27 Replies to “Holding to Stones”

  2. This reminded me of a story: “a group of crabs spent their whole life desperately holding on to the floor of the ocean. They feared the current of the water and limited their view of the world to that little space.
    One day, one of them said – I want to know what’s out there: I am going to let go. The others ridiculed him and told him he would be crushed to shreds by the strength of the current. But he was persistent.
    Sure enough, he was tossed and brutally smashed across the ocean floor. The others shouted but he refused to cling to anything. Eventually the water took him above into an area with no hindrances: an area of pure bliss.
    As he peacefully floated above and discovered worlds anew, the crab said: I’m no different than any of you, just have faith that the current with love and take care of you. The other crabs hailed him as messiah and told stories of his heroic deeds – all the while relentlessly clinging on.”
    You have a beautiful picture. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    2. Adam – Earth – I am a curious spirit of all things. Nature is my home though. I feel at peace when surrounded by it.
      Adam says:

      Great story. I am like that little crab who decided to let go and move on. And so this story resonates with me very well due to recent events in my life. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  3. Mary Ann – Kitchen Keepers is a blog for sharing good memories, good stories and good recipes. I have been asked to record family recipes which have been favorites for many years, adding to their story every time they are prepared and enjoyed as well as those newcomers which have their own story. Since I believe growing and preparing your own food is not only a pleasure but an art which is worthy of passing on, I am pleased to begin. Gathering around our table has been so much more than providing physical nourishment for me. For as we gather, whatever the table shape may be, we form a circle, a place of conversation and knowing and caring. Expressing our gratitude for the provision of food and family, giving thanks for bread and baker, we enter a sacred space. .
    Mary Ann says:

    With your photograph and words, you model lines from Mary Oliver which I often quote – “pay attention, be astonished, tell about it.” Thank you. I love watching this rooting and twining and growing. Lovely poetry.

    Reply
  5. ivonprefontaine – In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders. I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs. I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry. I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry. I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
    ivonprefontaine says:

    Reblogged this on Teacher as Transformer and commented:
    This is a beautiful picture with a short, simple poem. Water is a giver of life along with love. They flow, but can be dammed and stopped.

    Reply
      1. ivonprefontaine – In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders. I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs. I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry. I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry. I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
        ivonprefontaine says:

        You are most welcome. It was such an inspirational message.

  6. leiflife – I have lived most of my life as a dancer,but I have been daughter, sister, lover, wife, mother and, more recently, grandmother, writer, sculptor, musician, and visual artist. Balancing all these aspects of my life continues to be a challenge. I was born on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, but have also lived in New Orleans, Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York City. My father was the artist and naturalist, Walter Inglis Anderson, and my mother was Agnes Grinstead Anderson, an elementary school teacher and a writer. As a child, I loved to dance naturally, inspired by the trees, birds, wind, and waves that greeted my every day. Eventually, I took lessons and my mother encouraged my dream of becoming a great ballerina. I studied ballet with Lelia Haller in New Orleans, and the atmosphere of competition, and the sense that one could never be good enough, daunted my dreams and exhausted my spirit and body. In 1965, Three things happened to free me from the tyrannical world of ballet and move me further toward the balance my soul craved. I discovered Isadora Duncan, the great revolutionist of modern dance, I gave birth to my daughter, Moira, and my artist father died. From here on I would claim the freedom to explore and express the whole of my life through dancing. I was free to become the many-faceted star I was born to be. Since then I have mothered and performed, loved and written poetry, taught the dance technique I called Airth (after the balancing forces of air and earth). I have shared my life with husband or lover, raised my children and kissed them goodby and hello repeatedly. I have also kissed my students goodby and enjoyed teaching workshops from which I could walk away, glad to relax in the company of various dogs and cats. I have read huge quantities of extraordinary books, making friends with the authors through their engaging characters. I have also written poems, memoirs, children's books, and one novel. I have two published books: DANCING THROUGH AIRTH and DANCING WITH MY FATHER. My brush and ink drawings, sculptures, and paintins dance through the homes of strangers while I make occasional journies to Paris and dance anonymously on Paris Streets. At age sixty-five, one is tempted to settle into complacency, to say "I have done the best I can; so be it. I would rather die.
    leiflife says:

    Ahhhh…

    Reply
  8. Gretchen Del Rio – Crestline, California, USA – I first discovered the magic of water based colors when many years ago I began to paint with procion dyes on silk. I loved the unexpected quality of the process. It was so exciting to never be sure what the colors and water would combine to produce. It seemed as though the medium had its own passion. Painting with watercolors and paper is much the same. I love the color combinations and separations that occur spontaneously as the color floats on the water. You can never totally predict what effect will result. If you try to control the medium too much, your painting will be very tight losing its aliveness. The artist must be bold and decisive or the work will not be clear and fresh. It is really like a dance. It becomes a controlled folly in knowing when to let go and when to take charge of the direction that the painting is taking. The images that I paint reflect my emotions and are expression of my life experience. They are not extensively planned, but rather evolve as the painting progresses. I am always surprised by the end result since it comes into being because of what the medium and emotion has suggested. The paintings are from my heart and I always fall in love with the subject. I believe that we are all connected and, if an image touches you, it is because we all have the same heart even though our paths may be different. Most of all, painting what I paint makes me happy. The paintings are my own path unfolding. They are an opening door for me and contain my own passion for life.
    Gretchen Del Rio says:

    So simple telling the story of life.

    Reply
  12. pishnguyen – I love photography, writing, anime, my family, and my dogs. And I seem to spend a LOT of time chasing my muses around in circles.
    pishnguyen says:

    So beautiful in its simplicity — both the picture and the poem.

    Reply
  17. RMW and BTC – We are problem solvers, who are very interested in the relationship of mathematics to interactive human behavior. We believe that with only four postulates and two corollaries we can account for virtually all IHBs, gain a better and more truthful understanding of ourselves, discover a more global form of education, and understand the precise conditions necessary for world peace.
    Robert M. Weiss says:

    The words are simple, but this is a highly suggestive photo.

    Reply
  19. Inside the Mind of Isadora – Intriguing, sensitive, mysterious, loving, artistic and crackling with excitement for life is a pretty good description of who I am. I just retired from the world of art where I sold my Artfully Designed Handmade Jewelry for 28 years; although, art will always be a part of who I am no matter what venue I choose to express it in.
    Inside the Mind of Isadora says:

    The roots look very interesting. I like the imaginative way you photographed them. AND … the story that Mac Léinn posted in your comments. Very nice ….

    Reply
  20. typewriterpoet – I enjoy many poetry styles but enjoy short poetry the most and a little bit of microfiction, but the challenge of a long poem has it's enjoyment as well!
    typewriterpoet says:

    Interesting shot to go with the poem the roots ad to the thoughts on this

    Reply
  21. Adam – Earth – I am a curious spirit of all things. Nature is my home though. I feel at peace when surrounded by it.
    Adam says:

    Reblogged this on Adam Piotuch and commented:
    A symbolic anecdote accompanies this image which resonated with me very strongly due to recent events in my life. The story of a crab…

    Reply
    1. simon7banks – Harwich, UK – I write poems and stories, often mystical or fantastical. I believe very strongly that poetry is an art of the spoken word, so the sound of the words is important: so please say my poems aloud, if only in your head. I live in the U.K., in Harwich, Essex, but have worked in Kenya and Finland, and travelled to many other places. This is my literary blog. I'm also a Liberal Democrat political activist, birder, long-distance trail walker, real ale drinker and Quaker.
      simon7banks says:

      A classic example of something apparently simple but full of meaning and visual fascination.

      Reply

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