Dashing...

I just love the colors in this photograph (taken by the photographer extraordinaire herself; yes, that would be me.

Anticipatorily,

Glinda

Ruminations...

I was perusing my usual haunts, first here, which led me here to the excerpt below, the meaning of which I cannot even begin to parse. But, it is obvious what drew me in.

Space is not the measure of distance.

A garden wall at home may enclose more secrets than the Great Wall of China,

and the soul of a little girl is better guarded by silence than the Sahara's oases by the surrounding sands.*

*VI - Oasis From the book Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Thus, I could not help but extrapolate from and ruminate on the words, leading inevitably to the derogation of its original meaning. I stole its essence for my own purpose, as if somehow I am entitled to the words simply because I understand them as they are written, with no other interpretation but my own. Hands to ears not listening to their real meaning; hands to heart feeling their meaning, albeit from the depths of my own perception.

I am the keeper of her soul and my silence is my armor.

Image from: Google Images

I am nothing if not persistent...

and that is why I procured the most sought after concert tickets of all time!



I am giddy with anticipation.

So powerful and so very poignant...

A Poem By Mary Oliver

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

© Mary Oliver

Father's Day...

Precious Memories (arr. by Bob Dylan)

As I travel down life's pathway,
Know not what the years may hold.
As I ponder, hopes grow fonder,
Precious memories flood my soul.

Precious father, loving mother,
Glide across the lonely years.
And old homes scenes of my childhood
In fond memory appears.

Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul.
In the stillness of the midnight,
Precious sacred scenes unfold.

Happy Birthday, My Love...

"Husband"

Today is my husband's birthday, yet it is I who will be given a gift. And even though it is the same gift that I receive each day upon waking, it is still as special as if I were opening it for the very first time, just as I did some 18 years ago. His physical being is merely the wrapping which decorates this most precious bestowal--his heart, my gift. Though he asks nothing in return, save for my touch on his back as he drifts off to sleep, it is my daily affirmation to aspire to give from my heart as easily and selflessly as he gives from his.

I am grateful to my husband for providing me with a safe place to steal away, to catch my breath, to collect my thoughts and to, on occasion, redeem myself. His heart is my shelter and my salvation.

Today, I will celebrate the greatest gift ever given to me...my husband, my abundance, my joy.

If my heart could sing, this would be its song...

I Dare You Not To Smile

In honor of our 32nd Month Crappiversary, I thought I would post something that made me smile from ear to ear! Notice the red thread running through...the sweet little orangutan was also abandoned.