Tuesday, April 30, 2013

ice cream!!!



i can still vividly recall my first ice cream! it still excites me when the first ice cream of the season makes its way to my tummy!!!!

Monday, April 29, 2013

still with us . . .



the visual features of spring have yet to reach
the way-up-high realms of the trees

it's a true test of patience 
and faith in the cycles of life

Sunday, April 28, 2013

the first little flower



each petal 
a word in a verse

Saturday, April 27, 2013

ever wishing



mikalojus ciurlionis, sailing boats, 1906




ever 

wishing for wind
and stillness

for me
the hull
the sails
the soft ropes
the water worn keel
all

ever wishing
for a fullness
and calm


Friday, April 26, 2013

hazard as an opportunity



“if man sees hazard as a misfortune rather than an opportunity, he will seek to close the door to freedom rather than keep it open. ”


john godolphin bennett

Thursday, April 25, 2013

day's done . . .



i look; morning to night i am never done with looking.

looking i mean not just standing around, but standing around
as though with your arms open.

and thinking: maybe something will come, some
shining coil of wind,
or a few leaves from any old tree –
they are all in this too.

and now i will tell you the truth.
everything in the world
comes.

at least, closer.



mary oliver

excerpted from "where does the temple begin, where does it end?"

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

little wash'd up drift



as i wend to the shores i know not,
as i list to the dirge, the voices of men and women wreck'd,
as i inhale the impalpable breezes that set in upon me,
as the ocean so mysterious rolls toward me closer and closer,
i, too, but signify, at the utmost, a little wash'd-up drift,
a few sands and dead leaves to gather,
gather, and merge myself as part of the sands and drift.

walt whitman  excerpted from "elemental drifts"

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

st. george's day!




having been born in england i still carry allegiance to some of the customs and traditions that accrue to that privilege. one of those is my acknowledgement of st. george's day. in england, st. george's day also marks its national day. it is celebrated on april 23rd, as that is the traditionally accepted date of saint george's death back in 303 a.d.

now why is george so famous. well it's something to do with him slaying the dragon. i checked into this and the wikipedia entry suggests that this extraordinary event took place in libya.

here's a jolly george giving a bit of stick to a diminutive dragon . . .

this is more like it . . . notice the remains of previous victims, the mightily chuffed female onlooker . . .

 

time was, st. george's day in england was celebrated to almost the same degree as christmas with feasting and jolly frolicking and whatever else fit the day. unfortunately, it has now faded into the mists of simple recognition. there has been a fair bit of rumbling and grumbling around george's fade into obscurity with some people clamouring for the return of the day on a grand scale and others asking the (to me) more reasonable question, why would england celebrate the death of a guy who had very little connection with the country. others such as edmund, cuthbert, and alban really have much more merit as a national saint in my own view.

anyhow, to all my english visitors. happy st. george's day!

Monday, April 22, 2013

the boulder outside the art gallery



the paths
of all the little places
worn through use
much like my heart
running to 
and from 
everything
and less
while always
hoping for more

Sunday, April 21, 2013

fossil shell




the shell that did not keep from the sea
even the echo of the smallest wave

words excerpted from "silence concerning an ancient stone" by rosario castellanos

Saturday, April 20, 2013

oh my!



in my mum's kitchen . . .    yes - they are real !!!!!!

and my mum has just written in to tell me that they are blue zebra primroses and not pansies (referencing my response to rick baker)!!!

thanks mum !!!

Friday, April 19, 2013

my dad's lakeside bench




love one another, but make not a bond of love: 
let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.


khalil gibran 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

this poem




this poem 


since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. don’t cry
–the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

and death i think is no parenthesis

e. e. cummings

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

the sea


“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me), 
it's always our self we find in the sea.”    e.e. cummings

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

heckler handling

we all get heckled in our jobs - in different ways - and i love the way this baseball outfielder managed a heckler at a recent game . . . .

an early morning walk



spring on lake ontario's north shore . . . 

Monday, April 15, 2013

random



i am drawn to the random assortment of flotsam and jetsam on beaches. each object has a history. a history that is still unfolding. these twigs, pebbles and pieces of wood will be - well what in one hundred, one thousand years?!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

monk's cove (i)



an early morning moment . . . driftwood, waves, water-rounded pebbles and a man . . . revelling in his fortune . . .

Saturday, April 13, 2013

trees fall down . . .

a severe ice storm settled over my city on thursday evening with the result that there were several trees and branches and power lines and whatever else left making their way to the ground. 










Friday, April 12, 2013

strength





“it is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” 

vincent van gogh

Thursday, April 11, 2013

blue calm




the evening and the sky are settling in. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

the speed of colour


somedays life moves at the speed of colour . . . 

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

tree talk



the trees have gathered together for a chat. it's a little warmer than usual, the wind is howling across the front and back porches, and the squirrels are corkscrewing up and down the tree trunks in search of food, friends, some place where there is no wind perhaps. there are great negotatiations going on between the wind and the clouds and the trees and the ground, negotiations mediated by big brother sun who is occasionally peering in to see what the commotion is all about . . . . hi brother!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Sunday, April 7, 2013

love is a world





a life without love is a waste. “should i look for spiritual love, or material, or physical love?”, don’t ask yourself this question. discrimination leads to discrimination. Love doesn’t need any name, category or definition. Love is a world itself. either you are in, at the center…
either you are out, yearning.

shams tabrizi

Saturday, April 6, 2013

ice rain


on yard duty yesterday.

one of the grade two girls likes to hold my hand as i walk back and forth across my area and she says "it wants to rain but it's forgotten how. see. see it's frozen rain."

as ice pellets fall in a thick stinging smear that peppers the skin of my face.

Friday, April 5, 2013

this



you
rise
complete
contained
a winged wholeness
i can't question


Thursday, April 4, 2013

spring river









“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”   the buddha

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

sidewalk chalk (i)



the sidewalk chalk is out! surely that means summer is coming soon . . . . .

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

the shadow of my self


portrait of the blogger as a large man with a small head!

Monday, April 1, 2013

still . . .


it clings with feathered ice fingers . . . the last vestige of winter, early in the morning . . .