The Wheel Turns Round

]From song: "And the Seed Shall Grow"
Copyright-SOCAN}
"And the seasons come...
and the seasons go...
and the leaves fall down...
and the new seeds grow...
that is the wheel...
we turn upon...
and the spirit lives...
though the wheel turns round..."
.......................Quester.

Empty Autumn Sidewalk

Empty autumn sidewalk...this afternoon...
but who walked here...yesterday...
or ten or twenty years ago...on this date...
at this time of day...?
A verse of a song I wrote a long time ago says:
"Absence...is a red leaf slowly falling"...
There have been times in my life...
when the absence of someone...
who once frequented my space...is a palpable presence...
Sometimes...when I see a beautiful person go by...
I say to myself...take a good look...in a few moments...
there will only be space...where that person moved...seconds before...
Empty sidewalks and autumn leaves...
remind me of those now absent...
and their presence...somewhere back...
in what we call "the past"...
as we shrug...and walk on....
.....................Quester.

Doing Instead of Being

Have been thinking recently...how there are some people...who from infancy...are clear
about what they want to "be" in life. Perhaps...it might be more accurate to say...
"what they want to DO in life". What I'm questioning here...is the usage of the word "be"which is so often applied...to what occupation or profession...someone chooses in life. Throughout our society...we seem to confuse what someone "is"...with what someone "does". For some reason...one way or another...we human beings seem to shy away...from considering the "being" aspect of being human or human being. It might be...that a lot of the time...in a culture that points you towards accumulating a lot of material stuff...in your life time...it is "doing" this and that...which will help you to make material things come into your life. Learning "how to be"...is quite a different proposition. It involves ongoing work on your insides...and because the progress that you make is not as tangible...as the material goods you possess...maybe one of the reasons why there is such an emphasis on "doing" instead of "being"..............Quester.

Seasons Of Our Lives

I have often wondered about the reasons why people sweep up leaves in the Fall...when
there are more set to come down within the hour. I've been noticing the pretty mix of
colours and shapes...this year especially...as I've gone on my way...appreciating that...and the rustling sound my feet makes scuffing through them. So...for me...sweeping up autumn leaves wouldn't be a priority. So why do so many people insist on doing it? Is it about being liable...if you didn't...and someone should fall on them as they walk by...?. I suppose that might happen when its been raining and dry leaves become moist and slippery. Is it for practical reasons like avoiding clogged drains...?. Sometimes....however...I can't help wonder whether the broom comes out because...of the "tidiness bug" that a lot of people seem to have...regardless of the many leaf fallings yet to come. Whatever the reasons...may the pretty leaves keep falling...and in a little while...a new crop of fresh green leaves replace them...reminding us of how things come then go...in the seasons of our lives............Quester.

The Back View

This afternoon...I finally got to a street I had heard had some good autumn trees on it. This is the Fall on the West Coast with more crimsoned trees...than in any previous one I've experienced. I was hoping there were still some leaves on the trees at the place I'd heard about...given they have been coming down at quite a clip the last few days. I was releived to find when I got there that there were leaves...above and below...and started taking pictures with that in mind. I had missed out taking pictures of an interesting couple as they went by me...as I was taking pictures...earlier in the afternoon. I resolved that the next time round I wouldn't let this happen again. Second time round...as this older man eith a cane walked by me...I started snapping. Today's picture is from a group of "view from the back" pictures I took. Actually...this kind of situation is great for taking pictures of people...given they passed you when you were taking pictures anyway...and they were facing away from you. A back view...with some kind of gesture...and interesting surroundings...can sometimes make an interesting picture.
.............Quester.

Forever Young

Have been reading in some of my note books recently...about past happenings in my life.
It stirs many thoughts and emotions. One piece is about someone I met and knew...when
I came to Canada at the age of twenty. Given I have not seen this person...since that era a long time ago...the picture I have of her in my mind...is of her as she was then
...not of how she is now...if she still walks this Earth...which I have no way of knowing if she still does. I have no hankering to meet with her again...it's just it's
a strange thing...how we human beings can carry a picture of someone...that does not change with the passage of time...the way they must have changed...with no recent sighting of that person...to cancel it out. Writing that just made me wonder...if there was a recent sighting...would that actually overule the picture of that person...as you knew them long ago?. Perhaps that might depend on whether you want it to or not.
Whatever the answer is to that...maybe there is also a human need to remember some
people...not as they may be now...but how they were once...a wanting for them to remain
...forever young....................Quester.

Little Victories

]From song Little Victories
Copyright-SOCAN]
"The rain falls once again...
as I seek shelter in my strings...
the tears fall from the sky...
while mine remain unshed...
but that's how warriors are...
at least that's what they say...
I'll reach for one more song...
before this day is gone...
to keep on keepin' on...
just like I always do...
Through the stony day...
through te restless night...
through the savage dawn...
little victories...
keep me keepin' on..."
.............Quester.

One More Commerce Fest

The only time I can remember taking any action about Halloween...is when my daughter
was little and I took her trick and treating. When you see the real reason for these
"commercial festivals'...that happen during the year...with their central reason for being...having to do with selling merchandise...it is hard for you as an adult to have much to do with them. Not wanting to make your child stick out like a sore thumb as the only one who doesn't go trick and treating...you put what you see aside...and go for a little October 31st jaunt with her. Today...in a way to check out if I was being a bit harsh in my views about this current commerce fest...that's been going on since the end of August...when...if I remember correctly...I saw the first Halloween parpernalia...put out for sale...I went to check things out at one of the central places in town selling such merchandise. It was quite an experience...looking closer at items I've been ignoring for a long time...such as: "Bloody Blade", "Screw Head", "Devil Horn Wig", "Cryptic Cadaver", "Madam Morticia", "Crypt Creature", "Fading Eye Skull Mask", and "Extra Thick Blood", otherwise known as, "Faux Sang en gel epais". It ended up being a sobering experience...not only because of the graphic display of the chintzy and the gory...but because it reminded me that the millions of people buying these items...won't be creating anything...having been reduced instead...to buying their costumes from the store. I left grieving for the loss of creativity in my world...that seems a lot of the time...to settle for "buying its life from the store"..........Quester.

Recalling Pieces Of Your Life

Have been going through note books and other sources filled with writings about my life
in past eras. I'm glad that I wrote down some of my stories then...as now...I'm not sure how well I'll be able to recall them. With even relatively recent events...I don't
have photographic recall of them. There are times...therefore...when I have to do
reconstructions of things past...remembering to the nest of my ability to do so...but
sometimes having to fill in some blanks...paying particular attention to the emotional
truth of the matter. At any rate...even a short time after an event...different witnesses tend to give somewhat different accounts of what happened. In telling the
story of a happening it doesn't matter if one of the main participants wore a blue...
instead of a green shirt...as much as...being as truthful as you can be based on what
you remember of the core elements of what took place. Yesterday I went to somewhere
interesting...now if I could only recall where it was...............Quester.

Song Midwives Of The World

I've always felt privileged to create songs...not to mention other creations. But songs were my first creative love...built on melodies that have kept coming for so many years. It's usually only when sometimes I see a fellow song maker...at his or her best...holding mine and the audience's attention...that I get a glimpse of how fortunate I am to have made all the songs I have. I have often said that when I see a fine painting...or hear a beautiful song...I often think of how close it might have come to never being made. Knowing...the "oh no" feeling you get along with the expectancy...as a song or other creation nudges you from inside to do something about it...I know how easy it would be to go to the pub instead for a quick or a slow one...to shirk the responsibility of having to deliver on the nudge. I think a large part of being a creative artist...is having the discipline to hang around long enough to be a good midwife to the birth of a creation...rather than running away from it based on how you feel when a song comes calling. So here's to the song midwives of the world...may you remember to stick around...when you feel a song beginning to bloom in you...and may it be delivered into a world that can never have enough songs..............Quester.

Tapestry

"The night is like a tapestry
of rare and dusky flowers...
Blooming in the shadows
of the fire that we make...
Our song is like a river
through the midnight softly flowing...
through darkness and through starlight
flowing onwards to the sea...
We'll keep this time
like a flower in our memory...
though seasons come then quickly fade away...
We will remember this time deep in tomorrow...
though so much else will die with yesterday..."
.......................................Quester.

A Relaxing Thing To Do

Today...after focussing on my writing for many days in a row...and strongly so in the early part of this day...I went for a walk in the October sunshine...which has returned. As I walked...I kept taking in the beauty along the way...and taking a picture from time to time. As I did so...I became very conscious of how doing just what I've described...relaxes me...after the build up of the head and shoulder tension...that can sometimes come from focussing strongly for a long time. Today I saw...that it was not only the walking that was helping me...but the beauty around me...and the taking of pictures of some of it. Looking around...and taking pictures of some of what I see...who would have guessed that would be a relaxing thing to do?. I
know it wasn't quite like that when I used to go out with my Pentax 35mm...and
accessories. Maybe...the tinyness of the camera I'm carrying these days...has made a
difference for the better...or maybe...I've gotten a bit mellower...Quien sabe?
..........Quester.

Nigglings

Today's been a day of nigglings...things not working out quite the way you anticipated they would...and causing inconvenience...or wonderings about how solutions will be found. Just returned from my post office box...saw there was mail in it...reached for my key but it was nowhere to be found. Treble checked pockets then...and after I arrived home...same result...no key. Earlier in the day thought I'd return to the library eight books I'd borrowed to do some research from...but got preoccupied with other things...and never got round to it. Felt they were still some distance from being overdue...wrong...two days...four dollars and eighty unnecessary cents vanished. Before that checked an internet account because a payment is due...but they asked for a password...which I cannot remember having for it. In the meantime...the skies have miraculously cleared after a very grey and dubious morning...hopeful...hopeful...and I still don't have the solutions to my puzzles. Was just thinking though...not a bad bunch of little nigglings to have on my plate... preferable to lying in traction in hospital for the next six months...starting today...preferable to the earth quake...preferable to North Korea going crazy..preferable to a lot of things...and a month from today...the only record I'll have of today's humbug...is this posting.........
.................Quester.

Dreams

[From song: "Dreams"...cd: "Book of Love"
Copyright SOCAN]
"Dreams...sudden awakenings
in the dawn...
The only chance to reach for you...
only to find that you are gone...
What is this cruel play
that ends when day draws near...?
Why do you run away
leaving shadows everywhere...?"
.......................Quester.

Pacific Morning

[From song: Pacific Morning cd: West Coast
Copyright: SOCAN]
"Snow topped mountains...
touching the sky...
dark green pine trees
far down below...
blue-grey clouds
in the valley between...
and my morning goes by
in a dream...
And the eagle up high is winging...
the sun in the sky is singing...
the Earth gifts to me keeps giving...
as I face my Pacific morning..."
........................Quester.

Poem: What Doesn't Really Matter

"I watch you chase after...
what I know...now...
doesn't really matter...
and say nothing...knowing...
we take turns at these cycles...
you and me...and all the ones
who went before...
as will the ones yet to come...
At the beginning...
there is nothing anyone can say
to penetrate the thickness
of our blindness...
otherwise known as youth...
Then...time chips away
at the blinkers over our eyes...
finally revealing...if we are lucky...
what matters...
and what...doesn't really matter..."
............................Quester.

Blessings Of The Rain

Today it is raining...and grey...and overcast...and my mountains are hiding away.
Nevertheless...I went out for lunch...then for a good walk in the rain. What enabled me
to do so...was a copious black umbrella I bought for five dollars...at the height of
the longest sunny spell I've known out here on the West Coast. Was it simply responding to a bargain...or realizing that although rain may be slow in coming...as it has been this year...on the West Coast...it's always been an inevitability. I'm not saying I don't get fed up with it sometimes...but I hope it always continues to be that way...causing the bountiful growth of flowers and trees. After the global warming messages I've been hearing...I give thanks for the rain...may it continue to fall wherever it blesses the Earth...may it continue to fall on the place I call home... .............Quester.

Late Offerings

One of the things I love about the West Coast...is the way the gifts of the Earth persist deep into autumn...and even into winter. I remember before coming to live here...writing a song called "Pacific Dream"...and wanting to mention how late the roses bloom out here. I came to live in this part of the world...armed with this song...among other things. In its original version...written in Toronto...it had the line, "sending me where December roses grow". I came in October...and kept checking out to see how my reference to the "state of the roses" was holding up. They lasted pretty well through November. It was only in December I started to notice the icy scorching the frost had done to them...and reluctantly decided to change the month...in the song in question...to "November". There is something about how or when or where things grow or flourish...in the big city intrigue me...speaking of which...berries offered through the crack in a fence...make me smile................Quester.

Cycles

In its safe places...
the heart can be a butterfly...
resting where it can...
but in its secret places...
flying where it must...
Be a tall tree...deep rooted...
and bearing beautiful flowers...
with golden butterflies...
flitting in and out
of your many branches...and smile...
as you watch them fade...
into their safe and sheltered resting places
for a soon passing moment...
before the cycle of rest...
then restless flight...
through tall and distant trees...
starts all over again...
................Quester.

What Is Valued

[From song: "Who I am"
Copyright SOCAN}
For what is valued in this world...
doesn't mean too much to me...
For I've watched the fools it's made of men...
who were no longer free...
So I will watch the race go on...
I will watch the shallow game...
That is played out everywhere I turn...
for power...gold...and fame...
Who I am...was born to fly...
Free of chains up to the sky...
Who I am...is mine to say...
Not give my power away......
....................Quester.

Melody...My Long Time Friend

I was writing earlier today in my long hand daily journal...how in addition to being
thankful to a Higher Power for it...I am thankful to my ancestors...for the gift of
melody...they passed on to me...that in addition to giving me an appreciation of fine melodies...made me become a generator of thousands of them. Melody...has proven to be
the corner stone of my life as a creative artist...first adding words to them...to turn
them into full fledged songs...then branching out into other creative idioms. In my
creating of songs...the melodies have always come first...pointing the way to what the
lyrics should be. So...on this beautiful sunny and warm October day...so long after I
first started generating melodies...I give thanks for "Melody...My Friend'...without which my long artist's life...might not have been possible...............Quester.

Warrior Fighting For Your Tenderness

]From song: Warrior Fighting for Your Tenderness
CD: Flowers From The Ashes-Copyright-SOCAN]
Pay no heed to the voices
at your ear...
Telling you to be deaf
and dumb and blind...
To all that is tender
and wondrous and fine...
Sifting through
the wild garden of your mind...
Keep on walking down the road
that's chosen you...
Know that it was meant
to take you home...
Become a warrior
fighting for your tenderness...
Know though it's hard
you do not walk alone..........
.......................Quester.

The Auld Lang Syne Brigade

Just returned from Thanksgiving dinner with family. It was lovely to be part of
something that has become a tradition through the years. There is something that I call
the Auld Lang Syne factor...to me it counts for a lot. It has to do with knowing people for a long time...regardless of your different occupations...or even the way you see
life...and that over the years becoming something of special value to you. What is it
that makes that special?. If you can get past the people taking each other for granted
thing...you see that these are people you've shared so much with over time...i.e. you
have "shared history" together...and regardless pf your differences...there is comfort in that. This is your group...your gang...the ones who have been present at the important junctures...or at ceremonies...from baptisms...to funerals...in your life...
these are the people of your life...whether changes happen...or partners change. These are...the familiar members of your Auld Lang Syne Brigade................Quester.

The Beauty In Creation

It's amazing how we human beings can live for a long time without really seeing what's around us. My acquiring a digital camera about eight months ago...taking pictures
almost every day...without waiting for a cluster of people to say "cheese" in front of me...but taking pictures of the vast array of other images that surround us...once we break out of that particular prison...has helped me to see a lot more of the beauty in this Creation...than I ever did before. This strenghtens an act of faith I've lived by for some time...which is...that simultaneously available with the ugliness generated by human beings...that we can witness on the nightly news...if we wish...or encounter in the streets...is the great beauty that also resides in people...and exists in an absolute cornucopia of riches...in Creation. For this...and more...I am thankful...always...and certainly at this time of the year also.....
..............Quester.

Dandelions

I have always liked dandelions. At times when I have voiced that...people have looked at me as if I was going against all that is sacred in the culture I live in. Some have
said to me harshly..."did you know some of them have roots that go down thirty feet".
That doesn't change my mind...because I happen to feel that having deep roots in a world where so much is transient...is not a bad thing. "But they're a weed"...is the usual condemnatory follow up. I long ago learnt to recognise stereotypes when I see them...also realizing that "one man's weed may be another man's "cheerer-upper".
Dandelions and their yellow...perhaps the most hopeful colour in Creation...with their
built in reminder of being related to the sun...not to mention the stars...turning white light into a colour that fits our human imperfection even better...and can cheer us up if we let it. Dandelions...also grow...in places their less tough or courageous relatives...avoid...like conservative gardeners avoid "weeds"...even on the edge of kerbs...with autumn leaves piling up next to them...............Quester.

A Daily Writing Groove

Today my camera has remained in my pouch...it's been a day of writing bits and peices...and keeping on with my typing material into my book manuscript. It's at a good place now...one that even a week ago I didn't quite know how I would get to. There have been two new chapters that have materialised that weren't on the horizon then. I don't want to say how close I am to finishing this draft of it...but I think it won't be long before I am into the editing phase. Of course the way new material keeps sprouting up...it's hard to predict when the finish will be. One of today's writing sessions was in my favourite Chinese reastaurant. Even though there are voices chatting in the back ground ...and the clatter of dishes from time to time...I am getting to like writing here. For some reason the background sound is not distracting me. It might be because my focus is good right now...on my writing...for which I am thankful. I think a long skein of days writing is helping me to write when a new day comes along...and I am arranging my schedule these days with writing as a daily priority. I hope it all continues the way its been going. I am still enjoying it....................Quester.

Talk Walking

Only last night I replied to an email I had received the day before that had tickled me. After my work shop on creativity in a town in the interior of British Columbia about five weeks ago...I had recommended that those who had been sparked from it...to start individual creative journeys...meet ongoingly in a creative circle. The email I
received was headed "Creative Circle Initiated". My friends there had actually started a creative circle...and were enjoying it!. I was also pleased to hear that those at the circle had took to heart one of the messages I had delivered at the work shop...which was...if you want to start on a creative journey...resolve to start inner and outer seeing...in a way that you had never done before. My new friend was telling me...they were opening their eyes like never before. Two days ago saw a splatter of paint on the side walk. I took pictures of it...but on processing them...saw that some of the debris of autumn had found itself on to the bold patterns I was trying to catch with my camera. I have just returned from a walk to that paint splatter about eleven blocks away...because in my own rejuvenated seeing since I acquired my digital camera...I wantedto visit one more time...with a splatter of paint on the side walk. I was smiling on my walk back home as I got to thinking... "Man...you know you're actually doing what you were advising others to do...not just talking about it. Today's picture is one of the ones I walked eleven blocks for............Quester.

Skitterings

Sitting before my key board...
there are no earth shattering messages...
channeling through me to an expectant world...
what there is...however...
is the impulse to move forward...
muted though it may be...
by making some marks on a page...
keeping momentum...flowing on...
writing is a funny thing...
do it long enough...and some time up ahead...
a flash of lightening may find its way through...
like they say in the South...you don't fuss it...
what you do...is you just keep on keepin' on.....
..........................Quester.

Simple Riches

This morning wss one of those ones where I received a clump of encouraging grass roots emails...did some writing...then went off to have lunch with a warm and helpful friend. Our meeting provided another boost to me on my artist's road. When I arrived back home I felt like going for a walk to celebrate the richness of my life that blooms especially magically on some days...like today. I felt moved to do someting I hadn't done for a while...foraging in a tucked away place...where a bundle of my walking and other sticks reside...accumulated through my time of drift wood and forest stick hunting. I wrestled one of them out of a tangled pile...then armed with it...set foot out into the soft early October sunshine...goldening everything it touched...that was not blocked from it...around me. It was wonderful...after a long period of going into the world wirhout a stick in my hand...to be twirling one...again...as my feet rustled through fallen oak and other leaves...and acorns...understanding again...why some of my Canadian born friends look upon autumn as their favourite season. Refreshed...I returned home...processed some pictures I'd taken on my two trips out today...and then returned to my computer...to tell about this enriching day...not yet fully unfolded.......................Quester.

Poem: Conundrum

The black woman preacher...
on the Woodwards corner...
shouts out to the two aboriginals...
passing slowly by...
supporting each other...
"There's a Heaven
and there's a Hell...
so you better change your ways"...
She can tell where they're going...
from one quick glance...
and she only wants to help...
One of the Natives swears...
then moves on with his buddy...
out of earshot of his judge and jury...
knowing that there is no way...
he can take this one...
to the Human Rights Commission.........
...............................Quester.

Poem: My Rescue

Every week day...
I check my post office box...
and return home...
eager to see...
if the red light is flashing
on my answering machine...
or if there's a blue one or two
on my email page...
How many times...
do I have to remind myself...
that my rescue will never come...
from my post office box...
my answering machine...
or my email............
...............Quester.