Bread of Life

Bread of Life sustains,

Nurtures body and spirit.

Living Holy Bread.

Bill and I spent a lovely morning fishing and kayaking on Melton Hill Lake last week. He caught most of the fish which we enjoyed for supper.

Fishing Buddy

Good Catch

Sunflower

I haven't visited my blog in several weeks. Summer is a busy time for a country girl, tending the garden, picking the produce, canning green beans and tomatoes, making jam. It is also a time for playing outside, not sitting indoors at the computer. The last couple of weeks in the garden, with sunflowers blooming, have brought lyrics from the old gospel to my mind: "When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, Oh, Lord, have mercy on me." In my heart is thanksgiving, praise and a plea for mercy.

Faces lifted up

Seeking energy, power,

Sun (Son), Source of life.

Another recent meditation theme from "Alive Now" online was deserted places. My thoughts:

Alone with Spirit

Renewed in meditation

Sometimes just alone.

A deserted place can be a refuge from the business o f the world; a place for gaining sustenance and gathering strength; a place eagerly sought and hard to find.

A deserted place can also be where we find ourselves alone, friendless, abandoned, frightened, without the resources we need to live.

To intentionally find my deserted places brings us peace that can help me in the times when the deserted places find me.

Remembering My Father

Remembering My Father: John Park Taylor, Sr. (1928 - 2001)

John Park Taylor and Clara Nelle Westmoreland, Dec 18, 1949

John Park, Jane Clark, Melanie and Clara Nelle, 1958

John Park's 70th Birthday, 1988

Driving through the Mississippi Delta farmland last week brought memories of my father. He loved the flat Delta land - heat, humidity, floods, drought, bugs and all. Our farm was 500+ acres of cotton, soybeans, rice and later catfish. He used the land as a steward and taught me so much. I cannot ride through any farm country today with composing a report to Daddy in my head. He will want to know what is growing, how is it faring, is the land wet or dry, is it well tended. Of the many life lessons from my father, the one I think of most that was uniquely his, is to look carefully, listen, and pay attention to the world around me. He passed on to me his love for the environment and his desire to take care of it. He loved to “ride down the road” and see what was happening. To the uninitiated, it might seem that nothing was happening on that flat empty land. He would stop and ask me “what do you see?” or “what do you hear?” He taught me to look closely for subtle variations in the landscape or plant growth. He taught me to listen for the birds, the breeze, even the hum of the electrical lines. He taught me to smell the rain coming or the pungent odor of the rice growing. He took me to the woods in the fall and winter to hunt, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot. He taught me to walk gently and quietly, to be attentive for snakes and to handle weapons respectfully. For us hunting was just that - the thrill of finding the signs left by the game, tracking, thinking ahead to where it might be going so as to cut it off. I don’t remember that we killed anything and rarely took a shot. The hunt was the thing. The life lesson was to look, listen and walk gently on the earth. Thank you, Daddy.

Daddy and Son, 1964

Toasting my marriage, Nov 4, 1972

One Minute Meditation - Birdsong and Rainfall

Gentle rain falling

Softly lifts me from night's rest

Restores my gardens.

One Minute Meditation - Holy Spirit Come

Holy spirit, come

In birdsong and babbling water,

In fresh breezes and squirrel chatter

In the quiet of grass growing 

In the stillness of moonlight

In the laughter of little ones

In the touch of those who love me.

Thanks be for all.

Alone on the Water

Alone on the water, or so it seems.

Yet the air is filled with birdsong

And under the surface darting fish.

In between, cormorant, blue heron, turtle, and me;

Black-crowned night heron, little green heron,

A pair of ducks - mallards I think- and me;

Surrounded by life, if only I look.

Spring Beauty

Spring is such a busy time. Planting, tending, watching, breathing...every day new, air perfumed with honeysuckle. Of course, getting the garden started has taken time and energy. Finally almost everything has been planted. We've enjoyed the strawberries, early salad greens and asparagus. Peas are blooming and will be productive soon. Tomatoes, green beans, okra, squashes and peppers are growing. The maintenance phase is beginning now.
From April, 2010

 April Awaking

Wake to sweet bird song

Bathed in honeysuckled air

Deer quietly grazing.

Bill and I took the kayaks out on Melton Hill for the first time last week. I didn't get catch any fish (not even any bites). However, the experience was a wonderful workout for body and soul. I being close the the water and bank for views that I just don't see any other way. I've shared some of my favorite pics below from the lake and from the garden.

Mother on Melton Hill

Solomon Seal

Tupil Poplar

Wild Columbine on rock outcrop

Yellow Flags in the pond

Tomatoes are growing

Early salad greens