Tell Me A Story: WATERFALL

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Waterfall

    Cascade where
         flowing water
                     drops abruptly
                             and nearly vertically.

   An area where
             running water
                    falls down
                             from a high place.

Leisure is a form of silence,

not noiselessness.
It is the silence of contemplation

such as occurs when we let our minds rest

on a rosebud,

a child at play,

a Divine mystery,

or a waterfall.

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

(1895-1979)

Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong,

sometimes acid
and sometimes bitter,

sometimes sweet
and sometimes thick or thin,

sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or pestilence,

sometime health-giving,

sometimes poisonous.

It suffers change into as many natures

as are the different places through which it passes.

And as the mirror changes with the colour of its subject,

so it alters with the nature of the place,

becoming noisome,

laxative,

astringent,

sulfurous,

salty,
incarnadined,

mournful,

raging,

angry,

red, yellow, green, black, blue,
greasy, fat or slim.

Sometimes it starts a conflagration,

sometimes it extinguishes one;

is warm and is cold,

carries away or sets down,

hollows out or builds up,

tears or establishes,

fills or empties,

raises itself or burrows down,

speeds or is still;

is the cause at times
of life or death,

or increase or privation,

nourishes at times and at others does the contrary;

at times has a tang,

at times is without savor,

sometimes submerging the valleys with great floods.

In time and with water,

everything changes.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

(1452-1519)

Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician,
mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist,
geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer.

As long as I live,

I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.

I'll interpret the rocks,

learn the language of flood,

storm, and the avalanche.

I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens,

and get as near the heart of the world as I can.

John Muir

(1838-1914)

John Muir

Scottish-born American naturalist, author,

early advocate of preservation

of wilderness in the United States;

sometimes called the Father of the National Park System.

Muir's vision of nature
as a treasured,
God-given resource transcending its utilitarian value helped define the modern environmental and ecological movements.

His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature were read by millions, and are still popular today. He was an activist who hosted then President Theodore Roosevelt in the California backcountry, and helped save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas.

He founded The Sierra Club, which remains a leading environmental organization. Muir was concerned with the protection of nature both for the spiritual advancement of humanity, and as an affirmation of nature's inherent worth.

He stressed human civilization's role as stewards of the environment, but more importantly - the need to dwell harmoniously within the matrix of nature.

"When we try to pick out anything by itself," Muir said,
"we find it hitched to everything in the universe."

Faith, Megan, & Sarah holding Daisy Duke (Chinese Crested/Chihuahua) Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writing inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.

Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writing became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals.

One of the best-known hiking trails in the U.S,
the 211-mile John Muir Trail
was named in his honor.
Other places include
Muir Woods National Monument,
Muir Beach,
John Muir College,
Mount Muir,
Camp Muir and
Muir Glacier.

Biographer, Donald Worster,

says he believed

Muir's mission was

"...saving the American soul

from total surrender to materialism."

John Muir appears on the California quarter.

CLICK on the links or

COPY & PASTE the links in your browser:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=john+muir+california+quarter

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/New_World_Encyclopedia:Terms_of_Use

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and bring a friend!

Marcia Norwood

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Tell Me A Story

TELL ME A STORY

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

WATERFALL

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AMERICA'S STORYTELLER, Marcia Norwood