Laugh as much as you breathe. Love as long as you live. –Rumi I have a story about this photo–a funny story. But it forms a chapter in the book I’m writing, and I will begin posting chapters from my book with this one right after Christmas. So you’ll have to wait. In the meantime, smile at the incongruity of a tiny gold filigree-winged dragonfly serving as a fascinator for an alligator.

The Aboriginal people of Australia say the Spirit of All Life dreamed the world into existence, then passed “the secret of dreaming” to humankind. With a wealth of raw material with which to work, humankind has indeed dreamed into existence much that is beautiful and wonderful and worthy. I think of music, art, the miracles of modern medicine, the joy of global awareness and interconnection made possible by modern technology. But then I also think of the tragic facts that people die daily for lack of access to medical care and lack of food on a planet overflowing with food….

Bird (excerpt)It was passed from one bird to another,the whole gift of the day.The day went from flute to flute,went dressed in vegetation,in flights which opened a tunnelthrough the wind would passto where birds were breaking openthe dense blue air -and there, night came in.–Pablo Neruda

The first time I photographed this wall of rock, sand and dirt, it was bare–completely bare–from the top edge of the wall to the water’s edge. The layer of iron-rich soil at the top of the wall was a much brighter orange than it is today, after two decades of fading in the sun. It looked like what it was: a horrible gash in the skin and flesh of Mother Earth, carved by the hungry bulldozers set loose by humankind needing fill for a highway nearby. Today it looks pretty natural; that is, it looks as if it could have…

In his Canticle of Creation, St. Francis of Assisi addressed the sun, moon, and other creatures as his very own siblings: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and so forth. This makes sense to me. Cypress trees can be either brothers or sisters. It depends on their location, size, and “presence.” This one is the largest and oldest growing in Lake Martin near Breaux Bridge, La. (aka Lake la Pointe). To me, from the first encounter, she is not just a sister, but a wise old woman, a crone if you will. So when I needed a title for this photo, I…