Thursday, September 16, 2010

Plains State

"The beauty of the plains is like that of an icon; it does not give an inch to sentiment or romance."



". . . what seems stern and almost empty is merely open, a door into some simple and holy state."





The quotations are from Kathleen Norris's DAKOTA; I took the pictures between Cassoday, KS and Cottonwood Falls, KS.





Oh, yeah. We were off to the family reunion. It was windy, as you can tell from the bent over grasses and flowers in these pictures.



The wind and the grand view seem to peel away whatever isn't very important. It's a natural meditation, costing nothing and requiring neither yoga posture nor mantra; the wind would blow me over if I tried a warrior stance, and I 'd have to OM pretty loud to hear myself. The wind is the mantra of the plains; anything else would be lost in this space.

1 comment:

  1. well, you answered my question. i found a sticky-note that i had transferred to my calendar years ago -- a book title and author's name. as i was looking at it on amazon, i saw another book by the same author and wondered if it wasn't the one you mentioned at the reunion. yep. it was. i was looking at quotidian mysteries by norris and saw her book, dakota. i want to read both of them. will have to make a purchase. i think i'm going to like her. thanks for suggesting it. love the pictures by the way. takes me to my "home" so quickly. heading south tomorrow to be with mom for the day.

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