The Heart of Fall

The late afternoon sunlight transformed these delicate  

Chinese Lanterns and they started to glow from within. 

Struck by their similarity to the human body, 

I sat quietly and watched for a heartbeat.   

Moon Shadows

Startled from a deep sleep last night, I looked around to see what had awoken me.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except the power was off due to an earlier storm and at the Oregon Coast, power outages are not exactly out of the ordinary.  Surprised by the amount of light coming through the window though, I got up and looked out.  There were no lights on as far as the eye could see.  When I looked up, I saw the skies had cleared-- except for a few soft white clouds, several stars were shining and the big full moon was directly overhead.  There was no ambient light coming from town and the moon was the sole source of illumination.  Wandering about the house, I peered out each window looking in all directions.  There didn’t seem to be any other humans or animals stirring.  

The light from the moon was so bright it made intricate shadows on the ground crisply outlining the trees and plants.  The same moon that I had written about in my evening blog was indeed putting on a show on this rare night.  Perhaps I had mocked Mother Nature and was now invited to get a firsthand look at her 11-11-11 ritual. 

Then I noticed a tree in the backyard was ablaze with light. The birch tree, which had lost all its leaves, is now adorned with huge puffs of lichen.  Tonight, each puff of lichen appeared to be glowing from within with a hot, white light.   When the moon temporarily went behind a cloud, the tree returned to normal and then as soon as the cloud passed, the tree lit up again with hundreds of bright lights.   I gazed at the spectacle for a very long time ruminating on all sorts of possible explanations, while not ruling out magic.  My eyes finally became too droopy and it was time to return to sleep.  

When I got up this morning, the power was on, the coffee was brewing, the sky was obscured by clouds and rain and the town folk were busily going about their daily errands.  The world I had witnessed a few hours earlier had vanished.  It is, however, a night I will never forget.

11-11-11

What's the significance of this date?  Is it simple good luck or something more?

Today some believers decided to get married, others delivered babies, some sat in silence welcoming the beginning of a great transformation for the human race.  Concerned Egyptians even closed the Great Pyramids today to keep people from performing rituals.

To add to the intrigue, it is also a full moon.  I captured this moonrise coming over the coast range. Perhaps Mother Nature is performing a ritual of her own in celebration of the mysterious 11-11-11.

Whack-A-Mole

 

For those of you who enjoyed playing Whack-A-Mole as children, Gardener Bob would like to extend and invitation to visit us any time and bring a sledge hammer.   Our garden has dozens of these mole "mountains" and more pop up each evening.  They must be pretty big moles because they are pretty big piles of dirt.  He keeps wandering around, shaking his head and mumbling under his breath at them.  He just can't understand why the nearby vacant fields have NONE--not one--and we have scores.  So stop by anytime and take out a little aggression. Please!

Note: For those of you who were sheltered as children, you missed out.  Here is a little background information

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

 "The Earth laughs in flowers" - Emerson

It apparently also chuckles in sand and sea foam! 

We found this happy face while beach combing one afternoon.

I Left My Heart in Rockaway

Perhaps I spent a little too long in San Francisco this week, because this sunset photo makes Rockaway Beach resemble that beautiful city (without the little cable cars, of course).

Ours Is Not To Reason Why

How can the immense power and energy of waves 

be so calming to the human spirit?