Cascades: a Vision of Humanity within Natural Wonders

Cascades: a Vision of Humanity within Natural Wonders

• 1.
  Sequence Cascading Written at Date TahomaChimacum May 16, 2006 Perpetua Sisters July 19, 2006 Dawn’s Fire Chimacum July 8, 2006 Butterfly Chimacum July 9, 2006 Lake by Dawn Chimacum July 2, 2006 Cascades Sisters July 19, 2006 Little Butterfly Chimacum July 21, 2006 Colin Perrott
• 2.
  Tahoma Hear the stillof the night and let your imagination play. See the shadows of the forest transform on each dawning day. Feel the warmth of the sun and let it drive your cares away. Savor every blossom. Touch the breeze that makes it sway. Let your soul breathe! Set it free! And cause it to fly: to paint its individual colors against the wide summer sky; outline the great White Mountain that stands serene and high; and set a focus for others that respond with kindred cry. Bathe in the Pool of Reflection, so deep and profound. Flow with the cycles of nature that pass, making barely a sound. Watch the leaves of the maple turn red, and then float to the ground. Reach for the cup of wisdom, drink deep and share it around. Depart the crowds in twisted valleys carved by fear, beneath frosty blankets of mist that swirl, ever near. Climb the ridge and experience the vision brilliantly clear. Stand free at the edge to measure the depth in life; so dear. - CMP © Photo credit: US National Parks Service – Mount Rainier Mount Rainier is 14,411 ft high and stands 13,211 ft above the Nisqually plain, dominating the physical and emotional landscape of Puget Sound. Its traditional name is Tah-ho-ma, ‘place where the waters begin’ or ‘mother of the waters’ and it is focus of the tribal lands of the Nisqually, Cowlitz, Yakama, Puyallup and Muckleshoot peoples.
• 3.
   Photo copyright:John Marshall “There is deep enjoyment in continuous and natural change.”
• 4.
  Perpetua You view ascene of immense age, when you look upon creation’s stage. Countless stars follow a sequence, repeated in time with little difference. When the night sky comes alive, as a meteor takes its final fiery dive, You know it was one that didn’t take its place; ending in a fall from space. Watch man spread without check, intruding with malice and thunder, Like a tide of mud and wreck, bursting forth from a mountain torn asunder. Pushing ahead with fatal touch, no thought of leaving enough to share, Man alone has the greed to crush, plundering at will, showing no care. He wields the power of grand illusion: ideas near manic delusion; Self-image in superior domination; the very purpose of creation. Deluded by self-importance and dazed by passion for pre-eminence, Man cannot grasp his insignificance amid the majesty of existence. So, when you pause with others to greet, do share a vision of humility. Preaching fury, hate and conceit is simply a labor of immense futility: Igniting the flame of inner destruction, scarring your soul for ever more. Only conveying tender compassion yields innate peace that does endure. - CMP Photo credit: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives
• 5.
  Photo Credit: RangerScott Hinderman, USDA Forest Service. Mount Saint Helens as it was before the 1980 eruption, and moments after a collapse of its rebuilding dome in 2005. “Profound change ensues with steady and tireless measure.”
• 6.
  Dawn’s Fire The glareof polished steel parts the dark, signaling the day coming soon. It seems only a moment since the lake was asleep, quiet beneath the moon. The birds rise from their rest, calling welcome and beginning to explore. Everywhere, the water abounds with life as it’s done countless times before. Crimson swords drive night’s retreat, and we all await the coming heat, While yet we feel that wispy breeze, blowing so fresh gentle and sweet. Our senses stir and our imaginations blaze, excited by the ascent of dawn. Such a shame those fires will die leaving only ashes, dusty and forlorn. As the sky turns blue in a marvelous hue that reflects and fills the air, the mighty sun, in complete control, beams down a challenging stare. But as the land dries out, everything hides, and the gentle lake suffers its glare, ‘til comes the time when the waters collect in clouds so dark to make you beware. The lightning strikes: Earth’s anger flashes and cool rain comes drenching down, thus life renews and creation returns, rejoicing that dominance has lost its crown. - CMP Photo credit: Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory
• 7.
  Photo Credit: NASAEarth from Space  Photo copyright: John Marshall “Serenity towers beyond the handiwork of mankind.”
• 8.
  Butterfly Given the wingsof a butterfly, I’d let my spirit soar. With its sight, I’d find new colors and scenes to explore. In its dainty and fancy dress, I’d be a picture of awe, but with a life so short, there wouldn’t be time for more. The wonders of nature don’t come along just to please your eye. Without them, there is no doubt, your inner soul would die: Beautiful mountains and flying birds replaced by leaden sky; Spring’s cradle of new-born life holding but an empty sigh. So pause for a moment; stop consuming in ever relentless haste before the entire world around is reduced to desolate waste. How do you imagine our kind can survive living without joy? We are only one part of it all, the planet we’re out to destroy. - CMP Photo credit: NASA- Earth from Space
• 9.
  “Even beautiful imagesbare certain unwelcome reality.”
• 10.
  Lake by Dawn Asmile of steel in pre-dawn light, the tranquil lake beckons shiny and bright, shadowy lips all girded by trees swaying gently in the wispy breeze. Just beyond, in pale grays and blue, the quiet sea waves silently to you, while overhead the still dark night starts to yield against greater might. Its purple frown cut by sulfur ray, the canopy breaks with approaching day. As the crimson spreads and dilutes its hue, the sky above turns a gentle blue. While the oncoming sun raises its head, the horizon shows bright red, and the sand dunes begin to gleam, in glowing tones of yellow and cream. Dawn’s eastern sky is now all alight as the fiery orb banishes the night. The moon overhead continues to show, though reduced to barely a glow; Standing aside slightly bemused, conceding that its place has been used, gathering its strength to blaze anew on the roof that the stars shine through. - CMP Lake Innes, NSW Australia Photo credit: Parametrix, Inc.
• 11.
  “Freshness composes newdimensions for the imagination.”
• 12.
  Cascades Hear the watersplunge over the ledge, falling to the pool below; Sense all manner of things unto Earth’s edge, awaiting the river’s flow. Count the multitudes born that will be nurtured by that water torn: Each consuming a little bit; all of life somehow depending on it. Every swirl and cascade marks a place where something has played. At each encounter made, the river’s power is caused to fade; Until it finally reaches the sea, where it is engulfed eagerly. Even then, the work’s not done, amid those waves beneath the sun. Marvel how the moisture returns, rising invisibly through the air; to join the slips of cloud; to float gracefully here and there. Collecting as the clouds grow dense, laden with snow and rain, to blow under the force of wind toward the high peaks beyond the plain. And thus begins a pristine scene, an image from a painter’s dream; The world is new, bright and aglow, transformed by the arriving snow. You can walk above the dust of the past; making fresh tracks to follow; Taking a direction that’s just; embracing new ground to furrow. - CMP Photo credit: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives
• 13.
   Photo copyright:Sergei Antonov “Every new beginning deserves memory of the past.”
• 14.
  Little Butterfly Oh littlebutterfly fluttering by, carry my spirit way up high. Higher we’ll ride upon each gust, higher and higher like specs of dust. Paint your colors in my mind and shield me from the passing of time, so on a day that’s drenched with rain, I will know you’ll be back again. When nature’s garden enjoys the sun, that’s the time of our greatest fun; when the blossoms all come out, and summer spreads their scent about. You are protected from attack by those contrasting designs on your back; in your dress that is so delicate, bright and gay with patterns so intricate. Others that stir and move around, have uniform toned in black or brown; wearing a costume to mask and conceal, so to avoid becoming a meal. Like the stealthy moth that takes its flight with the deepening of the night, slinking quietly within the gloom and sometimes out toward the moon. I wonder how the world looks to you; filled with tints of marvelous hue; things flushed red or frozen blue: when you know more color than I do. It’s in our eyes we carry our jewels, the colors, patterns and visual tools. We are protected by all our senses, and how we use our brains as defenses. Perhaps if we allowed what we see, to wash our souls and set them free; we would be fascinating too, making the world happier by what we do. - CMP Drawn by Esther
• 15.
  When the summercomes, the sun starts to shine, the flowers pop out, and the butterflies go by. - Esther Summer 2006 “The delight in simple ideas is their clarity.”
• 16.
  Image courtesy ofUSDA Forest Service, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument: Photograph by Peter Frenzen, 1982
• 17.
  Image courtesy ofUSDA Forest Service, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument: Photographs by Peter Frenzen and others 1978 - 1986