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Posts from November 2011

Be like the trees

BenchedAmico Island / Nov. 2011

This was the day of wanting to take time to sit and absorb the beauty of the world. To focus on the moment. To let all the demands take a back seat. To be like the trees and wade into the water and reflect.


Brother Sun who gives us the light of day

Brother_sunDetail of the Brother Sun stained glass window by Benoit Gilsoul gracing the walls of St. Casimir / Nov. 2011

This was the day of Mary who lived 103 years (that's over 37,595 days). A woman who traveled from a small island in the Adriatic where gypsy's taught her how to embroider to Philadelphia where she worked as a seamstress and sewed men's silk shirts to the wilds along the Delaware River where she and Captain Lou built thriving businesses. A woman who was friends with my grandmother when both were members of the Croatian Singing Society. A woman who was devoted to the Blessed Mother and said the rosary every day. Her daughter told my mother I have a picture of you holding my hand when I was a girl and you are as beautiful now as you were then. Her son told my mother that he was 80 years old and yet remembered her father and the way he liked to talk politics.

"... Especially Sir Brother Sun, By whom You give us the light of day! And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor..." ~ St. Francis


Plant something in your soul today

Plants_somethingA touch of brightness in the creek-side landscape / Nov. 2011

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, sppontaneity, and love."

~ Thomas Merton from "New Seeds of Contemplation", 1962


hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot

Tree_landscape_1111Here I return the call / Ideal nesting places for owls / Park on the Rancocas Creek / Nov. 2011

Late at night I sit at my computer thinking and typing while outside an owl calls out. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. The sound comforts me. Some cultures believe that the owl is a harbinger of something bad happening. I prefer to think like the ancient Greeks who associated owls with wisdom. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. The Incas venerated the owl for its beautiful eyes. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. The owl is a symbol for the island of Krk in Croatia where my ancestors lived. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. Some say if you hear the cry of the owl that you must return the call. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. Some say owls are old people and should be respected. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot. hoot-da-ta-doot-hoot-hoot.


The people are on fire

Ows_111711 The other 99% Protestors in Zuccotti Park after marching on Wall St. / I'm marching virtually with 27,527 other viewers around the world / Nov. 17, 2011 (thanks T -- occupy the bridge!)

collusion between
wall street and those elected
to serve their people

the brilliant fall leaves
a visual portrait of our
anger and actions