V I N M A N' s V I B e

Photo, Vince Kern -- Copyright 2008 -- All Rights Reserved. ---------- At the Cave' du Vinman and SheRock during a monster storm last winter.

REALITY-CHECK VIBE (Pinckney, MI) — What me complain? Come on now, admit it, some of you are going out today and not diggin’ the humidity. Well, I’ll admit it if you won’t

On the way out to check out the flowers, toss negative karma toward the moles that insist on inhabiting my lawn and to check the progress of my year-old tree named John, I bitched about the humidity. Not a loud or cursive bitch, just a meek “agh.”

“But really”, I immediately chastised myself, “what have you got to complain about, dude? A little humidity?”

“Man up!” I told myself. “It could be January.”

When I returned to our air-conditioned cave and began sorting my photos from our recent trip to Osage, MN, I found this little creative photo I took last year in the midst of some really unwelcome weather.

Back to reality folks.

Wherever you’re at today, don’t complain about the weather. Make a conscious effort to roll with it and enjoy it. Then expand that effort to all the other ankle-biting stuff around you. If you have to deal with the big stuff, you’ll have more energy.

You might just feel blessed in these tough times if you do this.

Just sayin’. (Don’t know why, just led to.)

And that’s the reality-check Vibe for today.

(Stay tuned for some more updates of recent thoughts and adventures. Vibes have been a-brewin’.)

All rights reserved -- Vince Kern -- Copyright 2009

The blessings of Detroit Tiger baseball on a late-May afternoon in perfect sunshine and 85-degree perfection.

Does anything else really need to be said?

– 30 –

Everything is getting a shower today; the lilac tree, flowers and grass, bird houses and driveways drip nutritious drops of H2O.

Light showers of rain are splashing on deck puddles like a million water bugs on a lake-top. It’s not a constant shower, it rains heavier for a bit, quiets the birds then lightens up to tease them into venturing forth for food again. But after a few highs and lows, my feathered friends have measured its pace and are only slightly quieted by an increase in the shower’s intensity.

One of these days,
I’m gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I’ve known
And I’m gonna try
And thank them all
for the good times together.
Though so apart we’ve grown.

The gutters spill onto an aluminum awning outside my window with a waterfall cadence and sound. The cats sleep, lulled by the natural music as I am. They do what they do, as do I, because our souls beckon sleep and writing alike.

Yesterday, I exchanged pleasantries and hopes for “a good weekend of weather” with numerous colleagues on elevators and as we passed in hallways. We smile at each other for encouragement and hope together in these difficult times — surely sunshine, warmth and blue skies are the preferred combination in the atmospheric concoction abrewin’ . For an instant, tasks to be completed in the golden sunshine slotted themselves in our heads in perfect order to be retrieved later.

Instead, we are blessed with spring showers to slow us down, to make us listen and to help us look inward while nature orchestrates sounds so perfect musicians strive to echo them. We might have gotten the stormy brew that’s passed north of us for now, but we got what we needed.

I am alone, left to write for awhile. It is my way of harmonizing with the vibe as we all orbit the sun together at 18.5 miles per second. We travel in locations that differ in climate, topography and relative distance. But viewed from across the galaxy, we are near to each other than our human perception of molecules in a rain drop.

From down in L.A.
All the way to Nashville,
From New York City
To my Canadian prairie home
My friends are scattered
Like leaves from an old maple.
Some are weak, some are strong.

Last week, my 81-year old father and I were sitting in his home office discussing current and personal events alike. 

“I’ve always said what this generation needed is a good depression to make people realize what’s really important.” he said. And then he told me about how his family had so much love with so little money. And, once again, he was right.

And I’m gonna thank,
That old country fiddler
And all those rough boys
Who play that rock ‘n’ roll
I never tried to burn any bridges
Though I know I let some good things go.

So much of what we “have” is only in ourselves and others. So much of what is really important gets lost too easily in the daily struggle to survive our human conditions whatever they may be. Facebook and other social networking technologies have given my generation a new way to reconnect and learn how each other is doing on a deeper level that we had in the past. And, in turn, we receonnect with our childhood muses, our formative friends’ muses and channel joy and creativity we might have otherwise hurdled in the high-jump of activity.

We are so much alike that we can connect in a community and encourage, learn and share together in a relative instant and it’s a new muscle working the strength of our spirits. Friends, relatives, causes all need support and we can provide it for each other.

So on it goes, this Saturday VIBe. The afternoon arrives, someone somewhere comforts somebody and another changes a diaper. On we move, together around the Sun. Another hour, another 66,000 miles through space and the miracle of loving each other. And Neil Young’s lyrics and music run through my head as my soul alights.

That’s all I know  — or need to — right now. Except that, one of these days………

– 30 –

(C) Photo copyright by Vincent J. Kern -- 2008 -- All rights reserved.

 A hundred feet out in Big Bay of Lake Superior and it’s shallow enough to still stand on the bottom, in water up to my neck. There are no clouds, no boats, no airplanes and no real worries at all.

And especially, no more spoony thoughts of the 2008 Detroit Tigers’ chance to make the playoffs.

Long having attained relaxation here this week, I have finally shed the last visage of stress in my life this morning: caring about the Tigers’ fate this year. Stayed up until midnight to watch extra innings in a game that should have already been won (again) and went to bed to avoid watching (again) a walk-off winning home run in the bottom of the 14th inning after the Tigers had gone ahead.

But enough about that.

Standing in Lake Superior with eye-level, crystal clear fresh water is as good as it gets. There is no other treatment for a body and soul that is as refreshing. None, I challenge you!

The temperature of the water is such that your inner-core cools to a perfect refreshing chill. It’s as if any stress toxins are simply sought out and politely escorted out by the water.

The clarity of vision one has in this water is near perfect. One can look down in the neck-high water and count the number of small hairs on one’s leg (if one were so inclined to do so). Or better yet, swim under the cool drink and open your eyes to spy the sandy bottom in clear sight all around.

On a perfect August beach day, the outside temperature is about 80-something, no humidity, a bit of a breeze, and the sun is extremely direct. A bit of frolicking on the beach is the perfect preparation for a baptismal, cooling dip.

The cleansing chill and ultimate refreshment lasts through the day. Even a bit of your favorite warming beverage cannot dissolve the theraputic, soul-clensing action of Lake Superior.

It’s as good as it gets.

I think I’ll call Jim Leyland and invite him up for a dip – I bet he could use a little better “good as it gets” these days.

– 30 –

It an unbelievable first full day at Squaw Beach Camp.

Named “Knot 4 Nuttin,” our small cottage is looking out on the best beach day one could hope for. Low 80’s, not a cloud in the sky and a breeze that is more soothing than blowing.

More folks here than we expected, but they are warm lovely people we have not seen in some time. There’s solitude for the taking, beach time if one wants and plenty of distant boat activity to watch if needed for entertainment.

So instead of writing, I’ll just post a few early photos taken as stills from my video camera as we forgot the battery charger (lithium) for our small camera: