Today: Alone with Feelings... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 ALONE & A Poem Sort of... 

This morning...

Just me,

Alone 

With nothing to do...

A cool, 

Misty, grey Sunday...

Some slow, bluesy jazz   

On the melancholy side...

Feeling... 

Not happy

Not sad    

But simply content...

A momentary resting place 

In  

The eye of the storm   

Of  

Life's roller-coaster ride...

This Post's Flavor(s):  poetry, music, human, small, process
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Today: A Look at "Good" & "Bad".... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 "Good" & "Bad" - A Thought: 

In the world, "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."  Hamlet Act II, Scene II, William Shakespeare

After spending copious hours yanking grass out of my garden spaces, I'm thinking if people weren't so in love with "green carpets" that grass would be classed as a noxious weed...  Not only will it grow in almost any soil, in shade or sun and spreads rapidly by underground roots, which can range far, but it also self-seeds with abandon.  

Thinking something is "good" or "necessary" makes it difficult to see its "down side".  The whole picture always includes both - the "good" and the "bad".... A "simple" two-dimensional truth would seem to be nothing but a lie... The world, I think, is neutral....  It is our perspective, feelings and thoughts which give it its apparent weight...  since we are very complex beings the "good " and "bad" we feel are also complex and not simple to either understand or apply....

As a result of the attachment to "green carpets", a multi-million dollar industry has developed around the care of grass, ensuring the continued growth of such carpets.  This lends additional support to the attachment and makes it very difficult to see grass as it really is or imagine any kind of alternative to a "green carpet".  

Grass's classification seems to be simply a matter of perspective and habit...  However, habitual ways of seeing and thinking always have far spreading roots and strong supports which aren't easy to see or understand, much less change or shift..... 

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, puzzle, human, small

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Today: A Pleasant Surprise... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 A Surprising Discovery: 

I planted two lavender plants in my garden: a Munstead and a Phenomenal.  I took a risk planting them because I've never liked lavender at all! However, my only prior experience with lavender was with the essential oil and the dried herb. The fresh herb, I find, is VERY different. Furthermore, I've discovered I can cook with it!

The Munstead is still a very small plant, so I'm letting it rest, grow and get established.  The Phenomenal is larger, so it's the one I've been using.  Consequently, I haven't been able to compare the difference in flavor between the two kinds of lavender. That's for the future; another exploration I'd like to do sometime farther down the road when the Munstead is ready...

In the meantime, I've been enjoying exploring all kinds of flavor combinations with the Phenomenal... I started using it in place of rosemary, but have gone on from there to add it to many dishes - even strange combinations like with a curry and have enjoyed each dish to which I've added its special flavor.  It doesn't take much; one flower, two small leaves, and maybe an inch of the stalk minced is enough to give plenty of flavor to a dish... I've added the minced stalk for the final five minutes or so of cook time and the rest has been added just before serving.  I don't know if the minced stalk really requires the cook time, but it's quite crisp, so I've done it this way.  Maybe it too can be added just before serving with the rest.  Another exploration for the future...

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, food, difficulty/pleasure, human, small
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Today: The Changes That Happen... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Changing Circumstances: 

Baby grackles first flight...

The sun sets on an empty nest

Tonight 

Cats on the prowl...

Parents in a flutter....

Earlier today I found a male, ruby-throated hummingbird dead beside my garden.  I buried him next to the lovage...  I've been close, within a foot, but I've never actually touched a hummingbird before.... Such beautiful iridescent, olive-green plumage... the red at his throat only visible when the feathers fanned... He was SO tiny and light-weight... SO fragile and delicate.... his beak such a wonder... but with a broken neck, he won't fly more.... Sad to cover such intricate, delicacy with heavy, black earth.... 

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, difficulty/pleasure, beginning/ending, human, small, process

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Today: Dining In...- To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Eating can be such a Pleasure:

At home, with good-feeling, tasty food to eat - beautifully garnished with delectable flower petals, fresh from the garden; I feel wealthier than a millionaire dining in the finest of restaurants...

This Post's Flavor(s): food, gardening, difficulty/pleasure, creativity, human, small, 
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Today: Stopping & Savoring... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

I Stop & Listen, then Write to Savor... 

Yesterday...

For the first time in more than fifty years

For a long time

I stood

Just listening...

To a soft rain falling

Enjoying its music

Feeling gratitude...

Sad to have waited so long

To do just this...

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, music, difficulty/pleasure, human, small 
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Today: What is Best??? - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Wonderings About "Best"...

Unlike other years, this year the municipality isn't clearing the winter's sand and salt from the main street where my home is.  Although they've cleaned the side streets, they haven't cleaned the main street. I didn't see them doing any cleaning last week, so maybe cleaning the main street isn't part of this year's plan...

Today, I got tired of all the sand and salt blowing around, so I got out my broom and shovel.  The winter's accumulation is now neatly piled on the far north west corner of the property beside the fire hydrant.  It made a large pile, at least 4 feet wide by 2 feet high. Although it will still be blown around by the wind, I think it will be less as there are fewer exposed surfaces...

After being indoors for most of the winter, I'm VERY hungry for fresh outside air and exercise.  Even the hoards of rapacious black flies couldn't eradicate today's pleasure. They dampened it for sure, but I still REALLY enjoyed drinking in the fresh air with some physical work.  I saw some things too...  

I saw, that for small things like this, it's often better when they aren't done automatically for me. The usual street cleaning by the municipality, would have deprived me of a benefit... My body feels both stronger and healthier for today's work. I gained much more figuring out what I could do with the sand and salt than I would have if the municipal government had cleared it away for me! Frequently it seems, if it's possible for me to do something for myself, even though it usually involves a difficult stretch - one I'm not sure I'm able to make, it's better when I make the attempt... and often I'm pleasantly surprised by what I am able do.  As a result, I began to wonder if we don't often try to do more for each other than is really good and necessary...   

Thinking back, I see, when "necessary" things haven't been done; I've often discovered they weren't REALLY needed at all!  Not only did I not need the help, I didn't need to do this "necessary" thing myself either... Other times, the "necessary" thing was still needed, but it needed to be done differently and I was only able to see the unfamiliar, new way when the usual thing didn't happen right away as I wanted and expected...

I'm therefore thinking about "helpfulness"...  Perhaps it isn't always such a "good" thing... Perhaps, sometimes, a little less can REALLY be better...

This Post's Flavor(s): difficulty/pleasure, puzzle, human, small 
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Today: Planting My Garden... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Gardening Thoughts: 

I've just finished planting my vegetable garden...  Even though I started sprouting the plants at the beginning of April, most of them are still VERY small and tiny - just seedlings. Each year, with my garden, I face the fragile, tenuousness of life and my food supply... Each year I wonder if plants who are so tiny and small can actually survive and grow in a world which isn't always gentle and kind. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, but regardless of their "success" or "failure", I get to feel ALL of how it feels...

Today one of four Shungiku, (Edible Chrysanthemum -Leucanthemum coronarium) plants disappeared... Yesterday, like most of the tiny plants I've just planted, its four leaves were nice and green and getting bigger with each passing day. I felt happy to see it doing so well... but today there was only a small bare stock and a few shards of leaf left lying on the ground. If, like last year, the same fate befalls the other three, I won't be tasting this delicacy this year...

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, food, difficulty/pleasure, beginning/ending, human, small, process

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Today: Quiet... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

In the Stillness... 

In the darkness

Of night's fall...

When birds and people

Cease their chatter...

One can hear
The quiet songs

Of frogs and crickets...

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, small
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Today: A Spring Day... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Spring Arrives... 

Time...

Some warm sun

A little refreshing rain

Magically, suddenly

Surrounding hillsides emerge

Enveloped in a hazy mist

Of pale green and rose...

Filling the air with a genuine

Spring-fresh scent...

As in my April 21st post (here); again I see a "dark, shadowy" side, where "tree work" is done invisibly and within; which, when the time is ripe...suddenly and magically, becomes a visible reality in the outer world...

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, small, process
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Today: I have a Strange Day... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Today's - A Mix:

A Strange, Crazy, Mixed-up day...

A violent wind whips through the trees, dislodging anything old and dead which still would cling...

I begin my day... 
Listening to unfamiliar music from Vietnam, I discard my answering machine/phone. I have trouble throwing things out; especially things that still work like this phone. It still works, but the battery's dead. After only six years, replacements are unavailable...and even if available would cost more than I paid for the phone with the battery... The replacement service from the phone company came at first, all in French, with instructions I didn't understand. Thankfully this was easily changed to English... I think I've set it up like I want, but it's still to be tested with time and use... 

Things working and not working, today come one on top of the other...  Expected things don't arrive, unexpected things do... I've shared how it began, but the day has continued with equally strange flavors emanating forth from each thing I've touched...


The Vietnamese music I listened to:
Le Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble - Nord Vietnam 
Huong Thanh - Vietnam  Musique du Cai Long
Huong Thanh - Les fleurs du levant
Popular Vietnamese Music - Truong Thi Quynh Hanh

All are available from hmvdigital.ca, so if you're so inclined you can listen to clips...

This Post's Flavor(s): music, human, small

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Today: Bird Song... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

A Beginning & An Ending...

Each evening

Just before night falls,

In the silent darkness,

A solitary robin chirps...

The final notes

Of a day's bird song.

Each morning

With the first, faint glimmers of returning light,

In the silent darkness,

A solitary robin sings...

The first notes

Of a day's choral symphony of bird song.

SPRING!

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, music, beginning/ending
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Today: Sun & Shadow... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Light & Dark - Sun & Shadow... 

This morning - The Sunny Side:

What magic!

A plant...

Who sprouts forth

With fresh, new growth

From the ashes of
Last year's dried, dead leaves...

This afternoon - The Shadow Side:

I face the reality that in the outside world I inhabit, this wonderful, feeling magic only happens sometimes... Sometimes things stop unexpectedly, mid-stream and die... sometimes things are still born... sometimes they look oh SO full of promise, but ARE empty or dead...
Sometimes... Sometimes I don't feel happy or wonderful... sometimes I feel tired, sad or frightened...
Sometimes...


This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, gardening, human, small, process
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