i'm still overwhelmed by yesterday.
truly deeply overwhelmed by the incredible, powerful, emotional, spiritual,
hilarious, sad empowering, reminding, affirming writing and images
that i spent much of my day immersed in.
i had no idea.
no idea at all that that is what would happen.
thankyou to each of you
from my heart
for your generosity of spirit.
i know that visitors were absolutely blown away.
i was!!!
so for today, as a natural transition from the noise and fireworks,
(oh and a big thanks to whomever sent
the lovely canapes and champers),
i'm offering a little bit of a peaceful place.
yes, it involves rocks and water.
they appeared in my post yesterday.
but
here they are
in a
kinder,
gentler,
beautiful in a different way
kind of form.
the sound of water falling over rocks
and deep colour among pines.
gently green floating water-plants.
bright the mirrored reeds and rushes.
i am a lover of true quietness.
watching the flow of clear water
i dream of sitting on the uncarved rock . . .
wang wei
a stream over rocks john singer sargent
love and peacefulness to all of you!!!!
34 comments:
Your words are a calming wash over the soul. I have this thing about clear, clean water. Having grown up on some of the most beautiful rivers in the country, I thought they were beautiful every where. This is not the case, unfortunately.
I love nature - water, mountains, valleys, all of it - but if I had a choice, I would choose to live around water.
Beautiful post!
xoxo
I really enjoyed the Meme idea you came up with. Like you, my first effort was not what I ended up posting.
My first draft recounted a memory of discovering the joy of writing poetry in seventh grade English class.
As I worked on it, I could feel myself, 46 years after the event, ACTIVELY RECONSTRUCTING this memory. I was struck forcefully that I could not write anything but fiction based on a "true" story.
So I abandoned that first draft and tried instead to write about what is so clear to me now, but so difficult to convey: that there is no other moment but the eternally present NOW moment. There never has been another moment and there never will be.
Again, thanks for the meme and for the more peaceful rocks and water.
Dear Steven
you deserve a rest after that mighty effort yesterday...it was just bonzer...
these images are so tranquil- I love them, you do show us some mighty wonderful material...
and the little poem is a treasure to match
Thank you Steven
Happy days
I love those images, there is something so energy giving and calming at the same time. When I was a child I love stepping stones, crossing shallow rivers, pure magic.
Lovely pictures, Steven, there is something so soothing about streams and rocks. My eyes definitely need a break from reading text off the screen today after yesterday's marathon!
Just the ticket....calm blue waters after yesterdays dash around the internet world...what fun it was!!!
Thank you Steven for starting it off ..if was wonderful reading...and suddenly i have a lot more friends!!
Kay
hi sixpence - you're so lucky - and i can tell that you know it - to grow up by water. it's been one of my dreams and wishes for as long as i can remember! this particular rock is in a small lake about three hundred miles northeast of here in the gatineau hills of quebec. i'd love to know more about the rivers you grew up near. steven
hi dan, it's interesting to me that we both went down one path with our response but ended up sharing something more immediately truthful and relevant to us now! i'm glad that the peacefulness of today's piece was welcome!!! have a peaceful day. steven
oh delwyn, i had to google "bonzer" to find out what it meant!! did you know it's derived from "born star"? apparently so. so i'll take that with a great deal of laughter!!!! the place where i took this photograph is a little cottage at the emptying out of a small wilderness river into a lake that then empties over a waterfall and carries on its way. the lake is beautiful and i'll share more pictures another time. i love rocks, and i love water. this fellow was big enough to sit on!! thanks for your very kind comment delwyn. today will be a lot quieter i'm sure!!!! have a lovely day by your own river. steven
hello acornmoon, it's lovely to see you!! i have the same thing about stepping stones. one very powerful memory i have is of my last christmas in england. we were up near saltburn and took a coach excursion somewhere. when we got there, we got to cross a wide river on stepping stones. i was eight. i was absolutely thrilled to the core by the very simple act of crossing a river on stones. i have the memory crystal clear in my mind. "pure magic". yes acornmoon - that's pure magic!!! thankyou for that. steven
hello eryl, yes today will be about soothing. first my two pointer fingers - which do all the typing - then my eyes which i'm pretty sure are messed up enough to need glasses but my vanity will make the wait - then my body which needs a bike ride to shake the stiffness out of it! it was a worthy effort though as i know you agree. i'm glad to sit back and enjoy the peace and calm of this painting today though. it's absolutely gorgeous how sargent captured that scene because that is to me what it looks like. have a peaceful day eryl. thanks for all your lovely comments. steven
hello kay - yes the picture the words and the photograph are like a visual spa session aren't they!! i'm truly glad that through your tremendous writing you've met new people. that's so rewarding. you never know where they'll lead you, what they'll bring into your life!!! thankyou for your kind comment kay!! have a lovely day. steven
I still haven't read all the posts, just too much to absorb in one day but I will back up and catch up.
Amazing how much alike and how different at the same time we all are.
I love that first pic steven. It looks like the rock is floating.
hello ellen, i read them all yesterday. it was a full-day commitment!!! take your time. there like good meals. you can eat 'em up, but it's nicer to savour the details!
if you click on the picture of the rock you'll see the lovely little curls of water from the current which moves from left to right....... have a lovely day ellen, steven
Many thanks for that, one of the best memes I have come across. Impressive would be an understatement.
It truly WAS a great success, Steven. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I'm sure everyone did. A huge thank you for the brainstorm and effort invested!!! ~xo
Oh, ps...LOVE the Sargent.
Glad it was all such a huge success steven - it is a very satisfying feeling isn't it. The pieces were all so interesting.
Hi Steven. I found that quite a few of the people on my blog list had done your meme, so I thought it was time to come and visit yours! I really enjoyed reading all the extraordinary transformative experiences, and I'm glad I've found your blog, too!
hi dave - there's some extraordinary writing and reading and viewing that came out of this opportunity and i'm so amazed and glad that it was in itself a transformative experience for so many. lots of people "met" each other and lots of people opened up a little doorway into themsleves for the first time. i'm really glad you cam along dave. peaceful times. steven
oh hi willow! thanks so much it was a great day for me and for so many other people as well. holy moley!! i love the sargent also. i'm thinking it might find its way into the golden fish world headquarters somewhere!! have a fun day at the manor!! steven
hello weaver, i'm taking a lot of satisfaction in knowing that it was special for so many people in so many ways yes!!! thanks for your nice comment. have a lovely day in the dales. steven
hey karen, mmm hmmm!! it is a good time to come and visit!!! there's a sort of cluster of people who hover around each other's little windows onto our worlds and i'm very glad that you saw your way to coming here!!!! have a peaceful day!! steven
Steven, I will do a post on them soon.:) People from all over the world come to float these rivers.
I'd love to live by the water now, but I want it to be clean water.:))
Happy Thursday!
xoxo
hello again sixpence!!! that's good news - the post. sad news about the dirty rivers but there's always hope for a cleaner future for your special rivers! i am having a happy thursday. a really fast, hard bike ride this morning. my mum and aunt visited this afternoon. my little girl and i had a lovely walk delivering her newspapers and the sky has been mostly blue with clouds scudding by. definitely late summer weather. have a peaceful evening. steven
As is the usual path of the blog, your name came up on both Titus and Rachel's blogs, so I had to come see where this started. They both blew me away with their stories.
What an amazing concept...so simple in the old fashion, "so tell me a little about yourself" way and yet so blindingly human. It's interesting that while we're tested, we don't often see it and then later, reviewing our lives can be somewhat breath taking.
I'm glad I came this way...I'll probably wander by again. I've never been a big fan of water and yet, even though I felt horrified for you during your tale, I still felt that sense of peace. Hard to explain. Perhaps I'll come back in the future and try again.
Loved today's pictures...the large one looks like a turtle. :)
hi hope, thanks for visiting. breath taking is exactly what i felt and feel when i visit so many of the blogs i follow and yesterday's postings were so unimaginably rich and stunning it was like an affirmation of being in the right place. i'm not a big fan of water. i don't swim even though we have a pool. but the sense of peace you felt was very real. in the lake where that rock is there are turtles actually - nice big hungry snapping turtles!!! but turtles generally leave people alone. they've figured that piece out for themselves. i'm glad to meet you. steven
I love the sky and clouds in the water in your images. Very cool.
And yes Steven, you meme was a tremendous success. I'm still catching up with everyone's stories.
It is SO great how you made all of us think so hard, and love the generosity and beauty of the responses. Bravo to you and bravo to all of us who participated! It was brilliant, oh yeah!
hey thanks reya. i was so overwhelmed by it all - yeah, by the generosity and beauty of the responses - that i felt something almost like fear. you see, so much of this blogging piece has had a quality of deja vu about it for me. the process, the experiences, even some of the people - that i'm trying really hard to feel inside myself to know what's next. but you already know that!!! ha!! so today - the place of peace.
outside there's the biggest storm we've had through this city in years - tornado warnings and everything!!! but i spent the day gathering myself together and found my centre. thanks for your kindness. steven
Oh Steven - what a marathon day for you. You hosted with such exuberance and your invitation was taken up with such enthusiasm. You should be really happy with the "vibration" you created across the world! I feel privileged to have played a part.
Hope you can rest in the calm waters you provided in this post for the rest of us.
hi bonnie - it was amazing. i'm all settled now though thankyou!!! as i mentioned to reya, a huge storm has passed through here - no doubt on its way to quebec!!! it provided a nice ending to a calm day. thanks for visiting bonnie and have a peaceful evening. steven
The words you write are so peaceful and calming, Steven. I know exactly where to come when my life is completely overwhelming...when I need a place to "lay down and rest"...right here...your blog. Your spirit is precious and so incredibly moving. Thank you for such openness you share via your soul.
hello sophia - i'm able to see more and more clearly as i get older the value of quiet spaces. i'm also learning how to more effectivley create and sustain them for myslef. the end result benefits not only myself but people around me. i didn't know this would happen but hey - here it is!!! thanks for visiting. steven
Steven, it is we who thank you for the opportunity to specifically direct our thoughts. I must tell you that I removed my post from my blog as I usually do after a few days if it is something controversial that might effect my family. I don't think they ever look at my blog... they just aren't interested, but one never knows and there is no point in me creating hard feelings between me & them. I saved the post & all the comments for which I am grateful. I think I have only removed two such posts during my blogging career & I suppose it is because the posts were deeply personal.
The photographs of the water are so soothing.
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