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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Posted on September 1, 2025
in Mindfulness and Travealing, Nonverbal Activities, Travel
2 Comments

This is my last post about Lewis and Clarke’s expedition toward the western coast. Following them to some of the towns and sites that the captains had discovered made me feel grounded in my adopted country, made the land real for me. To continue, on September 23, 1806, the Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis. An excerpt from Lewis’s letter to President Jefferson reads: “Sir, it is with pleasure that I announce to you the safe arrival of myself and party with our papers and baggage. No accident has deprived us of a single member of our party since I last wrote you from the Mandan in April 1804.” In his reply the President wrote: “I received, my dear Sir, with unspeakable joy your letter of September 23 announcing the return...

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Thursday, August 28, 2025

Posted on August 27, 2025
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Travel
4 Comments

Nature is imbued with numen (spirit). Rudolf Otto, the German phenomenologist of religions, qualified the numinous (spiritual) as being mysterium, fascinans et tremendum. In other words: mysterious, awe-inspiring, and filled with terror. He used the Latin phrase, Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans to describe the dual nature of the experience of the Holy or the Sacred. It encompasses both a terrifying and awe-inspiring aspect (tremendum) and a fascinating/alluring aspect (fascinans). He argued that this profound emotional experience was at the heart of the world religions. I have experienced this in nature which I regard as Sacred. I would like to share with you two such experiences, the first being fascinating and the second terror inspiring. #1 Awe Inspiring and AlluringOur stay at Denali National Park in Alaska remained covered with mist and clouds. The guide had promised an unforgettable view of the...

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Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Posted on August 25, 2025
in #Story Telling, Travel, Writing
2 Comments

Lewis and Clark Exploration (The Corps of Discovery) shifted into settlements when fur traders and explorers moved westward within a few years after the captions and their crew returned home. Within 30 years (1830s-1840’s) began large scale settlements by ordinary families. That’s from where small American towns west of Mississippi trace their origin. Such historic towns, nestled in beautiful landscapes, reflect the persona of the American people – down to earth and friendly, proud of who they are and where they live.  Before taking the Corps of Discovery voyage, we had visited cosmopolitan cities in the United States – New York, Washington, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles – and capital cities of the world – Cape Town, Beijing, Tokyo, New Delhi, London, Paris, Rome and Lhasa. We had gazed at great monuments and sailed long rivers....

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Thursday, August 21, 2025

Posted on August 20, 2025
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Imagination, Travel
4 Comments

While traveling through the Canadian Rockies one of our stops was the Jasper Park Lodge in Fairmont. Our cabin was situated facing Lac Beauvert (pronounced: Lack Buh-vair), “beautiful green lake.” By this time we had seen, smelled, touched, and listened to so much natural beauty that we were emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed and squeezed of stamina. But through our cabin window a mesmerizing view magnetized. We decided to walk the trail that circled the lake. We must have walked for ten to fifteen minutes when the view stopped me in my tracks. My heartbeats fastened. The surface of the crystal-clear turquoise water was shimmering silver; tiny shiny waves waltzing over large pebble shaped stones.  The reflections of the mountain range—greenish at some places, bluish at others (as if joining the earth below and sky above)—gave...

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Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Posted on August 18, 2025
in Spirituality, Travel
8 Comments

Lewis and Clark Trail (1804-1806) Lewis and Clark Journey Continues . . . Having left the east coast on May 14, 1804, Lewis and Clark glided into the northern side of the mouth of the Columbia River in dugout canoes in early November 1805. With starved looks, tattered clothes rotting on their bodies, and disheveled hair, they neither had the energy nor wherewithal to moor. Clark named the spot Dismal Nitch. Dismal Nitch A group of local Indians arrived in elegantly carved and painted canoes, communicating with a few words of English they had learned from fur traders. The captains Lewis and Clark had intended to meet the last trading ship of the season on the Pacific to obtain badly needed supplies and send back journals and specimens of plants and...

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Thursday, August 14, 2025

Posted on August 13, 2025
in Being in Nature, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel
2 Comments

Having left the east coast on May 14, 1804, Lewis and Clark glided into the northern side of the mouth of the Columbia River in dugout canoes in early November 1805. With starved looks, tattered clothes rotting on their bodies, and disheveled hair, they neither had the energy nor wherewithal to moor. Clark named the spot Dismal Nitch. A group of local Indians arrived in elegantly carved and painted canoes, communicating with a few words of English they had learned from fur traders. The captains Lewis and Clark had intended to meet the last trading ship of the season on the Pacific to obtain badly needed supplies and send back journals and specimens of plants and animals to President Jefferson. But a severe winter storm prevented this. This is “the most...

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Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Posted on August 11, 2025
in Being in Nature, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel, Well Being
2 Comments

While trekking in Sedona, my fleeting thoughts subsided amidst the fiery, awesome, sacred red rock mountains. That other worldly breathtaking natural beauty seemed to have sacred power and spiritual significance. I breathed in the sage-scented mesas and walked on orange-dusted pathways. The sun scorched my skin and frequently made me close my eyes. My deeper Self awakened to coalesce with the Universe. The magnificent Cathedral and Bell Rocks mesmerized… thecliffs, mesas, and fringes of juniper forests set against searing blue sky was singularly impressive. Taking our fill we continued our journey toward Grand Canyon, arriving at our cottage late at night. Next morning we rose early and realized that the cottage was only a few hundred feet from the view of the Grand Canyon. Hot cups of coffee warmed our hands as we took satisfying...

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Thursday, August 7, 2025

Posted on August 6, 2025
in Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Travel
2 Comments

Tracking back a little. From the Portland airport we took a cab to Red Lion Hotel on Jantzen Beach in Hayden Island, Oregon. The eastern sky threatened with thunderclouds, pouring down with vengeance, while the western sky welcomed us with dazzling sunlight.  Our hotel balcony overlooked the Columbia River, partly hidden behind pine trees. Was it the same river upon which sailed Louis and Clark with their crew? I couldn’t believe my fortune! The next morning I saw our boat, “American Harmony,” docked right next to the pines! Under the early morning sunlight the air was fresh. We walked on a trail that ran parallel to the river. Cumulus clouds announced themselves against the bright blue sky with such confidence that I straightened my shoulders. The riverside of the trail was studded...

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Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Posted on August 4, 2025
in Journaling, Nonverbal Activities, Oral Stories, Reading, Travel
4 Comments

For Month 8 “Mindfulness and Travel, I’ll share the story of how the country to which I arrived as an immigrant in 1974 became my home. A trip with my husband tracing the last leg of Lewis and Clark’s Expedition from the east to the west coast was an adventure of a lifetime for both of us, especially for me.  After reading two hefty volumes, Undaunted Courage and Journals of Lewis and Clark I was “called” to go on the same journey. My husband and I took a flight from Pittsburgh, PA to Portland, Oregon. From there we embarked on a boat that carried us upon the waters of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The third American President, Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) had envisioned an expedition that would boldly navigate the heart and the west of the country,...

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Thursday, July 31, 2025

Posted on July 30, 2025
in Spirituality, Walking
4 Comments

For Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer-prize winning American poet, “the door to the woods (was) the door to the temple.”  Walking in the woods helps us understand ourselves and improve our lives in ways you didn’t yet know we could. A moment on our mindful walk may turn into a portal to a creative activity, an insight or an intuitive idea. We just need to pay attention to things you normally may ignore or think that they are not of our interest. Original ideas flow in when our body is busy moving and we are quiet. We may get lost in thought. When that happens, as you now know, bring your attention back to your breath and ask why, how, what, and when about the days at this stage of your life....

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