A day of exploring Saint Petersburg. Emily and I had such a grand time.
I haven't really explored much in Saint Petersburg, and downtown is so vibrant with a lot of new places mixed with the old buildings, so it was like a whole new city for me. I am so thankful for the lovely Emily to spend time with. We never run out of things to talk about, and enjoy all these adventures of history and local spots of cities.
Our first stop was the Brocante Market, which only opens one weekend each month. The doors were just opening as we got there, and we stepped into a huge warehouse with 15,000 square feet of antiques and vintage treasures. All kinds of furniture, nick nacks, dishes, collectibles, and decor was on display. It was crowded. The secret is out about this spot, but everyone was nice and nobody was crazy. We didn't have anything specific we were looking for, but ended up finding a couple of little treasures. As crowded as it was, it was a well-oiled machine. The workers kept the lines moving and kept things organized. It's a great spot to get all your flea market, antique store craving out of your system all at once.
After our marketing, we were hungry, so we ate breakfast (second breakfast) at Cassis American Brassiere, which is a restaurant, bakery with a European flair. The place is beautiful, spacious, and a block from the pier and marina. The food was delicious. We certainly did not have a dull breakfast. We drank freshly squeezed orange juice and ate quiche, fresh greens, eggs, red potatoes sauteed with bell peppers and onions, homemade sausage, and an almond croissant.
Next, it was coffee time. We decided to try a local favourite, Kawha Coffee. The moment we stepped inside we felt like it was a local spot. All the tables were full with people working on their laptops or spending time with family or friends. I noticed a special drink as I approached the counter - vanilla lavender iced latte. I cannot resist anything lavender, so we both ordered that drink and sat at the beautiful tiled table sipping the delicious latte, recharging for our next stop.
Haslam's Bookshop has been there for 50 years. It is a large shop that almost spans a block. It was my first visit, so I had to check out all the rooms and sections to see what books they had. I kept finding sections of books to browse, then I would turn around and find more. Poor Emily was so patient as I browsed. And then as we were making our purchases, a fierce thunderstorm broke out overhead, and we were trapped in the store for another 45 minutes. It was the kind of lightning that cracks and hits all around the building, and the rain came down in heavy sheets. There was no choice but to wait. Emily found the behind-the-scenes shot of the messy stacks of books piled up high with an old monitor in the middle. It's a scene straight out of the 90's.
As the storm started to slow down, we eventually got out of there safely, and onward to our last stop of the day, a special spot in Tampa. But that will be reserved for the next post.
There may be times when what is most needed is, not so much new discovery or a new idea as a different 'slant'; I mean a comparatively slight readjustment in our way of looking at the things and ideas on which attention is already fixed.
- Owen Barfield
June is here!
I am not sure why I write that with an exclamation point. Maybe I should subtract that out. It's not as if I love the month of June (I mean, we are three days in and I am just now acknowledging June), or feel any sort of delight in the season that is upon us. In fact, it brings us deeper into summer, which initiates feelings of melancholy (oh the heat!). However, the only way out of summer is to go through it. So, here we are at the beginning of a new month, and that is always refreshing. We are one month closer to the end of summer. That is how I will look at it. In the meantime, here is another month in which we can indulge in nectarines, crushed ice, afternoon rainstorms, and sun hats. There are good things to behold in this month.
Perhaps Owen Barfield would like my readjustment of what I am looking at as not a mere slant, but viewing it in a different way. One that is less dependent on how other people feel, by going generally against the grain of the collective thought. But I shan't pretend to know what I am talking about yet, as I just began reading his book Saving the Appearances. I will continue reading and trying to absorb his deep, philosophical thinking, and share some prolific thoughts that emerge.
Feel free to welcome June if you want to. I know you are kind of enthusiastic about it.
What comes between us and God?
That is the question we need to ask each day. For each person, it is different. It could be objects, emotion, other people. Something tends to stand in between us and God. It is one of those aforementioned things that causes us to struggle, even though all of these things are most likely good in and of themselves.
Perhaps if we would stop placing other things in our central view, we would see, as we refocus, that our God, the Creator of the universe, is there for us. It is in Him that our planning should be placed.
Here is where I need to practice. I think we all do. The centre object in focus is not always God. While we may be praying about something, we hang onto it with our own desires attached. We don't truly let Him take care of it.
But what causes us to stray or fall off the straight and narrow?
I think a lot of it is expectations.
Expectations we set on ourselves based on someone else, or many other people, or culture.
Worldly views and expectations.
We see in the world what we think is what our lives should be, and if we set our minds to be there, then our decisions and goals lead us there. But every situation is different. Every person is different. We are perused and prodded by friendly folks we know asking about being married, having children, or moving on to a next step. While they do not mean any harm, they are instituting the worldly expectations on us all the time if they do not know us deeply. If you are not moving along with the ways of the world, there must be something wrong with you, right? General acquaintances do not know our souls and our lives. Family and dear friends do.
Think about how deeply certain people know you. You could probably name the people in your life who know you so deeply, they can finish your sentences for you and read your mind. If these special people know you and can predict what you need and when you need it, just think about God and how He somehow knows us to the core. He does not predict, like us mere mortals. He knows all.
I hope we do not let the crowded voices of the world make our decisions. I hope our decision-making is based on more than what we know, or think we know. With prayers and mindful thinking. Not emotional and of-the-moment thinking. But thoughtful and deep thinking. This is when the things that come between us and God vanish. And it's just us and God. As it should be.
The book in her hand seemed to prickle a little, as if it were impatient to be read.
- Diane Duane
This is my dilemma. A stack of books on my piano. A stack of books on my coffee table. Bookshelves full of books, from end to end. From shelf to shelf. I want to read them all the time. At every moment when at home, I'd rather be reading. The books on the table should not have the chance to collect dust. They should be touched, picked up, and read. Everyday.
It always seems to be that I want to read when I have other things I need to do. It is always then that I have the un-tameable desire to open my book that is there, staring at me, impatient to be read, and saying "read me". But there are always other things that have to draw my attention away. And sometimes you have to attend to those things.
The rain sprinkled this afternoon. Just mere droplets misting down, almost reluctantly. I didn't sense a desire in those clouds to produce any real rain, but oh how I longed for a good rain shower so I could curl up on my sofa and get lost in a book. Weather does have a say in the matter. It stayed hot, humid, and shifty all afternoon, so I studied instead.
