Photo LinkLove

It was clear and very cold this morning so I decided to take a walk over to the University of Richmond and see what the light was doing with the area around the pond where I normally take photos. Is it a pond? It doesn’t seem large enough to be a lake. But, in any case, it offers some photo opportunities and I would like to thank the U of R folks for putting so much effort into making it an interesting and beautiful place to visit.

So   we can walk over there anytime and enjoy it but especially now when they are still discouraging travel by car . U of R is  in the process of building a football stadium on campus and  it will be really interesting next fall when college football day rolls around. We may have tailgate parties right down the street. People park their cars around here during basketball games because its easier for them after the game is over.

It adds a little something to our neighborhood to be right next to such a dynamic organization and enjoy the  opportunity to take classes, see a play or concert or just get some exercise. We have met Dr Ayers who runs the place and is very friendly and interesting guy.   He has shown interest in this blog.   But then he has shown a lot of interest in what the average person has been saying and doing all the way back to the American Civil War in his fascinating work   The Valley of the Shadow  Two Communities in the American Civil War.

http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/

Early this morning the moon was setting over the baseball field as the sun rose over the horizon.  And the ducks were happy to see someone bring them a little present.

The snow is supposed to start downloading tonight. And the good news is that it’s not supposed to be laden with ice. We are getting the fluffy stuff that doesn’t sit on the power grid and weigh it down. Things will not start snapping off and leaving your blogging buddy in the dark.

It’s going to be fluffy. And that means (possibly) that we will have a good photo opportunity without a lot of pain. Because I hate walking in deep snow that is not fluffy. It requires far too much effort.

I spoke with Zachary my younger son earlier and I may be going downtown tomorrow to take some photos in the area of his new apartment. He has a friend who is majoring in media to include photography and I hope to connect with him at some point. But who knows? It’s going to be very cold and messy. I could just end up staying home in the warmth and comfort of our nice home. No slipping and sliding.

No opportunity to find oneself stuck somewhere. I’m nearly 60 years old after all. Why should I go out and possibly have a problem when I can sit here and play Lord of the Rings Online?

I think of my good friend Robin Easton at moments like this. Her blog is an inspirational resource for many and she might suggest that I should go out and play in the snow with my camera. Mingle with the young college students. Collapse on one of their flea-bitten couches if necessary but take this opportunity to explore the Richmond scene in the middle of a snow storm.

Zachary’s apartment is right across the street from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  It has been going through a major renovation and I wait impatiently for the day it opens again to display  splendor and priceless art work more grand than anything we have ever seen here in our small city.

It really is going to be quite marvelous and all of it will be across the avenue from the seedy apartments occupied by   the sleepy students like my son who spend all  their waking hours working, studying, going to class and drinking beer.

A  wonderful environment for someone like me who doesn’t really enjoy or fit in to your average 60 year old world.  So let’s start early.  Dawn perhaps.  Wish me luck and don’t let us forget the AAA card.

It’s probably going to snow this weekend. In preparation for this delightful event the temperature of the air outside has plummeted from the balmy fifties and sixties down to the frisky thirties and forties. Maybe it’s even going down to the frigid tens and twenties before Saturday. I don’t know. And stop laughing if you are living in Alaska or the Arctic Circle. I understand that you live in an area that allows you to see a steamy yellow stream of something freeze in midair before it hits the ground. You may have viewed this event from the distance or from up close and overhead but either way I’m sure that you are not impressed with our little weather down here in Virginia.

Because I’m not very impressed with it either. It’s just a bunch of unique crystals coming together in amazing ways to cover the landscape that we were pretty much tired of anyway. Dead leaves on the ground. They should have been removed but I was too busy sitting here and so they got comfortable on the ground. Now they will be covered by a glimmering sheet of snow.

All is well. Providing the winds of March blow the leaves away. Then the green will return and the butterflies will wander into the yard. What is a butterfly?

A butterfly is a small object with wings that is designed by God to remind us that we have souls most delicate and colorful that fly around freely if we let them. Imagination is simply the act of allowing our souls to fly around freely without the irritating and redundant action of the mind continually trying to stop them.

Did I say that? Sorry. It just slipped out. But I do love snow and especially the occasional sparkle that reminds me so much of heaven.

Let it snow. Let is snow.

The squirrels and the birds are playing with my Christmas present. Santa dropped off a bird feeder a few weeks ago and it’s hanging in a tree outside the window next to my desk and computer monitor.

So as the day progresses there’s something usually going on out there. Here are a few photos of some of my new friends:

birds in january 10

Do you ever wish that you were a bird? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to fly over the trees? B and I went to see Avatar this evening. We went to the five o’clock show and there were four people in the theater including us. B didn’t think she would enjoy it but every year we go see the movies that will probably turn up on Academy Awards night. Avatar is sure to show up and garner an Oscar or two. It’s a very entertaining movie and B enjoyed it very much.

I don’t want to indulge in any spoilers so let’s just say an important part of the film involves flight. A former marine who is confined to a wheelchair with paralyzed legs is given the opportunity to inhabit the body of an avatar. And then the avatar captures a large prehistoric-looking creature with wings and learns to fly.

He’s a fearless guy too. So my favorite moments in the movie involve him flying around this gorgeous planet on a giant prehistoric bird.

I have no doubt that someday we  will experience something like this when we leave this world.  We will fly.  We will leave these troubled bodies behind.  We will inhabit astral worlds  of great beauty.  Maybe there won’t be exotic animals of one sort  or another but who knows?

I’m pretty sure about the flying part.  And freedom.  Flight and freedom are tied together.  If you can fly then you are free to move great distances on an impulse.  I’m looking forward to that.

I want to rise above the trees as a  sun  rises and one of several moons  begins to fade in the western sky.  As the cool air rushes by my face  I will  realize that this is home.  I am home.  I was distracted for a moment by a movement down below.

What had I seen?  It was this lifetime.  It was decades of living on the ground in slow forgetful motion.

Always trying to remember and now knowing the endless nature of life.  Now remembering as loved ones converge  in flight towards a mountain shimmering in the light.

Last Friday evening B and I went to see The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis and Gary Oldman. The cinematography was beautiful  in a stark, terrifying sort of way. And the music was an active participant in the story. The acting was right up there with the best and the story was interesting although unbelievable in some ways. I was reminded several times of Lord of the Rings Online and my character Breezee the elf who can take several arrows in his tender little heart and still keep on going down the road.  Eli is like that in the film.

Breezee  also likes to destroy monsters and take their stuff. And  so does Eli. This is a post apocalyptic world and people are scrounging around all the time for food and water. Eli does his share of scrounging as he heads west. I won’t mess anybody up with spoilers but I would like to point out that there wasn’t anything in this movie that compared with the pictures coming out of Haiti this past week.

Haiti  must be the post, post apocalyptic world because in Eli’s world there is at least some sense of order. Gary Oldman sees to that as he imposes his wicked self on the populace of a nasty looking little town and hands out water from the one well that still  functions.  But the point is that it does function and people are not simply dying of thirst in the street.  There are a few buildings left standing as well and no one who is buried needs to be dug up.

In parts of Haiti it seems like there is no order and no one in charge. Large groups of people are isolated and unable to receive the supplies that will save lives. There is no way to reach all of them in a short period of time.

I hope that someone will send in  quite a few bulldozers and trucks as the rescue operations proceed to make  roads. Is that impossible? I don’t know. But it seems to me that an important part of a long term solution begins with roads. Even Eli was able to get from one place to another as he worked on the completion of his quest.

But then he didn’t have to deal with red tape and squabbles between the French, the UN and the US military.   If  world leaders could come up with some great ideas and work together to make them happen it would be a miracle of sorts.  It seems like now while everything has fallen down it would make sense to redesign the roads and give them more prominence.  Make them straight.  Create beltways.  Do whatever it takes to allow supplies in the future to get where they need to go.  The roads don’t need to be fancy but they need to be clear.  They need to work.

They say that truth is sometimes  stranger than fiction.  And in this case reality is more horrible than fiction or  at least a movie  that tries to depict horrible living conditions.  When I see video of dead people in the streets part of me feels like they are they lucky ones.  They escaped  the constant suffering and misery.

It’s the one’s who escaped or didn’t escape according to your point of view that need our help now.  And we should all help.  And we should build roads for these people.  Maybe a few bridges too.  You can’t go very far in this world without a way to get there.

I think about people in concentration camps who suffered or are suffering every day.   Almost every time I eat a sandwich I think about it and thank God for helping to keep me out of places like that.   It’s really only a matter of where and when you are born after all.  It’s only a matter of cosmic uncertainty that drops us in certain times and places.

I would not do well in Eli’s situation for a minute.  Most of the time I can’t even stay alive being Breezee the elf in Middle Earth.  And they have roads in Middle Earth.   They have roads just about everywhere except in Haiti apparently.

Hopefully things will start to get better there soon now that the world has focused on their plight.  They can’t get much worse although you hate to make that statement.  Let’s just hope people can work together to help these poor souls who are waiting for Eli or someone like him.