THIS PLACE IS STILL......

"This place is still. In this moment. In this hour. And I breathe as my heart soars.." -R. Raphe

                                        "Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity..." -Lao Tzu

"Among my stillness was a pounding heart..."-Shannon A. Thompson

"Be still and know that I am........" -Psalm 46

" Take my breathe. Weave it. Spin it with gold . Keep it in the stillness...." - R. Raphe

"Silence, I have learned, is the most beautiful sound. " -Charlotte Eriksson

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow....." -Psalm 23

Watch............

Listen.....

                       "Being still means move in peace..." -E'yen A. Gardner

Hear...........

                                 "Find some quiet. Sit in Stillness....." -Akiroq Brost

"Awaken the divinity in you...."- Peggy Sealfon

"I am like a deep mountain lake. the surface is a mirror that reflects the sky..." -Elizabeth C. Dixon

                                                             Quiet......

"Love is stillness, quaked only by the leaves' cascading pirouettes..." -Olivia Barnes

                            "Peace I give unto you. Peace I leave with you..." -John

" Look for stillness. In the wee hours. Wait for it.  Long for it. It will be there...." -R. Raphe

Photographs 2023
 

UNCHAINED MELODY....

“Use the wings of the flying Universe,
Dream with open eyes;
See in darkness.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

"Flight boarding for Vancouver, San Franciso, Los Angeles. Gate 26"  So long ago. But I need to back up a bit.  When I was a student, I  decided to get my Masters degree, somewhere, far away, in a cool place.had trouble deciding what would be the coolest. Germany, France, Switzerland. But that didn't work. Maybe  Ireland,  Scotland or England.  Yeah, no. So it was time for the states. North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, New York,  plus every state I could think of. California seemed to want me. International quota. That was moi.  Neato, I thought. Unknown, here I come.

 I got accepted to a  college in California, I had never heard of, never visited. All I knew was that Redlands had a lot of trees, and  an orchestra. I never even spoke to the violin teacher. Only the Dean and his secretary.  I Got my stuff together, my violin, and a return ticket in case I changed my mind. Two days before leaving, my mother got an idea from watching Perry Mason. She figured people at airports were all international spies and would try and steal my violin. 

She dragged me , and my violin,  down to the hardware store and demanded the clerk cut a 12 foot chain that could be attached to my case, then  to me. I looked like a gangster with a weird tommy gun. And that's how I showed up at the airport. The entire trip I kept setting off sirens.  Security guards came out of their coffee breaks to have a gander at the 12 foot chain drooping onto the floor,  around my ankles. Guards chewed gum and circling, asking  questions. Awkward.

I kept thinking my mother was hovering over me the entire time, tugging at the chain. Telling me to stand up straight and don't slouch. At San Francisco airport  one of the security guards asked me: What's in the case? What's with the chain? He scanned the chain. It beeped. I felt like Marley's ghost.

I said courageously "Wouldn't you like to know..." Well, He DID and I ended up having to take the violin out and play it  in a separate room.  I even got a three man escort . People parted  as I walked by. Apparently, you can't talk to security that way. Weird thing was, I couldn't remember anything to play. I scratched my head a lot and decided on Twinkle twinkle Little Star. It was safe.  I couldn't remember anything else.

Guards seemed to like that. So I played it as a round. They nodded their heads.  They let me go, and my chain and I dragged itself back to the lineup. Clank Clank, went the links.

A  fellow traveller asked me what was in the case. "Mind your own business," I quipped. And the whole line of people, to my amazement, kind of moved away from me, again. The man did a double take and went to the back of the line. Can't say stuff like that now. Couldn't say stuff like that then. Security guard showed up again, after the guy complained about me.  I played Twinkle Twinkle  for everyone. They must've thought I was nuts.  I was young and a bit of a ding dong; my mother showed up  in my mind's eye. She shook her finger at me. 

That was a ponderous chain.

At San Franciso  airport, security made me play  twice.  Twinkle Twinkle  was becoming a hit. Twenty years of  lessons, and it was all I could muster. The violin bow  shuddered on the strings, my hands were sweaty. The  chain swerved  around my toes.

Again, the security guards let me go. I hauled that 12 ft chain with me  out of the little room they had me  in.They were very nice. I was given  lunch while I waited in there. My chain and I clanked  down the hallway.  I had to get to the next gate to fly into LAX.

Unfortunately, I got lost in the airport and couldn't find the gate.   A group of cult worshippers, selling a book on  some sort of   extensional way of living, found me. They  tried to sell me their orange and red covered tome.  The head guy said it was only $25, would I like to join? He said my chain was symbolic of the weight of the world, and didn't I find it heavy? Yeah, heavy, man, real heavy. 

I ended up having to play for them as well. Twinkle surfaced once again, but  they didn't seem to mind. They intoned "far out" a lot  and finally pointed me the right way, and  even gave me one of their  books. I had a look at it  at my next stop. It was king of  far out, way far out. I gave it to the security guards at the last gate. 

And yes, I had to play the violin again.  Good old Twinkle served me well again. I explained I was from Canada, and yes this was all I played. They let me through anyways. I saw my mother, wiggling her finger and shaking her head at me.

When I got off the plane at LAX, I couldn't believe how hot it was. I thought it was the heat from the engines, but no, it was the heat  from the sun I would feel for the next five years. I grew to love that heat. I grew to love the people. I made some neato friendships.

The chain  sagged and  dropped to the cement.  I  ripped off it off  dumping it into the nearest garbage container. . Eventually my playing skills returned to normal and I could do more than Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  It became the unchained melody throughout the years.....

Photographs 2023
 

MAGI

"For we saw His star when it rose..." - Matthew 2:2

 I Have a really New project. Getting ready to publish stories and photos with a publisher in New York. I hope it all works out.  So far so good. Have been thinking about it for a year or two. Finally taking the plunge.  Hopefully a series of three books. 27  Manuscripts have already been submitted. Plus a ton of photos for them to sort out. Just waiting to see what's next ...Have been rewriting and rewriting for weeks.  This is one of the  rewritten stories. (One of my favs)...

MAGI

  The man saw the night let go  of its dreams and fall close to  dawn.The star had long since vanished.  The man hurried along the street, blackened and  gritty with gravel. Sleet  slapped at his walking cloak. The man stopped for a moment  to adjust his pack. Still a long ways to go. Must keep moving. Must keep on. Must not let them find me…..must not let them find Him.

The man could not believe  he had been there. The three of them. Together   they stood. Together they kneeled  to warm their hands at the fire. His fire.

 Gifts they gave. Gifts so rare.  As they sat and wondered at this Child. This  little one who had the eyes to see, and the ears to hear.

Candles flickered.. His parents hovered, as the Child took the man’s hand. And there was peace. Such peace the man felt. Then the three of them  left. To get ahead of the storm. They each took a different road .  They would never see each other again.

“You saw me, ” the man said. “You saw me…”

 The man knew he must keep going.  Into the bleak midwinter. The others  would be coming. They were relentless. He was no longer weary.   For the man had held the hand  of Him who was all things. This haunting, magical night of nights….

 

RAIN THINGS

              "The rain begins with a single drop..." -Manal al-Shariff

"In the dark. In the morning. Out of the rain. But still in the dark.."

                                                                   -R. Raphe

"The wind has blown the rain away and the sky...." -e.e. Cummings

"Walking on water. that's what He would do...." -R. Raphe

"If I were running the world, I would have it rain only between 2 and 5am......" -William Lyon Phelps

                                               "I'm singing in the rain..." Arthur Freed

"I am a being of Heaven and Earth....of thunder  and lightning,, of rain and wind and galaxies. " -Eden Ahbez

                               "The rain ceased this morning.." -Meriweather Lewis

"I'm just waiting for people to ask me to make the rain disappear.."

- David Copperfield

"Only He shakes heaven and earth, and from its treasures takes out the winds, produces the rain. Only he realizes miracles permanently." -Michael Servetus

"It always rains for me. The sky shatters and rains shards of glass." - Tablo

"Walk between the raindrops..." -Nikki Giovanni

"Take the raindrop. Please take it. If there's one, there shall be more...." -R. Raphe

                     "Rain is falling through my heart..." -Gustave Flaubert

"Beware the rain..." -Catherine Fisher

"You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too, that's part of it..." -Denzel Washington

Photographs 2023