Hot Springs - September 15, 2014

For Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... we look at Jane Riechhold's kigo Hot Springs ... and wouldn't it be wonderful to do more than just look!

Here are some examples given by Chèvrefeuille:

mineral baths
at night the many colors
in dreams

moonlight
around the hot springs
dried salt

soul bathing
in hot springs
desert stars

© Jane Reichhold

 

I love water ... my Japanese master would say because my water element is kyo since my fire element is jitsu (but perhaps I'll talk about kyo and jitsu in another post ;-) )  Water is the element of life from the oriental point of view.  Each person is born with a limited amount of water element and when it's gone we leave this world. But we can preserve our water element in many different ways and what better way than bathing in a hot spring!

When I was a youngster, my family went by car from Illinois to Alaska (where my "new" dad was posted) through Canada then along the ALCAN highway, in the fall of 1966.  It's one of those bright memories in an otherwise dark period of my life.  When we reached the ALCAN we went to Liard Hotsprings.  A beautiful Provincial Park with wooden walkway through the woods that leads the trekker to the bathes.  This video reminded me a lot of that walk I took some 40 years ago.  Now, the bathing area has been refurburshed I'm told and I've seen the photos... they have metal railing now instead of wood ones, which might be  sturdier ... but when the temps go down to minus 50 C, I wouldn't want to touch them with wet hands! 

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mystic walkway
through the Canadian woods
Liard Hotsprings

warm memories
dreaming of rugged moutains
living water in the woods

fire, water and ice
bathing in the hotsprings
in the dead of winter

golden leaves tumble
warm water soothes the soul
troubles drift away

For Petriolo a hot spring in Italy

under the fall moon
sipping wine in the hotsprings
soft whispering leaves

lovers hold hands
under the autumn moonlight
in the hotspring pool

© G.s.k. '14