Kate and Jaxon Bailey
Kate and Jaxon Bailey
Kate Bailey, Jaxon Bailey, Katelyn Turner and Nick Bailey
Kate, Jaxon and Katelyn — Images by kenne
Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
Hottub Break From The Pool During Spring Break Leave a comment
What’s The Good Of It? Leave a comment
Image by kenne
WHAT’S THE GOOD OF IT
He had short patience for scientific study:
All they want to know is why frogs croak.
It’s a philosophical opposition,
his believing in things as only themselves
and the intrusiveness of explanations.
I can’t begin to tell you how much he hated ballet.
What’s the good of it?
He liked The Flintstones and wrestling.
Frogs croak.
Otherwise he liked things that could be
lifted and stacked and put into place.
He thought best with his hands.
He built clocks, cradles, worked a lathe.
He took the world’s measure.
He was good and he was of it.
— Lee Upton
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The Gifts That Keep On Giving 1 comment
Two Vessels — Computer Art by kenne
(First posted December 22, 2009)
The things that happen to us in life do so because we act. The more we act, the more opportunities we have upon which to act, the more we connect, creating a vessel filled with learning moments. If we don’t act on the moments, each will become an opportunity lost. Even so, it’s important not to think about what may have been left behind.
My vessel is an alchemy of acts from which new opportunities are poured – acts attract acts. Paulo Coelho wrote in his bestseller, The Alchemist, “There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”
It was ten years ago that I first read Coelho’s enchanting fable. It was in preparation for leading a group of four young professionals to the state of Sáo Paulo in Brazil that I learned of Paulo Coelho and his 1988 novel. The book fits well into my own philosophy and sets the tone for the trip and remains instrumental in my life.
Again, one act leads to another when, at this past Sunday’s Society of the 5th Cave reading club meeting, The Alchemist was selected for the March reading. Once again, the concept of alchemy is front stage, this time from a different perspective, which will create many new learning moments.
I’m pleased to be reading this inspiring book ten years out. The Alchemist is the gift that keeps on giving. Just today I received an email from my brother Tom, reminding me of someone I have also not read in recent years, American poet, Conrad Aiken, which my poem “Solstice Night,” told him of the first lines from Aiken’s long poem, “The House of Dust.”
The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light.
The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:
And lights wink out through the windows, one by one.
A clamor of frosty sirens mourns at the night.
Pale slate-grey clouds whirl up from the sunken sun.
In turn, his reminding me of Conrad Aiken, and the return of The Alchemist, that reminded me of the following from Aiken’s poem, “A Letter from Li Po.”
What’s true in these, or false? which is the ‘I’
of ‘I’s’? Is it the master of the cadence, who
transforms all things to a hoop of flame, where through
tigers of meaning leap? And are these true,
the language never old and never new,
such as the world wears on its wedding day,
the something borrowed with something chicory blue?
In every part we play, we play ourselves;
even the secret doubt to which we come
beneath the changing shapes of self and thing,
yes, even this, at last, if we should call
and dare to name it, we would find
the only voice that answers is our own.
We are once more defrauded by the mind.
Defrauded? No. It is the alchemy by which we grow.
It is the self-becoming word, the word
becoming world. And with each part we play
we add to cosmic Sum and cosmic sum.
Who knows but one day we shall find,
hidden in the prism at the rainbow’s foot,
the square root of the eccentric absolute,
and the concentric absolute to come.
Life has so many gifts that keep on giving. Become a part of the act.
kenne
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SCVN Friday Hike — Blackett’s Ridge Leave a comment
SCVN Friday Hike, Blackett’s Ridge (November 4, 2016) — iPhone Images by kenne
With morning temperatures in the 50’s & 60’s, our Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists Friday hikes are now off Mt. Lemmon and back in the canyon. Today’s hike was one of my favorite, Blackett’s Ridge that runs between Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon.
The 6.3-mile hike begins at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center and is relatively flat for the first 1.5 miles before the trail becomes very rocky, turning into a series of 36 switchbacks, with an elevation change of 1800 feet for the next 1.5 miles.
The trail hasn’t changed much over the six years I have been hiking Blackett’s, and I would like to say the same for me, but my old body is beginning to signal that it might not be willing to hike trails with this much elevation change in such a short distance.
kenne
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity…
–John Muir
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“Ripe autumn at the full of year.” Leave a comment
Autumn Maple Leaves — Computer Art by kenne
As nature changes,
I seek a balance
between acting and
being acted upon.
— kenne
*****
“So sinks the mind in deep despair
And sight grows dim; when storms of life
Blow surging up the weight of care,
It banishes its inward light
And turns in trust to the dark without.
This was the man who once was free
To climb the sky with zeal devout
To contemplate the crimson sun,
The frozen fairness of the moon —
Astronomer once used in joy
To comprehend and to commune
With planets on their wandering ways.
This man, this man sought out the source
Of storms that roar and rouse the seas;
The spirit that rotates the world,
The cause that translocates the sun
From shining East to watery West;
He sought the reason why spring hours
Are mild with flowers manifest,
And who enriched with swelling grapes
Ripe autumn at the full of year.
Now see that mind that searched and made
All nature’s hidden secrets clear
Lie prostrate prisoner of night.
His neck bends low in shackles thrust,
And he is forced beneath the weight
To contemplate — the lowly dust.”
— from The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius
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Sharing A Moment Of Peace Leave a comment
“Togetherness” — Computer Art by kenne (I love purple hair!)
Peace means no one is worried about anyone else’s cookie…
in this moment we are all quietly content with the cookies we have.
— Amy Krouse Rosenthal
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Computer Painting and Taleb’s “No-Nos” Leave a comment
The People and Their Canyon, A Photo Essay Leave a comment
Click on any of the tiled images to view in a slideshow format.
The People and Their Canyon — Images by kenne
For some the canyon
the people’s national park
to be shared with all.
For some the canyon
should have limited access
preserving nature.
For some the canyon
can be both shared and preserved
through naturalism.
— kenne
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Flashback, July 28, 2012 3 comments
Joy and Kenne in the City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico, July 28, 2012
Let’s go
Let’s go, let’s go,
The road is waiting.
Let’s go, let’s go,
Time is wasting.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The heart is yearning.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The brain is questioning.
Should I, should I not
Should I be, should I act
Should I, should I
Being or doing?
Let’s go, let’s go,
The pipes are playing.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The light is dancing.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The child is calling.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The brain is questioning.
Should I, should I not
Should I be, should I act
Should I, should I
Being or doing?
Let’s go, let’s go,
Tomorrow is awakening.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The times are changing.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The wind is pushing.
Let’s go, let’s go,
The brain is questioning.
Should I, should I not
Should I be, should I act
Should I, should I
Being or doing?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Let’s go, let’s go.
— kenne (December, 2005)
City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico — Panorama by kenne
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30 Years of Togetherness — Some kind of lovely ride. 11 comments
Kenne & Joy, Las Vegas, 1989.
We were a couple for 16 years before getting married May 18, 2002 in Los Vegas. Thirty years of togetherness, but who’s counting.
“The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.”
Secret O’ Life
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Any fool can do it, there ain’t nothing to it.
Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.
But since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride.
The secret of love is in opening up your heart.
It’s okay to feel afraid, but don’t let that stand in your way.
Cause anyone knows that love is the only road.
And since we’re only here for a while, might as well show some style. Give us a smile.
Isn’t it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it’s just a lovely ride.
Now the thing about time is that time isn’t really real.
It’s just your point of view, how does it feel for you?
Einstein said he could never understand it all.
Planets spinning through space, the smile upon your face, welcome to the human race.
Some kind of lovely ride. I’ll be sliding down, I’ll be gliding down.
Try not to try too hard, it’s just a lovely ride.
Isn’t it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it’s just a lovely ride.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
— James Taylor
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Spring Break 1 comment
“Spring Break” — Image by kenne
“Life is too short to miss out on being really happy.”
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Searching For Creek Critters 1 comment
Second Grade Student Searching for Creek Critters in Sabino Creek — Images by kenne
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) offer five different programs for elementary school children. One of the programs is called Creek Scene Investigation (CSI). In this program students learn about arthropods found in Sabino Creek. They learn about metamorphosis, the food chain and have an opportunity to collect insects out of the creek and investigate what they find.
kenne
“An environment-based education movement
at all levels of education
will help students realize that school
isn’t supposed to be a polite form of incarceration,
but a portal to the wider world.”
― Richard Louv,
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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A Walk Around The Lake Leave a comment
Computer Painting by kenne
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Before The Snow Falls 4 comments
Late Fall Before The Snow Falls On Mt. Lemmon — Computer image by kenne
The ground around us
where life begins
born with questions
ends without answers,
but along the way
hearts hum
to a drumbeat
passed on from the old
to the new
carved in wood.
— kenne
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Self Portrait 6 comments
Self Portrait (Summer, 2015)
To have never sought courage
Will be to have never turned the corner.
To have never shared a thought
Will be to have never seen a sunset
To have never used these words
Will be to have never written a poem.
— kenne
THE NO-NOS
Muscles without strength,
friendship without trust,
opinion without risk,
change without aesthetics,
age without values,
food without nourishment,
power without fairness,
facts without rigor,
degrees without erudition,
militarism without fortitude,
progress without civilization,
complication without depth,
fluency without content,
and, most of all, religion without tolerance.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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