Sunday, August 29, 2010

Balance

I suspect that from time immemorial, human beings have been stacking rocks one atop the other, particularly when they are near the seashore and find an abundance of convenient stones to stack. I did this pile during the second week of our two weeks in Maine…



… and it actually stayed up for about a day until a big storm blew through and knocked half of it down.

The following day, Jeannine and I walked the Marginal Way in Ogunquit prior to having a wonderful dinner at a place called "Five-O" in that little coastal town with Emily and her friends Jenelle and Lindsay. The Marginal Way is a very cool 1.5 mile paved path which follows the coastal rocks between Perkins Cove and Ogunquit Beach. It's quite a beautiful walk, with some great vistas of the ocean and the shore rock formations. The day we did the walk, the winds were blowing quite hard and the waves were quite spectacular. Here's a shot I took of Jeannine and me along the way…



Further on down the path, we were startled and amused to find more evidence of what I postulated in the first line of this blog entry -- dozens and dozens of small piles of beach rocks stacked on some of the larger rock formations near the path. Someone (or a group of someones) had been quite busy doing a lot of balancing of stones. This photo represents about a tenth of the total number of these things that we saw that day in this area.



And balance is one theme with which I come away from this two-week vacation. It's the first time I can remember that I have really fully enjoyed a vacation, and the first time I can remember that I was sad to leave and come home. I feel as though I have made significant strides towards moving to a more balanced, healthy life, one in which worries and concerns take their true proportionate place alongside the joys and pleasures of life. I'm not completely there yet -- that's going to take a while still -- but this was a big step. -- PL

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, finding balance is not easy in life. Whether its from within or the things on a day to day basis. Being productive and achieving goals to enjoying the miracle of life.

Tyr Germanic said...

the miracle of life heheheh.ok.

ever seen vahalla rising,PL?
its a good movie,and at one point it says that while others do ill say dumb things,the anchient norse would build up stones like those as monuments(presumably)and when they fell they would solemnly build them up again and again,better each time til they didnt fall.


i have never been to the east coast,so maybe my comment is irrelevant(coughbluecough),and im sure theyre not vikings,(though vikings are cool and so is valhalla rising)but maybe you and that person or persons have that same kind of spirit or idea or something like that.

(in public people think answering that with "or something like that" is funny,im not joking,clovis people are that boring.)

still good times it looks like.with your family and all,thats always the best.
hell yeah.

Anonymous said...

When on vacation, I'm usually eager to get back to my routine life but I felt the same way this past Saturday when my fiancee and I left our vacation in New Hampshire. This trip I really would not have minded staying there longer..especially since we lost 3 days of lake activity due to heavy rain. :-/

I like the last shot you took, at first glance it looks like a cliff side or mountains of some kind. I took a few cool pictures while on my trip, lots of large rocks in NH.

B.Thomas said...

Peter, I like the photo of you and your wife Jeannine. You both look so happy together!

From Mary's Pen said...

What a beautiful picture! Congratulations.

You seem well on your way, even if you don't always feel that way.

Take care of you.

Rejoicing in the day,
-Mary