Tag Archives: wonder

Beauty in the photographs details: Hollyhock Chair Boat

There is so much in this photograph that I love.

The place itself I love. It is the Hollyhock Retreat center on Cortes Island in British Columbia, a beautiful, remote, and Magical, Transformative place, especially in the summertime. I first went there in 1978 And attended a 13 week long Resident fellow program with a different workshop each week. I attended a dream workshop where I learned that I was Dan, Dan, The rainbow man, a healer and a teacher. And for the last 45 years, I’ve lived being a Healer and a teacher. I learned about Quan Yen (or Kuan Yin),The bodhisattva of compassion. I learned it from John Blofeld, that Very British China convert, Who wrote so beautifully about Quan Yen (or Kuan Yin), and also  translated the I Ching. John Blofeld so enjoyed his afternoon tea :). I learned about the I Ching, and Tarot cards. And I learned from the wind, the trees, low and high tides, I learned from the lapping of the water, BJ, Whiskey and orange juice, early morning sunshine, the wonderful gardens, and even more wonderful vegetarian meals. I learned by working with Bill Glackman, now a lifetime friend, doing handyman work around the then COld Mountain Institute.

But what do I love about this picture! I love the early morning light, with the side-light and long shadows. I love the empty chair and the empty boat, both waiting for us/me/you.

I can feel myself sitting in that chair, with my eyes closed, warm, with the sunshine on my face and arms in the cool morning, and ever so gently, I feel a slight breeze. With each breath, I breathe in the light, salty smells of the sea. I hear the gentle lapping of water on the beach. I hear the bird calls of morning,  welcoming the new day. That chair is a place to simply be, mindfully and appreciatively.

The empty boat, red and white and waiting, Is not about mindfulness. The empty boat is about adventure awaiting! Come,Let us row away to adventure! Morning is the time for both contemplation and beginning of adventures! I love that in this photograph.

I love the colors, the greens of the grass and the tree. I love the shades of blues in the sea, and in the mountains across the sea.  I love the bands of lighter color blue on the water.

I love how small I am in that early morning light, And how big that quiet sea is,  and how the shrouded mountains are at the top the photograph.

I love the lines of the small waves, lapping towards the shore.

I love the juxtaposition of the living Green tree, the stump, and the wooden chair. Three stages of existence?

I love the variations between the rocky shore, The tidal zone with it’s small rocks and mud , and the two big rocks In the nearby shallow water.

When I look at this picture, I feel gratitude, the hopes of a new morning, The beckoning of mindfulness and adventure, and the sheer beauty of it all: colors, bands of blue and green, and waves, sea, trees, shore, chair, boat, and distant mountains… and ME!

Daisies and stump on summer jubilee trail walk

Daisies basking and bowing to the sun, next to the brown tree stump,  along the Jubilee trail. Color and Black and white version of the same photograph.

Snoqualmie Falls in Winter

This is a 16X20 poster of Snoqualmie Falls in Winter.Snoqualmie Falls varies from a trickle to a cataclysm in different times of the year. WInter is magical. Does the gentle mist know of the crashing waters that gave it birth? Power and gentleness, mist and majesty. Ice and water and mist. All one. Meditative. In-Joy Enjoy.

 

Rodin on Faded Beauty and a Faded Daisy

Rodin on Faded Beauty and a Faded Daisy

I’ve just finished my first month of recovery after having had open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve. Not easy. I’m like a faded flower hoping to bloom again, soon. They say it takes 2 to 3 months to fully recover, but I’m impatient and want it sooner!  🙂
Faded flowers fascinate me! Is the beauty of the flower that once was gone? I don’t thinks so! This is a new stage of beauty, a wiser stage, even more true of faded human  beauty.
One of my favorite books is Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land.” He made me revise my thoughts of beauty 45 years ago when he describes the following statue:

She who used to be the beautiful heaulmière

“You know I wouldn’t be rude to the old woman who posed for that. What I can’t understand is a so-called artist having the gall to pose somebody’s great grandmother in her skin . . . and you having the bad taste to want it around . . . ”
“Anyone can see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo see that this lovely young girl is still alive, prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart . . . no matter what the merciless hours have done. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn’t matter to you and me—but it does to them. Look at her!Quote from Stranger in a Strange Land

Beautiful, EH?

Below are photos of a faded daisy that I took on my first semi-long walk after my aortic valve replacement. I was feeling as faded as this Daisy! They are all versions of the same photograph.

 

 

Plum Village Bell at 5:30 AM and translation

Morning Bell and Songs

Every morning,
In the dark of pre-dawn,
at 5:30 am,
while stars like glittering jewels observed in silence,
a buddhist nun would ring the huge bell,
and the deep vibrating gong would ring long,
moving slowly
into silence.
Then the sister would sing a song
with a beautiful sing-songy Vietnamese voice.
Then silence again,
and another ringing of the bell,
And another song.
This goes on for for 30 minutes.

Empty am I of thoughts,
Full of Joy and Peace.

Google translate of French on Bell at Plum Village.

“Body and mind in perfect harmony. I send you my heart with the sound of this bell. All those who hear me. And out of oblivion transcend any anxiety and pain. At the sound of the bell. I feel that in me afflictions Begin to dissolve. My mind is calm, relaxed my body. A smile on my lips born. Concentrating on the sounds of my bell. I ram my conscious breathing a true home. In the garden of my heart Peace blooms like a flower.”

Favorite Photos: Fall 2013 at Bloedel Reserve, WA

Fall 2013 at Bloedel Reserve, WA

Click on any of the thumbnails to see an enlarged version, with description.

These photos were composed on a wonderful Fall late afternoon in the golden light of a beautiful, magical place, Bloedel Reserve in Washington, Near Poulsbo.

Here are the photos full size for your viewing pleasure.

Favorite Photos: Nun Praying at Mt St Michel France

Nun Praying at Mt St Michel France

At the end of 2014, and during Christmas season, I thought I would share this photo.

Meditation, Reflection, History, Mystery.

Light pours into the room, surrounded by the shining, reflecting mystery of God,
A nun, on her knees on that hard floor, alone with God,
in a side temple hundreds of years old,
on that ancient rock, surrounded by incoming and outgoing tides.

In her perfectly starched white habit,
head slightly tilted,
her habit a flawless white puddle of white on the ancient floor,
prays;
surrounded by, and part of, the Beauty and Mystery of God.

Dan Windisch

Mt St Michel in France is a place I’ve always wanted to go to. An island separated from the mainland by incoming tides. A huge rock outcropping, an ancient monastery, and plenty of tourist shops on the cobblestone road rising up to the monastery.
I love this shot!

Favorite Photos: Mother and Baby Ape: I Wonder

Mother and Baby Ape: I Wonder

 

This is a photo Ive spent a lot of time on. The picture quality wasn’t good, it was sunset at  the Wild Animal Park in Escondido and it was the last light of the day. Mother is looking down, the baby on her back is looking up with wonder, it is the last light on trees, these sentient beings, and the world.

Wonder, last light, mother and child, standing on solid stone, generations, trees, all one. A special moment, then another moment comes, and this moment becomes a memory. Life goes on.