OTHER VOICES

I heard other voices but they were shy.
I heard other voices and wanted to cry.
First they were loud and then they were soft
then they were quiet and then they were lost.
So many have come and so many have gone

I heard other voices, they didn’t care
I heard other voices, no need to beware
Them that are left will be leaving soon too
Loud and then soft and then quiet and then lost

I heard other voices none of them mine
I heard other voices that seemed out of time
I heard other voices, saying farewell to the wolf
I heard other voices, saying farewell to the whale


I heard other voices that began to cry out
I heard Rachel and Teddy and Aldo and Al
I heard Henry and visited the "Outermost House"
I heard another voice at first it was shy
Then it was soft and finally loud

I heard other voices, deep down in my heart
I heard other voices so loud and so clear
I heard other voices, calling to the wolf
I heard other voices, calling to the whale

I heard other voices with so little time.
I heard other voices and finally mine.
At first lost and then quiet
then soft and then loud

New England

We have just returned from our trip to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. We landed in Connecticut and traveled our one rainy day up to the New Hampshire coast and then on to Rockport Maine. It was great to be home again as I hadn't been back in over four years and it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to seeing my family and friends again.

The New Hampshire coast was grey and sullen and beautiful with it's 13 miles of exceptional views of the open ocean and marshes. We lingered as much as the rain would allow and I photographed these very familiar scenes from my past.

Standing on the shore looking out over the ocean is both wonderful and disturbing. The rhythm of the waves, the sudden crash against the rocks, the feeling of belonging, of being home again juxtaposed with a great sense of loss and the sense of an underlying, unseen tragedy. The abundance that once was no longer is, an abundance that is I fear is lost forever. Still I love this place and I can't help but hope that people will come to their senses and find a way to save the oceans of the world by giving them the help they need to recover from the relentless destruction of the last century.
Our second stop was Rockport Maine where we would stay with family and have some time to check out Camden and Rockport harbors. As luck would have it the weather cleared and  photography would be much easier without the rain.

I made a couple of visits to Camden Harbor on a truly beautiful day. Camden is one of those famous Maine coastal towns that is picturesque everywhere you look. I have to admit that I've always enjoyed boats and in my youth I spent a summer working in a Maine shipyard building a 99 foot ferry boat and a 138 foot cruise boat.

Next we headed to Rockport Harbor which is more of a working harbor. There is a statue to Andre the seal who adopted a local family and had a movie made about him..

Returning to the village where I lived before coming to Arizona is always special to me. After stopping by the cemetery to visit my Mom and Dad's grave we headed to the Sheepscot River which is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I was fortunate enough to live in the Sheepscot Village for a total of four years and was always happy there.

 I loved it here and some times I wish I had never left but the world is so big and there is so much to see.............

Well it's tomorrow and I have added photos from Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells Maine. Our walk through the refuge is just a small part of the total acreage set aside to protect migratory birds and preserve the coast in it's natural beauty. I found the following description of the refuge at the US Fish and Wildlife site.

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge: A safe haven for wildlife

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1966 in cooperation with the State of Maine to protect valuable salt marshes and estuaries for migratory birds. Located along 50 miles of coastline in York and Cumberland counties, the refuge consists of eleven divisions between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth. It will contain approximately 14,600 acres when land acquisition is complete. The proximity of the refuge to the coast and its location between the eastern deciduous forest and the boreal forest creates a composition of plants and animals not found elsewhere in Maine. Major habitat types present on the refuge include forested upland, barrier beach/dune, coastal meadows, tidal salt marsh, and the distinctive rocky coast.

We had a truly wonderful afternoon walk and I can't wait to return and explore the rest of the refuge in the near future. So many places to see and so little time.

The foliage had only just begun to turn as we headed back down the coast and while it was a little disappointing not to see brilliance of the New England annual display this place is so special that it's natural beauty overcomes my senses in any season and reminds me of who I am and what I am all about.

 I have spent many, many days and nights here at Wells Beach walking the wonderful sandy beach from end to end stopping for fried clams every now and then. Some of my best memories of my life with Nancy were here in the great state of Maine.

I plan on making the Massachusetts portion of our trip a separate post hopefully this coming weekend. This part of the trip is the area where I grew up and went to high school. Should be fun!

Connections

In the truest sense we are all connected, bound to a small planet in this vast universe with very limited resources. We have limited space, limited food, limited drinking water, and if nothing changes a limited future.
Plants and animals are disappearing at an alarming rate, the oceans are on the brink of collapse, our energy choices are polluting the air we breathe and the water that sustains our existence. Our choices are causing a global shift toward hotter climates and much more severe weather. Everywhere you look our world is out of balance, spinning out of control and losing the very essence of what it once was. Even those of us who consider ourselves good stewards of the earth are constantly having to re-evaluate the choices we make as we come to realize that in our everyday lives we are unwittingly supporting those among us who are destroying our planet for personal gain. We are connected. Connected to those whose actions are causing irreparable harm to our world.
It's in the food choices we make, the tuna fishing that kills the dolphins, it's the shrimpers that are killing the sea turtles, the cattle ranchers that are overgrazing the public lands and killing the wolves. It's the toilet paper and tissue we use that comes from old growth forests, it's the fracking and the coal and the oil and it's the mining and it's the chemicals we spray relentlessly on our lawns. It's so many things that it would take forever to list them all. All of these things connect us to the people and the corporations that prey on the environment for a personal wealth that is nothing short of obscene.
It's the choices in our everyday lives that have made billionaire moguls of bad guys and bad companies. There will always be people willing to do long term damage for short term gain and they are counting on you not being a savvy consumer who stops and thinks about where the product came from and who's behind it and what is the environmental damage associated with it is. Would you really continue to eat tuna from a company that is using methods that kill thousands of turtles, sharks and other species and is depleting the ocean stocks of tuna to a dangerously unsustainable level? When you throw those steaks on the barbecue do you stop and think about the wolves that are being eradicated by ranchers?
The truth is we have built a world on unsustainable practices and we have now reached the crossroads for the entire planet. The big guys make the kind of choices that damage the environment because they are not held to account by the consumer. They are not held to account by you.
The question is what can we do about a world system built on the total annihilation of species after species? What can we do about people and corporations that believe only in the accumulation of wealth even beyond what they could ever spend in many lifetimes.
The answer  is amazingly simple! Stop buying what they are selling. Knowing what you are actually buying and learning which companies are good stewards of the earth is a good start. Joining organizations like Greenpeace or the NRDC will also help you to become a more informed consumer. Just a little research on your part will help you to help save the planet. Remember reusing and recycling are great but not buying it in the first place is better!