november's parting

she comes

then takes her leave

like a feather
on the breeze




"It’s a moment that I’m after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment."  ~Andrew Wyeth

*This image was created by cropping a photo i took of Andrew Wyeth’s painting, Airborne. It was a pleasure to view the painting at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville Arkansas while there on a trip with close friends. The museum and quaint town of Bentonville are well worth a visit.

november's nuance

overcast 
the day was

and

still as a
winter moon

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."        
                                              -   Andrew Wyeth

I concur with Wyeth. Nothing stirs my heart as much as being out on a misty November day and absorbing all i can of her delicate nuances. 

the relationship (light and shadow)

the day's last rays
came streaming through
the bedroom window

leaving shadows
in their wake



*Take comfort in this: there can be light without shadows but ne'er a shadow without light.  ~tw

so what? about a pigeon

tell me please,
the first word to come to your mind
when i say
"pigeon"?

common
dirty
pest?

homing
grey
nest?

new york, new york?


Reviewing some photos this week, i took special note of this one.  I remember taking it in downtown Topeka. I admired the softness of the flying pigeon's landing and the curve of the sitting pigeon's neck.

I realized i know next to nothing about pigeons.

I have a friend though, a life time learner....J. A.  She is my example for staying engaged in studying and learning about everything. She particularly loves history, politics, and art.  But, i would bet she knows something interesting about pigeons too.  Taking a minute to say thank you J. A. for all you teach me by your continual thirst for knowledge and understanding.

I've done a short bit of reading about pigeons this morning and will share two facts I found interesting:

~~ Pigeons can pass the 'mirror test' (being able to recognize themselves in a mirror) and are one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal that has this ability.  A pigeon can also recognize all 26 letters of the English language and is able to conceptualize.

~Pigeons can fly at altitudes up to and beyond 6000 feet. The fastest recorded speed for a pigeon is 92.5 mph. (A gift that saved thousands of lives in WW1).

So, i say again: "WHAT ABOUT A PIGEON!"

"You can teach a student a lesson for a day, but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process for as long as he lives."  ~Clay Bedford

cure

why alone?
they asked

and Maine in
winter?

because i can
i thought

and
because
i must

a holy longing
a  “calling”
if you will

and those weeks
away
along the bays, lakes 
and mountains

healed me

“Silence was the cure, if only temporarily, silence and geography. But of what was I being cured? I do not know, have never known. I only know the cure. Silence, and no connections except to landscape."         - Mary Cantwell

"Be still and know that I am God."  ~Psalm 46:10

*Note: It was a year ago that i did my solo trip to Maine so i find myself reminiscing. It was not only the rocky cliffs, shimmering lakes, and the endless ocean that met me there. It was also a community of welcoming, interesting and loving people. Thanks to any of you reading this from MDI and Southwest Harbor. 

mirror image

i see her looking in the

mirror

tucking in a piece of 

hair

and evaluating

a sad tragedy 

that comparing found it’s way 

into the world

reflections make 

or break our day

(starting at such 

young ages)

images from the mall

imbedded deep

make it hard to teach truth 

to the little

girls

Taking joy in living is a woman's best cosmetic.  ~Rosalind Russell

Along with these thoughts came the memory of the image below taken in San Miguel. This was not a posed image. When i saw this woman across the way i instantly saw beauty. I think the impression came mostly from her calm demeanor, her steady gaze, and the style she seemed to exude. I think she took joy in living.

"ah" moment

the sight
of fallen leaves
from her window


was almost more
than her heart
could
hold



"Let there be many windows to your soul, that all the world may beautify it."
                                                                              ~Ella Wilcox

On behalf of Jeremiah's "meantime"

Dear Lord, 

Fishing season is over
and Jeremiah finds himself upside down,
set aside,

aground in feelings of worthlessness.

Oh, that he could know
spring will come again

and the waters he loves

will welcome him 
back.

Help him see that “meantimes” 
come to everyone 
and the way he handles his
will be an example
to those he loves
and those he might never
meet.

Remind him 
that he is beautiful

and assure him 

that his present circumstance
can take nothing 
from his core.

Please grant him hope
in the spring not yet visible

where patience and compassion

like flowers

bloom full.

Amen




"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own' or 'real' life.  The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life--the life God is sending one day by day."   ~C.S. Lewis

parts of you

sometimes i look
at things
in parts

it helps me see
beyond
the whole

and past the roles
relied upon

it teaches me 
that those i see

have many facets

just like
me


"There are forms of complexity in all people. Always update your state of mind."
                                                            ~anon.

if only

if only you could talk

i think you’d have
some stories to share

about where you have been
things you have seen
and what you have come to deem
precious

i would sit enraptured
by the tendering of your heart
and your guttural voice

trembling

“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old……..The affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.”  Abraham J. Heschel

goodbye, hello

october bids farewell
through glorious gold

she has scattered her 
truth 
abroad

come
gentle november

and render 

your delicate
witness

“Their words aren’t heard,
    their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:

    unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.”  Psalm 19:3,4