For a Monday, why not take a break from the political chatter, from the reports of extensive wild fire damage in California, from reports of twin hurricanes that threaten Texas and Louisiana, and from the propaganda storm about to envelop us?  The last is a reference to the Republican Party MAGA convention.

Yesterday in the last hour or so of daylight I took a short drive to the Fabyan estate which is alongside the Fox River.  The wildflowers remain in bloom.  Photographing a flower is immensely gratifying because they stand still for portraits.  They do not complain when you move about to catch poses from different angles.

Walking along the pathway, I noticed that the river is low after a protracted dry spell.  Moving through  thick vegetation along the bank, I discovered the water low enough to make it possible to walk safely along the waters edge.  The afternoon was unsettled weather-wise.  Storms threatened, and some large thunderhead clouds were visible directly north, upriver.  By dint of good fortune, I captured a photo of a towering cloud formation, glowing in the setting sun, reflected back in the calm surface of the slowly flowing river.

I was reminded that in Nature everything moves, reciprocally exchanging energy,  — thunder clouds, a rivers moving current, flowers drawing sustenance from the earth, life giving energy from the sun tracing the patterns of thunder clouds reflected from the water’s surface to the camera’s photosensor….  it is all quite marvelous, and enough of a miracle for me.

Of course there is a variety of wildlife that live in the woodland, and under the waters surface.  Perhaps the most obvious are the waterfowl that find a home here.  Somehow wildlife appear regal to me.  Perhaps that is because of the absence of ego, without artifice or pretension, an animal just lives, comfortable to be what they are.

On my return I noticed the moon, appearing large as the light dimmed with the earth’s rotation away from the sun.  Not wishing to miss the opportunity, I exited into an empty parking lot in order to capture a photo of our nearest neighbor in space.

As long as there is movement, there is hope.  As aware human beings, we can be on the lookout for that singular moment, the propitious, timely concatenation of circumstance, we can seize that moment for our collective release from the quagmire that threatens.

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And there is always music,

‘rhythm, rhyme, and harmony’ to carry us through….  To elevate our spirits, I offer a rendition of Faithfully by Journey.  Having heard this popular tune on the radio hundreds of times, I never tire, losing myself in the lyric and in the ascending keyboard runs.  To maintain a faithful relationship is a difficult, universal, protracted campaign of life.  Aspiration, effort, patience, and much self-forgiveness is called for to maintain the always fragile relationship.  One day at a time.

The song was written by Journey keyboard player Jonathan Cain. He began writing the song with only the lyrics “highway run into the midnight sun” on a paper napkin while on a tour bus headed to Saratoga Springs, New York. The next day, he completed the song in full in only a half-hour. Cain connected the song’s quick genesis to his Christian faith: “I’d never had a song come to me so quickly […] it was anointed, supernatural.”  Neal Schon also commented on the song’s inception: “[Cain] told me he got the melody out of a dream. I wish something like that would happen to me.”  Cain finished composing the song on a backstage grand piano at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where the band performed it for the first time. According to the liner notes in Journey’s Time3 compilation, Cain paid tribute to road manager Pat Morrow and stage manager Benny Collins when he wrote “we all need the clowns to make us smile.” He characterized the song as a “road song,” remarking, “You know I’m being a good dog out here — don’t worry about it.”  ^{— Wikipedia}