On this page we visit some Utah sites and touch our toes into southern Montana. The poem paints via words a visual picture of a special room in my house.
My third novel Adelyn: An Epic Journey in the Epic Journeys TrilogyIS AVAILABLE on Amazon. (Above is a 65 second clip about the book.) It will take you on quite a journey! Though the third book of a trilogy, it is also a standalone novel.
One reader from Ohio wrote: In his book, Adelyn: An Epic Journey, Bob navigates the reader through a challenging journey in the time space continuum while exposing both the weaknesses and strengths of humanity. As Adelyn is exposed to the infinite love of The Source, the reader is challenged to understand how personal beliefs and actions often have more to do with cultural rather than spiritual influences. In a time and world filled with political anger and personal indulgences reading Adelyn offers the open-minded promise. It would make a great book study.
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My first two books of the trilogy, To the End of Time and Back: An Epic Journey, and the sequel, What's Next~An Epic Journey can also be purchased through Amazon by clicking here. (Scroll to the correct title.) Your local bookstore can also order them for you. All these books are fine reads for the broad-minded and/or the non-traditional spiritual seeker. What a reading adventure you will have including many diverse ideas, a beautiful love story, adventure, and intrigue. (All three are also available in Kindle version.)
Click here to link to a YouTube radio interview about To the End of Time and Back. (Friend David Riggs produced it for me. To link to his book, click here.)
This Page: Originally, this issue was to be about Glacier National Park. However, due to a computer hack, we turned around and headed home. Thus, we spent a couple days capturing pictures near our home. There are a few of Montana where we overnighted. The poem, Shorts 1 from My Meditation Room, paint a word picture of my special place. The vignette, Summer Past, reminisces about summers gone. Sandra also wrote extensively about my poem Silk Reeling through Life published in last month's issue. (Incidentally, the poet/video published in that issue received over 560 views on Facebook.)
To follow me on Facebook, click on Poet Bob, and ask to befriend me.
Unless otherwise noted, the pictures that follow focus on shots taken near where I live. There are a few at the end taken in Montana.
All we need to do is step out our front door to see our annual Midway 4th of July fireworks display.
Below is a brief series of shots of this year's display. Click on the link below to play.
Leaving our home and heading out River Road for the 10.25 hour drive to Glacier National Park, MT. (We only drove halfway there before having to turn around due to a serious computer hack.)
Poem
Shorts from My Meditation Room
Teapots created
in a burst of inspiration
set on display
waiting to serve.
Kochina dolls and soapstone figures
speak of mystical spirits.
An unnamed piece of harden clay,
the imaginative efforts of a five-year old,
rests in honor
beside them.
Pictured, a younger man
and his son
stand poised
ready to dare the Fates
by descending Arapahoe Basin’s East wall.
A mere glance at it
causes the adrenalin
again to flow.
A lone boomerang
is displayed,
having failed to return to its owner.
The large lamb wool rug,
flatten by time and use,
awaits my yoga
and meditative moments.
The koa wood
frames a rustic Maui scene.
Lithographs of interpretive waves
off the Taranaki Coast
hang in a group of four.
Watercolors by local artists
betray their imagination.
Walden’s Pond and cabin
are captured
by the camera’s lens.
Each is its own piece of beauty,
preserved on the wall.
Religious tapestries and Eastern figures
trigger thoughts of mystical gods
and exotic cultures.
Peering at the rich reds and blues
of the tightly hand-woven rug
return me to its Indian origin.
Comment: My bit of quiet sanctuary is filled with tangible memories, a potpourri collected over the decades. These short snippets provide a word image of my room.
A few of my teapots
Kochina dolls, Alaskan soapstone, and more teapots (My son's clay piece sets with my other collectibles.)
A much younger me with my then middle schooler son taking on a double-diamond at Arapahoe Basin, CO.
My books and products are purchasable online.
My work currently appears in seven books. Four are offered for sale online. To order any of the four, click here. The newest books, Adelyn: An Epic Journey (2017), What's Next? ~ An Epic Journey (2016), and Beyond Time and Back: An Epic Journey (2015), are currently available through Amazon.
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Jordanelle Reservoir near home
Beautiful Mirror Lake
Overview of small mountain pond in high country
(also pictured in the header above)
Vignette: Summer Past
Flashback for a moment! If you were like me, the arrival of summer was a glorious time. I was never one to dislike school, but the arrival of freedom was something I loved. Even decades later, I cherish those moments of youth. The entire City of Galion, where I grew up, was my playground. My bike was the conveyance to magnificent adventures as I traveled the streets, many representing foreign countries where my imagination transported me. These were times when parents did not worry about something happening to their child left to his or her own devices. Though my hometown was close to 10,000 people, there was no fear for a child traveling through any section of the community.
During the day, there were hours of sandlot baseball. Sometimes we would leave for the park in early morning and return in late afternoon. Mom provided me with a nickel (5¢) to buy a popsicle for lunch. If we tired of ball, we headed to the pool. We had to plan a bit ahead in order to have the necessary 15¢ entry fee.
Then in the evening, neighborhood kids gathered nightly, usually in my yard, for endless hours of hide-and-seek and kick the can.
Those were times when a woman could be the sole provider and work at a 5 and dime store and still be able to raise her child. Fear of injury and lawsuits did not exist. We just played taking risks that would stun many parents today. Yes, the simplicity of those days are passed, but the memories live on. I for one am grateful that I was able to live them.
Comments from Reader Sandy Carlson
Sandy is a Silk Reeling Practitioner. She especially enjoyed my recent poem Silk Reeling through Life. She wrote me a beautiful response and then took it one-step further and wrote her own poem regarding mine. Due to space I have edited her poem producing only the last magnificent stanza.
She wrote, "I hope you all enjoyed Bob Casey's poem and video. It's a wonderful piece of work. I wrote a poem about the poem and video. Call it an essay if you don't like free verse. . ."
. . . Our art is a fleeting one.
Our work is not chiseled in stone or writ on paper to be copied a million times and sold between cardboard covers.
Five centuries from now no musician will play on her instrument what we have played in the wind.
Instead our legacy is knowledge shared and movement taught,
So that others may not fall or hurt so much,
So others might find the serenity that we will find as we wave our hands in air, “silk reeling through time.”
Ephemeral are those electrons holding our image,
But we are for an instant immortalized.
Northern Utah near Ogden, a major farming region, abundance of fruit and vegetables grown here
Provo River that creates Provo Falls pictured below – also one of best trout fishing rivers in the world
Recommendation:
Sparky's Garagecannot be beat in Dillon, MT. Before heading home following a computer hack, we stayed overnight in Dillon. Based upon AAA and a rec for our hotel clerk we decided to eat at this funky restaurant. What a delight! I enjoyed some of best catfish, lightly breaded to perfection. Jan thought her barbecued beef brisket was "really good" flavorful and very tender. It was also a fun place to dine. We sat out on the porch
Sparky's Garage Restaurant in Dillion, MT. (One booth was in the truck bed.
