Walking Cove Island Park. 1407 Days & Counting. Like in a Row.

Posted on by Live & Learn

Yesterday was 1,407 consecutive (almost) mornings on this daybreak walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a Row.

So what’s significant about that?

Two events.

The first, Cara Denison, a Cove Island Park morning runner, took that shot of me yesterday as I was walking out on low tide. She shared this photo and others here and here. I dislike (put mildly) selfies and self-portraits, but this magnificent shot moved me —  just LOOK at the beauty of the ground that I walk.

The second event was Lori sharing a passage (see below) from the dailyood.org titled “A Spiritually Literate Photographer” by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. This is an excerpt from their book: Spiritual Literature: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life.  The words speak for themselves and also touched me at my core. Thank you Lori for sharing.

Finally, as I sit here this morning preparing for my daybreak walk, making it 1,408 consecutive (almost) mornings, like in a row, I am flooded with gratitude for all of you that join me on my morning walks and musings, and so grateful for those of you who have become a part of this wonderful virtual community that I can’t live without —  it’s been 13 years here on this Page and we ain’t done yet.

Thank you, and Read on…

“A Spiritually Literate Photographer” by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat:

In the 1995 film Smoke, Auggie Wren manages a cigar store on the corner of Third Street and Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn. Every morning at exactly eight o’clock, no matter what the weather, he takes a picture of the store from across the street. He has four thousand consecutive daily photographs of his corner all labeled by date and mounted in albums. He calls this project his “life’s work.”

One day Auggie shows the photos to Paul, a blocked writer who is mourning the death of his wife, a victim of random street violence. Paul doesn’t know what to say about the photos; he admits he has never seen anything like them. Flipping page after page of the albums, he observes with some amazement, “They’re all the same.” Auggie watches him, then replies: “You’ll never get it if you don’t slow down, my friend.”

The pictures are all of the same spot, Auggie points out, “but each one is different from every other one.” The differences are in the details: in the way people’s clothes change according to season and weather, in the way the light hits the street. Some days the corner is almost empty; other times it is filled with people, bikes, cars, and trucks. “It’s just one little part of the world but things take place there too just like everywhere else,” Auggie explains. And sure enough, when Paul looks carefully at the by now remarkably unique photographs, he notices a detail in one of them that makes all the difference in the world to him.

We see Auggie as a model of a spiritually literate person. He reads the world – in his case, one corner of Brooklyn – for meaning. By its very nature, his project is rooted in the everyday. He knows how closely we may need to see the significance of seemingly ordinary and insignificant events. He understands that some of the most rewarding spiritual journeys are those we take on our own block.

As Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu puts it, “One has to be in the same place every day, watch the dawn from the same house, hear the same birds awake each morning, to realize how inexhaustibly rich and different is sameness.” That is the challenge of everyday spirituality – no star bursts, no skies opening, no mountaintop experiences. Just today and today and today. Just Auggie standing at the corner with his camera every morning.

35 thoughts on “Walking Cove Island Park. 1407 Days & Counting. Like in a Row.”

  2. love the rare capture of the elusive dk, and I also love the feel of slowing down and noticing the subtle changes in a place over time, just as happens with us as time goes by

  3. Cara, you’re a God sent messenger 🙂

    Lori, thank you for fanning his flame!

    dk, so glad you’re not done yet. There would be a massive hole in the universe the shape of you otherwise.

  4. Tears here (which should be as I’m not supposed to do anything to my eye(s) other than putting drops in them). Two beautiful contributions to a poet’s written thoughts; you who gives us more than we thought possible. Thank you, Dave (and all the kind followers of your blog).

  5. Love this photo, pal, and so glad that Cara captured you in your morning perambulation. It’s important for you to be recorded in this space, too. And I am so happy that the passage spoke to you as it did to me. The joy and miraculous essence of the quotidian…the older I get, the more it delights. Walk on, DK. We are all enjoying this journey of living and learning with you….

  6. Wonderful photo. Her account is private so if there are more, we can’t see ’em.

    Wonderful link from Lori, too!

  9. Thanks to Cara, Lori, and you, this beautiful morning. This moved me.

    I have a question for you, David, if you’d like to share: what has been your personal motivation to get out and photograph the Cove Island Park, every morning (all 1407, almost consecutive mornings)?
    + does this virtual community add to the motivation?

    1. Hi Laila. I had to noodle your questions a bit. It started at the onset of COVID where I found myself sitting at home, behind a desk for 10-12 hours a day. Lot’s of health implications with that. Then once the discipline started, I found that when I missed days (and saw Photos from Cara and others on those days) I felt that being out with nature rather than in bed was a much better trade-off. The ability to spend an hour outside and off-grid (mostly) was a very calming influence. And finally, there’s no doubt that the ability to share photos with others on Social Media is as stimulant. (There certainly isn’t any money in this effort!). Thanks for asking Laila. Hope this helps. Dave

  12. This is so beautiful dear David,… we all have a camera and taking some photographs, exactly hit me and impressed me what you wrote and shared. You inspired me, see you in my blog. I want to share everything in there too. Thank you dear David, as always you make me a rich in this humble world, Love and have a nice day, nia

  13. enjoyed every single one of your postings. Keep on.

    Hang up your “spurs” and come to Florida

  14. enjoyed every single one of your posts DR. Keep on!

    Hang up your “spurs” and come to Florida

  15. Wow and wow ! As if the time stopped in both the stories you shared . What a beautiful reminder looking for extraordinary in every ordinary aspect of life . And there always is and we keep
    looking somewhere else . Thank you for sharing again . ❤️

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