Spring flowers, autumn moon; summer breezes, winter snow:
With mind uncluttered, this is the finest season.
–Wumen Huikai
Intention: The purpose of this journal is, in part, to celebrate and share one attractive and nature-rich place on earth, its creation and continuation, its role in local history and in greater matters of ecology and society: settlement and habitation, war, peace, land-use planning, intentional hydrology and purposeful preservation.
Yet however “special” this pond and its hundred acre wood may seem to those who live or visit here, it is but one diagonal blue splash in a town almost half of whose area is somehow conserved (with interesting consequences for property taxes and social heterogeneity); one small tributary to a great and storied river. Nor are ponds scarce hereabouts: Beaver, more isolated and natural; Walden, more famous and swimmable; Flint’s, more broad and potable, to name a few.
All natural scientists, most social scientists and a few political leaders understand that a thing—any thing—can best be understood simultaneously as sum of parts, integral entity, and part of a greater whole. How one employs that understanding—for exploitation and profit, for the betterment of others and all, for private and collective enjoyment, for a deeper reflection of oneself and one’s own life and purposes—tends to determine how (and even what) one sees and appreciates.
So a second purpose of this record is to urge those who can to enjoy what is here, while perhaps encouraging readers afar more closely to engage the minute detail, grand sweep and personal presence of whatever place and environment they may inhabit. Most of the photographs were made with inexpensive (even shirt-pocket) cameras, as an expression of the primacy of presence and relationship over technology.
Because for those open to experience it, magic—imputed, imagined, implicate—everywhere abounds:
immanent, ever-present, waiting to be found, seen, made.
Copyright on all material here, unless already in the public domain or otherwise specified, remains with authors. If you wish to refer to text or pictures here, please do so by linking to the appropriate article or page. For quotes or images, reprint permission will generally be available to any who ask. Commercial use in any form requires prior permission.
Locations: Most photographs were taken near the spot indicated on the favicon.
For best viewing: The editor of a web page has limited control over how it will appear on any particular display. This site has about 200 code edits to optimize attributes like color, size and position of various text types, images and other elements—but your web browser can override these. Our design should give reasonable results in most cases. If not, feel free to contact admin. Meanwhile, here are suggestions for two readability concerns, text clarity and picture size:
WordPress blogware asks your browser to use common serif and sans-serif typefaces and sizes. It even suggests substitutes in case your computer doesn’t have those fonts installed. You can probably alter the appearance of text through your browser’s Tools>Options>General Settings menu; changes made there will affect other pages. You can change the size of type and images on just this site by simultaneously pressing Control and + or – keys (Windows) or Command and +/- (Mac OS). If images overlap sidebars, widening your browser window to full-screen may give a better fit.
Most images here are set to display at a width of 800 pixels. Many are available at larger size/higher resolution via a few mouse-clicks.
Impermanence: While nothing lasts forever, most of this content has been entered into Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Pages opened there may not display as intended, with images replaced by links. Opening (hence browser-caching) images by clicking links, then refreshing the page, may allow display as intended.
Feedback on any aspect of this site that might enhance reader experience is welcome.
Deepest appreciation to teachers: Winifred Milius Lubell, Joseph Moore Cadbury, Frances Hovey Ekstrom.
Contact: admin (at) fpond.org
Gerunding is intransitive:
To become wealthy, gather
To become wise, release
~ Lao Tzu 48
