Category Archives: Out and About

Out and About, photograph, Teachings, Uncategorized

Not High Airy Solitude!

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I’ve been ‘sitting with’ my adventurous walk of a week ago on and around Grate Gable. Many thought pass through my mind, few stick. But one. The Lakeland Fells are CROWDED with people and while I love to be putting boot to rock there is the aspect of high airy solitude which I value (and enjoy). However the crowds are getting higher and higher into the air. And this video of HUNDREDS of people walking along Striding Edge on the flanks of Helvellyn depicts just what has been disturbing me. (the Edge is notoriously dangerous to scramble on by the way.)

Why am I disturbed? We can share the fells of course. Of course we can and that’s not a problem. So what exactly IS it? In myself and I presume in others is the seeking for experience, with the accent on seeking. Nothing wrong with experience it’s just that like anything else one wants MORE of what one wants. And that leads to suffering….because the more you have (experiences) the more you seek them. And they are never ever satisfied for long. But, or and, who was walking up a fell last Friday? Here’s where.
Helm Crag1
Helm Crag above Grasmere, said to be the beginners mountain. Quick to get up and down yet with the full ‘lakeland experience.

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Out and About

Mountain View

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Waswater Below, Great Gabel above
Wastwater below, Great Gable above

Interesting. A day that is long and arduous telescopes into a few short memories the day after. And before the freshness, and feelings, of yesterday fade into the distance I’ll write them down.

However, for now enjoy the view.

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Out and About, photograph, Teachings

Time Not Passing

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Limestone Pavement
Limestone Pavement

The unknown, the Unknowing. Falling. Falling over. Hurt. Old body, seen life. Falling. Falling over. Hurting. Much water passing, many clouds wafting.

Through a keyhole. Surgery. Saintly surgeon. The unknown, the Unknowing. Then. A Mallard Duck. Motionless in a glass cage. Stuffed? Later gone. Up through the top of the cage. Gone. Just like that.

Wonders never cease. Do they? Slip a card into a slot, a slit. Later. Cash! (Sorry, no receipt.) Yes, plastic bag please. Crossing the road. Not getting run over. Coins. Money. Purchase. Food cooked and eaten.

Been around and about. Now back.

When people you know and love are on the brink, in danger of passing away. At least the possibility. Simple things come into sharp focus. Crazy things like the trapped duck in the middle of a hospital. Leave a lasting impression. Just everyday living, just for a short while, is deeper than you’d ever think.

How does it go? There is an ‘unknowing’, that goes on for ever and ever. And is even now.

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Curiosities, Information, Out and About

What Dogs Really Think of Us – Brain Scans Speak!

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From the way dogs thump their tails, invade our laps and steal our pillows, it certainly seems like they love us back. But since dogs can’t tell us what’s going on inside their furry heads, can we ever be sure?

Taken from Brain Scans Reveal What Dogs Really Think of Us

and this later on in the article

The scientists found that dog owners’ aroma actually sparked activation in the “reward center” of their brains, called the caudate nucleus. Of all the wafting smells to take in, dogs actually prioritized the hint of humans over anything or anyone else.

So the word is out our doggy friends delight in us because…of our smell and what it represents, in their brains. Who would have thought!

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Falls Between the Cracks, Out and About, photograph

Not Alone

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The Midland Hotel, Morecambe.
The Midland Hotel, Morecambe.

The mark of a good action
is that is appears inevitable
in retrospect.
Robert Louis Stevenson

The photograph isn’t linked to the quote by the way.

I’ve long intended to see the Midland in the flesh and the other day circumstances conspired to have me and a friend walking around catching sight of people enjoying high tea. One day I’ll go in and have a cup of tea while gazing out over Morecambe Bay. Another day when conditions conspire to take me there again. Tea anybody!

Too late in the day to ponder on the above quote at any length. Enough to say there is no escape from the law of cause and effect. Our own hand shapes us as we wander through life. Not alone.

 

 

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