Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Portland Oregon

Upon entering the Vietnam veterans memorial in Portland Oregon be prepared for a change of perspective. There is a sense of peace and somberness that meets you.

This is what will meet your eyes as you climb the steps

The memorial is slightly larger than three acres. It is an open park like atmosphere that has trails which spiral slowly up to the black marble memorial slabs containing the names of those who died in the war from the Portland area.

1969 seemed to have the most names on it.

Above each list of names on each marble slab was recorded what was happening back home at the time these young people were dying.

This aspect made me stop and wonder ... made me see clearly how unnecessary their deaths were.

Why did they have to go there and die?

The last marble slab before leaving the memorial is dedicated to those who went missing in action.

Upon leaving the memorial you find yourself on this path. It winds up and down trails in a heavily shaded forest like atmosphere. It is a good place to meditate on what you have just encountered.

Someone recently said to me that the Vietnam war was justified because communism represented a threat to our 'way of life' by challenging our economic philosophy ie: our consumer driven corporately contrived way of life.

What do you think?

Photographs and text Copyright 2007 David H. Roche

Approaching The Catalpa

The Catalpa tree in the photograph is in sad condition. The power company trimmed it and reduced it to a shell of what it was last year.


Regardless, the life force, the 'spirit' in it keeps on going.


The leaves are large and heart shaped, approximately 9 inches from top to bottom and at the widest point 5 inches across.


Their seed clusters resemble vanilla beans in shape and color.

In mid June the Catalpa blooms in buoyant clusters of flowers that are predominantly white.

They have a soft sweetish odor.

The leaves gather energy from the surrounding environment and work to nourish the entire tree producing a lush dark green appearance.

In this photograph it can be seen that the blossoms have a design of different colors that begins in the throat of the blossom.

This photograph brings your right up close enough to enjoy the designs that are in their opened throat. They are wine and gold, predominantly white.

As you come this close the designs appear as if they were in a traditional Chinese nature painting.

You are tempted to put your nose into the bloom and savor the faint sweetness, which on hot June afternoons when the breeze is nonexistent, will spread through the yard from their abundance.
They are a part of a progression that begins when the crocuses appear in March and which continues through November when the asters finally signal the entering into dream time.
Enjoy it.
Text and photographs Copyright 2007 by David H. Roche

The Shapes of Things

I have my eye caught by shapes and designs where ever I go. Sometimes I am lucky to have my camera with me. I hope you enjoy seeing them. I enjoy them. The bridge below is at Filmore Glen State Park in Moravia N.Y. the rest of the shapes are found in the vicinity surrounding my home.








A bridge in the forest,




... the grace with which it impresses the mind as viewed through the trees from a distance. It possesses a grace, an almost impossible concept of stones suspended in the air. 'Can't be!' But there they are

The bridge presents many shapes depending on the perspective in which is it viewed, but all are elegant and graceful

The apple tree has seen some hard years,

it will probably see some more. My eye was caught by the tortured shape it had assumed, and my thoughts were of how it refused to give up and continued on

Mother Earth:

The shapes appear randomly. I find this one intriguing and evocative of the fecund sensuality of life.

Tranquility in the wee hours of morning.

The gentle colors of the night sky
evoked by the light of the moon, the peaceful outline of the barn someplace in the universe, nestled together they are partners in an eternal waltz in the ballroom of the moon.

Photographs and text by David H. Roche Copyright 2007

Thoughts on the 'Tao'

The 'Tao' as revealed by Lao Tzu in the 'Tao Te Ching', represents a conception of the way things are that makes a lot of sense if you take the time to consider it. The wisdom of the 'Tao' is something that has nothing to do with wheeling and dealing or with the artifice that is generally displayed in 'polite' society. It is not what people ordinarily call wisdom. Many times in the 'Tao Te Ching, the author explains that the 'Tao' appears to be not much at all in the way things are customarily judged.

What is comprised in this 'wisdom' is that those who see the 'Tao', pronounced 'dow', most clearly, understand that by allowing it to work it causes things turn out right. Conversely they understand that by interjecting good intentions and 'corrections', conceived of as solutions, something is added that will not work out the way that is best. In other words they know that by interfering with the processes and wisdom of the universe they will 'screw it up'.

When one is 'wise' with the 'Tao' he is at peace with this answer. He walks purposively, in the shadows sometimes, but into the light.

The Tao Te Ching translated by Raymond B. Blakney can be read at this site:

http://www.mountainman.com.au/tao_1_9.html

A really delightful translation of the Tao Te Ching, 'the 'Way' and its characteristics' can be downloaded at no cost from the Internet Archives at this link. This is an audio book in mp3 format.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=tao%20teh%20king%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio

Passages

The passage of seasons is the timepiece of the universe. It is also a teacher and if one takes the time to go to class, that is if he stops to think about what it is that has happened in the years that have passed and what is happening in the present that is in directly in front of him, he will be able to make the most of everything and invest that passage of time with meaning. If he doesn't he will find it bewildering and pointless.

Society is geared to make this passage seem meaningless. It is designed to make you see your life to be nothing more than that of a consumer of gadgets and in the end nothing more than profit for the healthcare industry.

Don't settle for that explanation. You are worth more than that.

Life is a spiritual situation. I have been reading a book titled 'Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest' by Ella E. Clark. I bought this book on a trip out to Mt. St. Helens in July of 2006 at one of the observatories along the way to the summit. What speaks to me is that the natives of that area understood the land to be alive and regarded it as a person.

Many of the tales recounted begin something like this: 'Long ago, when the mountains were people'. For them every aspect of life and their environment was invested with a significance beyond that which was seen. For them there was something else. There was a great spirit that superintended the life on earth and made all life sacred. The environment was animated.

Many of the tales recount how the people got greedy and wanted more than the environment could provide for them and that they began to behave in a way that was not in accord with good manners and that they suffered for it. There are tales of what we understand now to be geological disturbances but which they ascribed spiritual significance to in much the same way as other people in other parts of the world did to similar events. And who is to say that there is not spiritual significance in the geological functions of the environment? The 'Spirit' is deep and infused in all life, certainly so it is in these details as well.

It is my belief that spiritual significance abounds in the mundane unfolding of life and that these people, no matter how primitive they may appear to 21st century standards, had a vital spiritual connection that is not available through conventional religions. I would go so far as to say that it is precluded from the conventional monotheistic religions that depend on moralistic teachings and cultic prohibitions to enforce modes of behavior designed to eacape the wrath of the prevailing deity.

How much better it is to be in accord with the flowing of life than with rigid words and pointed threats printed in books to which you must bend your will. How much better to take what is given than to reach for more than is available.

So I have this small poem in accord with these thoughts and a few photographs to illustrate what I understand life to be about.


The Colors the Birds the Way, Me and You

This May morning is the pew I sit in today,
the spirit of the earth and universe blowing over my skin
while robins, bellies swollen, flit from yard to tree;
grasses gripped in their beaks.

The colors that have appeared
one after the other from below
as they have done year after year
tell me more than the Book of Revelation

about what is to come.
They came before,
they will come again.
The colors, the birds, you and me.

The photographs that follow were all taken in my yard beginning with the very first crocuses to blossom in March and ending with the first blossoms of lilacs that I took today. In their entirety they show how life and time flows naturally and they indicate that the only way to find a step in tune with what life is all about is to go with that flowing.

Beauty to be perceived in so many ways as the Moody Blues said in their 'In Search of the Lost Chord' album. Check that out. It's right on!

This is a sunrise as seen from the end of my driveway marking the beginning of another day. Another step in the life process. Part of the whole. Glorious isn't it? What can you buy that can compete with something like this?

At this time, in late March there were lilacs that did not appear as lilacs. But I know better than to think otherwise . I have seen them come and go for 33 seasons in this place without change. They are lilacs! Believe me! They perfume my yard every May and I look for them to do it. And they will!!

It's hard to see these scrub branches as lilacs isn't it? They look like dead branches. Don't be fooled.

In between March and May this is what happened.

Daffodils appeared in the snow right on time.

In the snow! And they just kept on going....

...and then the tulips came...









and more tulips ...




and wind flowers ....

and violets.

But last, the lilacs that were so dead in March show themselves ready to live again.






















Such is life and if religion or spirituality are to be real they must conform to it.

Lights Along the Lake

Lights Along The Lake

The tradition of illuminating the eastern shore of Onondaga Lake in Liverpool, NY is in its seventeenth year now. It is a delightful way to spend an hour or so and here are some photographs of what you can expect to see.

Enter

A fantasy land of incandescence awaits to delight you

An illuminated outpost welcomes the traveller

Candy Cane delivery

.

Images of Christmas Suspended in Space

The Casbah:

an oasis of light

Christmas Spirits Arriving

And the Cleavers too!

A Tightrope walker comes for the festivities

Toyland

PEACE!

Photographs taken by my sister and myself copyright by David H. Roche 2006. Text by David H. Roche

The Light Shining Through

This old barn has caught my attention of late. I have photographed it often in the recent past. This evening at dusk just before sunset I went out with my camera to see what I would find. I found the old barn as usual and noticed a speck of light shining through it. It was something I had not noticed before. It certainly has to do with the time of day. The light was coming from the west side and shining through the window on the east. I took these photographs.

I found that the window in the barn actually peers through one side of the barn and out of the other; perhaps it is not a window on the other side, but a hole made by the passage of time.

I see a metaphor of many things with the old barn having served its usefulness; full of accumulated junk and now the light shining through.

On my 60th birthday I feel an affinity with the old wreck of a barn and sense the light shining through myself.

Soon the night will come.

And the morning must of necessity follow.

Photographs and text copyright by David H. Roche 2006

The Barn and its Dance on the Corner

At dawn the world begins,

the things hidden in the night

return again.

..

The barn on the corner

emerges by degrees
from the darkness.

The colors

are hidden in the sun

and daylight paints the barn with

different nuances every day.

It is put together by means of timber frame construction, a technique that has been dated to ancient Egypt and achieving it's final technical form in the 14th century. The timber frame construction is so durable that buildings made with this technique a thousand years ago are still in use today.

Its frame is made of rough cut logs, hand chiseled to the necessary size with mortise and tenon joints fastened with wooden pins hammered through the ends to hold the structure solidly together.

For a period of time in the 19th century and into the 20th century the construction style was abandoned in favor of 2 x 4's and nails, along with concrete and sheet metal for siding. But a renewed interest in the timber frame construction resumed in the 1960's for housing construction owing to it's ability to provide large spacious living areas.

This barn has been on the hilltop at the intersection of Silver st. and Townline rd. for at least 80 years, and is a stable reassuring presence reflecting an era that has passed. It has been almost as much a part of the landscape as the hills and the horizons.

Each morning it reappears. Each night it slips into the darkness. This is its dance.

Text and photographs copyright 2006 by David H. Roche

Along the Roadside

The barn on the corner is at least 80 years old,
young for some of those like it..
It is a timber frame construction. The support beams
are rough hewn portions of what were once tree trunks
and joined with mortise and tenon joints and secured with a hardwood peg.

Timber frame construction is said to have originated as early as 500 BC and reached its present stage of development in the 13th century. Buildings constructed by this method 1000 years ago are still in use today.

In the 1800's with the advent of mass production techniques the standard style of framing used commonly today with 2x4's and nails became the construction standard. But in the 1960's timber frame construction was revived. It's capability to provide a large open living area, with high cathedral type ceilings has proven to be an attractive incentive for choosing this type of construction.

Concerning this particular barn and it's presence on the corner the boards on the outside are a pale faded red and bare in spots; when the sun shines on it at different times of the day it's surface takes on different hues.

It is a sturdy solid relic, an anomaly among the modern barns made of
concrete, treated lumber and flimsy sheetmetal panels.

It seems to owe its existence to the sunrise...

as it emerges from the darkness and

assumes its place on the corner

for another day.

With the sunrise comes

the colors.

.

Scarlet sumac

in the rose colored light

of a new day makes a breathtaking

sight at sunrise.