Tag: BEAUTY

Requiem for the Pelicans

Requiem for the Pelicans

simonelipscombI just read that nine pelicans at Gulf State Park Pier were found dead this weekend. Park officials suspect someone poisoned them or killed them. There is an ongoing battle between fishermen that like to feed fish scraps to the pelicans and those that are aggressive and act violently toward them.

simonelipscomb (8)This past winter I spent two days on the pier and witnessed both behaviors. Sweet, gentle fishermen would feed them scraps and talk to them as though they were friends.

simonelipscomb (9)I saw a male teenager take his fishing rod and rake it on pelicans sitting on the rail and deck…laughing as he did it. And the pelicans were sleeping at the time. The next day I witnessed an adult male violently spray them at close range with a water hose and when I asked him to stop because he was spraying me…and I was sitting around the corner….he came around the corner and very aggressively cursed me out.

simonelipscomb (4)I reported both incidences of aggression and pier officials knew the teens and reprimanded them. The adult I reported but after he left the pier. He was one of the angriest, aggressive men I’ve ever met. Being on the receiving end of his vile energy was scary and very unpleasant. I could easily imagine him beating his wife or children….I had never witnessed that kind of violence directed at animals or me. And over birds pooping on the pier deck. SERIOUSLY!!

simonelipscomb (7)So I have no doubt that some manner of evil was done to these brown pelicans. They live in the Gulf and fish in their home. For humans to enter their home, make pets of them and then kill them is so insane I hardly know what to do with my feelings….anger, grief….disbelief that humans progressively move toward the two extremes of darkness and light.

simonelipscomb (2)These birds were friends to many humans who loved them and respected them. I sit at my desk weeping not only for these birds but for all wildlife who die needlessly and violently at the hands of humans steeped in darkness. Times such as this make me wonder if collective, conscious awakening will ever happen….and I tend to be positive and upbeat. But right now….right now my heart is broken.

simonelipscomb (10)The photographs are from the two days I spent with the pelicans on Gulf State Park Pier.

simonelipscomb (11)If you happened to be on the pier and know anything about this incident please contact the park ranger at Gulf State Park at 251-948-7275

Morning Courtyard Dance

Morning Courtyard Dance

simone (4)Warm air, heavy with the scent of jasmine, wrapped around me as I entered the courtyard. It had only been four days but during that short time so much had changed.

The wall of jasmine was the most obvious change as its delicious smell mixed with gardenia created a mood-altering experience through scent. And as much as I wanted to explore, communion with the river came first.

RIVER2 (3)Layers of humid air hung heavy over the water as my board sliced through the mirror-slick surface. My body longed for movement after traveling and sitting so much over the long weekend. I amped up the pace and had a great workout, during which I discovered the osprey babies I have been monitoring had hatched. Mama Osprey was feeding them as I paddled under their nest atop the high pole. This morning my river prayers were of thanksgiving for these new lives.

Upon returning home, I walked out to my garden and saw baby jalapeño peppers, baby tomatoes, and baby satsumas hanging green and full of potential. Growth was the theme of return to my beloved home.

After communing with my plant friends I turned on my favorite classical music in the speakers outside and glided around the courtyard greeting the beauty exploding everywhere. Such life!

simonelipscomb (2)The grandmother oak tree in the center stood watching and when I finished, she called to me. I laid my hands on her rough bark and felt her strength as I offered up a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to celebrate the day with a morning courtyard dance.

A Walk on the Beach

A Walk on the Beach

simonelipscombA little over a year has passed since I moved home to the Gulf Coast. There have been no doubts regarding the move. Not one. Within a few minutes drive I can be on the beach, communing with big water….big salt water. My heart expands to meet the horizon. How I love this place!

simonelipscomb (11)Join me as I walk along the beach at Gulf State Park. Celebrate the beauty of our planet, the life force that infuses everything. We are observers, witnesses to this grandeur.

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Aren’t we lucky? Don’t you feel blessed to commune with nature!
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“Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech? Beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.” Kahlil Gabran

Ocean of Love

Ocean of Love

simonelipscomb (6)From a place of deep relaxation a vision emerged. I was in a vast Ocean, deep indigo in color and filled with beautiful creatures. A huge humpback whale echo-located me and swam very close. Harpoons with explosives sought him and massive nets and I urged him to swim away and escape. The ship came closer and closer and as his mate I urged him to dive deep. He constantly put himself in harm’s way to help others. In a frenzy, I swam trying to push his massive body down, deep into the blue depths. He sang to me and in pictures I saw his body taken into the ship that hunted him and watched as it took him apart, piece by piece. The thought came….people will pick his bones clean until there is nothing left.

And with one last surge of energy, I rammed him as the ship hit me. He was free but I was broken.

My whale body sank into the Void yet my consciousness remained. In that moment I knew that the essence of who I am lived on. It was love that drew me to him and love that kept me there. It was love that blocked the ship and kept it from breaking him.

I heard whale song and ocean sounds and felt total peace. Complete peace. As I opened myself to love, all fear disappeared.

And I knew that love is everything, in everything and available in endless supply. And because of this, I have everything I need. This is an abundant world of love.

simonelipscombMy gigantic whale heart could hold love in unimaginable quantities and be a channel for it….for life force that is, in essence,  love. What keeps us from swimming in this endless supply of love with conscious awareness? Are we so afraid of losing our ‘self’ or ego that we hold back and refuse to let the fires of love consume us, transform us?

I drifted back from this place of surrender, this place of unlimited abundant love, into my human form. With much to ponder I spent time in silence, listening and writing.

simonelipscomb (4)Love is like an ocean of vast immensity and we are like fish swimming in this limitless ocean begging for water. We forget we already have love and therefore, everything we will ever need.

As I breathe in, I breathe in love. It is the fabric of this physical world. The life force that holds it all together.

simonelipscomb (8)Nobody can withhold love from me because to receive love is as simple as inhaling. Nobody is gatekeeper for love coming to me except me.

Our minds create separation from Source…God…Great Spirit. Our thoughts create this feeling of aloneness. How could we ever be alone or separate from the Universe, from God, when we are surrounded by It? Are a part of It?

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” I Corinthians 7.

My daughter Emily in the Caribbean waters of Bonaire
My daughter Emily in the Caribbean waters of Bonaire

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls….when love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep…For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you….Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast. All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart……Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love….But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully.” Kahlil Gibran

This passage from The Prophet narrates the journey the soul takes in an effort to find love…looking for it in others, in things, in titles, letting ego define it. Ultimately, finding love requires sacrifice of the ego, a laying down of  limits and limitations. And the realization that it is what created us, sustains us and breathes through us.

Photo by Ed Jackson
Photo by Ed Jackson of me and my buddy in a cave, Akumal, Mexico

Love is as close as the air we breathe, as we open to receive. We live in an ocean of love.

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the Beauty of the Earth

Today I wish to let my photography speak of my love for this beautiful planet…Earth. Happy Earth Day to all my relations….two-legged, four-legged, winged, finned, creepy crawlers….my heart is filled with love and appreciation!

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