Bereft

orbatus

'bereft'

So a couple of weeks ago I went to visit my sister in Pennsylvania. Her digs there are awesome - absolutely 100% fabulous. She lives out in rural Central PA hill country, and to get to or from her house you have to go up and down these steep, winding, contorted roads. Absolutely fabulous. There are hidden treasures everywhere; we'd be driving along and all of a sudden would happen on homes that had been there since before the Civil War (she was married in a Revolutionary War era mansion that's not far from where she lives now). You just don't find things like that around Chicago! We found this old abandoned house on the first day of my visit, as she was driving us home from the train station in Harrisburg. She said that it's been abandoned for a while, and the roof and other wood structures were destroyed by fire a few years back - she remembers the fire; they had the road all blocked up when they were putting it out. It's for sale now. I hope whoever buys it does so for the house as much as the surrounding property - perhaps there's something worth salvaging there. There were signs on the doors advising against trespassers, and all the ground level windows were boarded up, so entry wouldn't have been easy. Rest assured, if my ankle hadn't been sprained at the time and the size of a balloon (I had a hard time just walking around it and getting the photos that I did), I'd have found a way in, and there'd be some excellent photos of the full moon through some of those blasted out windows. But alas, that wasn't to be. Oh well, things to look forward to on future visits!

oculus nitens

'bright eye'

trajectory

vesperascit

'evening descends'

hebite luce

'as the light dies down'

iuxta marginem

'on the verge'

casus

'falling'

relinctus

'abandoned'

primus lapis

'cornerstone'

incrementum

'growth'

Awake, O Sleeper!

I've been sleepy these last couple of weeks. I really don't know why. When I wake up in the morning, I have something to eat and then go back to bed. Then I'll nap a couple of times during the day. After that I go to bed and sleep the whole night through. I can't seem to sleep enough. This afternoon as I was contemplating yet another nap (it would have been my second), I felt an inexorable call to the sunlight. And so I arose from my bed and stepped out into the light. I am always amazed at God's presence in nature. It's as if, in it, He is calling us all back to Him. His natural revelation is a conviction to the unbeliever, revealing His presence and the folly that is a life without Him; but for the believer, it's a reminder of life and rebirth, a reminder to slow down, lie back, and watch the clouds float overhead. God is everywhere in His creation. Perhaps if I spend more time with Him there, I will sleep less.

awake, o sleeper

awake, o sleeper,
and rise from your dreary slumber.
arise, o dreamer
from the paste-thin walls of its gossamer web.
the sun has arisen,
and in the shadows cast by his beams
dwells a truth much deeper
and richer
and full of life
than that which is found in the
light-bathed glades
of your temporary world.

umbra

after the rain

This little glade is on a small, sylvan island called Spider Island on the outskirts of the garden. My friend M. and I had a very bad experience there one evening last summer which led us to call it 'Hooker Island' (don't ask!) ever after. Needless to say, I've avoided it since. Today I ventured back onto it, and laid down on one of the stones in the middle of this little glade. The clouds floated by (and every now and then a plane, too, reminding me of where I really was) and so did the time. It was so secluded and comfortable, and the little insects serenaded me with a private symphony that was rich with tonic variants.

nubem

leaving

sleeper

Apparently I'm not the only one who's sleepy in the afternoon, as I found this little paddle of female ducks hanging out near the water garden and the bridge to Evening Island (where the ducks tend to hang out) in various states of repose. I think they were enjoying the warm flagstones more than anything. I love the ducks. Inevitably , if you sit there long enough, they'll walk right up to you. They all seem to know that they're completely safe at the Garden, and no one ever hassles them.

resting

safe