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I have never owned a camera in my life and didnt want one..they detract too much from the moment, I thought. But, when I saw some of the sunsets here, and the beauty that surrounds me, I wished I had a camera so that I could share this with my loved ones. My friend Richard, who visited me here from Hawaii for a week…mailed me a camera (a top quality Canon) from Mauii. Many thanks to him.
Pictures, the ones with the mist covering the river were taken today at sunset and rest of the them last week, from the back deck of the house where I have been staying alone for the past three months. The house is overlooking the Potomac river and the Cacapon river confluence. My family and friends consist of the trees and forests around the house, the black mountain bears, the deer, the bald eagles, the great spotted owls, many woodpeckers and some energetic chipmunks and squirrels. There are some mice staying in the house who started starving when I started putting out all the food scraps into my compost bin outside, before going to bed. so I have been putting some wheat berries for them to eat, and have told them that they must find a new home when I leave. If I catch them and put them outside now, they would freeze to death in fifteen minutes. Temperature five days ago was minus twenty degrees Fahrenheit.
I have been staying in semi seclusion here, enjoying nature, reading, practicing music, meditating, doing japa and prayers, and listening to what the trees and the river have to teach. I am also working on my book on spiritual ecology. there has been no internet, phone, t.v. or newspaper and I have been completely cut off from what is happening in the world, which, I am finding, is a real blessing.
Feeling healthy, due, in large part, to drinking the water that bubbles up from the sands in Berkeley Springs,3.5 miles from here. The water has a PH of 7.2, which is alkaline and hence very good for treatment of various ailments esp. acid reflux. One can see gold particles and silver particles in this spring water under the microscope. I also sit in the springs waist deep four days a week. the springs are warm (74 degrees fahrenheit) all the year round. The native americans, for thousands of years, have been coming to these springs for healing..from as far away as Canada and the Carolinas.
the pictures with snow were taken a week ago when the big freeze was on…
Many thanks to Peter Booth, whose house I am staying in and who insisted, when I was looking for a retreat to write my book last year, that I come and avail of his “weekend home” in Berkeley Springs.
Lastly, this view, a sample of which you see in the attached pictures, is rated by National Geographic Magazine as one of the top ten views in North America.