A Lark

A few years back a piece in the Bloomberg News ran with this headline: "Northern States, Missouri and Massachusetts..." What? This Missouri native exploded. The writer and her editor apologized. I understood sort of and the editor said she had been working late that night. When did alliteration 'trump" accuracy? I was compelled to write the following essay as a reply. Yep, an old time schooling was called for...as the good, the biased, the historically tragic; all needed to be addressed. Did I spare the editor memories of seining for minnows in Eastern Missouri Femme Osage River? No. Or, the singular beauty of paddling the spring fed rivers of the Ozark Plateau, camping beneath a full moon on sand bars? No not at all. 

Return to this site tomorrow for the full essay. Thanks!

Dawn on St. Nicholas Day...and I forgot to put my shoes at the front door!  St. Nicholas was a Bishop in the 800s known throughout Europe for his generosity and love for little children. In the 1200s Catholics in France began celebrating Bishop Nicholas Day on December 6 and so the Feast of Sinterklaas spread far and wide. Our version, Santa Claus, embodies the spirit of St. Nicholas. His red suit an imitation of  the Bishops flowing red robes and likewise our Santa's long  curling white beard. How many other Christmas traditions do we have the Bishop to thank for our own Christmas traditions? Explore with me as we count down to Christmas!

 

STEPPING INTO THE FUTURE...So do I have the simple faith required to stay the course? Unknown, until the first step is taken.

Going out for a walk now, with this Shaker hymn repeating, echoing...the nature of faith? Faith of consciousness?

    "When true simplicity is gain'd, to bow and bend we shan't be ashamed. To turn, turn, will be our delight,

                Til by turning, turning, we come round right."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to, moreover I am inclined to say

I love you, yeah. Yeah everyone does say that

To their dog whom they do not remotely biblically know  I hope 

As I do you.

Eons pass.

Love like water over rock insists

Stone melts.

Lava welcomes waterfalls.

Yeah, loves wears you down.

The steady  drip drip of love

Mocks the tick tick of

Big time passing

Away away 

I am inclined to stay.

Rare Books

My rooms are edgeworn like the books lining the window sills,

Pages dogeared, some bindings cracking. I am never alone.

James Salter and Elizabeth Strout shift on their ledge,

Too close to George Saunders?

Lily King and Walter Mosley are getting on with Terese Marie Mailhot,

Sharing heart berries, not surprisingly. While Billy Collins doesn't care who he is propping up, in this case Proust.  Neither ever  met a stranger.

Some poets are like that...Sky Poets? Gary Snyder slips tenderly to the floor,

Zen-like open to an old favorite. As I turn the mind's compost over and over,

I am sorry to say, Emily has left with Virginia. Each seeking a room of their own. 

 

My Crow

My Crow in Prince Rupert mocks me

From the roofline of the Crest Hotel.

My aged driver, gives a toothless grin &

Tells me, “He has a lot to say to you.”

Yes, I said. Too caw bad I don’t know how to listen.

“Well, as the crows flies…you could be home soon.”

Yes, home. Riddled, ranting, but known, home, as the derivative crow flies…

 

 

 

 

 

What tune do you dance to? Or better yet, who's tune?

While my inner "poor girl" cries crocodile tears, "I" crocodile rock and that's the way "I" like it!  Or, is it? I met my inner crow in Port Rupert, B.C. 

An indigenous man introduced us...more to come.

 

It's still Mardi Gras--Fat Tuesday! 2021 Style.

The parades may not go on but check out Mardi Yard...people in New Orleans's Garden District turn their yards into "floats"--- that's the heart and soul of Let the Good Times Roll! Merci, Y'All! virtual Mardi Gras experiences

In these trying times, where do you go, inwardly, when you cannot sleep? One of my oases is this pool. Yours?

 

 

 

 

        

Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
January 13, 1872 – October 29, 1949

Any prayer may be heard by the Higher Powers
and a corresponding answer obtained only if uttered thrice:

Firstly—for the welfare or the peace of the souls of one's parents.

Secondly—for the welfare of one's neighbor.

And only thirdly—for oneself personally.

—Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

---

Dear Friend,

Today, January 13th, is considered to be Mr. Gurdjieff's birthday.

To commemorate this event, we invite you to view the new celebratory film honoring Mr. Gurdjieff. To view the film, click here.

Additionally, The Gurdjieff Ensemble is offering the Music of G. I. Gurdjieff available through YouTube Link: https://bit.ly/3i1Dbto, starting today at 10:00 am California Time (10:00 pm Yerevan Time UTC+04). This musical event was filmed at Karahunj prehistoric archeological site in Syunik province, in Armenia.

Sincerely,

The Gurdjieff Legacy Foundation

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Ocean Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge

For the record, orange is not the new blue. These images are from Wed., Sept., 9, 2020 at noon. I woke at 8 am to an orange sky and as the hours passed the sky grew darker. A neighbor of mine said she couldn't take the frightening scene. She closed her blinds and didn't open them until the next day. 

I found the science fascinating and tried to reassure my neighbor. It was a prismatic effect--as the atmosphere was choked with thick ash--a layer so thick that only the orange and red light waves could penetrate. And while many said we were on the planet Mars, our Northern California skies were more akin to those over Venus. And in the following days, as we coughed and wiped our stinging eyes, the air aloft began shifting to the East. The ocean breeze blew, the morning fog returned with a heavy drizzle. 

And the skies cleared...