Pied Beauty

Pied Beauty

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889)

     Glory be to God for dappled things –

        For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

           For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

     Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

        Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

           And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

     All things counter, original, spare, strange;

        Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

           With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

     He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

                                Praise him.

Five Good Things Monday
1.  I’m feeling better.  I missed posting last Monday due to yucky health.
2.  The weather is gorgeous!
3.  Thanksgiving is coming.
4.  Just three weeks till Thanksgiving break, which is a whole week.
5.  I’m loving life.

Five Good Things Monday:

1. I have a new (to me) mattress and woke up without a backache for the first time in a long time. New is good.
2. My son and daughter-in-law are the best…they set up my new bed, washed my sheets, and remade the bed. That is just awesome.
3. Rolling a tennis ball underneath my foot is will be good for me.
4. The weather is perfect…all week.
5. My students, past and present, are the greatest in the world!

Five Good Things:

 

1. School holiday today. I went to work for a while anyway to catch up, which makes me feel good.
2. That also means a four day work week.  Sweet!
3. The weather is beautiful today.  A nice little cool front will be passing through this week.
4. I love the months of October, November, and December and the holidays they contain.
5. The bills are paid and everyone is well.

 

Year of the Zombie

Lately there seems to be a plethora of zombie themed movies, TV shows, and books.  I have friends who are really into them.  I find it hard to take it seriously.  As entertainment it’s kind of repetitive.  However, this little guy is very cute.

The Wild Breath, By Tom Hirons

The Wild Breath, By Tom Hirons 

(http://www.lazygramophone.com/tomhirons/words/the-wild-breath)

Today, the earth began exhaling.
All Winter, it held its breath,
Kept its fragrance to itself,
Held itself so tight, I could feel its ribs ache.
But, today, the earth began to smell again.

What had been locked in its chest
Began to push back out at the world today.
Soon, primroses and garlic will follow that
Path of life’s breath into sunlight;
Now, it is simply the shifting, vital moment
Between the inhaling and
Exhaling of the Earth.

The fingers of Winter loosened today;
That tight hand will become Summer’s palm
Where all of Life dances:
Myself and you and us and them
And all tomorrow’s children.

                Somewhere, in the centre of the Earth,
                A spark leaps to the hibernating heart
                And beneath the blackened leaves of Winter,
                That great, essential drum resounds.

Today, the earth began to smell again.
The sap turned around; life turned towards life.
The body of this great, wild woman,
This land that grows through my feet,
Shifted in her sleep and sighed.
She whispered something unmistakable.
Everybody heard.
The trees and rocks and the wild birds and me:
All Winter we were waiting
And, today, the earth began exhaling.

The Invitation, by Oriah

This book is a keeper-buy it.

The Invitation, by Oriah From Mountain Dreamer  (http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/)

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."

Pass a Good Time!

For countless reasons; the misty weather, the grim, the camaraderie, the fun, the teamwork, the creativity, all of it, it was a great Mardi Gras. (These ladies are in the traditional homemade Cajan Mardi Gras costumes.)

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is in full swing.  The chicken has been caught and the gumbo made.