In My Life

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Riley Boy

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

On July 27, 1953, a ceasefire was reached to halt the Korean War/Conflict and establish a demilitarized zone. However, no peace treaty has ever been signed, technically leaving North and South Korea at war.

In honor of all veterans of the Korean War, I will break the silence of Wordless Wednesday and express my thanks for their service to our country. A special thanks from a proud and grateful daughter to my Dad for his service.

These photographs feature the Korean War Memorial located at Lake Pacawa Park outside of Plover, WI.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Jeff.

With Love From Your Biggest Fan,

Mom

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Travels With Iris

One of the joys in my life is biking. What started out as an alternative to walking seems to have taken on a life of its own. Our first bikes were Schwinn comfort bike - comfy seat, sitting upright - the perfect bike for a couple of then forty-year-olds rediscovering biking. The kind of bike you could just jump on and head off down the street. After a few months spent riding around the neighborhood, Al and I progressed to tackling one of our area's 'gems', the Green Circle Trail. A twenty-seven mile route that encompasses not only city streets and neighborhoods but paths through pine and hardwood forests as well as views of the Little Plover River and the Wisconsin River. While I would have been happy continuing to put miles on my Schwinn, Al began to look at mountain bikes, something more suited to off road biking. The purchase of the mountain bikes was the start of our relationships with the Trek dealers within a 100 mile radius.

Thanks to Bring's, Wheel and Sproket, Machinery Row and Trek Bicycle Store, not only do I have three bikes but just about every gadget and cycling apparel that allows me to ride in any kind of weather except snow (that is where I draw the line.) However, when I want to find my center, there is nothing better than hauling out the mountain bike, nicknamed Iris for the color of her paint, and biking half of the Green Circle. I can clear my mind of the clutter and where oftentimes the answer to those nagging family research questions seem to drop down from nowhere.

I wish everyone those green spaces in your life to help balance the beauty of the city with the beauty of what my grandmother use to call 'the out of doors.'

I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me. ~William Hazlitt

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. ~Helen Keller

The woods were made for the hunters of dreams,

The brooks for the fishers of song;

To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game

The streams and the woods belong.

~Sam Walter Foss

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~Albert Einstein

Nature is my medicine. ~Sara Moss-Wolfe

Photographs Copyright © 2009 by Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Thursday, June 18, 2009

From The Front Seat

One of my favorite Mary Engebreit cards says "Don't look back - you're not going that way."

While that may be true, sometimes the view from the front seat looking back reminds us of some of the little things in life that brings us joy.

Heading anywhere with Al on a Friday afternoon with the road bikes securely in place on the Cycle-On and the promise of a charity bike ride. It doesn't matter if there is SAG, and the rest stops may be nothing more than a couple of cookies and over ripe bananas. What is important is after two years of volunteer service to the Wisconsin Society Daughters of the American Revolution, I've handed over my committee duties to the next administration and with that comes a sense of pride in a job well done. But also a sigh of relief and knowing I can trade volunteer time for time spent clipped in and enjoying the ride.

Our first organized ride of 2009 happens to be the Lupine Fest in Mercer, WI. The weather was perfect - overcast with enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away - and the route spectacular as we rode through pine and boreal forests, past pristine lakes and blueberry bogs. To quote Lance Armstrong: It's Not About The Bike. But it doesn't hurt when someone comments, "I like your jersey." It was as if someone had welcomed me back into the cycling community. On this day my jersey happened to be my new favorite. It says simply:

Ride Like A Girl

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Celebration of Winter Solstice and the beauty of Maeshowe

Photo: http://www.maeshowe.co.uk

Quirky. In my younger years, "quirky" would describe my delight in the arrival of the shortest day of the year. No one actually celebrates the Winter Solstice. At least not in my recent memory. If you did, you were rather - quirky.

I could never quite understand why December 21st brought a sense of wonder. Being a lifelong resident of Wisconsin, it could have something to do with the fact that December 22nd brought with it one minute more of daylight. But the date always seemed to hold more of an inner rejoicing rather than having 60 seconds additional of daylight.

More likely than not, my celtic ancestors celebrated the arrival of the Winter Solstice with bonfires, bringing in of the greens and music and dancing to celebrate the arrival of the Oak King.

The Holly King and the Oak King were twin gods seen as one entity. Each of the gods rule for half of the year, fight for the favor of a goddess and dies. But the defeated twin is not truly dead but merely withdraws for six months. The belief of some was that the defeated twin retreated to Caer Arianrhod, the Castle of the ever-turning Silver Wheel - the Wheel of Stars. Caer Arianrhod, the Aurora Borealis, is the enchanted realm of the Godess Arianrhod, ruler of the astral skies where she rules as the goddess of reincarnation.

The Oak King, who is the light twin, rules from midwinter to midsummer. The Holly King, the dark twin, rules from midsummer to midwinter.

For centuries we have marveled at the existence of stone circles and henges scattered around the world. The one that immediately comes to mind is Stonehenge located in southern England. June 21st finds Stonehenge invaded by druids and tourists waiting to catch a glimpse of the rising sun aligned perfected among the Bluestones. I had the opportunity to visit Stonehenge when visitors were able to walk among the stones. Dispite the carnival tourist atmosphere it is spectacular. But it is not the Summer Solstice nor Stonehenge but rather the Winter Solstice, the light twin, that my thoughts turn to in the far reaches off the coast of Scotland.

Maeshowe is a neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave located on the mainland of Orkney. Believed to have been constructed over 5,000 years ago it is also the largest of the many tombs located in Orkney. A grass mound hides the complex chambers and passages constructed of flagstones, some of which weigh upwards of 30 tons. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, the Vikings looted Maeshowe, probably taking with them many artifacts but left behind a series of runic inscriptions - basically graffiti - on the stone walls. As our guide pointed out, while Vikings from the north invaded Scotland, not all Norsemen were Vikings.

Viking runes aside, the amazing part of Maeshowe occurs on the shortest day of the year. On December 21st, the setting sun aligns directly over a neighboring stone, called the Barnhouse Stone. The passageway into Maeshowe is aligned so that for a few minutes the setting sun illuminates the passageway and the rear wall of the central chamber.

It is a feat that I cannot begin to fathom has having been constructed 5,000 years ago, before the construction of the Great Pyramids of Egypt, to celebrate the return of the light.

While I may be sitting in my family room in north central Wisconsin my thoughts are thousands of miles away. Thanks to technology I watch the web cam from Maeshowe. At 14:28 GMT the fading light has begun to illuminate the passageway and central chamber. I celebrate by placing a piece of oak on my yule fire.

Blessings of light and life.