{"id":84,"date":"2008-11-05T20:04:16","date_gmt":"2008-11-06T00:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogshevik.com\/garneredimages\/?p=84"},"modified":"2008-11-05T20:04:16","modified_gmt":"2008-11-06T00:04:16","slug":"ivy-brick-and-trellis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/?p=84","title":{"rendered":"Ivy, Brick, and Trellis"},"content":{"rendered":"

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”
\n(Eric Hoffer)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On this post-presidential election morning, the juxtaposition of the natural world against the posturings and perceptions of the human animal is as clearly-defined\u00a0as the decidedly bright and spring-like warmth melting softly through a slight mist amidst\u00a0the golden leaves.\u00a0 It is one of those mornings that bursts forth with a rush of cheer and hopefulness; the birds and furred ones already out and about their business to take advantage of this brief, seasonal respite to find fattening forage and continue to\u00a0build their stores for the winter ahead.<\/p>\n

In other words, it is business as usual.\u00a0 Yet on the human front, the results of last night’s elections seem to have left\u00a0the world in a somewhat bleary-eyed and befuddled state of comingled\u00a0relief that all the campaigning and rhetoric is over and anxiousness about what might lie ahead.\u00a0 The pundits are continuing to expound on dangers real and imaginary while\u00a0beginning the inevitable,\u00a0excrutiatingly-detailed yet trivial-pursuit post-mortems on why one candidate was elected over another; mostly to reassure themselves, methinks.<\/p>\n

While I certainly have political opinions, they are personal and when all is said and done mean nothing when compared to my actions and, rest assured, are certainly not the point of this piece.\u00a0 I have chosen to live a life that in Eastern terms is called “the path of selfless service”\u00a0so this day is, for me, no different than any other day.\u00a0 It is that mindset, then, that causes a brief moment of pause; another moment in which this disparity between the perspectives of nature versus that of\u00a0humans is apparent.<\/p>\n

For a photographer, life is a never-ending series of observations captured through a lens.\u00a0 For a writer, life is a never-ending series of observations captured through words.\u00a0 On this\u00a0markedly historical morning where\u00a0the human\u00a0experience is concerned, for this photographer and writer there was no choice but to look, to see, and to record.<\/p>\n

It seems no small coincidence that what is being termed no small triumph for change comes on the heels of what is considered the start of the natural cycle.\u00a0 As the northern hemisphere enters that period in which our world digs in against the shortening daylight hours and goes down into the deep sleep of contemplative review in order to birth the seeds to be sown upon the Winter Solstice (return of the light), the\u00a0crystaline brightness of this honey-hued morning is filled with small,\u00a0portent images.<\/p>\n

Dying leaves still cling to the maples in\u00a0delicious shades of orange.\u00a0\u00a0Japanese maples and burning bushes positively glow\u00a0with leaves of\u00a0deepest crimson.\u00a0 The oaks\u00a0display their\u00a0rich and russet browns, the lindens and mulberries and rose of Sharon all transfuse the light with varying degrees of yellowish-green against grass, in contrast, that shines with dew like the brightest of\u00a0emeralds.\u00a0 It is a\u00a0 veritable harvest feast for the eyes and each one a jewel to be tucked into memory as touchstones for the grey days ahead.\u00a0 Reminders that everything\u00a0birthed holds potential for renewal, and that the very best go out in a blaze of glory.<\/p>\n

Of late, it\u00a0has been\u00a0to the indestructible ivy that stubbornly invades the red brick of both my house\u00a0and my next-door neighbor’s near-twin house that my eyes have turned.\u00a0 Waiting for just the right degrees of both sun-on-horizon and intensity\u00a0of the early\u00a0morning light to record its small yet colorful\u00a0journey towards winter’s dreams.<\/p>\n

The times, they are a’changing, and so\u00a0in synchronous deference\u00a0to a Higher wisdom it is\u00a0today that this small, simple being becomes today’s daily photograph.\u00a0 Of the various shots taken, it is this mixture of ivy, brick and trellis that holds the symbolism of the dark times ahead, the stubbornness to persevere through them, and that opening through which all that is reborn must come.<\/p>\n

\"Ivy,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” (Eric Hoffer) \u00a0 On this post-presidential election morning, the juxtaposition of the natural world against the posturings and perceptions of the human animal is as clearly-defined\u00a0as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}