Mosterio de Santa Maria

Portugal is completely mad with World Cup football fever. In the little medieval town of Alcobaça however, one can easily be transported into a world far removed from this action. Stepping into the 12C monastery, it doesn't take long for one's awareness to be drawn within and into a more contemplative, timeless space.

Sacred Landscape

The Budhist mantra, The Jewel Within the Lotus reflects the mystical union between the self and the cosmos. A representation of this interweave between nature and self is strongly felt at the astonishingly beautiful Bled Island, amidst Slovenia's Julian Alps. It's no wonder there has been a place of worship here since the 9th century. Deep ecology indeed.

Setting Sun. Rural Peacock.

The area surrounding the remote hamlet of Hrastovlje, Slovenia is locally well known as a truffle growing region.  Enjoying a superb dish of handmade pasta in the setting sun, the atmosphere was suddenly altered by the shrill call of a stunning peacock.

Wildlife in the City

I saw a deer in Ljubljana.

Wall Street at Apartheid Avenue.

Creativity is resistance in the streets of  Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine.  Until the Wall comes down, "I'll meet you at the corner of Apartheid Avenue and Wall Street."

The web of barbed wire in front of the Apartheid Wall is at Bil'in Village in the West Bank.

Peak Experience. Peek Experience.

"I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about mountains."

 ~ John Muir

 

Along the Manaslu Circuit, Nepali Himalaya.

Blood Red Moon. Sort of.

The wind was howling and the tide was high as I went outside in search of the lunar eclipse the other night.  An atavistic call to commune with the cosmos stirred within and I responded.

 It was quite cloudy, so instead of seeing the blood red moon everyone was anticipating, it mysteriously drifted into a gauze- like mist. Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, a skinny coyote appeared on the shore and a troubled man cursed me out. I am not kidding. Beasts and humans alike could not resist this mighty celestial pull.

While the red moon may have ducked out of sight behind west coast clouds, I nevertheless had an extraordinary lunar, or was that - lunatic encounter.