I really love it when I am in a writing mood, it can happen to me at any time of the day and when it does I just have to capitalise on it, as best I can. This moment is now, suddenly I have an enthusiastic urge to write and I just have to do it. Here is a little poem to you from this happy mood moment:
Creating My Tomorrow
Fluffy and white,
Like cotton wool.
Clouds in the breeze,
Air fresh and cool.
Snowy moments,
A blanket of space.
Tranquil surroundings,
A different place.
Making it happen,
Hopes and dreams.
Fill up my corner,
Rainbow beams.
Moonlit skies,
Are pretty and pink.
Soft melting colours,
Make me think.
Time is not here,
I am at one.
Always myself,
Smiling at the sun.
No questions to answer,
For I know what’s true.
Creating my tomorrow,
In today what I do.
Experiencing life,
Embracing this treasure.
Loving the journey,
Surprised with pleasure.
I was thinking today about some of the beautiful places I have travelled to, here are 10 of my happy memories:
1. Watching the morning sun rise at the Top of the Empire State Building, New York City, USA
2. Watching the Sunset at the top of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa
3. Bowling with school friends in Valkenburg, Holland
4. Watching the Dancing Fountains outside the Burj Kalifa, Dubai, UAE
5. Partying and having much fun with friends in Las Vegas, USA
6. Relaxing in the outside spas of The Blue Lagoon in Iceland
7. Having a lovely evening dinner outside in a family restaurant in Asolo, Italy
8. Riding on the back of a motorbike as the sun was setting heading into Venice, Italy
9. Watching a young couple get married and happily parading down the street in Mahdia, Tunisia
10. Partying with friends at the Tartan Army Week in New York City, USA
These are just some of the wonderful memories from places I have been so lucky enough to have travelled to over the years, yes, I am very lucky indeed.
Here is a little bit about the truly wonderfully inspiring Jerry (extract from his blog):
Jerry Nelson is an internationally recognized photojournalist.
His work has appeared in a wide variety of publications and news outlets including USAToday, CNN, Huffington Post, Upsurge, CBS, Dream Row, Earthwalkers and others.
He photographs and licenses images for all manner of commercial and editorial use as well as selling through this website.
***
Nelson writes, “I realize the dreams to travel were not mine alone. I have friends that have dreamed of traveling and trekking since the days that we all roamed the woods around Hot Springs, Virginia.
***
I realize that most of those friends will never have the opportunity to journey. Life gets in the way sometimes. But I have tried to share the majesty, intimacy and timelessness of places in my photographs in a way I hope everyone can relate to. I’ve tried to capture the reality of my childhood imaginations and share them with you. I realize that despite having grown up with these dreams, nobody needs to go on trips like I do.
But as we work through the daily routine of life at home, sometimes it helps to know that we could go. That it’s all really there.
Better yet, I hope my photographs inspire a few of you to actually follow your dreams and take your journey. I want to remind everyone that ordinary working people can visit remote places like I have. They do it all the time.
These are not expensive or difficult places to explore if you travel independently and stay with the locals.
And of course, there are endless experiences to be had in the wilderness areas of your own backyard.
You can’t begin a journey if you don’t step out. There is nothing mysterious about a rucksack. All you need are a couple changes of clothes, some hard earned time off and less money than you think.
Snake River Canyon Idaho
Get out there with me and watch the ravens fly through the dazzling glow of a remote slot canyon, watch the northern lights dance over the snows of Denali, walk with the lions and tigers in Lujan, roam the barrios in Buenos Aires looking for the next photograph, stand in the plaza as the Pope gets installed, watch in amazement during the Prayer Dance of the Native Cultural Center in Tennessee, break bread with veterans from the Falkland Islands war, listen for the choppers at the M*A*S*H set in Malibu, drift on The Snake River as we pass The Grand Tetons, stay silent in the Sonoran Desert as we wait for the Mexican drug cartel to appear, break bread with the Shoshone in Idaho, walk a knife-edge ridge in the Smokies and sit around the campfire in the Ozarks with other veterans. Fish for Pirrhana in the Amazon, watch autumn leaves fall in a gentle snowstorm in Patagonia, stand with me as 300 buffalo stampede towards us in Eusick, Washington, marvel at a palm tree swaying dark against a billion stars while camping on a moonless night in the middle of the South Pacific, sail a 16th century ship through the sound into open water, be ’embedded’ with OccupyDC during the winter, live with rugged miners in even more rugged Appalachia and drink Dr. Pepper on the front porch of the old Hatfield homestead in Mingo County.
It’s all there.
And the earth needs people who travel this way, who earn their time with its treasures, and promote its conservation.
***
Time is the most precious commodity we actually own.”
Payette Kayak
Below is Jerry’s Guest Blog Post which he wrote especially for this Clarabelle Blog:
Life Goes On
It grey the morning I stepped outside the door in a small town close to Roswell, New Mexico, on December 17, 2006. I shifted the backpack on my shoulders and walked to the end of the drive. Adjusting the straps again, I stepped into the street and walked to the corner. Looking back one more time, shifting the pack again, I walked down the street, through the town and across America.
I’m a Vietnam Veteran and while I didn’t see as much stuff as some others did, I was affected by the war and its aftermath. After keeping feelings, emotions and nightmares bottled up for years, I was admitted to a psychiatric hospitel in Staunton, Virginia where I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ten days in the psych ward with nothing to do but read ended up being a blessing.
I came across an old issue of National Geographic that had an article about hiking the Appalchian Trail. That was what I needed to do. That’s what I wanted to do. Get out in the woods, get away from everything and everyone I knew. Alone with just my thoughts and the Creator for company. It never happened. Sometimes life gets in the way and for years there was always a reason not to pursue my dream: my wife she…my bills they…my job it… Well, you know how it goes.
In September 2005 my wife of 31 years filed for divorce. I didn’t want it so I sat on the paperwork hoping she would have a change of heart. She never did, and in April 2006 I signed the documents and handed them over. Later that year some friends who were living in New Mexico invited me out to spend the holidays with them so I wouldn’t have to be alone. With nothing better to do, I went. I got there on December 16 and that night felt the God of my understanding say I could take my walk.
I got to Washington DC on June 30th, 2007. Since then I’ve continued to travel, write and take pictures. You can see my work on my website, www.JourneyAmerica.org. I’m always encouraging people to follow my travels and challenging them to take their own journey. If you do, the people you’ll meet are amazing.
People like Omar in a Dallas ghetto who dreams of going to medical school so he can return and care for his neighbors and “Ms. Mamie” in Jackson, Mississippi who went back to school at 80 years old.
The spiritual life-lessons learned on a trip like that stay with you through life and become a guiding force and you learn that:
Life goes on and no matter what you’re going through I encourage you to “Join the Adventure”
Thank you Jerry for sharing a part of your story with us today here on this blog, it has been a real pleasure having you on board and you are most welcome anytime. If you would like to read more about Jerry and his adventures please head over to his blog http://www.journeyamerica.org I challenge you not to feel inspired.
If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger on this Clarabelle Blog, please let me know on the comments below or send me an email to claire@murraypeople.com
Thank you for being here, thank you for reading and thank you for your comments.
I was such a happy child, I honestly had a fabulous childhood it was so much fun, adventurous, exciting and full of imagination. I had lots of friends and most of the time we made up our own entertainment. We used our imagination to make up dances and songs, we played at football rounders, kick-the-can, hide and seek, beds (hopscotch), races, treasure hunt, lee voy, relay races, obstacles courses, we would climb up trees and make up hidden camps in the park. I am smiling now because my childhood was so so so so happy and I am very proud to say that I am still very close with some of those very special childhood friends almost 35 years later.
Clarabelle Age 6 and Brother Age 9
As a child I always remember being full of dreams and excited ambition, although it was probably portrayed as being too far fetched and a little ‘show off’ at times. I never interpreted it as that myself, I was just so happy and wanted to display my happiness to others, I suppose I wanted them to share my happiness too.
Clarabelle Dancing Age 5
My mum said to me that her memory of me as a child was that I was always singing, she said I would sing from the moment I woke up until I went to bed. The funny thing is I forgot I did that until my mum reminded me of it a couple of years ago. I forgot that I used to do that as a child and I guess I forgot what it was to be that child again singing, dancing and living in a very free-spirited way. However I am finding that the more I understand who I am as a person the more I am becoming that happy spirited child again, the person that I always was but somehow got lost along the way.
Clarabelle (Age 10) & Sister Leanne (Age 5)
At this moment in time, on my journey of life, I am really happy, I feel free-spirited, creative and mesmerised by the beauty in this world. It’s like I am seeing the world again through my childlike eyes, like when I was 7 years old again.
Clarabelle Age 11 (holding Courage Banner in pink)
As a child I loved things like catching my reflection in puddles on a rainy day, gazing up at the stars at night, staring at a summer nights sky and being wondered by all the magical colours and different shapes of clouds. I loved making daisy chains and I would look endlessly at each petal on the daisy, really feeling and smelling its fresh air scent. I loved the great outdoors and just being free, I guess just being me, living in each very moment and seeing each and everything around me as magical.
Now I know why I was a happy child. 🙂 🙂 🙂
May your day today be filled with magical childlike moments that allow you to see the beauty in everything around you. Lots and lots of love to you today, Clarabelle
There is movement, there is change and there is doing things that just feel right…..I am living in the latter. I wrote this next poem for you my friend. Wishing you a day filled with positive changes that make you a better you. Lots of love to you today, Clarabelle
Nothing is still or stays the same
I feel the earth shift under my feet
The air is stirring, I hear its beat
Nothing is still, or stays the same
All is well, in this magical game
When thunder roars, whispers sing
Lightning bolts, form under my wing
I’m soaring high, never letting go
Imagination creates, all on show
It’s time now, my soul is shaken
I open my eyes, from this dream I awaken
Clarabelle 