Found in many places,
often appearing in the food,
chile spices life at Ghost Ranch.
13 July 2011
Tag Archives: Ghost Ranch
B is for Blue
Colors fill Ghost Ranch.
Diverse shades of green and
multiple hues of red
appear and evoke amazement.
Blues do too.
29 October 2009
Filed under Ghost Ranch Views, Photo
A is for Agape Center
The Agape Center fills many functions at Ghost Ranch.
It served as the central location for the 2010 Peacemaking Seminar.
Here people worship and learn,
gather and fellowship,
and sometimes just sit on the porch and watch the view.
Music often fills the Center and makes the rafters sing.
10 August 2008
Filed under Ghost Ranch Views, Photo
The power of place: Ghost Ranch
A new dimension of this blog will launch tomorrow. Two new categories will appear: Ghost Ranch Images and Ghost Ranch People.
Each post will contain a picture taken (by me) at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and an alphabetical reference. They may include a reflection on the image and/or a few notes on the context of the image. Dates will appear although they may only be a year or a month and year at first. This will become easier and more precise with better record keeping of future photographic endeavors at the ranch.
Posts will appear in general alphabetical order, starting with the letter “a” (as learned on Sesame Street) and working forward. Posts will vary between the two categories. Eventually multiple posts will appear for each letter in each category. Some will prove more of a challenge than others. All will, hopefully, testify to the power of place.
In the movie Field of Dreams, Burt Lancaster’s character, Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, reflects on the power of place. Speaking of his home in Chisholm, Minnesota, Graham says:
This is my most special place in the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again. You feel for it like it was your child.
Ghost Ranch touches me. Even as my family entered the grounds in 1993, I recognized the ranch as a place that nurtures and nourishes me. It did so then. It does so now – wherever I find myself.
I offer my photos and words as a humble homage to a play that plays an important role in my life and in the lives of so many others. For me, they serve to recall memories and process experiences and dream of what may be. I look forward to hearing if they speak to you.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Ghost Ranch People, Ghost Ranch Views, Movie, Photo
Pictures and words
I have decided to post a series that works through the alphabet with pictures. This could get interesting. I found a picture of a bee and determined that the title would be “B” is for bee. Pretty original, I know.
That led me to think – what if I did this for each letter of the alphabet. If I did, I would want to start at the beginning. I turned back to my pictures and found an “A.” I prepared to post the picture and then found myself thinking – how might this become more challenging – and more interesting.
For example – what if I chose all pictures from National Parks? Or Ghost Ranch? Or peacemaking events? Or family trips?
Now it occurs to me – what if I wrote a brief reflection? I had originally thought about identifying the place and date of the picture. But maybe I could write more.
Perhaps I should call it quits for the night before this gets too complicated.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Photo
Sunset at the ranch
23 August 2010
Some friends have met at
Ghost Ranch
for the last few days
to plan the 2012 Peacemaking Conference,
an event I hope to attend.
While reflecting that they are there
and I am not,
I began to look for pictures
that could transport me
via memory,
via imagination,
to the ranch.
See you along the Trail.
Thanks for all the saints
Today (Sunday 30 October – I write in Folsom, California) provided a great reminder of the Communion of Saints – a wonderful experience on Reformation Sunday and the day before All Saints’ Day.
Today brought the privilege of speaking at Davis Community Church – an experience that reminded me of the saints who are part of my life.
Mary Lynn Tobin, the pastor of Davis, and I attended college together – just a couple of years ago.
Nancy Eng MacNeill, colleague and friend, served as my chauffeur. Her family has put up with me and will continue to do so for the next few days.
Jewel Kinney, who attended a seminar that Rachel Pedersen and I led at Ghost Ranch, greeted me during the worship service.
David Rue, a friend from Cleveland where we engaged in antiracism work together, stayed for both my presentations.
Tom and Joanne Haller, long-time peace activists and acquaintances, came to the presentations as well.
Alice Nishi, who served on the task force to study reparations, made it to my first presentation.
Ripples of friendship, collaboration, and shared living, extend widely from each of these people – moving through my life, calling to mind countless individuals who have touched my life and who continue to journey with me in the Communion of Saints.
We do not live alone but within a web of relationships that transcend space and time. And that is good. Very, very good.
For all the saints – those I remember, those I forget, those I have never met – for all the saints, thanks be!
Nancy Eng MacNeill took the picture.
Yes, I need a haircut.
Yes, I need to trim my beard.
See you along the Trail.
Related articles
- All Saints’ Day (graybeardtrail.wordpress.com)
Georgia O’Keefe’s mountain
As so often happens,
when I looked through my pictures this evening,
I came across pictures of Ghost Ranch.
A picture of “Georgia O’Keefe’s mountain” spoke to me.
The colors and the time of year, I think.
This was taken in October of 2009.
For some reason, I played with the picture using iPhoto.
I suspect that with a better program I could have preserved some of the texture in the foreground.
Still, it is an intriguing view.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Photo
Contrasts
Looking through some digital photographs,
I came upon this one of moon and trees.
Someday I may say something profound about this image.
For the moment I simply ponder the contrasts.
October 26, 2009, Ghost Ranch
See you along the Trail.
2 September 2011
Shire on the Hudson
Filed under Photo
Unbidden, unasked
Unbidden,
a thistle grows in the yard,
a sturdy, prickly weed.
Unasked,
its green and purple hues
reveal
a simple mystery:
life,
death,
life to be,
triangle of eternity.
16 July 2011
Ghost Ranch, 2011
Along the Graybeard Trail 