We over simplify the differences between us.  When people discuss, argue, and pontificate about red states, versus blue states, about US values, versus Russian values, what is missed, are the differences that grow from where we live.  I’m not talking urban, versus suburban,  versus rural.  I  am sure that there  are differences there and that they exist.  No I am talking about whether you grew up near a sea of grass, or near a sea.  Did you grow up with tornadoes, on the side of a volcano, in a sea of snow, or in sea of sand?  Did you have four seasons to a year, or just one? Have you ever driven across the great plains, sailed the great lakes, or swam in an ocean?  The basic environment of what you saw,  and heard, and smelled, every day of your life shapes you at your soul.  In our attempts to down play these differences, to down play how our environment shapes us, we are missing the things that formed our religions, our cultures, and our societies.  When we move from air conditioned house, to air conditioned car, to air conditioned work, we miss a basic part of life.  Weather becomes a problem, the environment becomes something to be denied,  or something to be controlled.  So its simple. Go for a walk. Go for a bike ride. Next time it rains,  get wet.  Wake up early, and listen to the birds, wherever you are, welcome in the day. Embrace your world, and in doing so,  the world of your ancestors. Embrace the fact that growing up in the desert gives you a different view of life, and its meaning, then someone who grew up by the sea. My family carries our background in our name. De Mar, of the sea.

The sea between Scotland and the Isle of Mull from the road between Glenberg and Salen Scotland 8/5/15
© Dan DeMarle 2016 – © photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2015

There is something about the mist, 
the fog, 
the wind,
and the ocean near by,
and the way things seem to appear,
and disappear,
in the mist.
In the way the wind blows hard,
until suddenly there is silence,
and only the sound of water dripping.
 
That makes us appreciate;
good stone walls,
a warm fire,
good drink,
and good friends,
waiting for us at the end of the day. 


Road between Kilchoan and Glenberg Scotland 8/5/15
© Dan DeMarle 2016 – © photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2015

© Dan DeMarle – photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2016

I would never cry for you,
so you never cried for me.
I would never say goodbye,
so you never would say hello.
I would never open my heart for you,
so you left me.
and
found someone who would.

© Dan DeMarle – photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2015

“…people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf”

1993 Washington Times essay by Richard Grenier

Every country struggles with their own gangs and trying to keep those gangs from  mixing.. Taken in Glasgow Scotland.

© Dan DeMarle – photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2015

If life is what we make of it,
What will you make of yours?
Will you open the window,
Only to close it?
If it rains, pours, and storms?
Will you realize that lives, like plants, 
sometimes only grow after the rain.
Somethings only heal,
after having been out in a storm.

When the valley flows with milk and honey?
Will you choose to dam it up?
Or will you choose to make bread,
and share it with friends?

When death comes to a loved one,
will you choose to close doors?
Will you shut yourself away in your own self-made coffin?
or will you choose to embrace them,
for all the ways they helped you grow,
and let their works and love grow through you?

When your love says lets go traveling
Will you say, no I'm just to busy?

When your friend says lets have Jamaican Thai
will you just say PBJs sound good to me?

When your children want to go play by the pond,
Will you go collect tadpoles with them,'
or close the gate and lecture about the risks of drowning?

What if when the spirit called,
that man never went into the desert alone for 40 days?
What if he had stayed home with his mother
playing x box live?

If life is what we make of it?
Don't we make our own life?
So how will you make yours?

© Dan DeMarle – photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2016

I love this picture for a number of reasons. First, of course because I am very proud of my son. Second because America seems to want to actively forget all the men and women who serve everyday to protect and serve our country.  They work to protect each and every one of us, but unless something bad happens, we forget that they are there.

© Dan DeMarle – photo taken by Dan DeMarle 2016

Funny how after taking it, and looking at it, how different things come through in the clouds . Anyone see a sleeping person’s face, and an angry demon, or goat?