Travel again...

Judy and I will be travelling back to the UK on Thursday and staying for two weeks. My father's health  has again deteriorated and so we are preparing for the worst.

At this time I am grateful for the symbolism and imagery from this Totem pole which sits in the living room of our friends at Long Lake. It is similar to the totem pole which was given to my Grandfather in the 1940s by the Kwakiutl Native Americans as a token of gratitude for all that he had done there. He gave it to me a year or so before he died and the symbols of eagle, bear and salmon combine to create a story of thanksgiving to Creator and the power of connection to the spiritual.


This morning a hummingbird flew outside our living room and hovered at the window as if peeking inside. It was an extraordinary moment as it looked at me, looking at it.


And then before I could get the camera, it had gone.


Nicholas


And then, tonight, after a long day of making flight arrangements and cancelling training times with my new job, as if on cue, against a golden orb of light came the night birds, the bats, to dance in the fading light.

They used to frighten me as a child, stories of them tangling in my long hair, biting me, their saliva filled with rabies...it was terrifying really...


Now, this night, I see them as the beautiful creatures they are, flying with sonar, plotting their flight by bouncing sound off of objects. In their blindness...they have found their way.


We can see little in this season, as a family, as individuals. We are all poised on the edge of something we have never known. We send out our supplications and our prayers and they come back to us, ever so gently...they keep us safe and help us to gather nourishment, help us to navigate the darkness as we rest in the knowledge that we are surrounded with a gracious and unending love.


Judy