View upon Herstelle

It is a pleasure to have renewed the early morning exercise of making a walking round. Its a simple form of Carpe Diem. It starts - for me - with bringing Her the Tea, reading a chapter in the old Book. I found this 1823 copy of Luther’s German translation for a penny in Antiquariat Schäfer downtown. It needs restauration. The front cover is broken off from the back. Perhaps some day I can do that myself. As for now I’m satisfied that I can read how Hiob’s story develops. I want to learn and meditate on Man’s ways of dealing with suffering.

Before the walking starts at 8AM there is a moment to light a candle in honour of the Guardian Oak. Followed by a mumbling on the bearing and protecting life power of The Tree. And a knee bending. Then there is the question what direction we would take. Of course it would better not to plan any turning point to reach. The best would be to follow your feeling and the hints of the rising sun. But what on a grey foggy morning? You could go anywhere.

But, you understand: we had walked the Eastern Riverside on the day before, so now lets do the Western side. After passing the Schnuddelpferdchen and greeting a dog on his fresh morning round, we saw a Cormorant and a Heron flying downstream. A pair of Geese high over the Hillside cliff rocks. I could reach the waterside and make a few photo’s from there. One of them dreamy and mysty. The other one, showing the vague contours of the old Westphalian rivertown of Herstelle. I have chosen the view on Herstelle as it showed more depth and contrasts.

After turning our way we talked about choices you still have, even when you are seriously ill, handicapped or imprisoned. I know, we live under peaceful conditions here in the Weserbergland. That’s why we often tend to forget to count our blessings. Instead we should try to count our complaints and learn to say Thankyou instead of Dammit. We are born free to live in a positive and creative way. Accentuate shadows and the light starts falling in.