complete simplicity

For me words and photographs go hand in hand. They inform each other for me. They are both ways I explore meaning in my life. These words, excerpted from The Four Quartets move me. I seek this condition of complete simplicity he describes, complete presence. And occasionally I find it. Sometimes this is how I feel when I create a photograph I really love--like I'm discovering something familiar, something I've known all along.




"With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, unremembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning;

At the source of the longest river

The voice of the hidden waterfall

And the children in the apple-tree

Not known, because not looked for

But heard, half-heard, in the stillness

Between two waves of the sea.

Quick now, here, now, always—

A condition of complete simplicity

(Costing not less than everything)

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

Into the crowned knot of fire

And the fire and the rose are one."
--T.S. Eliot

love

Life has been moving fast for me lately. Rachel's end of high school activities, graduation and prom, seeing Jesse off to a summer in Spain, enjoying David and Tim and adjusting to the way our home is changing as one more child leaves for college, three weddings in June, meeting new babies, spending time with couples expecting babies, lots of wonderful non-profit work.

I've been feeling like Lucy in the chocolate factory trying to keep up with all the sweet events, people, moments flying towards me. Lots of opportunity to practice mindfulness. When I take a deep breath and pause for a moment to really see, I am once again amazed by and grateful for this beautiful life. Thank you for reading my blog; thank you for allowing me a place to share my thoughts and my photographs. In my usual way, I am behind on sharing my favorite images from the work I've been doing...it's a balance between giving my full attention to the one in front of me and reflecting on the experiences my work brings me. More to come, I promise.