Tuesday, May 28, 2013

HUNDREDS OF WAYS TO KNEEL AND KISS THE GROUND

 Nature photography by Mary Jo Hoffman. See website here

After a week spent absorbing 
the natural beauty of the Wild Coast
I mentioned to a friend 
that the whole holiday
felt like a prayer of gratitude 

Wild Coast by Robyn Gordon 

..... which got me thinking about a quotation by Meister Eckhart
"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough."

.... which lead to a favourite quote by Rumi
"Let the beauty we love be what we do. 
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

Photography by Klaus Oppenheimer. See website here

There are indeed hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground

Photo from Lisa Haneberg's website here


Leslie Avon Miller observes nature through her camera lens.  See blog here

Observing the miracles of nature is at the top of my list


Nature Photography by Kevin Jones. See blog post about Photography as Meditation here.

Practicing mindful photography

Photo by Kevin Jones

Photo by Kevin Jones.

" If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep deep woods and I'd look up into the sky -- up -- up-- up -- into the lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd feel a prayer." -- L M Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

I love this photograph by Sarah Gillespie. See website here

As an artist I am aware of something greater than myself
every time I create art.
When I look at the work of many, many artists 
I can feel the sacred in their work. 
I'm certain their art is their meditation.

Sarah Gillespie at work. See Sarah's Blog here


Winter Birds (oil on canvas) by Sarah Gillespie. See website here

I remember the way we were taught to pray at school 
Prayers always seemed so elaborate 
A far cry from Mary Oliver's ideas of prayer

PRAYING by Mary Oliver

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate,
this isn't a contest but a doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

By Fiona Watson. See Flickr photo stream here

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

WILD COAST SOJOURN


The Loeries woke us this morning. We couldn't have asked for a more gentle way to slip back into city life after our week away.




We've just returned from our annual Wild Coast holiday where we woke every morning to  spectacular sunrises and the cries of  Fish Eagles and Oyster Catchers.


This is the view from our bungalow. I would need to be a poet to describe the beauty of this place ..... and since I'm not,  I'll share a few photos and a story or two about chance encounters and new friends.






Otter tracks up the dunes


While M fished I had time to try my hand at land art. Nothing serious but quite absorbing all the same.













These flowers look like they come from another world.


We met many caring people who shared our enthusiasm for the Wild Coast. Two young vets on honeymoon presented me with a bar of Belgian chocolate on my birthday as well as a huge driftwood log (because they knew I loved wood). They  hauled it along the beach, floated it across the estuary in a canoe and dragged it up the hill to our veranda where we found it when we returned from our walk.  I was so touched by their thoughtfulness!  So if you are reading this, Robbie and Taneale ...... the log is in our courtyard reminding us of you. 

One evening I heard my husband talking to the couple who had moved into the neighbouring bungalow. They spoke with American accents and had visited all my favourite places so I joined them on the patio. Slowly it dawned on me that I actually might know who these people were. Several months ago a  a reader of Art Propelled had asked me to email a few travelling tips to her friends who were thinking about visiting South Africa.  What an amazing coincidence that we should meet them by chance and spend a lovely evening together before they left on the next leg of their trip. Synchronicities often seem to happen when we're on holiday. I suppose that's the magic about taking time out, away from home.


More Wild Coast pebbles to add to my cache.....  a reminder of the happy days spent gathering them.