Out of Town

I'll be out of town traveling on business until January 26th. Thanks for all the positive feedback on "Evangeline" (new readers).

Peace be with you.

Shelter

My Strength
Is
Gone.
Against the Wind
I
Fought.
And only
Now
Do
I
See,
How strong
You
Were for
Me.

If I Could

If I could

paint

your life

anew

I would

paint your sky

forever

blue
and fill your days

with golden

light

and ever

endless

star-filled

nights

Not Home for the Holidays

My daughter and I will be in the mountains of North Carolina for the Holidays.

To my faithful readers near and far (all three of you), Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year!

xoxo

For Life

The geese of winter
land on the lake.
Silver wings stretched
they break the glassy
surface of the water
and float together
in the morning mist.
Bound for life
they wait for spring
through frost and
winter’s pale moon.
Black necks curved
in grey-feathered sleep.
Rest now, for soon
the journey home.

Fall

On the edge
looking down,
it seems so far to fall
take a deep breath
close your eyes
spread your wings and fly
fly to hope,
tomorrow’s child
waiting on the sun to rise
waiting on a future moon
life will not wait for you

Sand Castle

The sea

has finally washed

away

my carefully constructed

sandcastle,

washed

away

the form of

my

identity,

leaving only infinite

grains of sand

along

a scattered beach.

-unknown author

For BCP

I had a dream last night. I was on a dark beach with you. But you were much younger than you are now, you seemed to be around 6 years old. Your hand felt very small in mine.

There were storm clouds and lightening rolling over head. The wind was warm and fierce. But we stood there and faced the wind blowing our hair back, our jackets flapping. At the edge of the surf, our toes met the lip of foam, growing ever closer to covering our feet, sucking the sand out from under as it retreated.

Overhead, the storm charged the air and lightening descending in crooked arcs aross the black sky, bouncing through menacing clouds, briefly lighting them with bursts of purest white.

We were facing it - head on - knowing that sometimes things are so much more beautiful after the storm has passed, we waited together.

Walt Whitman's poem is about a father and daughter, but it sounds like we had the same dream.
We will make it through. I love you!


On The Beach At Night, by Walt Whitman

On the beach, at night,
Stands a child,
with her father,
Watching the east,
the autumn sky.

Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds,
the burial clouds,
in black masses spreading,
Lower, sullen and fast, athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends, large and calm, the lord-star Jupiter;
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate brothers,
the Pleiades.

From the beach, the child,
holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower, victorious,
soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Weep not, child,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears;

The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky--shall devour the stars only inapparition:
Jupiter shall emerge--be patient--watch again another night--
the Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal--all those stars, both silvery and golden, shall shine out again,
The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again--they endure;
The vast immortal suns, and the long-enduring pensive moons, shall again shine.
Then, dearest child, mournest thou only for Jupiter?
Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?

Something there is,
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter,
Longer than sun, or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant brothers, the Pleiades

Long and Winding Road

I'm traveling for a few days. I'll be back with new content, sometime next week.



Aller avec Dieu.

For Mary Ann & Clifford, Married 55 Years

"Be the captive of Love
in order that you may be truly free-
free from coldness and the worship of self.

Thousands have passed who were wise and learned
but who were strangers to Love.

No name is left to them,
nothing to proclaim their fame and
dignity or to relate their history in the march of time.

Although you may attempt to do
a hundred things in this world,
only Love will give you release
from the bondage of yourself."

-Hakim Jami, Sufi Master, 1492

Wish Upon a Star (or Two)

This weekend brings the return of the famous Leonid meteor shower, which has a storied history of producing some of the most sensational meteor displays ever recorded.

The year's encounter is predicted for 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday.

A lounge chair or blanket, warm clothes, and a snuggle-buddy are all you need. Find a dark location away from city lights, with a clear view of the eastern horizon. Lie back, face east, and scan as much of the sky as you can.

Scientists are expecting between 100-150 meteors per hour during this cosmic event.

That’s a huge opportunity for wish-making, if you’re in need of a few. I know I am.

Some of My Favorite "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey

"When I found the skull in the woods, the first thing I did was call the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns."
------
"We like to praise birds for flying. But how much of it is actually flying, and how much of it is just sort of coasting from the previous flap?"
------
"How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak."
------
"It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe it was like an angry rabbit, who was going to fight in another fight, away from the first fight."
------
"When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy."
-------
"When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear."
--------
"I hope if dogs ever take over the world and they choose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas."

Travel Day

I'm getting ready to leave for the airport. It's going to take me all day to get home, if you count the two-hour time difference and the layover in Houston.

I will be so tired by the time I finally land, get my luggage, try to remember where I parked my car, get out of the parking deck, pay the toll, fight the rush-hour traffic, unpack the car, read the mail, walk the dogs, take a bath, and go to bed....

I think I better have a Starbucks Grande or two before I take to the skies.

See you on the other side of the country.

Election Day

I stood in the rain this morning, in a long line that snaked around the corner of the Prince of Peace Catholic Church (my polling place).

Under the circumstances, I was surprised that the turnout was as good as it was. Everyone seemed determined to vote come Hell, or in this case, high water. My feet got soaked. My shoes are probably ruined (how many black pumps does a girl need anyway?).

Besides, it's a small sacrifice to pay for the privledge of living in a democracy that so many have died defending. In spite of some really stupid politicians, America is still a great country.

Please don't forget to vote.

Missing You

Something reached inside my chest today

and squeezed my heart.

It happened when the breeze

went dancing through the trees

and turned their leaves

upside down.

I tilted my face to the sun

and felt the place you used to fill,

now quiet and empty.

Missing you in falling leaves

and the slanted light of Autumn.

I Wanna Go Home

I travel often for work. Some people think it's glamorous, but it gets old. Here's a song dedicated to my fellow Road Warriors.

"Home"
by Michael Buble

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris or Rome
But I wanna go home
I wanna go home

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two "I'm fine baby, how are you?"
Well I would send them but I know that it's just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I'm lucky I know
But I wanna go home
I wanna go home

I gotta go home
Let me go home
I'm just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life
It's like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not come along with me
This was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me come home

P.S. I'll be in Vegas next week for work. Don't hate me.

Lost Girl

Today is not a good day
Today is a day of dark thoughts
And dangerous moods
Circling fury
Black sand in her veins
Today her heart is a hollow stone
No longer human
She disappears
Without your love
She becomes the darkness

Nature Boy

There was a boy

A very strange enchanted boy

They say he wandered very far, very far

Over land and sea

A little shy and sad of eye

But very wise was he.

And then one day

A magic day

He passed my way

And while we spoke of many things

Fools and kings

This he said to me:

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn

Is just to love and be loved in return"

-Eden Ahbez

Purple Iris

The steam rises in a

curly-cue

from the cup of coffee you sip

as you sit lost

in the Sunday paper.

The golden light

of the morning sun

paints you

in stripes through the window blinds.

The kitchen clock

tick-tocks

the simple rhythm of passing time.

Another second,

becomes a minute

and then you are

just a memory.

A Cardboard City

I moved to a new house. It doesn't feel like home yet, probably because all of my furniture is still in my old house, which is still on the market. I'm living out of boxes and sleeping on an air mattress. I use a tv-tray as a bedside table.

In a way, it's been nice to discover that I can survive without all my material possessions. It's a simplified existence. Without the distractions of these things, I have found more time to read and more time to be creative.

So for now, I am enjoying the minimalistic decor of my new home and relaxing in the chaos of boxes. Because one day soon my cardboard city will be gone.