being in the moment

As I briefly mentioned  in my  previous post in September 2023  this low key  littoral zone project, with its grounding in Japanese aesthetics, went into a hiatus in 2023.  The  basic understanding  that I had been working with up to that point was that  a central tenet of  Japanese aesthetics is the transience or impermanence of life with its sorrow for the loss of transient things. The relevant concept is  mono no aware.  

The close-up or macro picture of seaweed  is from the 2022 archives. It was made before  we got Maya, our standard poodle pup, who arrived  in February, 2023.  

After Maya came  the   hiatus in the littoral  zone  project took the form of  the  project  grounding to a halt.  I only  walked along the coastal rocks between Petrel Cove and  Kings Beach infrequently  for most of 2023. What I lost in this period was the ritual of daily walking the path across the rocks with its mediative processes that focuses on the presence of things, the moment of now.  

There were multiple reasons for staying away from the rocks along the  coast. It was probably a mixture of reasons --- such as Maya when she was a puppy, the rugged weather conditions (the frequent rain and strong coastal winds), and my concentrating on seascapes.  I realized that I wasn't  open to what was around me when I was walking -- I wasn't aware of of  the light of the sun and the forms and patterns  of the shadows that soften everything --- as  I was too busy keeping an eye on Maya  I missed the nuances of perception in the shadows which are not permanent.  

Mouth of the Inman River

My recent early morning walks with Kayla  have been on sand to gently strengthen my leg after the infection. I usually walk from Kent Reserve to the Granite causeway along Esplanade Beach, then back again along the footpath path.

 It's usually sunrise when I   cross the mouth of the Inman River near the caravan park:

I still need to avoid walking amongst  the coastal  rocks west of Petrel Cove because if I trip and fall  I may damage the  just healed  infected skin graft.  It is best to be overly cautious. Walking to Dep's Beach   or  to the rocks at the bottom of Kings Beach Rd are off limits. It is walking on the flat, hard sandy  surface of the beach for the moment to build up the muscle strength in my leg.