Reflections in the Marsh

Rowing a small dinghy on a warm day in late November I am circled by the seagulls above.

The Mirrored Marsh 

I look down to look up and somewhere in the shadows of the reeds the line between sky and earth is hidden.

I have the marsh to myself, I have the work of my oars to myself, I have the squeak of the leather against the bronze oar locks to myself, and the sound of the small splash the wood makes as it pushes the water and the world away from us.

I am building an affinity with the marsh and the river so that I might build a wooden boat for use on the  marsh and river.

The distance I can row is not so great, but the world I am discovering by slowing down, by resting upon the looms and noticing the shore, the sky, the water's surface, my boat upon it, seems much larger than is possible.  It is looking into a microscope and discovering communities of life.  It is opening a book and discovering characters you never knew you knew.

The light signal at Stony Point.

I started in boats to be able to travel far and wide.  The river that runs to the sea and becomes the ocean, the oceans of the world, and then touches the rivers that cut thru interesting and beautiful lands and are born from tall mountains.
I am finding in boats that I live in interesting and beautiful lands with wooded, rocky shores, tall cliffs that drop straight into the water, fecund smelling marsh where animals hide from the Bald Eagles that show up late in autumn.

Barge approaches the narrows of Stony Point.

A tug pushes it's burden up the river against the falling tide.  I find a twelve foot long piece of lumber, in useful condition and I tie it up with the my line and with the tide helping me along, pull it down stream.

On the shore a deer watches me as I watch him.  A stone house sits on the point.  In the summer the leaves hide it, but now, with the leaves all gone it looks even lonelier with it's windows all shuttered.

I imagine being in that little house, with a fire place blazing and still feeling the cold walls of stone as the winter lays down a blanket of snow on the ground and on the floes of ice as they pop and crackle and move down river on a cold February night.  Even so, I dream of being able to live on that point of rock with only a foot path to service it and not even a decent landing for a boat on it's rocky edges.  

I would do it, I would take on that responsibility to maintain and keep that little stone house that watches over the Hudson and is never quite warm.  I would fashion a small landing for a boat, a small float that I could pull up above the tide line in the winter, lest it be crushed and carried away by the winter ice.  In the winter what a great and hellishly cold little place to be.  In the Spring, what a great and hopeful little place to be.  But in the summer what a great and magical little place to be.    In the Fall what a great and slightly sad little place to be.

I want to row to the shore and tie up my boat and go up to the house and find a way in and move the shutters and let in the low Fall light.  I want to gather downed limbs and twigs and light the fireplace.  I want to move a chair close to the fire and fall asleep as the cold November night falls.  I want to make the house lived in and see if it responds and becomes a home.

But I row on.  The tide gives a nice push so I can drift.  The water is so smooth and slick that I loose the horizon as the the swell that the barge gives off, long and smooth rolling waves, rise up to the sky and my view of the river becomes a fun house mirror, all curvy and bending and strange.

Double sun.

The Suns on my left side are getting low in the sky and their warmth is dwindling.  It is time to pull to shore and take my little boat from the river.
During the winter I can think back on my little row or I can just come back down to the river.

A Wall of Yellow

The Maple trees still have their bright yellow leaves, or most of them.  Many have fallen off as the ground beneath the trees is also bright yellow.
One farmers Market is done for the year and another ends this weekend.  Gone are the corn, the melons, the peaches.  Gone are the days of short pants or nights without sweaters.
Gone are the cruising sailboats who travel south toward the warmer, longer days.
Gone are the Garter snakes that make the grass seem alive and keep the dog busy chasing them.
Now is the time of warm fires at night, layers of clothing and the wearing of hats.
Now is soup, roasted foods and bread.
Now is coffee, warm and strong.
Now is the time to drive down to the river and pine for warm days of sail.
Now is the time for long walks in the woods as boots crunch leaves and fallen twigs, until they soon crunch untrodden snow.
Now is heavy, thick books read by windows with blankets over ones legs.
Now is, projects in the shop that will be brought out in the Spring and floated upon the river, and projects that make the little house more, and more our home.

The new stained glass window, tile work and wood burning stove in the kitchen.

A simple path

I have stumbled on to something, and someone who I want to share with you.  Here is a link to her TEDx speech.  Listen and enjoy.

TEDx Inspires Me! - Sailing, Simplicity, and the Pursuit of Happiness
or
http://sailingsimplicity.com/tedx-inspires-me/

Inner/Outer Path

In a section of the Utne Reader online I read an article about Visionaries who are changing the world.  One article that spoke to me was an interview with Parker J. Palmer in which he spoke of the idea of living life on the "Mobius strip".  The mobius strip is a geometric idea where one takes a long rectangular strip, say of paper, and twists one end 180 degrees and then connects the 2 ends to make a loop with one continuous edge or side.  For Palmer the idea is that one might live so that the inner self blends into the outer self.


The path that I have been following has been a step to just that very thing.  The goal is to dissolve the distinctions between what I believe to be true, to be morally correct or ethically right, from what I practice in my everyday life.  From the smallest thing to the larger ideas.


Why kill when I don't have to?  So, I catch the fly, ant, moth, spider, and set them outside of the house.  I know they will die eventually and that death is a part of the life cycle, but it is not necessary for me to kill always and compassion, when practiced, brings different kinds of answers to the questions I face each day.


Life on the mobius strip would not have a vegetarian working at a butcher shop, nor would it have a person who believes money is at the root of our evils, making a large salary and having his taxes and savings funding the efforts of those who would corrupt his world.


Life on the mobius strip is another way of saying live what you believe.  It is a more logical and reasonable Path.

I just looked away for a moment!

How did this:

	"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
—United States Constitution, Preamble

Become this:

"We the Greedy Corporations of the United States, in Order to form a more

 perfect money machine, further injustice, insure domestic unrest, and provide for the defense

 of whats ours, compromise the general Welfare, and secure the resources of the land 

for ourselves and our investors, do corrupt 

and commandeer this Constitution of the United States of America." 

If we want it back we at least have to ask.  Maybe even loudly and more than once.

Twelve Steps on the path to "Occupy Earth"

Why stop at "Occupy Wall Street"?  Why not Occupy America, the Earth, Life?

In reading thru the Alcoholics Anonymous entry in Wikipedia, particularly the "Twelve Steps" program, after attending an Occupy Wall Street satellite rally last night, I was inspired to adapt them to a broader use.  Here's my attempt.


1.  Admit that we have a problem, that we are locked in an unREASONABLE life style, and that this live style has become unmanageable.

2.  Come to understand that a PATH greater than our individual paths can lead us to reason.

3.  Make a decision to accept our destination in the journey of living and dying that defines our world.

4.  Make a fearless, honest and never ending inventory of our motivations and desires, weakness and corruptions

5.  Admit to ourselves, our God, and to our community how we contribute to the corruption and exploitation of our planet.

6.  Become ready for our Community responsibilities, social conventions and ethical obligations to our fellow inhabitants of the planet to guide us in freedom from our self destructive ways.

7.  Humbly seek a reasonable path by involvement and discussion with other living beings.

8.  Make a list of all the ways we personally damage our earth, weaken our cultural heritage, block social exchange, discourage open mindedness, and allow hate, and be willing to make personal changes.

9.  Make amends and change in your own life where it is reasonable to do so.

10.  Be mindful of the way we go thru life and make continued efforts to live a reasonable and compassionate life.

11.  Spend time thinking about our part in our society and engage in the processes that shape our world.

12.  Experience an awakening as to how far off the path of reason we have wandered.  Try to carry this thought to other human beings.  Try to practice the principles in our lives, in personal habits and professional pursuits, in mundane chores and spiritual meditations, that help to restore us to a path of reason.

After the Smoke clears

Well, that last post was a bit dark and angry, but sometimes that is just the way it is.

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Frances Moore Lappe's book, "Diet for a Small Planet", from the library.  A friend at the farmer's market did the illustrations for it way back when,(1971?).  The edition I picked up is the 20 year anniversary edition and includes a great introduction.  Reading it makes my rant in yesterday's post seem even more emotional and less thoughtful.  I am grateful for the timeliness of finding her words.

Earlier yesterday, a friend had expressed to me in an email that "the most powerful thing is an idea".  In FML's intro to "Diet" she states basically the same thing.  Again, I am grateful for both of their words finding me in a timely way.

In her introduction, Lappe speaks to the exact thing that challenges me.  I feel distressed by the lack of participation of the people of our country in deciding how their lives should be.  I am sure people feel a lack of ability to affect change.  I am also sure that many don't even think to try and affect change in their own life.  There are so many things that each of us has sway on in our everyday lives.  Instead of waiting for a government to pass a new law, or for a large corporation to create a new product that will give us a new way, I am desperate to hear and see each of us make our lives right, good, whole and rich.  It is possible.

None of what I write here is really that personal or hasn't been.  These are word and ideas that are out for discussion and dissection and rethinking where it applies.
Now for something personal.
I know 2 people who live lives that when described to others almost always get the same response.  The response is basically, "wow, I wish I could do that".  Both of those people live below what this countries government calls the poverty line.  Both are simple in their wants and pro active in the creation of the life each lives.  They decide how, what, and where, and often this is outside the conventional methods of our society.  Neither has a "new home" or a "new Car" or anything that is under warranty probably, but each has things that most people wish they had, things that would make you think they were pretty well off.  And each is pretty well off.  Not rich, not even moderately so by our societies standards, like I said each makes less money than is needed to consider them above the poverty level, but each is secure and happy with their lot.

I am one of those people.

Money, education, material goods, social status are not what brings happiness in my experience.
enough money, a life of continuous education, and social relations do help me to be happy.

There is more that can be said on the idea but not now, not here.  We each have our path.

Hammonasset, CT 2011