Leaves On A Log — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Went looking for faith on the forest floor,
and it showed up everywhere.
In the sun, and the water,
and the falling leaves,
the falling leaves of time.
Archive for the ‘quotes’ Tag
Leaves On A Log — Photo-Artistry Leave a comment
Morning Rainbow In The Desert Leave a comment
Morning Rainbow In The Desert (Tucson, Arizona, September 29, 2016) — Image by kenne
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Share this:
Curiosity Leave a comment
“Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.”
— Bryant H. McGill
General Store In Rural Sonora, Mexico (January28, 2016) — Images by kenne
“Philosophers and small children thus have an important faculty in common.
The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder…”
— Jostein Gaarder
Share this:
Growing Through My Work — It Is More Fun Than Fun 1 comment
Eastern Collard Lizard — Computer art by kenne
Universal patterns inform creative symbols
and the symbolizing mind of the creator.
The ancient Greeks called such patterns archetypes.
Archetypes or not, history is always there,
but ahead of it there is a future
not determined by anyone or anything,
but contingent on the products of our creation.
It is we who make the future,
and our imagination of the future
affects who we are and what we do now.
— Frank Barron
Universal Flight — Pursuing Your Personal Legend By Learning To Trust Your Heart Leave a comment
“Universal Flight” — Computer art by kenne
“When a person really desires something,
all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”
“. . .when we strive to become better than we are,
everything around us becomes better, too.”
“The closer one gets to realizing his destiny,
the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Share this:
Sisters 1 comment
“Sisters” Joy and Jody (June 2, 2003) — Image by kenne
Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences,
daydreams and misunderstandings
more thrilling than understanding could ever be.
― Toni Morrison
Share this:
Old Habits Leave a comment
Old Habits — Image by kenne
Right discipline consists,
not in external compulsion,
but in the habits of mind
which lead spontaneously
to desirable rather
than undesirable activities.
— Bertrand Russell
#####
Friend!
Get up so you can hear
the Assyrian dog howling.
— from Landscape With Two Graves and an Assyrian Dog by Federico García Lorca
Share this:
Clouds Over La Milagrosa Canyon 6 comments
La Milagrosa Canyon (February 28, 2014) — Images by kenne [Click on any of the images to see slideshow.]
“Aren’t the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton…
I could just lie here all day, and watch them drift by…
If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations…
What do you think you see, Linus?”
“Well, those clouds up there look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean…
That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor…
And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen…
I can see the apostle Paul standing there to one side…”
“Uh huh… That’s very good…
What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?”
“Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie,
but I changed my mind!”
― Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 5: 1959-1960
Share this:
Hi, Little Friend Leave a comment
“Hi, Little Friend” — Image by kenne
There comes a point in your life
when you realize who really matters,
who never did, and who always will.
– Unknown
Share this:
The Ultimate Sacrifice 2 comments
“The Ultimate Sacrifice” — Image by kenne
It is common when leading nature walks in Sabino Canyon to talk about the signature cactus of the Sonoran desert, the saguaro. One of the common bits of information is to point out how the young saguaros are near trees that help provide protection to this very slow-growing Sonoran desert plant. These trees can be mesquite, palo verde or ironwood trees, and are referred to as “nurse trees.” The faster-growing nurse tree provides shade and shelter from the harsh desert elements, and as the saguaro grows, becoming more acclimated to the desert sun, the nurse tree may die, leaving the saguaro alone. As the saguaro grows larger it may compete for resources with its nurse tree, especially where several saguaros are receiving protection from the same tree, which may hasten its death. Even so, the faster-growing tree will not outlive the typical life of a saguaro cactus.
kenne
“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to.”
Share this:
Desert Spring Computer Painting 3 comments
Desert Spring Computer Painting by kenne
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Share this:
Capturing The Moment — Wolfgang, Peter And The Navajo Woman 7 comments
When Wolfgang and I first met by the pool two years ago, we would talk about philosophy and share other common interest topics. Often, conversations would begin on whatever book he was reading by the pool.
Two years ago, Wolfgang spent about three weeks here in southern Arizona, enjoying the hot summer sun. It was not his first time visiting Tom in Tucson, and he indicated he would be visiting again next year. But, that didn’t happen – I didn’t ask why distracted by the pleasure of seeing him again.
Since Joy and I had just returned from vacation, I assumed he had just arrived. However, he had come while we were gone, during which time he and Tom made a road trip to northern Arizona and southern Utah and was now in his last week here in the states.
Wolfgang was anxious to share the time they spent in the Navajo Nation territory, taking in some of its natural beauty. However, his most memorable moment was a conversation he had with a Navajo woman, whom he greeted in Navajo. Although his Navajo vocabulary is limited, she seemed to be impressed. Upon departing, she told him that he would speak in Navajo when he comes back.
“No, I won’t,” Wolfgang said.
“That’s the right answer,” she replied.
Now Wolfgang has a kindred spirit in the Navajo Nation.
As in the past, I was curious as to what Wolfgang’s poolside reading was. As the title was in German, I only know the author’s name; Peter Sloterdijk. I now plan on reading some of Sloterdijk’s work, especially learning more about his theory of the human as a practicing, training being, which may give me additional insight on why “becoming is superior to being,” and the process of becoming (improving) as individuals and groups can result in a more convivial society.
Related to this thought, I shared a poem I first heard in the late ’50s from my high school English teacher:
“Good, better, best,
Never let it rest,
Till your good is better,
And your better is best.”
This little poem has been my life’s anthem.
(Until recently, the author of the poem was unknown, but a recent Google search gives credit to professional basketball player Tim Duncan. Look at what media exposure can do for you!)
We also talked about the concept and philosophy of “feathering,” which I will post later.
Keep on feathering, my friend.
— kenne
Wolfgang P. Theiss — Images by kenne
Related articles
- “Star Wars” gets its first Navajo translation (dailydot.com)
Share this:
Entering Life’s Thorny Stage 2 comments
Image taken at Shale Ridge by kenne
“There is a Thorn—it looks so old,
In truth, you’d find it hard to say
How it could ever have been young,
It looks so old and grey.
Not higher than a two years’ child
It stands erect, this aged Thorn;
No leaves it has, no prickly points;
It is a mass of knotted joints,
A wretched thing forlorn.
It stands erect, and like a stone
With lichens is it overgrown.
. . . first stanza from William Wordsworth’s, “The Thorn”
Share this:
Born A “Tweener”, I’m Lodge Between Rainer Maria Rilke and Ray Wylie Hubbard 4 comments
Somewhere between reading Rainer Maria Rilke and listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard’s latest CD, “The Grifter’s Hymnal,” the following just flowed out — as usual, no rewrite, you get what you see.
THE BODY SLOWS ME DOWN
The body slows me down,
but the blood still flows,
the soul hasn’t slowed
fostering a deep and
necessary intimacy with life.
The body slows me down,
but I count my blessing
without a 60-cycle hum,
freed from habitual
trains of thought.
The body slows me down,
but the poets still, please
with a taste of bittersweet chocolate,
burning through the words
manifested in music.
The body slows me down,
but my mind leads the
way to an enigmatic mystery,
seeking a Rilke Maria’s moment
freed by Ray Wylie’s applause.
The body slows me down,
but I keep running
from the ghosts that
keep on coming
around the bend.
The body slows me down,
but its dividing outline
is no longer there
providing a membrane
between inner and outer worlds.
The body slows me down,
but I can still hum
Polk Salad Sally,
framing cosmic image
descending from invisible heights.
The body slows me down,
but I still use my imagination
to inspire conscious thinking,
allowing “the damn fox
do what a damn fox does.”
kenne
“The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days.”
— Ray Wylie Hubbard
Related articles
- Ray Wylie Hubbard Performs on Late Show with David Letterman [VIDEO] (knue.com)
- Ray Wylie Hubbard On The Late Show (countrymusicnewsblog.com)
- Rainer Maria Rilke (manifestingforms.com)
- The Quotable Writer: Rainer Maria Rilke (endpaperreview.com)
- In The Court of the Crimson King: On a Restless Crusade with Ray Wylie Hubbard (geeksunleashed.me)
- Poem of the Week: A WALK by Rainer Maria Rilke (bookbrio.com)
- Black cat (Rainer Maria Rilke) (alloccopower.wordpress.com)
Share this:
A Saturday Morning With Rainer Maria Rilke 3 comments
“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it;
blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches;
for the Creator, there is no poverty.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
On this Saturday morning, as many before,
I spend time reading poetry and listening to music —
a time to refuel my outward being
with my inter soul.
In doing so I remind myself;
I write, therefore I am a writer;
I photograph, therefore I am a photographer –
it’s just that simple, no more.
“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away… and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast…. be happy about your growth, in which of course you can’t take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don’t torment them with your doubts and don’t frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn’t be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn’t necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust…. and don’t expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” –Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Related articles
- To Honour Poet Rainer Maria Rilke (thesecretkeeper.net)
- The Quotable Writer: Rainer Maria Rilke (endpaperreview.com)
- Rainer Maria Rilke (manifestingforms.com)
- Poem of the Week: A WALK by Rainer Maria Rilke (bookbrio.com)
- Black cat (Rainer Maria Rilke) (alloccopower.wordpress.com)
- the gift of seeing things (3quarksdaily.com)
- An Ephemeral Poet (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
Becoming is Superior to Being 