The Tombstone List

Do you ever hear an aphorism and think "Yes!  Exactly!  I want that on my tombstone! (No? Perhaps you're not as enamored of getting in the last word as I am!) One of the big contenders for Ann's Tombstone List is "never mistake a clear view for a short distance." I like the heady split second of mental suspension before the meaning of the adage clicks into place.  I also like the way it honors aspiring to the heights while warning that getting there may not be easy.  The maxim spares us from false optimism and teaches us what real change can require.  I find that sort of realism to be downright bracing!

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 5 (Crabby Mama and the 4 Young Adults)
Deer: 4 (all does)
Mouse: 1

Money Talks and Sometimes Money Also Walks

Ever wondered what you can do about the economic crisis?  In the March 2010 issue of Sojourners Magazine, Jim Wallis said:

Clearly, the financial crisis is a structural meltdown that calls for increased government regulation of banks and other financial players.  Members of faith communities around the country are helping to push for this sort of reform.

But at its core, this is also a spiritual crisis.  More and more people are coming to understand that underlying the economic crisis is a values crisis, and that any economic recovery must be accompanied by a moral recovery.  This should be a moment to re-examine the way we measure success, do business, and live our lives; a time to renew spiritual values and practices such as simplicity, patience, modesty, family, friendship, rest, and Sabbath.

Yup.  On a more pragmatic level, why not move your money out of a bank that helped caused the mess to a bank or credit union that has been better behaved? Check out moveyourmoney.info for a searchable database of options close to you.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 5 (Mama and the 4 young adults)
Deer: 2 does..

In Which the Author Muses about Darkness and Light

 

Recently I learned that an acquaintance has received a grim medical prognosis.  I don't know her well but I like her very much.  As is typical when we hear such news, the room turned gray and so did my heart.

So here I sit, thinking yet again about sorrow and suffering.  Job offers no answers -- although I must admit that watchiing his pompous blowhard friends get smacked upside the head is quite satisfying.

What can I learn about all this from the nature of things around me?  Sunlight gleams through white curtains.  There is such a thing as ecstasy.  Muttley the Dog kisses Charlie the Cat.  And, yet again, spring comes.

Darkness may bear down, but it does not prevail.

Today's front yard critter count:

Raccoons: 6 (Mama, the 4 teenagers, the New Guy)

Deer: 0

Squirrels:  Lots.  Very loud.

Just Wondering....

 

So why is it that I'll pay for a gym membership but I won't walk up two flights of stairs to my office?   Seems kinda cheeky to make the planet expend the energy to haul an entire elevator plus me up to the third floor when I can get there perfectly well under my own power.  Ditto with regard to the electric can opener and electric toothbrush.  And I've totally never understood the concept of an electric knife.  What's next?  An electric drinking straw?

Today's front yard critter count:

Raccoons: 5 (Crabby Mama and the 4 teenagers)

Deer: 0

Daffodils: Almost blooming

Squirrels: Increasingly vocal out in the woods.

Silence

This is an image of winter grasses at Millersylvania State Park. All I have to say is that I'm grateful places like this exist.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 5 (Crabby Mama and the 4 teenagers)
Deer: 0

Looking and Seeing

 

One of the things I love about photography is seeing with new eyes.  The more I look, the more I see.  The more I see, the more I understand.  And sometimes, when I see and understand, I feel as if I've been rung like a bell.

Today's front yard critter count:

Raccoons: 5 (Crabby Mama and her 4 teenagers)

Deer: 0

Little white frogs hopping across the gravel road: Lots

This Time, Horses

 

The poem in my last post brought to mind this equally wonderful poem.  I've loved James Wright's A Blessing since I first encountered it in my freshman English class at Washington State University.   It is an excellent poem to read out loud on St. Valentine's Day.

                   A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans.  They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me

And nuzzled my left hand.

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

                                    -James Wright

Today's front yard critter count:

Raccoons: 2 (Old Tailless Guy and his Little Woman)

Deer: 0