Lovell-SimonsJanet

I grew up freely

walking barefoot

through dappled forests,

warm sands, squishy marshes,

gravel pits, a floodway and

grass fields covered with clover--

I waded and swam

in clear clean beach water

that you could drink

when no one was there,

which was often

in the Spring and Fall,

I fell asleep in forests,

felt ants and other insects

walk harmlessly over me,

rode flexible willow trees

on waves of the wind

like a ship in the sea,

picked and ate freely

of plums and raspberries,

chokecherries, hazelnuts,

saskatoons and acorns,

climbed trees and

made forts in the bushes, clover headdresses and necklaces,

hunted for four-leafed clovers,

made bows and arrows

out of sticks in the woods,

cupped rocks with

the ends of my shirt

and stray kittens

in my arms

to carry all home

as these treasures,

all the treasures

mentioned, closely

surrounded our home

in the country.

It was a time of one

and two-room schools

that I loved and embraced

where we made our own games,

played marbles, built forts and play-homes

in the surrounding trees, but, unfortunately

these small schools were closed and

life expanded into a cultural shock for me

of multi-grade, multi-roomed,

multi-layered brick blocks

of impersonal buildings

buzzing with hundreds

of children together

like bees in a hive

that truly stung me

at first

by the shock

of it all.

Eventually

I adapted

and grew

to appreciate

the variety,

complexity

and beauty

of so many

different people

and ways of

BEing.

All were times

of meditation,

study, and

imagination

blessed by parents

who allowed

this Freedom

with Love.

to learn directly

from within,

from them,

others,

and the earth,

to take joy, pleasure

in play and exploring,

to become creative,

stand up for oneself and

listen to the small still voice,

to follow one's own heart,

and Mind.

Still, to this very day,

one of the strongest connections

within and beyond love of family and friends

is with the natural world,

the earth, Earth, EARTH.

It is my hope and wish

that my photography

reflects back to the Earth

and Others, the Beauty

and Love that I Behold.

That it may Truly

Induce

a Healing for One,

for All, Especially

the Natural World,

the Earth, of which

we ARE a Part.

*****************************************************************************************

From the moment I could walk, barefoot, more often than not, a connection and love of nature grew year after year and through all seasons as I explored the woods surrounding our home in the country.

In recent years, this love has grown to concern over the health of our planet and in turn, to the future of our children. The seed of this consciousness began in the 60's with the slogan, "Don't be a litter-bug". Jaunty yellow orbs where one may dispose of their trash (instead of throwing it out the car window or simply dropping it to the earth) were placed along the highways and streets of cities within Canada. Additional concern was stirred up within my child mind as I saw in magazines, pictures of children and their mothers who lived on the other side of the world wearing gas masks because of the poor air quality of the air. This made a great impact on my young mind with a gravity that made me ponder how this could be so.

It was not a wonder then that when I became an adult I joined Green Peace, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Manitoba Fort Whyte Nature Center where I volunteered and took groups of children through the center and outdoors teaching the importance of our natural world. I also became a member of an Organic Food Cooperative, subscribed to Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News magazines before the internet became a wonderful source of information. Further down the road, I wrote a interactive story with the intention of stirring the minds of school children into environmental awareness like I experienced as a child. With this story I compiled a A to Z guide with suggestions as to how we may individually make a difference by our actions and the choices we make.

Further back, approximately in the early 90's prior to an election in Canada, the political leaders of that time inquired of the public through a mail survey what our top concerns were. They gave a list with boxes beside each item where we could place a number to show our highest to lowest priority of concern. I will note here, as I did then, their omission and my addition of a concern for the environment for without a healthy planet, we cannot have a healthy economy as we need (at the very least) the sustainability of the planet in order to survive and produce that robust economy. Over the years I have written several letters to the government and local newspapers on various environmental and other pressing concerns. They were usually answered with a blanket response that did little to comfort or change things in the long or even short run.

Times have been tough lately and I can certainly relate to the putting of the economy at the top of the list, however, I think it should come hand in hand with a positive regard to the environment. I believe that it is because of our negligence in the proper custodianship of the earth that we are now heavy contributors to the accelerated extinctions and more frequently experienced climatic imbalances.

On the positive side, it is heartening that so many individuals are becoming aware and wanting to do their part, myself included. Personally while trying to overcome an economic drought due to a natural disaster and corporate downsizing which affected my husband, plus a domino of other negative circumstances, I continue to try and apply myself not only to concerns of the natural world, but also our financial situation, honing my skills within the digital world. I hope all will serve not only our personal needs to heal and find a good balance, but for others and the world, the natural world as well. In other words, the Whole of the Earth and its inhabitants.

As written before, in so many words… we are each like a droplet of water; our part may seem small, but if we put our hearts and minds together, we can gain hope and take action to create a puddle, a stream, a river of ideas that can flow into an ocean of possibilities to push forward a positive future for one and all.

May it be so!

If you wish, you may hop, skip and jump over to Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/janet.lovellsimons/ where I have been playing for a number of years now, adding and deleting pages as ideas come and go, for you know, “You may say A.D.D., but I say I grow like a Tree, and we need more Trees in the World!”