Thinking of Florida

I spent many years in Florida and I raised my children there. I have many startling photographs of the area of Homestead, Florida in 1992 (immediately following H. Andrew) where my husband assisted in the rebuilding process (which was long and extensive.) These photos (a few of my favorite) are from the Gulf Coast.

St. Augustine (on the east coast) is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (it is loaded with historic architecture)...not to mention so many other wonderful cities on the (east) coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina...

Karen

Placid

This is an adulterated photo (taken some years back) of water, 'quiet' boats 

and gray sky all melding together into one magic moment. Hence, the title "Placid."  

To accompany this, here is an old favorite writing to ponder by Max Ehrmann 

(1927; an American writer, poet, and attorney from Terre Haute, Indiana.) 

When I was a girl, oh~I don't know, from about 1973 to 1976, 

this poem entitled 'Desiderata,' was the absolute RAGE. 

I mean, it was EVERYWHERE, just everywhere. 

We decoupaged it onto boxes and we put it on wall plaques. 

Maybe if more people were decoupaging 'Desiderata' unto boxes today 

(remember what decoupaging was?) we would have far less turmoil 

(and trouble.) 

(Just sayin.')

:-) 

I think me saying that goes back to the old adage 

"It is good to work with your hands..." 

or something like that!

Drink it in deeply. 

We need it (today.) 

Here is "Desiderata" to go with my (own) photo 

that evokes some peace and some calm in a world of chaos 

and sometimes, even calamity. 

Let's do it all and evoke some 

'Oneness" 

(too.) 

Karen 

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

© Max Ehrmann 1927

And So it Goes

And So it Goes

The grass is thick with the cold viscous drops

slick and gray it stands--

a dewy carpet
Down and down and down, it goes.

The sky in springtime weeps buckets of droplets

high at 4000

down this rocky mountain crevasse

they slip past driveways

throwing themselves over the boulders they crash

land well past the Blowing Rock

down they slide into Lenoir

at last to settle themselves placid 

in the basin called the Yadkin-Pee Dee
Down and down and down, it goes.

The rivers rush and flow

smoothly over strewn out granite chunks

down and down again they are driven

into the green sea beds hot and thick

with the briny creeping crustaceans that scatter at the sound of foot…

at home

in the brackish water

as it stands still

and where the fresh water plays at the game of

osmosis

with the salt
Down and down and down, it goes.

I once saw a whale breach

up high

droplets cascading like rivers off of

his crusty old hull  

and thought

there is the water droplet that I saw last week

as it trickled down the straw-like stem

of my own proud

peach 
front yard rose.


© Karen Powell

Waterfall Video; Come on along!!

Short Story

They'd held hands along the way;
him entreating her to continue.
It wasn't easy not to look back, or down.
The trellis crossed a racing dull gray river.
In such water, surely, one would be swept away
and never heard from again. She kept thinking,
"Surely...we will see better days."

"We are in a land like Mars," she thought.
"A strange, foreign land. And this isn't me...
this isn't me."

It would be years later that she would look
back with any clarity on the events that had
brought them here.

"This present pain is more than I can bear;"
she would think...and then in the next breath
she would chide herself for indulging in despair;
for swimming in her hopelessness and her self-pity
as if it were a river.

"Things will look clearer in the morning, Babe.
Just take one more step."

The bridge trembled underfoot, but held.
She almost leapt off the last plank,
her relief palpable to be, at last, on solid ground.

Elk Falls

We took a journey
to see a waterfall
this weekend.
This is Elk Falls
of Elk Park, N.C.
It is a 65 foot
drop to the
bottom
(Larger than it
looks here!)
Top:
A rocky outcropping
overhead along
the way. The path
to reach this was
less than 1/4 mile!
Next Several:
Close-ups of the
water and humongous
boulders surrounding
the fall, including
my favorite; 'Water
through Red-leafed
Trees.'
Next Two:
The falls itself
with the water
basin below. This
falls basin is swimable.
Bottom:
The mountainous
view along the
way (down.)

Come on along!
:) :)