I used to watch TV. It was a long time ago. The only show I really watched was Survivor. OK, maybe I got sucked into Lost for a couple of seasons.

One day I got the bright idea I would send in my video application to be on the show. There I was, camcorder and guitar in the studio making my under three minute production of John Lennon’s ‘Working Class Hero’, with my revised Survivor lyrics. I sent it in.

The show called a while later. I’d made it into the top two percent. They complimented me on my brilliant performance.  They asked me if I wanted to be famous. I said, “Not really”. I lied.

Apparently, that was the wrong answer. They never called back. Had I said, “Fuck yeah! Worship me, bitches!”  I might have had half a million dollars in my pocket and quit smoking in the process. What can you do? No do overs in life, eh? I think this is about the time I lost all interest in television.

“As soon as you’re born, they make you feel small….”

Some pictures of a recent custom piece.

The Whippoorwill’s Song

Limited edition of 100. Made to order.

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1. Excerpted from “Aboriginal People and Birds: A Brief Cultural History of Manitoba’s First People”. The Birds of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Manitoba Naturalists Society, 2003. 56, 59-60.

There is no doubt we are living in a time when things are changing more rapidly than ever before. I think most people would agree with this.

It is the time of the Seventh Fire as foretold by the Chippewa. “It is this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and final Fire, an eternal fire of peace, love brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race makes the wrong choice of the roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back at them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earth’s people.^[4]“

I’m always telling my kids, “When I was your age, we didn’t have IPods, DVDs, cell phones, personal computers, Playstation3…we made our own fun…with mud, and wood, and old bicycle parts, and sticks and a piece of string and a transistor radio and magnets…and we liked it!”  LOL.  The phone that my daughter is constantly sending texts with is a more powerful computer than NASA had when they put the first man on the moon. That sounds crazy, but it’s true.

We all saw this wave of progress coming years ago.  We were born into it.  Electricity, color TV, clothes washers and combustion engines.  Old school.  We should have known we were in trouble when Atari’s Pong hit the stores.  Blip………..wait………..blip.  Hours of fun!  So, while everyone was jumping on the technology bandwagon and riding the wave of the future, I decided I would go the other way… against the tide and away from the traffic.  I decided I would move out to the forest and become a woodcarver!  You get the idea.   Go native…”Tune in, turn on, drop out.” Super Genius.

I think it's a drone. Or maybe a droid. I dunno. I think I'd rather play with dynamite!

We seem to be so caught up in economic growth and development, and so busy jumping through the hoops others have set up for us, we rarely slow down to question if we’re all that impressed with where all of this is heading.  I’m not.  I just read that the U.S. Senate recently passed a bill allowing the use of something like 30,000 military drones to spy on us in our own back yards.  Really?!  Thanks so much, George Lucas! Never mind that this post is likely to be censored for some reason or another in the near future.

As a culture, we’re a lot like a teenager who has just gotten his driver’s license.  He’s so enthralled with the power and speed of the machine he’s in, and with getting somewhere in a hurry, that he’s not really paying much attention to what’s happening around him. The next thing he knows, he’s swerving to avoid the deer that just jumped out on the road and his car is suddenly wrapped around a utility pole!   True story…ask my son.  A good example of this type of obliviousness would be the tens of thousands who died when the tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean. While the animals and indigenous island people (the smart group) were heading for higher ground, others (the dumb group) were on the beach sipping Mai Tai’s and taking snapshots.*

Ignorance Is Bliss!

I guess my question is, “who’s driving this car and do I really want to be in it?” I think I’ll walk. Prozac Nation. No thanks!

What am I getting at? Working half of the year to pay taxes to a corrupt government that will then use it to drop bombs on children and shell out the rest to a banker, is not my idea of a good time. Not everyone on the planet is wrapped up in the same paradigm that we are as ‘Westerners’.  There is a growing polarity between those who are on the ‘Good Red Road’ of love, compassion, mutual respect, honesty, and living in harmony with nature, and those who are on the ‘Black Road’ of power, control, domination, deceit, paranoia, and manipulation.  Basically, abusive and dysfunctional! There is no in between of  ‘just along for the ride’.

This ever widening gulf between the corporate, industrial military complex who are bent on world domination and profit through violence and aggression,  and the indigenous cultures of the world who want no part of this materialism, don’t have an agenda, and just want to be left to ‘be’ in peace and harmony with the natural world, is brilliantly portrayed in the Avatar film. Right? Is there anyone who hasn’t seen this film? While the beef industry destroys the rainforest in South America so McDonald’s can serve Big Macs in Tibet, entire cultures are being obliterated.

There’s no turning back, is there?  Like Facebook, technology isn’t going away anytime soon, though there are still people on this planet who appear to be getting along just fine without either. Nor, does it seem, is our insatiable need for bigger, better, faster, more, more, more!  But, like I ask my kids when they get behind the wheel of the car, “What’s the damn hurry!?” Slow it down a bit. I don’t want to end up in the ditch with my neck broken in six places. Been there…done that!

I have the feeling that our kids will make much wiser decisions in using today’s technology towards healthier ends, than the old, paranoid, billionaire boys club control freaks who are f#$king the world up today. Let’s hope so.

Thank You so much Roger Waters.

*(Someone pointed out that this last sentence was a bit harsh. This, of course, was a tragic event and I am sorry for all the people who were affected.  My point being that where technology was available to foresee this event, no one was forewarned and remained blissfully ‘out of touch’, while those not reliant on technology relied on a deeper natural instinct and got out of harm’s way.)

I think my next post will be about the Seven Fires Prophecy.  This weekend….while I’m doing my taxes! :p

Golden Eagle and Goshawk

Crazy Horse

Cardinal, Porcupine and Chipmunk

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]]> http://freedomgallery.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/golden-eagle-goshawk-crazy-horse-cardinal-porcupine-and-chipmunk/feed/ 0 freedomgallery crazyhorse-1000 cardinal-porcupine-chipmunk-800 http://freedomgallery.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/horse-coats-daffodils-and-witches-and-calderstones/ http://freedomgallery.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/horse-coats-daffodils-and-witches-and-calderstones/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:52:38 +0000 FreedomGallery http://freedomgallery.wordpress.com/?p=461 ]]> I love visiting England, so long as no one forces me to drive anywhere.

Even in January, so green and picturesque, the countryside occasionally gives one the feeling they’ve stepped into an illustrated children’s fairytale book. With it’s fenced thatched cottages replete with white ducks waddling through the front yard, sheep grazing on the hillsides, horses in the pasture, swans on the mere, winding forest paths over stiles and across footbridges, ancient stone circles and rumors of witches, she definitely gives you the impression you are not in Kansas anymore. We didn’t stray too far from Cheshire and Lancashire this time around, but there are still many lovely places here for a walk about.

There’s nothing like taking a week and a half off from work to make a person feel incredibly lazy. I think it’s safe to say I would have absolutely no problem spending the rest of my life sipping coffee in bed till noon while contemplating where I wanted to go walking later on in the day.Where shall we go today? Mersey Forest? Anderton Boat Lift?  What?  Three and a half miles?  Oh…um…OK.  Yes, it is a bit overcast today. It will be sunny tomorrow, I promise, and we’ll go to Redesmere and Capesthorne Hall.  Surely,  after that crazy dream I had, we’ll have to go up to Pendle to search out the famous witches. Calderstones in Liverpool? Strawberry Fields? Frodsham Edge? Care to take a walk with me?

Occasionally, I like to attach a video to the end of  my blog post.  Like a film, it seems requisite that each post should have a fitting soundtrack. It occurred to me to put said song at the beginning rather than the end.  This way you can have a listen as you peruse said post. Makes sense, right? Or just watch the Fab Four video and then read the post.

Mersey Forest

A barn owl marks the way.

A little soggy in places.

The sun makes a brief appearance.

I love pub signs!

Built in 1875, the Anderton Boat Lift was the world’s first and is currently England's only boat lift. It provides a link between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Weaver Navigation, some 50 feet below.

Young Swan

Canal Boats

Fishing

Footbridge

Redsmere And Capesthorne

Birds on the mere.

Friendly folks feeding the swans.

Around The Lake

Redesmere Sailing Club

Muddy Bank

A Captured Sprite

Country Stile

Capesthorne

Nice Driveway!

The front lawn. I love the hawk sculpture lakeside.

While walking through this field, we first came upon a small pile of rabbit fur and soon discovered this enormous Goshawk perched atop of this tree. Unfortunately, that's as good a picture as I could get with my small camera before I scared him off. (The photo is quite a bit larger if you click on it!)

The sun is going down.

We'll say goodnight to the horses wearing coats.

This night I had one of those epic dreams…you know the kind that are extremely vivid  and seem to go on most of the night. You wish you could record it and turn it into a full length feature film… I dreamed of witches practicing black magic inside of a church. We decided to take our next walk  in Pendle, home of the famous Pendle Witches.

Barley in Pendle

The Witch’s Way, Eastern Loop

Witch Way? Tee hee.

Walk along the river.

Foot bridge to The Pendle Inn

The Pendle Inn

A spooky pub sign...looking a lot like the end of that dream I had. Lol

Moss covered sandstone wall. Lovely.

Bee Keeper

Hillside View

Country Lane

Overlooking the Hamlet of Roughlee, we cross through a farm.....

...and over a footbridge..

The Lovely Hamlet of Roughlee

...then into Roughlee where we are greeted by a witch. Could it be Alice Nutter?

The sun is going down over the falls and my camera will soon refuse to take a decent picture!

A gate

A chimney,

Enough light for one more snapshot as we make our way back to the Barley car park. Again, we'll say goodnight to another horse wearing a coat.

"Nothing is real...and nothing to get hung about."

Goo goo gu joob. I am the Walrus.

Calderstones Park

Daffodils, Krokus and Roses were all blooming in the park in January!

The Calderstones

The Calderstones

The Calderstones

Type
Neolithic Chambered Tomb
Location
Country	England
County	Merseyside
Nearest town	Allerton
OS grid reference	SJ405875
Coordinates	53°22′54″N 2°53′39″W
References
Megalithic Portal

The Calderstones are six neolithic sandstone boulders remaining from a dolmen.

Little was known about the Calderstones until the 18th century when they are thought to have been disturbed. In 1825 it was reported that, “in digging about them, urns made of the coarsest clay, containing human dust and bones were found.^[4]

During the mid and later 19th century certain academics had declared the Calderstones to have been part of a druidical circle. In the closing years of the century Professor Herdman returned to the earlier evidence and concluded that the stones were once part of a ruined dolmen which had been mistakenly taken for a circle due to the false impression held that all druidical remains should be so arranged.^[4]

The six surviving stones are of local sandstone and their sizes range from approximately eight by three feet to three and a half by two and a half feet. The markings which had been studied the previous century by Simpson were again analysed and latex moulds were made of the stones and carvings, which both enabled a precise record to be made and also highlight other worn carvings which were not previously visible. The carvings were placed into six categories; spirals, concentric circles, arcs, cup marks, cup and ring marks and footprints. There is also evidence of post-medieval and modern graffiti. Several of the carvings are similar to examples found in Anglesey and the late-neolithic burial site of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley.^[5]

The stones were relocated by Joseph Need Walker during his ownership, becoming a gateway feature to the eponymous estate.^[6] The stones are now housed in the Harthill Greenhouses in Calderstones Park having been moved from their previous location in an enclosure just outside the park gates in 1954 to protect them from further weathering.^[7]

Right...the sun is going down again. Let's get out of here.

Frodsham Edge and Overton Hill

“With expansive views across the Mersey Estuary and beyond, this fine walk wanders the wooded sandstone escarpment above Frodsham and visits the site of an Iron Age hillfort.”

I love Frodsham Hill. It seems I inevitably end up here each visit, the day before its time for me to fly home. It’s becoming familiar and friendly. We had a very nice walk this day and one of the locals gave us a little more history of the place. Soldiers who had been hospitalized in the area during the first World War have very meticulously carved their names into some of the sandstone cliffs on the hill during their convalescence. Without a doubt, beautiful graffiti of which I took no pictures of on this trip. The last bit of our walk, we got caught in the rain which seems to be the status quot on Frodsham as well.  And as this blog post is becoming excessively longer than I’d anticipated, I’ll just share a few more photos with you and wrap things up. It’s all exceedingly ‘lovely’ (and green!), ya know?

Oh...hello!

A nice view.

House upon the hill.

A distant Helsby Hill

Sandstone. No, not Minnesota.

A signpost below 'Jacob's Ladder'.

A natural stairway.

A portal in the trees. OK...through here and we're out!

Back home to be greeted by a backed up frozen septic in a dull brown January landscape that is Minnesota , and reminded of the grim reality of having to actually work for a  living, I find myself left with a single burning question. Why do the horses in Lancashire wear coats and they don’t wear them here?

AS these insane things happen all the time, my son’s friend brought this film over shortly after I posted this.

I’m going to watch it now!

The only blog I actually follow is Stuart Wilde’s. When I’ve been down and blue in the past, his books have had the same effect on me as a visit from an old friend. I think it’s his warmth, humor, and unique view of reality, as well as his understanding of the Tao that really resonates with me.  I’m sharing a link here.  It’s about the heart of Gaia, and the magical Tao Beings…the animal spirits that will be your guides to the Eternal.  Perhaps in Stu’s Aluna World, he IS the White Rabbit. I think so!  OK, I’m off to wrap presents. Follow the rabbit down the hole…or not.Oh, I almost forgot. Merry Christmas!

“Kevin, I feel privileged that “the master” is creating an object specifically for me!”  ~William N.F.

I posted this Bush song for the simple reason that I like it! But what song should appear right behind it?  The Afterlife!  These coincidences are getting too weird.  Then again, some people just accept this stuff as fact. I heard tonight that Wayne Dyer believes he was St. Francis of Assisi in a past incarnation! Who am I to say? If someone told me I was Crazy Horse in a past life, I’m certain they would be at least half right.