my name is BERNARD, and i'm a fotograffer. It all started in 1959 when i was given a BROWNIE 127 for passing the 11+ EXAM. As a teenager i created some SALVADOR DALI fotos with the help of my little brother, ROBIN. i have always taken a few fotos...but with these new fangled digital cameras, it has become just too easy to take two, three or even 400 shots in a day. But then there is all this blogging to do into the night or when waking in the early hours i immediately think of night fotos with longish exposures. A friend suggested PHOTOGRAPHERS ANONYMOUS may be of some help...i DON'T KNOW....Anyway these fotos of a recent walk thru "my" RADIPOLE LAKE RESERVE thankfully did not stretch into an all-night session as my MEMORY CARD unexpectedly ran dry. MANY THANX FOR LISTENING AND LOOKING. IT FELT GOOD GETTING EVERYTHING OUT ONTO THIS BLOG. GASSHO bernard hemensley @ GOLDEN GOJI HERMITAGE : MARCH 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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golden goji hermitage

24 / march / 2015

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Once upon a time, there lived a young monk. He was so selfish and stingy, that he was discontented that the smoke from his incense sticks to his Buddha on the altar during his devotions drifted everywhere in the breeze in the temple. So, can you guess what he did? He looked for a hollow baboo stick, that would funnel the smoky fragrance to his Buddha alone! Directly to the statue's nose! A senior monk, concerned with the smooth-running and harmony of the temple, noticed these actions of the young monk and explained the error and misunderstanding of his practice...that one should not be selfish. One should not be greedy. One should not be stingy...etc. etc. In fact, that the young monk's actions were not in the spirit of what Shakyamuni Buddha originally conceived and taught since his first sermon on Vulture Peak. The admonishment was given in a gentle and kindly manner, so the young monk dismantled the hollow bamboo....only to find that his actions had caused the Buddha to now be ugly with a sooty, black nose! Thus, did the young monk learn. GASSHO. May all beings be free from suffering and grow in love and harmony. AMEN.

 

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GOLDEN GOJI HERMITAGE

4 / MARCH /2015

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A BEACH REPORT from WEYMOUTH for Kris H.

This morning, i set-out, with the intention of going to Dorchester. However, whilst waiting for the #10 Bus, opposite Morrisons Supermarket, i noticed that some bus information at the stop was reading - "Collision at Bincombe : there will be delays on the road between Weymouth and Dorchester." So, i recrossed road and only waited a couple of minutes, for a #2 Bus into town and the seafront. i walked on beach to the waterline and regarded the blue and blue of it all.

Within a short time i was sitting at a table on the beach-side with Tuborg Lager and salted crisps and peanuts. Table Service. Sitting in the sun with unimpeded view of the sands and waters of Weymouth Bay... with two tankers and the white cliffs beyond...and with a stream of soap-bubbles being chased by two children in the care of their mother, nearby. Then it was football, while i sipped my lager.

 

It's the half-term school holidays...with many young families, walking and playing all along the flat, curving sands...and dogs running free or on leads.

 

Aluminium tables and chairs glint around me in the sunlight. The blue sky untroubled by clouds. It looks set to last like this all day.

Plastic spades and buckets the mainstay of play today. It's as good as summer to my eye. Well, an early Spring...it is only mid-February. We are truly God's chosen ones, today, to be blessed with such a day. So pleasant to be sitting here on the decked area of the beach kiosk, that i go for another bottle of Tuborg. It is not yet mid-day.

 

Facing the sea, to my left, far away, is the spire of St.John's Church. And the Pavilion and the masts of a rigger, moored in the Harbour, can be seen to my right. Just behind me is a woman, my attention drawn by her regular, bronchitic coughing. She reads and sips her cappuccino, which the waiter spilled, filling the saucer, when the table tilted, as he put it on the table. The woman was relaxed and unconcerned. For a while, i was sure the waiter was gonna go and get a replacement, as he hesitated for a long time.

 

The patio, now blossoming with customers and coffees. Some 25 people sitting out here at this little kiosk area on the beach. When I came, there were but 5 of us, and then 2 left, before it got busier.

 

Yellow anorak. Orange anorak. Green anorak. Pink jeans amongst countless blue denim jeans. Sun-glasses and sea-gulls. And the blue sky...the blue sea...and the blue and blue of it all. And i cannot hear the noise of traffic, if any, nearby.

 

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Golden GOJI Hermitage

17 february 2015

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MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. 2 A.M. SCURRYING THOUGHTS SETTLE. BIG SKY MIND. MIDDLE OF WINTER. KETTLE BOILS. SOYA MILK WARMS. CHICORY DRINK. WATER BOTTLE. DREAMING SHANGRI-LA. DON'T SEEK IT OUTSIDE OF SELF SAYS BUDDHA. i GET THE MESSAGE! i KNOW THIS. i KNOW THIS? STAIRWAY TO BED AND HEAVEN. i TURN THE RADIO ON. SOUNDS LIKE THE BANGLES OR SHERYL CROW..."A CHANGE IS GONNA COME"...i'M LISTENING. i'M LISTENING. BE A LAMP UNTO YOURSELF...."A CHANGE IS GONNA COME"....BE A LAMP UNTO YOURSELF....

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golden goji hermitage

14/february/2015

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NADO AND THE GLOVES : A SHORT STORY WITH FOTOS

ONCE-UPON-A-TIME, THERE WERE THREE PAIRS OF GLOVES...GARDENING GLOVES.
ALTHO THE GARDEN WAS STILL HELD IN WINTER'S GRIP,IT WAS A MILD GRIP... IT WAS NOT WINTERY-COLD DOWN-SOUTH, AND NADO HAD SET-TO WITH A PURPOSE, OUT BACK, WITH SECATEURS AND BOW-SAW, FOR ODD DAYS TOWARDS THE END OF JANUARY, MAKING-DO WITH HIS LATE FATHER'S GLOVES, AS PROTECTION FROM THORN, BRAMBLE AND NETTLE...THERE WAS MUCH WORK TO BE DONE...

...UNFORTUNATELY, AND INCREASINGLY SO, THE GLOVES WERE OF LITTLE PROTECTION. HOLES ABOUNDED AND THE CHAMOIS LEATHER HAD HARDENED AND WAS INFLEXIBLE. HIS FINGERS BORE MANY CUTS AND PRICKS THAT STUNG FOR QUITE A WHILE. AND BESIDES, THEY WERE TOO BIG! SO, NADO TRIED-ON HIS LATE MOTHER'S GLOVES...

...BUT PRETTY AS THEY WERE, THEY WERE TOO SMALL!! [DEAR READER, THIS SOUNDS SO MUCH LIKE THE "PATTERN" OF GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS...APOLOGIES! BUT I WILL CONTINUE...]...SO, NADO TRIED ANOTHER PAIR OF HIS MOTHER'S GARDENING GLOVES...

...BUT THEY WERE UNCOMFORTABLY SOFT, AND DID NOT FEEL AT ALL RIGHT FOR THE GARDEN JOBS IN-HAND!!!

SO,ON THE THRESHOLD OF OPENING HIS ACCOUNT FOR HIS SIXTY-EIGHTH YEAR, NADO CAUGHT A BUS, THE NUMBER THREE, INTO TOWN, FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT DAY, TO BUY HIMSELF HIS OWN PAIR OF GARDENING GLOVES!

NADO HAD NEVER HAD HIS OWN PAIR BEFORE! DESPITE HIS ADVANCED YEARS, HE WAS VERY EXCITED! NOW, MAYBE HE COULD BELIEVE THAT HE WAS GONNA BE A REAL GARDENER....MORE MONTY DON THAN GERTRUDE JEKYLL, ADMITTED!

HE ALREADY K(N)EW THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO GROW HEIRLOOM AND PERRENIAL PLANTS AND VEGETABLES...SOMETHING SUSTAINABLE... MAYBE,EVEN SOME LONGED-FOR GOLDEN GOJI BERRY BUSHES!



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golden goji hermitage

31/january/2015

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EARLY IN THE MORNING : JUST ABOUT THE BREAK OF DAY : 2 poems

 [1]
hard frost
&
 frozen pond

  daffodils slow to open
 the sky
ice-blue 
as summer's levis
[23/JAN/2015]

 

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[2]

 bold nu buds

&

 naked limbs 

rife around garden

who cares

that it's not-yet spring?

 not the

 young woman

on high-high heels

late-night shopping

one christmas

 St.Mary Street

 "T" shirt

falling off

her shoulders

nor i

[24/JAN/2015]

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golden goji hermitage

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