Magpie Tale -Rainbow

storms come and go
the earth may quake
this much I know
you are always there
when I need you
most

c.m. jackson 2011


This is a magpie tale--walk on over here for some shelter from the storm..
Hope you and yours are safe and sound after this week's show of what Mother Nature can do..

I felt the earth move under my feet...

An earthquake with its epicenter near Richmond Virginia measuring 5.8 on the richter scale rumbled up the east coast this afternoon. Buildings in Manhattan were evacuated and the tunnels were closed for a bit. Wasn't quite sure what I was feeling until it was over. Wow!

Thankfully there is little damage and it appears that everyone in this area is ok. Here's to a quiet and uneventful evening.



"You don't need a weatherman to know..."

I came across this and thought it was a preview for a new horror movie...with over 1,000 tornadoes in the US, record flooding in the northwest and drought in the southwest--all I can think is fasten our seat belts...




an explanation...

Magpie Pie Tales-Points of Life



Wheat Field with Rising Sun, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

Resting on a mountain top
A cool wind moves across
The valley
Revealing a field of color
Alive and moving
A patchwork of light
Memories
Float through my mind
Max jumping over a fence
My nephews laughing 
A first glance from the man I love 
Red hot

Canyonlands

Zion

Bryce

Blue Sky

New Mexico

Dust and grit

Of the trails and life

White cool 

Smooth genius of

Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

Rustling of olive leaves in Tuscany

A gondolier's oar as it moves

Through the Grand Canal

Like a wildfire

Moments of time

Speed through my mind

So many

Points of light

Life

Eagles cry

As I descend

The future before me.

 

C.M. Jackson 2011

 

 

 

 

This is a Magpie Tale----paint your way here for more color!

 

 



Amazing

The new azalea garden is open at the NY Botanical Garden----a wonderful way to spend an afternoon-check it out!!

Magpie Tale-In the Garden of Eden

the whirligigs fly
high
dandelions float
up into the deep blue
sky
the lark
mourning dove
and thrush
sing harmony
dreams born
in the early morning
rays
warm green breezes
of leaves just awakened
from slumber
shimmy and shake
the whippoorwill
carries the day
into night
the song of the possible
glistening in a darkening sky
hope
like a falling star lands
in the palm
a prayer
for those gone
for those near
and far
St. Francis
you know who
they are

C.M. Jackson 2011

This is a magpie tale---fly here for more flights of fancy...

Magpie Tales-Born

Life is easy
Living work
The weight
Your future
Rests in my hands

Heart beating

Against my breast

I hear Elsa roar

The four winds blowing

I can only teach and hope

Hold tight

Knowing the path is long

Letting go

My heart beating

The roar in my ears

I kiss the earth

As I watch you

Walking

Away

C.M Jackson 2011

This is a Magpie Tale... go here for more....to all the Mom's out there, kudos to you! Happy Mother's Day!

Flowers in the Desert

I spent the last two days of 2010 reading. For me,  reading is the best way to slow down and begin a period of introspection.

Recommended by my dear friend, Mercedes, I chose "The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir" because I longed for the warm sun of the desert and I was looking for a way to quiet my mind after the holiday rush and focus on my goals for the coming new year.

Sometimes the best way to find clarity or a solution is to literally walk away. I walked with Silko as she spoke about her thirty years in the Tucson desert, feeling blessed to be there and how she made friends with the rattlesnakes, pack rats and bees understanding the tenuous balance that existed between the wild and not so wild. I listened as she worried about the approaching development and destruction of the desert by bulldozers, painting small white crosses on boulders to ward off Machine Man like she had seen in the petroglyphs left on the boulders by the ancient people centuries earlier. I cried when the owls raided her aviary and killed her beloved macaws.

Silko explores the sacred and mystical quality of turquoise.

"When I was a child, people at Laguna and people in Spanish-speaking villages nearby used to paint the doors and window frames bright turquoise blue to keep away witches. The Spanish-speaking people used to save the bright blue stamps that sealed the Bull Durham tobacco bags, and whenever they had headaches they wore the bright blue stamps on their foreheads to stop the pain."

Thrilled whenever a piece of turquoise appeared on the trail, she returns home and places the new found treasure on her desk among the other treasures, writing or painting about that particular piece of turquoise and where she had found it.

With the recent shootings in Tucson, I am recalling the peace I felt as 'walked' with Leslie and the strength I get whenever I am in this part of the country, envisioning bits of turquoise being left by the ancient people for those harmed and lost as well as their families in the hopes that their pain will be eased and the healing will begin.

Theme Thursday-Brown

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

-Rachel Carson

There are many shades of brown, my favorites are found on the trail. Hike on over to Theme Thursday for more.

Life Lessons

I read Gift from the Sea ten years ago and picked it up again last week. Mrs. Lindbergh's view of life unfolds in relation to the shells she picks up on the beach. With each shell, she reveals thoughts about responsibilities and relationships. She found solace in the quiet and simple life her beach house offered.

I look at my shells, far away from a beach, my rocks, far away from the trail, remembering the peace, the space, acknowledging the tide, her wisdom and the blessings I have been given.

An excerpt follows:
Gift from the Sea-Anne Morrow Lindbergh


Argonauta


"Intermittency — an impossible lesson for human beings to learn. How can one learn to live through the ebb-tides of one's existence? How can one learn to take the trough of the wave? It is easier to understand here on the beach, where the breathlessly still ebb tides reveal another life below the level which mortals usually reach. In this crystalline moment of suspense, one has a sudden revelation of the secret kingdom at the bottom of the sea. Here in the shallow flats one finds, wading through warm ripples, great horse conchs pivoting on a leg; white sand dollars, marble medallions engraved in the mud; and myriads of bright-colored cochina-clams, glistening in the foam, their shells opening and shutting like butterflies' wings. So beautiful is the still hour of the sea's withdrawal, as beautiful as the sea's return when the encroaching waves pound up the beach, pressing to reach those dark rumpled chains of seaweed which mark the last high tide.


Perhaps this is the most important thing for me to take back from beach-living: simply the memory that each cycle of the tide is valid; each cycle of the wave is valid; each cycle of a relationship is valid. And my shells? I can sweep them all into my pocket. They are only there to remind me that the sea recedes and returns eternally" Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Theme Thursday-Help!!!

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.


Henry Ford



If there is a place in this country that epitomizes character and the ability to move forward against all odds, it is New Orleans and the Gulf region. The gulf oil spill is not only an environmental disaster unlike any that we have experienced but also is an event which threatens a way of life for the people who live and work in the area.

As BP works to stop the oil flowing into the Gulf, the companies who were working to find oil safely (if there is a safe way) are leaving the region and a moratorium has been placed on future drilling. So those jobs along with fishing are in danger of being lost for good.

The Gulf Oil spill is a wake up call to all of us to recognize the limits of our fragile environment, question our reliance on oil and find a way to "do the right damn thing."

Let's move forward and start thinking how we all can help.

Today is Thursday and the theme is help. For more thoughts on the subject, take a look here.

Theme Thursday-Ball

Arnaldo Pomodoro's sculpture "Sphere within a Sphere" is located in the Vatican City in Rome. I first saw it in '99 when the city of Rome was getting ready for 2000. Rome was sparkling--no graffiti or soot. I was mesmerized then and took many shots, all film. I am disappointed that I can't show my view in '99 next to my view in 2007 when Mr. Jackson and I visited on our honeymoon.

For me this particular shot reflects the heavens above and  the 'skyline' of ancient Rome separated by what looks like technology or progress. Today, I can't help but think about the Gulf oil spill and the wars that continue.

Today is Theme Thursday. Drop by here.

Words

I have watched this horrible event evolve and cannot believe in two months time that we haven't found a way to make what is happening in the gulf stop. As we drink our morning coffee or tea, a way of life and a sea is dying. Words will not change the situation. Action will. How can we as a country stop this from happening again? Food for thought. There is nothing natural about this disaster and we as a people should be standing up and demanding not only answers but solutions.

Flash 55-Just Talking

Old maple stands against a melon sky. Another year, whirligigs ready, leaves waiting for release; no one expects that you can last through the next winter. I spent the last ten years talking to you and shielding you from harm. It’s personal now. Age affects us all. How can we weather the coming storms together?

Have a story to tell? If you can tell it in 55 words--make certain you tell the g-man! It is after all, Flash Friday! Have a great weekend all!

Earth Day

 

 

A Cliff Dwelling

There sandy seems the golden sky

And golden seems the sandy plain.

No habitation meets the eye

Unless in the horizon rim,

Some halfway up the limestone wall,

That spot of black is not a stain

Or shadow, but a cavern hole,

Where someone used to climb and crawl

To rest from his besetting fears.

I see the callus on his soul

The disappearing last of him

And of his race starvation slim,

Oh years ago - ten thousand years.

Robert Frost

Flash 55-No More Popsicle Toes

Sixty degrees
Snow melting
Sky blue
Endless possibilities
Ever changing
Energizing
One day changes
Everything
Spring is near
Songs to be sung
Sap runs
Limbs loosen
See me run
Happy and carefree
Like a child
Whisper of
Summer breezes
Warm
Salty
Sandy
Toes wiggling
Waves tickling
All is possible
If you believe
Spring has
Sprung.

If you can write it 55 words--join Flash Friday and tell the g-man!

btw, the weather this weekend says rain, wind and lots of it--spring is roaring into town! Have a great weekend!

Snow More...

Snow Day Two. Can't remember the last time we had two days of snow--Max and I took a walk around the block to investigate. Just about 20 inches fell between yesterday and this morning. Snow squalls are taking turns with the sunshine. Here's hoping we get a thaw this weekend. Right now I am on the look out for a rainbow--perfect climate conditions.

Enjoy the weekend!

Theme Thursday-Climate Change

To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of year, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.” --Rachel Carson

Water has the power to give and take life. Global warming is changing weather patterns throughout the world so that dust storms in June Saville's Australia are becoming commonplace. My love of the southwest comes with an understanding that the quest for water has been going on for centuries. The dams, while insuring the availability of water, have changed the environment, destroyed tribal burial grounds and ruins and caused the extinction of many types of wildlife. The droughts of the last decade have allowed a beetle to take root in many of the trees located throughout Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado causing them to become even more susceptible to fire and certain death.

I treasure my walks. It keeps me focused and close to what is real. The more people are allowed to experience nature, the more they will stand up and fight for it. Therefore, I talk and write about my hikes to whoever will listen! I contribute to causes that protect our National Park System, keep green spaces green  and protect our wildlife. Conserving resources, like water and energy, do make a difference. I drive less, carry my water to work in a reusable Sigg bottle, unplug and turn-off as much as I can whenever I leave my home and office.

Margaret Mead said it best, "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

"This land is your land.." Woody Guthrie

"This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me" -Woody Guthrie

There is something about the great beyond that calls me and captures my attention. I feel blessed that I discovered a joy in walking through the woods, the wilderness and the rocks. My last post was about 'wild', the wilderness and what it offered to me. To me a new hike is like Christmas morning---the presents are under the tree but the tree is a few miles away!

So when I saw this program listed on PBS I felt Christmas came early. Check it out!

One of the wonderful things about blogging is finding kindred spirits--

Take a look at this site and the wonders that Pat experienced as they traveled through some of the great national parks. Pat's music tells me she felt the quiet majesty and the beauty. Enjoy!

Rain Dance

The latest forecast calls for two days of rain. I'm one of those people who likes rain. It is wonderful because there is no guilt or angst about being inside. I find ways to putter around the house, looking over my books or photos, reading the NY Times and catching up on movies the rest of the universe has seen last year.

If I am really fired up, I can clean or pretend that I am Julia Child and whip up a fancy dinner for Mr. Jackson. Or, maybe two days might be just enough time to get through my closet. This particular closet holds a lifetime of clothes and shoes and purses and stuff. If I get too near the door, I hear a low growl or rumbling.

Perhaps, the rain is a sign. I'll put on some music, light the smudge stick and dance my way into organization.

It could happen.