How is your level of happiness? What mood are you in when you wake up each day?
I have received an e-mail from my ex-husband about Happiness. It touched a real sensitive aspect of me and I wrote him a long e-mail about the subject. I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings about this important theme.
Happiness does not hit us on the head with a big bang. Its subtleties reach us in gentle manners. It just whispers softly in our ears and is brought with the wind as we wake up to greet the day. And I do not think that happiness is only a choice. That would be too easy. I think that happiness grows on us like a song and installs itself with some struggle in our psyche.
I strongly believe that happiness is the best celebratory feeling I know. It is filled with compassion and understanding and a sense of joy about one's self, one's actions, and life in general. If you add to all this an eye and appreciation for natural beauty, an ability to be generous and give, and an appreciation of all the wonders of the world and the day, we have a real graceful bliss. The courage to be happy is a great joy.
That of course does not mean we cannot be sad or grieve or encounter pain, it simply means that by choice, we place our focus on other things the best we can and enjoy our lives no matter what. The sadness, when embraced and accepted, not pushed out of sight or covered up, flows down the river of our days and leaves us stronger.
I am always surprised at people who have so much and maybe because they have so much are blown away by the slightest event or painful episode in their life. They have not experienced the strength that facing life's problems will create inside of us. We gain a real amount of confidence and resilience by showing our fighting spirit and putting order and joy in our lives especially when it is threatened.
In this country, many of us are now super spoiled with so many benefits, so many perks, so many gadgets, so many gifts and abundance that we consider all this a normal thing. Yet a great part of the world lives without any of it. When one of these perks is taken away, we often come close to collapse.
There are so many depressed people who have no reason, that I can see or know, to be depressed.
Doctors make a lot of money treating depression and sometimes have to end their treatment when their patient commits suicide; like a dear friend of mine who jumped last year from a tall bridge. Yet from all appearances, she and many others had everything they needed to be happy. I often wonder what goes on in their mind and what created the depression.
This is one of the reasons some older people are precious to me. They are part of another generation that has endured and appreciates the gifts of life. I remember a dear friend in Peru, an American, telling me that during the great depression he had to go to school without shoes, even in winter. That created in him an ability to face adversity and win. I went through many of the atrocities of the dictator Duvalier in Haiti, yet life is to me now an everyday event fit to celebrate.
I think that choosing to be happy is an evidence of lack of self-pity and a wonderful habit that we can encourage and nurture until it becomes ingrained. Our heart needs to soar and be present with our feelings and our relationship with others. Happiness can be filled with sadness and tears can be of great joy.
There are so many little reasons to be happy we can catch them like a fisherman on the shore and then take our catch home -- inside of us.
Copyright Micheline Brierre 2010
With editing by Barry Kaplan
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Gadgets of Our Time -- part II
The comments I have received from my friends about "The Gadgets Of Our Time" were so convincing, so well thought of and so well written that I have decided to republish them and I hope you will enjoy what they had to say as much as I did.
- There is plenty to say about cyber-involvement these days. Or, should I say "lack of involvement" in real life? It is the rare person who can walk down the street without calling, answering, texting, listening to music, or twittering. How about those that are glued to facebook, emailing, Skyping, online porn, instant messaging, watching tv programs online, and "reading" kindle books? There is no question that these cyber connections result in obesity, inability to write a letter, lack of conversational communication, inability to write a story in longhand, lack of imagination, lack of outdoor play and exercise, and the like. Who needs a mouth anymore? All we need is cyber access and a pair of thumbs! HA! Do you recall the images of aliens with a small body, huge eyes and no mouth? Is this far off for us? It is enraging to see communication take this radical twist. We are developing a nation of solitary hermits who are quickly losing their innate skills! As long as there is an emotionally disconnected "voice" at the other end of an electronic device many are happy. But truly--how can they be happy? Did you know that there is no longer an emphasis on teaching students how to write longhand anymore? I forsee a huge amount of depression and related diseases affecting our modern times as a result. There is a huge need for humans to connect to others in an active manner. We need hugs, we need comforting, we need encouragement to bloom. How will this happen when our companions are "black boxes", with or without cords? Can you see yourself cozying up to a monitor and keyboard on a cold night? I don't think so. There is no subsitute for human companionship. In my world there is no worry that I will give up my "old fashioned" ways. I love to see the expression on a friend's face as I share good news. And know that a family member is holding my birthday card and letter in their hands. I will continue to use my cell phone at MY convenience and not allow that device to interrupt any time with family or friends. And driving will never be the place to phone or text when my mind is concentrating on the road. The computer is part of my professional life and a quick ability to email a friend--however, it will not steal away hours from my daily existence. TV will never fill in for a leisurely walk in the neighborhood or a favorite hiking trail. Our civilization must keep its eyes and ears open for new technology and new ways of doing--but not at the expense of our basic rights of life. All forms of communication have their place, and most new avenues are acceptable in moderation. Let's just stay AWARE.
- September 29, 2010 7:26 AM
-
James Doering said...
- We have high definition TV and another push for 3d in new technologys yet the highest definition and best 3d is a walk in nature, getting outside and getting active.
- September 30, 2010 7:04 AM
-
Anonymous said...
- Dear Micheline, I just read your blog on The Gadgets of our Time and I could not agree more with you that these "gadgets" (and I use one of them, a cell phone) are getting in the way of our person to person communication. I have also observed at times a family at a restaurant where the kids were all busy either texting (and what an absolute nuisance that has become) or playing with their playstations or whatever those things are called. I was taking the son of a friend (11 years) to Flagstaff recently, trying now and then to have a conversation, but was constantly silenced because he was in the middle of some game or other. I have often talked to Suzanne about this and I think it is a rather sad development in our society, that conversation has gone south. I know there will be and are families that still have their meals together without interruption, but I think they are in the minority. And I absolutely agree that obesity plays into this also, kids are too busy watching TV, playing with their gadgets, and not having any imagination left to start playing from scratch. Anyway, thanks for writing this. Love Brenda
- September 30, 2010 8:11 AM
-
Anonymous said... - Dear Micheline, I agree totally with what you said and also with the followers comments...we are in the era of "communications"(?) but nobody communicate with each other anymore. It is very sad and I can see already the results of that lack of communication all around me. There is more & more problems in schools, in workplaces and everywhere people are killing others and themselves, why do you think that is? Lack of communication and understanding of life in a society...and it will get worst as these youngsters get older, they will treat their family like trow away elctronics. But this has started long ago with the radio for example...I remember wanting to have a nice, peaceful time at the beach with a friend or my husband and beeing blasted by someone next to me with a radio full blast in my ear...forget listening to the waves or the seagulls and all the wildlife, we had to move very far for that music(?) not to hit us with that aweful noise. And there is nothing you can say about it because they don't have any respect for anybody but themselves...the lack of respect is all over. But the parents don't seem to care either, so where can we go to find peace & quiet and a nice conversation with friends or family?... I have a cellphone, but it's like my home phone, and I don't ever answer while driving, it's against the law here anyway, and I put it on silent when I'm with friends,that's what voice mail is for,isn't it? Thank you for your article, Love Micheline in LC
- September 30, 2010 12:55 PM
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Gadgets of our Time
I was at a restaurant and a family was sitting close to me. Each one of its members was busy fidgeting with a cell phone. Texting, or seeing something on the web or playing some game. They were entranced by their phones until food was served. Then there was silence as they ate. Was it typical?
Wherever I go, people talk to their phone, very often in a loud voice, so I can hear everything they say. So many loud voices!
I wait in line at the post office and despite the sign saying no cell phones, the phones ring and I end up next to a lady busy having a private conversation that all can hear.
Others seem like lunatics as they cross by you loudly talking to ... no one it seems, until you notice the phone -- on their ear.
Do you go walking sometimes? MP3 players are attached to someone's ears and they are too busy listening to hear your steps. My husband and I passed a very erratic driver and I looked through his window and he was not looking at the road but was busy texting and we all know of the dangers of texting while driving. An accident is harm to one self but also to others plus the damage to property.
Children play with X-Boxes and communicate this way with each other. It is interesting. The gadgets of our time have us hooked to their convenience and their appeal.
It could be a laptop or mini-laptop or some of these gadgets to read a downloaded book. I wonder if there is a connection between the obesity in America and the fact that many of us stay inactive playing with our gadgets.
We are the generation that has no refuge for our thoughts. Any time the phone can ring and reach you no matter where you are. Driving? Yes it will reach you. Talking to friends? The phone will ring. On vacation? The phone is at your waist or in your purse. No matter what you are doing, the phone is the constant companion that will emit this ring tone (often loud) of your choice and you will feel compelled to answer or to text. Most of the time.
I am of a generation when none of these things existed. Lunch or dinner was an opportunity to talk and listen. Families would exchange ideas and I remember lively conversations with my parents. Family events were so important because the whole tribe was around and talked and told old stories and new ones that made us laugh. We talked and we listened. Children played with each other, got angry, fought and laughed -- outside. There was not the danger of being abducted, being killed, or maimed. Such things were rare. We were safely outside playing-- with each other.
Has all of this gone with the wind? I do not think so. But the gadgets of our times have us prisoners of their convenience and they never seem to rest. All day they are present, reminding us of work, of others, of cyber beings of other realities that never existed before. We can embody a whole new identity in cyberspace. Is that good? Perhaps and perhaps not. Those gadgets drag us to their realm whether we are in a car or at the office or at home. Scientists are already looking into our addictions and telling us that it often stills our creativity.
Multitasking is another fallacy of our time since the brain only tackles one thing at a time. Do we go rapidly from one thing to the other? Yes we do, and it looks like multitasking even though it is not.
I use no cell phone, no texting, and go in a car with my brain and my thoughts. I can imagine, dream, recall, anticipate, feel, grieve or rejoice at will. I use the uninterrupted silence of my mind as a canvas where my ideas and creativity take place.
At home I get the phone when it rings and use my beloved e-mail, but besides taking my laptop on business trips, I feel free and guess what? I also talk with friends if we are together at a dinner table. Life is so full of events, of happenings; I feel full, much too full of news, full of facts to digest and things to delete. That is enough for me.
But let the gadgets of our time beckon and who know? I may not be able to resist.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
Editing by Barry Kaplan
Wherever I go, people talk to their phone, very often in a loud voice, so I can hear everything they say. So many loud voices!
I wait in line at the post office and despite the sign saying no cell phones, the phones ring and I end up next to a lady busy having a private conversation that all can hear.
Others seem like lunatics as they cross by you loudly talking to ... no one it seems, until you notice the phone -- on their ear.
Do you go walking sometimes? MP3 players are attached to someone's ears and they are too busy listening to hear your steps. My husband and I passed a very erratic driver and I looked through his window and he was not looking at the road but was busy texting and we all know of the dangers of texting while driving. An accident is harm to one self but also to others plus the damage to property.
Children play with X-Boxes and communicate this way with each other. It is interesting. The gadgets of our time have us hooked to their convenience and their appeal.
It could be a laptop or mini-laptop or some of these gadgets to read a downloaded book. I wonder if there is a connection between the obesity in America and the fact that many of us stay inactive playing with our gadgets.
We are the generation that has no refuge for our thoughts. Any time the phone can ring and reach you no matter where you are. Driving? Yes it will reach you. Talking to friends? The phone will ring. On vacation? The phone is at your waist or in your purse. No matter what you are doing, the phone is the constant companion that will emit this ring tone (often loud) of your choice and you will feel compelled to answer or to text. Most of the time.
I am of a generation when none of these things existed. Lunch or dinner was an opportunity to talk and listen. Families would exchange ideas and I remember lively conversations with my parents. Family events were so important because the whole tribe was around and talked and told old stories and new ones that made us laugh. We talked and we listened. Children played with each other, got angry, fought and laughed -- outside. There was not the danger of being abducted, being killed, or maimed. Such things were rare. We were safely outside playing-- with each other.
Has all of this gone with the wind? I do not think so. But the gadgets of our times have us prisoners of their convenience and they never seem to rest. All day they are present, reminding us of work, of others, of cyber beings of other realities that never existed before. We can embody a whole new identity in cyberspace. Is that good? Perhaps and perhaps not. Those gadgets drag us to their realm whether we are in a car or at the office or at home. Scientists are already looking into our addictions and telling us that it often stills our creativity.
Multitasking is another fallacy of our time since the brain only tackles one thing at a time. Do we go rapidly from one thing to the other? Yes we do, and it looks like multitasking even though it is not.
I use no cell phone, no texting, and go in a car with my brain and my thoughts. I can imagine, dream, recall, anticipate, feel, grieve or rejoice at will. I use the uninterrupted silence of my mind as a canvas where my ideas and creativity take place.
At home I get the phone when it rings and use my beloved e-mail, but besides taking my laptop on business trips, I feel free and guess what? I also talk with friends if we are together at a dinner table. Life is so full of events, of happenings; I feel full, much too full of news, full of facts to digest and things to delete. That is enough for me.
But let the gadgets of our time beckon and who know? I may not be able to resist.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
Editing by Barry Kaplan
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Talkers and Listeners
When I lived in Bogota, Colombia, I went to a cocktail party with my ex-husband and I was introduced to a man to whom I asked a few questions. He talked and I listened. I listened for maybe half an hour and then moved on. He told my ex-husband that I was such a charming person. I could not tell why, I had barely talked to him. I then discovered the great power of listening.
Life is full of talkers and listeners. People who start to tell you stories as soon as they have you on the phone and do not stop until you hang up. They are not terribly interested in you but inside of them they enjoy the fact that you are a valuable deposit for their words. They tell you interesting stories at times and sorry ones at others.
Some of us have developed the art of listening. It is like opening the vast territory of an empty space ready to be filled by others. But there is always a part of us that steps inside the talker's story and silently agrees or disagrees. A sort of inner balance that puts the talker in a place of evaluation. I listen to you and I can criticize at will with a silent question or agree with an empathetic laugh.
Of course, the ideal would be a talker and good listener at the same time. I have such friends and the exchange is so fair and fulfilling. You feel that your words are going to a place of receptivity and you let yourself become like a sponge absorbing the others sentences.
My life is filled with people who are interested and people who are interesting. I have quite a few friends out of state and we e-mail each other. Their letters are about their life and what they do or are going through, but also with questions about me and what has happened in my latest days.
I have also in my life the people who are the ultimate talkers. They are interesting but stop there. They do not ask me about me or about my work, my latest trip, or what I think about such a subject. For them I am the perfect receptacle. The one who puts my head in one of my hands and tilts it in a nice way. I listen.
I wonder where you fit in this aspect of living? Who do you talk to? Who listens to you with great patience and interest?
I think that our days are filled with the need for both telling and listening. Sometimes we need to be heard like a too full cup that life has filled with sorrow. At times it is nice to simply talk and tell the stories of the past or the last happening that made us laugh.
And we need others in our circle! We need good friends to make our days livable and fun and to have a dear companion to tell of our latest adventures or sadness.
The song "Tell me more, tell me more," from the movie "Grease" keeps us from being isolated in our cave. Being able to tell is opening ourselves to a catharsis, a much needed outflow that keeps us sane. Just as listening sometimes fills our cup with the pleasure of truly hearing another soul.
So no matter where you stand on the issue, I hope that your friends are ready to talk or to listen. Life has enough room for both.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
Editing by Barry Kaplan
Life is full of talkers and listeners. People who start to tell you stories as soon as they have you on the phone and do not stop until you hang up. They are not terribly interested in you but inside of them they enjoy the fact that you are a valuable deposit for their words. They tell you interesting stories at times and sorry ones at others.
Some of us have developed the art of listening. It is like opening the vast territory of an empty space ready to be filled by others. But there is always a part of us that steps inside the talker's story and silently agrees or disagrees. A sort of inner balance that puts the talker in a place of evaluation. I listen to you and I can criticize at will with a silent question or agree with an empathetic laugh.
Of course, the ideal would be a talker and good listener at the same time. I have such friends and the exchange is so fair and fulfilling. You feel that your words are going to a place of receptivity and you let yourself become like a sponge absorbing the others sentences.
My life is filled with people who are interested and people who are interesting. I have quite a few friends out of state and we e-mail each other. Their letters are about their life and what they do or are going through, but also with questions about me and what has happened in my latest days.
I have also in my life the people who are the ultimate talkers. They are interesting but stop there. They do not ask me about me or about my work, my latest trip, or what I think about such a subject. For them I am the perfect receptacle. The one who puts my head in one of my hands and tilts it in a nice way. I listen.
I wonder where you fit in this aspect of living? Who do you talk to? Who listens to you with great patience and interest?
I think that our days are filled with the need for both telling and listening. Sometimes we need to be heard like a too full cup that life has filled with sorrow. At times it is nice to simply talk and tell the stories of the past or the last happening that made us laugh.
And we need others in our circle! We need good friends to make our days livable and fun and to have a dear companion to tell of our latest adventures or sadness.
The song "Tell me more, tell me more," from the movie "Grease" keeps us from being isolated in our cave. Being able to tell is opening ourselves to a catharsis, a much needed outflow that keeps us sane. Just as listening sometimes fills our cup with the pleasure of truly hearing another soul.
So no matter where you stand on the issue, I hope that your friends are ready to talk or to listen. Life has enough room for both.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
Editing by Barry Kaplan
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Trip to Primeval Earth
Did you ever take a trip to see between towns hours of some amazing landscapes looking so infinite and devoid of any appearances of man? Just the primeval earth in its beauty and desolation, its inviting curves and its light and solitude. This is what our trip to Sheridan Wyoming looked like. It lies just south of the border from Montana almost at the end of the state. A long journey from Colorado Springs but with great surprises as we reached the town itself.
One of our young family members, Jordan, was singing in a cute, intimate, packed theater. His voice was so great and his female counterpart also sang with a full voice and they both filled the theater with their songs. We enjoyed the performance, then went to Jordan's parent's house with Suzanne, a writer, and her husband Julio, a master creator of houses and apartments. We also enjoyed their unforgettable, so much fun younger children, Antonio and Enrique.
We had to do a show there in Sheridan and all the canopies turned out to be beautifully set on a long grass field in front of the college, shaded in parts by old Blue Spruce pine trees. Good artists and good entertainment but very few people and therefore less sales than we expected. The real pleasure of our stay was being in the Quintana's huge home with the magnificent view from their windows over the golden grassy hills and the Big Horn mountains all bluish in the background with a running small brook of water in between. Deer would come to drink and we were lucky to see a big owl that had perched on a tree nearby.
The constantly changing light from morning to night kept us mesmerized and constantly looking out when we weren't talking or playing with the kids.
The house itself is a fabulous creation of our host Julio, beautiful and vast and with every modern commodity and a huge panel of wires and pipes that I did not understand, but that made the house a fantastic, smart, computerized ten thousand square foot accomplishment for which Julio and Suzanna were proud. The house is in the country but very close to town, and there is a room for everything, even a full size ballroom with 25 foot ceilings whose beauty fits the dancing family that they all are.
Julio created great meals rivaled by his wife's and we ate in the morning and afternoon on their deck facing the best view. It was a great way to spend a few days and we were received like royalty in a special bedroom that at night shone with the light of so many stars as I had only seen once before in Monument Valley in Arizona. Wine tasting in late afternoon with all of them and Len, Suzanne's father, was a joyful experience.
On the trip back we took a side loop that reached Cheyenne at the end. At a town called Torrington, we found a fantastic rock shop with a great variety of cabochons and I promptly bought some to include in my jewelry. It was a lovely ride with rain some sun shining at times through the clouds; along with horses drinking at a brook that my husband photographed.
We came home exhausted but happy with the memories of time so well spent and with people we love.
Read Suzanna Quintana's Book and Blog, "Why my Kids Do Not Get Fat," a very entertaining, well written and well researched book about children current epidemic of obesity across the nation.
www.sheridanmomsforhealthykids.com/blog
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre;
photos and editing by Barry Kaplan
(Click on pictures to make them bigger)
.
One of our young family members, Jordan, was singing in a cute, intimate, packed theater. His voice was so great and his female counterpart also sang with a full voice and they both filled the theater with their songs. We enjoyed the performance, then went to Jordan's parent's house with Suzanne, a writer, and her husband Julio, a master creator of houses and apartments. We also enjoyed their unforgettable, so much fun younger children, Antonio and Enrique.
We had to do a show there in Sheridan and all the canopies turned out to be beautifully set on a long grass field in front of the college, shaded in parts by old Blue Spruce pine trees. Good artists and good entertainment but very few people and therefore less sales than we expected. The real pleasure of our stay was being in the Quintana's huge home with the magnificent view from their windows over the golden grassy hills and the Big Horn mountains all bluish in the background with a running small brook of water in between. Deer would come to drink and we were lucky to see a big owl that had perched on a tree nearby.
The constantly changing light from morning to night kept us mesmerized and constantly looking out when we weren't talking or playing with the kids.
The house itself is a fabulous creation of our host Julio, beautiful and vast and with every modern commodity and a huge panel of wires and pipes that I did not understand, but that made the house a fantastic, smart, computerized ten thousand square foot accomplishment for which Julio and Suzanna were proud. The house is in the country but very close to town, and there is a room for everything, even a full size ballroom with 25 foot ceilings whose beauty fits the dancing family that they all are.
Julio created great meals rivaled by his wife's and we ate in the morning and afternoon on their deck facing the best view. It was a great way to spend a few days and we were received like royalty in a special bedroom that at night shone with the light of so many stars as I had only seen once before in Monument Valley in Arizona. Wine tasting in late afternoon with all of them and Len, Suzanne's father, was a joyful experience.
On the trip back we took a side loop that reached Cheyenne at the end. At a town called Torrington, we found a fantastic rock shop with a great variety of cabochons and I promptly bought some to include in my jewelry. It was a lovely ride with rain some sun shining at times through the clouds; along with horses drinking at a brook that my husband photographed.
We came home exhausted but happy with the memories of time so well spent and with people we love.
Read Suzanna Quintana's Book and Blog, "Why my Kids Do Not Get Fat," a very entertaining, well written and well researched book about children current epidemic of obesity across the nation.
www.sheridanmomsforhealthykids.com/blog
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre;
photos and editing by Barry Kaplan
(Click on pictures to make them bigger)
.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Death of the Trees
My shows take me to many counties in Colorado and I was astonished to see the bare earth and denuded sites in so many parts of the state. What is happening?
The pine beetle has been munching over the huge forest in Colorado and killing so many trees it makes me sad as if I was in mourning just to look at the landscape. The devastation is immense. Cities like Frisco, Keystone, Breckenridge or Winter Park, to cite just a few, are losing their pine trees so fast or already have lost so many that my heart contracts. Marvelous old creatures that used to grace the mountains and slopes are now dead and all brown under the sun leaving the earth bare. Imagine the wildlife loss of habitat and the unimaginable effect on our climate. Southern Wyoming is also affected as the beetle is eating its way up the land.
There are over one and a half million trees lost to the beetle. It prefers the Lodgepole pine trees that are now a part of so many of our forests and loves to feed on the hundred year old growth that had stood so many years.
It is estimated that by the year two thousand twelve, the beetle will have eaten its way through all of the Lodgepole pine trees in the state. It is frightening. One of the great beauties of our land is its green cover of pine trees and aspen and people come from all over the world to see them.
Apparently, the culprit is global warming that created a drought in the late nineties and early two thousand and made our summers become warmer along with our winters. The beetle was able to climb to higher elevation so that we have these dead tree islands of brown battling the green in our forest and creating a huge fire danger.
When we travel, my husband does most of the driving while I stare fascinated by the land and its curves, its huge mountains and over all the glorious pine trees that cover a good part of our state.
Now, I stare at the desolation, the grand old trees now all dry and dead. But their remains, still reaching out to the sun, reminds me of their live presence years ago.
The spectacle is so overwhelming, it gets under my skin and invades my dreams at night.
I recently read that now the twig beetle is adding to our forest misery by also feeding on our trees.
I guess it is at times like this when I wish I had a magic wand and could eradicate those pests with a simple movement of my hands. But I have only two empty hands feeling useless and desolate at the sight of the old trees now dead.
Healthy pine trees in Colorado
I mourn your passing, old giants of the forest, and keep in my memories your glorious beauty, the shelter you gave to so many animals and the way you have swayed gently in the wind to delight us.
For more information, see the link below:
http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/mountain-pine-beetle.html
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre, Editing and photo by Barry Kaplan
The pine beetle has been munching over the huge forest in Colorado and killing so many trees it makes me sad as if I was in mourning just to look at the landscape. The devastation is immense. Cities like Frisco, Keystone, Breckenridge or Winter Park, to cite just a few, are losing their pine trees so fast or already have lost so many that my heart contracts. Marvelous old creatures that used to grace the mountains and slopes are now dead and all brown under the sun leaving the earth bare. Imagine the wildlife loss of habitat and the unimaginable effect on our climate. Southern Wyoming is also affected as the beetle is eating its way up the land.
There are over one and a half million trees lost to the beetle. It prefers the Lodgepole pine trees that are now a part of so many of our forests and loves to feed on the hundred year old growth that had stood so many years.
It is estimated that by the year two thousand twelve, the beetle will have eaten its way through all of the Lodgepole pine trees in the state. It is frightening. One of the great beauties of our land is its green cover of pine trees and aspen and people come from all over the world to see them.
Apparently, the culprit is global warming that created a drought in the late nineties and early two thousand and made our summers become warmer along with our winters. The beetle was able to climb to higher elevation so that we have these dead tree islands of brown battling the green in our forest and creating a huge fire danger.
When we travel, my husband does most of the driving while I stare fascinated by the land and its curves, its huge mountains and over all the glorious pine trees that cover a good part of our state.
Now, I stare at the desolation, the grand old trees now all dry and dead. But their remains, still reaching out to the sun, reminds me of their live presence years ago.
The spectacle is so overwhelming, it gets under my skin and invades my dreams at night.
I recently read that now the twig beetle is adding to our forest misery by also feeding on our trees.
I guess it is at times like this when I wish I had a magic wand and could eradicate those pests with a simple movement of my hands. But I have only two empty hands feeling useless and desolate at the sight of the old trees now dead.
I mourn your passing, old giants of the forest, and keep in my memories your glorious beauty, the shelter you gave to so many animals and the way you have swayed gently in the wind to delight us.
For more information, see the link below:
http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/mountain-pine-beetle.html
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre, Editing and photo by Barry Kaplan
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Magic Mermaid
The maid used to wait until nighttime to tell me stories of a beautiful creature with long hair bewitching the ones who found her under the light of the moon as she lay down languorously in her long tail down on the shore. Her hair was infinite and she combed it carefully with a magical comb and sang amazing songs full of longing but capable of attracting to her the erring man who knew a girl was lost, helpless on the beach.
She talked about a mermaid, of course, and after listening to her tales I started to believe that I was also part of the deep ocean and part of the air. A mermaid capable of living in both worlds at will.
This belief in the marvelous and the amazing, fueled my imagination and enchanted my childhood.
I believed in fairies, and often with my french girl friend Sylvie, we would tell Joel our little friend to watch out; we could turn her in a frog. And we believed it. We dressed in long gowns that belonged to Sylvie's aunt and she even made us up and, regal, we walked as Melusine or other faerie. The belief in the marvelous was anchored in our brain and never left me.
After all, I lived in two worlds, the world of my imagination and the world that surrounded me everyday. It is still true for me even after all these years.
It is easy for me to visualize anything and easy to imagine. After all, I have been a mermaid and life was the stuff of fairies. They creep up on my drawings and my watercolors and in my living room where I have an Indonesian mermaid hanging from the ceiling and holding her comb, her magical tool. Her presence was felt in many parts of the world. After all, Ulysses barely escaped their chant.
I have another mermaid and she has a luscious and robust derriere. I bought her in a flea market in Santa Fe. When I met the artist who created her, he told me she had to have big muscles on her butt so she could swim all the way to the ocean from Santa Fe. Indeed quite an endeavor!
I understood, completely, what could she be doing in the mountains if not seeking the ocean?
I understand that a big community of people believe in mermaids. They buy my work and delight in the mermaids I paint. Sometimes they order mermaid necklaces ... I recently sold one to a lady whose friend was getting married.
I see mermaids now as the ability to live in two different worlds. When I go to work in my studio, I enter the world of the magical where most things are possible. I can create, I forget the world of wars, of ruins, of terrible corruption and chaos, of deadly bombs killing so many innocent people.
I know that the world of everyday life is also a part of me and part of my life and present in all things. The task of living with grace and if we can muster it, some peace.
But I can dream...I can imagine... it saves me from oil spill and floods and news of the hardships of the world.
So if you hear a song on a beach in the middle of the night when the moon casts a warm glow on the planet, beware, a mermaid is seeking with her magic comb and you may just fall for her her song.
After all, the world of the magical is there for all of us.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
She talked about a mermaid, of course, and after listening to her tales I started to believe that I was also part of the deep ocean and part of the air. A mermaid capable of living in both worlds at will.
This belief in the marvelous and the amazing, fueled my imagination and enchanted my childhood.
I believed in fairies, and often with my french girl friend Sylvie, we would tell Joel our little friend to watch out; we could turn her in a frog. And we believed it. We dressed in long gowns that belonged to Sylvie's aunt and she even made us up and, regal, we walked as Melusine or other faerie. The belief in the marvelous was anchored in our brain and never left me.
After all, I lived in two worlds, the world of my imagination and the world that surrounded me everyday. It is still true for me even after all these years.
It is easy for me to visualize anything and easy to imagine. After all, I have been a mermaid and life was the stuff of fairies. They creep up on my drawings and my watercolors and in my living room where I have an Indonesian mermaid hanging from the ceiling and holding her comb, her magical tool. Her presence was felt in many parts of the world. After all, Ulysses barely escaped their chant.
I have another mermaid and she has a luscious and robust derriere. I bought her in a flea market in Santa Fe. When I met the artist who created her, he told me she had to have big muscles on her butt so she could swim all the way to the ocean from Santa Fe. Indeed quite an endeavor!I understood, completely, what could she be doing in the mountains if not seeking the ocean?
I understand that a big community of people believe in mermaids. They buy my work and delight in the mermaids I paint. Sometimes they order mermaid necklaces ... I recently sold one to a lady whose friend was getting married.
I see mermaids now as the ability to live in two different worlds. When I go to work in my studio, I enter the world of the magical where most things are possible. I can create, I forget the world of wars, of ruins, of terrible corruption and chaos, of deadly bombs killing so many innocent people.
I know that the world of everyday life is also a part of me and part of my life and present in all things. The task of living with grace and if we can muster it, some peace.
But I can dream...I can imagine... it saves me from oil spill and floods and news of the hardships of the world.
So if you hear a song on a beach in the middle of the night when the moon casts a warm glow on the planet, beware, a mermaid is seeking with her magic comb and you may just fall for her her song.
After all, the world of the magical is there for all of us.
Copyright 2010 Micheline Brierre
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)