I am so thankful for gorgeous waves, beautiful skies, bracing winds, singing sand and….
…wet dogs in early winter. (Penny, the hardest-working critter on the farm.)
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Wisdom from the sage
Wendell Berry:
"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."
--from an essay in "The Long-Legged House""The word agriculture, after all, does not mean "agriscience," much less "agribusiness." It means "cultivation of land." And cultivation is at the root of the sense both of culture and of cult. The ideas of tillage and worship are thus joined in culture. And these words all come from an Indo-European root meaning both "to revolve" and "to dwell." To live, to survive on the earth, to care for the soil, and to worship, all are bound at the root to the idea of a cycle. It is only by understanding the cultural complexity and largeness of the concept of agriculture that we can see the threatening diminishments implied by the term "agribusiness."
"Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating."
--both the above are from essays in "The Art of the Commonplace: Agrarian Essays"Is this so hard to believe?
"An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor, or Ba'al, or The Golden Calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further," Richard Dawkins, 2002.
The archives! Plenty of opining since 2006.
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A splendid photo of the beach and one I never would have recognized as being on a Great Lake. I’ve lived on or near Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and never seen so much sand on any of their beaches!
Beautiful picture!
Great photos!
I love the expression on her face! She looks so pleased with herself; smug, almost. Thanks for sharing.
Ah… our beautiful lake! Absolutely balm for my winter-ravaged soul (& it’s only the beginning!).
That’s a good reminder. Sometimes things get so busy, that it’s easy to overlook the important things.
My schedule now includes time to spend with my not-so-hard-working dogs—hugging Gabriel and playing ball with Gus–I’ll tell them they owe you.
Marcie we have lots of sand, lots of dunes, being on the leeward side of the lake; the stuff blows over. Actually it is quite a beautiful place to be, that shore, at any time of year. You can walk up the beach 15 miles in either direction without hitting anything like a sea wall or a pier, it’s pretty sweet.
Tameson, Kate: thanks!
Beach Bum, that dog is never happier unless she has a job to do. Her job here is to fetch, so she’s so happy. Oh and she hates getting her picture taken (camera=evil).
Laurene, yep, the lake only gets prettier in the winter I think once the ice and snow come in and all you see is white.
Pamela, December is especially busy for many people now. Tempers flare and it’s important to just slow down and let things slide and give a little thanks, methinks.