mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys
You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys
How does the navigator read the map of the stars at night?
Do the winds and tides hold secrets used to predict a fight?
We have little knowledge of our history, and even less of our fate
This ship on which we are sailing is loaded down with pieces of eight
Stolen from pirates in the last century down on the Outer Banks
Our treasure has become our curse as we labor without thanks
Our masters run a cruel ship, violently whipping the crew
We would have never joined their side if we had known what’s true
People tell stories about the time before the stone wall was built. The streams and rivers flowed freely and served everyone as they went by. Water to run small mills and to irrigate crops was plentiful and easy to find. Family farmers subsided and even thrived in years when the weather was favorable. The community members provided for each other, and the simple agricultural life was comfortable. They had plenty of food, shelter, and water.
Progress came to the area in the form of a land buy out by a large estate owner who wanted to experiment in modern farming techniques. His ignorance of nature combined badly with his lame and greedy attitude toward those with deep knowledge of working the land. He changed the landscape, moved the waterways to suit his purposes, and set out to build an empire. He had a monopoly on all the waterways in the valley, having sewn up all the land on which the tributaries flowed. His signature move was a large stone wall he built. It stood in the middle of stream, with tunnels to handle the water as it flowed beneath the structure. He was secure and pleased with his conquest of this natural resource when all hell literally broke loose. With a crack of thunder and a flash of lightening the sky broke open with a stormy and deadly response to his lack of respect for Mother Nature.
The flash flood poured over all the banks and rushed through the canals and tunnels like an angry dragon. Destruction and erosion brought famine to the land, once ripe and productive. Once the greedy land owner gave up the ghost the land itself returned to a riparian state. The farmers did not return, so the land has been fallow for centuries. It no longer feeds or shelters people. The natural world has taken the place of the former residents. The streams flow sweetly and green moss covers the ancient stone as if nothing had ever happened. All is forgotten.
This slice of fiction is a take on the prompt of this week by Sue Vincent. Visit Sue’s Daily Echo to read, comment, or submit your own story or poem.
Wipe the slate clean by taking the first day of each week
seriously.
Make a commitment to clear your space and time
to restore your serenity
To daily life that passes at a constant pace, yet seems to be compressed
Into stressful packages of worry and uncertain future demands
On the dwindling energy and time our position in life
commands
Step away from the every day, unplug from the noise and chatter
Give yourself the Sunday self care you deserve. This is an
urgent matter
Immerse yourself in music, perfume, and poetry that feeds your soul
Return to the world on Monday feeling healthy, relaxed and whole
I am not making a prediction on the outcome of the election. Projection in this instance refers to the defense mechanism of projecting our own faults onto others. This is one of the common ways we control our environment and defend our self image. They include denial, intellectualization, repression, regression, displacement, compensation, and projection, also sometimes called transference. I took a quiz the other day that has disturbed me. Here it is. It may disturb you too. I scored a few points in regression and intellectualization and my highest score was in projection. I understand that his quiz is not a shrink and there is nothing conclusive about how I defend my position. I instantly became angry at the idea that I project blame on others because that is what I dislike about others….well, there it is….. some crazy downward cycle of blame operating in my very own psyche. I am contributing to our mutual distrust and blame my own self. This is known as the shadow…the hidden secrets we hide even from ourselves. Kooky stuff. This political season has damaged us all with the nasty rhetoric and new levels of dirty tricks.
It is very easy in this political environment to slip into a simplistic view about how “the other” is ruining everything. As a nation we will go even more haywire than we are now if we can’t see this blame game as the destructive habit it is. Language about reaching across the aisle will fall on deaf ears if we don’t take a close look into our own hearts and minds. We have met the enemy and he is us. We all have some work to do. Mother Nature is watching.
Currencies and agricultural pursuits have exchanges
Changing times, political events, require sensitive gauges
To measure then analyze the progress we have to report
Comparisons to perfection are built on data that we all support
The withdrawal from nature has no column in this audit of value
The inexhaustible generosity of earth has unlimited virtue
Flowing steadily down from high places feeding the demands
Of a hunger impossible to satiate that nobody alive understands
Pioneers of wilderness and giants of industrial conquest
Bequeath to the future a desolate landscape, fully processed
Find your muse and write some poetry this month. Enjoy the work of diverse poets here.
I drove to Clarkdale, AZ last weekend to ride the Verde Valley Railroad with Sonora the bald eagle. She was brought to wildlife rescue as a very young bird with her wing badly broken. Today she can fly in her enclosure, but her wing never healed well enough for her to return to the wild. I have to say for a captive eagle, this girl gets around and continues to enjoy nature while she rides the train through the canyons. Her enclosure in Scottsdale is at Liberty Wildlife Refuge, at the home of a former vet of the Phoenix zoo, and her two handlers that accompany her on field trips obviously love her dearly. She is a pampered (not that it was her choice) suburban eagle with a soccer mom schedule of school events, train appearances, and other symbolic and educational obligations. She seems happy, and everyone who gets to see her up close and personal is ecstatic while in her presence. I was completely out of my mind. She flapped me on the head with her wing while I was standing next to her, which I consider to have been a super magical gift. She didn’t hurt me at all, but I did get a sense of her power. I want to say I am her greatest fan, but I suspect we all adore her at the same very high level. She is just awesome. If you have a chance to meet Sonora, don’t miss it. She rides the train once a month for now. She began her programs on the train in 2010 when she was 3. Now she is a seasoned model and train enthusiast. I can’t tell you how fun it is to meet her.
We are always providing something. It can be waste and decay, or it can be brilliance. Usually it is both. The buzzword-o-moment is provide value through content. This blog, for instance, is intended to provide the gentle reader with some facts, entertainment, and history. Unlike printed media, if the system does not crash this digital data will exist forever. We are now kicking out content of all kinds a mile a minute to be archived permanently in the cloud. Value is not only in the eye of the beholder, but in the almost infinite ability to search and surf on this future cloud. While we stuff this cloud with presumed value the earth itself requires more attention.
Bees and pollinators provide for the future. Seed libraries leave a legacy to generations that follow. Look down, gentle reader. Wisdom resides in nature. Meditative attention to nature is healing and holistic. Withdrawal from the seasons, the botany, and the wildlife of the land deprives the spirit and represses the soul.
Powerful voice of reason, the garden
The calming fleeting beauty of flowers and trees
Brushstrokes of genius, music of color and urgency
Soothe the mind and heal the body
Life blooms before our eyes daily.
The colors saturate the background of our set.
Our bodies also color the landscape, and change it.
We paint our story in a range of colors we have learned from nature.
Flowers speak volumes, directly to our emotions.
When spring arrives in the desert it comes on quickly and leaves. We have to get it while we can. The color of the blooms on cactus are extravagant and vivid. The bees are busy and the livin’ is easy, for a very short time….then we sizzle.