Photographer's Journal: Atchafalaya

          
              

Inner Mystery

Louisiana has two wonders of the world: The Atchafalaya Basin and the Kisatchie National Forest. The fact that neither are on the official list makes not an iota of difference to me.

Whenever I have a little time for myself, be it 20 minutes or 2 days, if at all possible, I will stop at or head to one of these two places. Both are enormous. I have every confidence that I will do this for the remainder of my life and neither tire of them nor make a dent in discovering their wonders.

If I live long enough and my health holds, God willing, I will produce two books: Kisatchie Splendors and one about the Atchafalaya. The title of the latter hasn't revealed itself to me yet.

During Spring Break, the week after Easter, I took two days to wander the Atchafalaya. This shot is from the edge of a backwater of the Mississippi River along Highway 131 south of Vidalia.

Things Unseen: Love Like That

                
            

Curvature

"Even

After

All this time

The sun never says to the Earth,

'You owe me.'

Look

What happens

With a love like that,

It lights the whole sky."

--Hafiz

Photographer's Journal: Life & Love R One

          
        

Life & Love R One

 from the Song of Songs:

I belong to my love, 

and his desire is for me.

Come, my love,

let us go to the fields.

We will spend the night in the villages,

and in the early morning we go to the vineyards.

We will see if the vines are budding,

if their blossoms are opening,

if the pomegranate trees are in flower.

Then I will give you 

the gift of my love.

The mandrakes yield their fragrance,

the most exquisite fruits are at our doors;

the new as well as the old,

I have stored them for you, my love.

--New Jerusalem Bible, 7:10-13

Things Unseen: Dare to Love

   
       

Dare to Love

In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.

--Michael Jackson

And in a world filled with violence, we must still dare to love.

      

      

Things Unseen: Silently Drawn

         
           

Silently Drawn

Let yourself be silently drawn

by the strange pull of what 

you really love. It will not

draw you astray.

--Rumi

 

Things Unseen: Emerald Prayer

    
    

Emerald Prayer

Birth day. Death day.
Between days,
   crying laughing,
   laughing crying...

No difference, you know.

Draw a circle
   around this moment.
Say an emerald prayer.

   
         

Photographer's Journal: Devil's Eyebrow

               
              

Coming Down Was Easy

Actually, coming down wasn't exactly "easy." Mostly dry stream beds in the Ozark Mountains are never "easy"! But the climb back to the top where our cars were parked was definitely harder, and this aging hiker was somewhat embarrassed to bring up the tail most of the way up.

And that blue sky reflected in this spring-fed pool? Yup. We couldn't have asked for a more glorious day.

It was a fantastic field trip led by my Google+ friend, Eric Hunt, at the Arkansas Native Plant Society meeting last weekend. We are in the Devil's Eyebrow Natural Area, a well-named treasure in the Ozark Mountains just a few miles west of Eureka Springs, Ark.

Highly recommended, folks.