Red Bird by Mary Oliver

Red bird came all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,
those dun-colored darlings,
so hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
I know He has many children,
not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason--
perhaps because the winter is so long
and the sky so black-blue,

or perhaps because the heart narrows
as often as it opens--
I am grateful

that red bird comes all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else can do.

*Photos are courtesy of friends on Flickr! So many were making comments on these pictures that I didn't want to take credit for them; only can take credit in 'finding' them to post!

Christmas!

Ok, I finally am getting in the mood for Christmas! I went shopping on my lunch hour at Marshall's. There was so much really neat stuff! Not sure if any of my family check this blog, so I don't want to give anything away, except to say that I bought totally useless but really pretty things! :)

It seems like once I am happy with a purchase, I get more in the mood for Christmas and excited to find more 'perfect' gifts! Is anyone else like that? I'm still having trouble deciding what to get our granddaughter who will be 3 on Dec. 19th. She's a bit too little for Barbie dolls. Her mom got her a baby doll, coat, boots, a v-tech...same things I would've gotten her! I have gotten her some clothes, but really want to find her the perfect toy and at this point don't have a clue! Does anyone out there have a 3 year old they are buying for this year? If so, I would love some ideas.

I know it is not all about the presents and the 'reason for the season' must remain in the forefront of my mind; but let's face it, it's just a blast to buy presents for people. It is for me anyway! So ho-ho-ho; time to do some wrapping!

Remembrance

In one of the stars,
I shall be living.
In one of them,
I shall be laughing.
And so it will be
as if all the stars
were laughing
when you look
at the sky at night.
~ The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In memory of all those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor.

Just Looking For Some Peace

Live your life so the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their views, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a stranger if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs them of their visions. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
-Tecumseh (March 1768 - October 5, 1813)
a famous Native American Leader of the Shawnee

Native American Wisdom

A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one. " The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?" The grandfather answered: "The one I feed."

~ Native American Story ~

Quotes on Books and Reading!

"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love, and like that colossal adventure it is an experience of great social import. Even as the tranced swain, the booklover yearns to tell others of his bliss. He writes letters about it, adds it to the postscript of all manner of communications, intrudes it into telephone messages, and insists on his friends writing down the title of the find. Like the simple-hearted betrothed, once certain of his conquest, “I want you to love her, too!” It is a jealous passion also. He feels a little indignant if he finds that any one else has discovered the book, too." Christopher Morley

"A good book is the purest essence of a human soul." Thomas Carlyle

"I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book." Groucho Marx

"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world." Voltaire


"Every farmer, every laborer, every fisherman can both read and write — and we think that books instead of being locked up in cupboards, far from the sight of students, should be distributed as widely as possible. The books of our library are therefore passed from hand to hand without returning to the library shelves perhaps for years." Jules Verne - Journey to the Center of the Earth


"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill." Barbara Tuchman





"You are the same today that you are going to be in five years from now except for two things: the people with whom you associate and the books you read." Charles Jones



"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island . . . and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life." Walt Disney






"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does." Meg Ryan (from the movie You've Got Mail)




"When I get a little money I buy books. If any is left, then I buy food and clothes." Erasmus






"Words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels." Hazrat Inayat Khan







"One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time." -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)


"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." J.D. Salinger, writer (1919- )






"A room without books is like a body without a soul." Cicero






"Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens ..." Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Shadow of the Wind)


"I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read." Thomas Babington Macaulay


"A man is known by the books he reads" Ralph Waldo Emerson


"Some women have a weakness for shoes... I can go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for books." Oprah Winfrey





"Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness. " Helen Keller

"Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier." Kathleen Norris (Hands Full of Living, 1931)

"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson

Blue Monday!

My contribution to "Blue Monday" are pictures of the Pacific Ocean and the Humpback Whale with baby (though you can't really see the baby in the pictures) that my husband saw during a June trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which included an ocean cruise. It was very unusual to see a humpback whale during this time of the year, so everyone was very excited. The ocean is so blue and the sky follows suit; the wonders of God's creation were experienced first-hand!

To participate in 'Blue Monday', go to Smiling Sally's Blog, link is above on title of this blog! You can join in the fun of sharing blue pictures also.

Humpbacks

There is, all around us, this country of original fire.

You know what I mean.

The sky, after all, stops at nothing so something has to be

holding our bodies in its rich and timeless stables or else

we would fly away.

Off Stellwagan, off the Cape, the humpbacks rise.

Carrying their tonnage of barnacles and joy

they leap through the water, they nuzzle back under it

like children at play. They sing, too.

And not for any reason you can’t imagine.

Three of them rise to the surface near the bow of the boat,

then dive deeply, their huge scarred fluke

stipped to the air. We wait, not knowing

just where it will happen; suddenly

they smash through the surface, someone begins

shouting for joy and you realize it is yourself as they surge

upward and you see for the first time

how huge they are, as they breach,

and dive, and breach again through the shining blue flowers

of the split water and you see them for some unbelievable

part of a moment against the sky

—like nothing you’ve ever imagined —

like the myth of the fifth morning

galloping out of darkness, pouring

heavenward, spinning; then they crash back

under those black silks

and we all fall back together into that wet fire,

you know what I mean.

I know a captain who has seen them

playing with seaweed, swimming

through the green islands,

tossing the slippery branches into the air.

I know a whale that will come to the boat whenever

she can, and nudge it gently along the bow

with her long flipper.

I know several lives worth living.

Listen, whatever it is you try

to do with your life, nothing will ever dazzle you

like the dreams of your body, its spirit

longing to fly while the dead-weight bones

toss their dark mane and hurry

back into the fields of glittering

fire where everything,

even the great whale, throbs with song.

~ Mary Oliver ~
(American Primitive)

Kindness

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender

gravity of kindness,

you must travel where

the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night

with plans and the simple breath

that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness

as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow

as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness

that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day

to mail letters and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you every where

like a shadow or a friend.

~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~

Winter Poem

I know that winter is just arriving and this post should probably wait for spring, but I loved this poem by Nikki Giovanni. The crocus pictures are so wondrous and made me smile so I thought you might enjoy them also! Hope everyone has had a great and relaxing holiday weekend!

once a snowflake fell

on my brow and I loved

it so much and I kissed

it and it was happy and called its cousins

and brothers and a web

of snow engulfed me then

I reached to love them all

and I squeezed them and they became

a spring rain and I stood perfectly

still and was a flower

-Nikki Giovanni

Abigail, a double rainbow, and pretty flowers!

Abigail loves to play with her ball! When she gets tired, she just lays down!

These pictures don't do this beautiful double rainbow justice!

"My heart leaps up when I behold

a rainbow in the sky"

-William Wordsworth

Rainbow

By Red Unicorn (Barbara Mann) ©1997

Shimmering color arched against grey sky,

Painted by dancing light on air-borne mist.

Wide flung by a sacred hand...

The Hand that formed of dust nothingness

The solid Earth below.

Beauty and promise together blended,

Beauty ethereal, promise divine.

Given to grace the clouds and the rain,

Given to bless the world-weary heart...

Shimmers... fades... brightens...

To vanish in brilliance...

Shines through the dark in my soul.

Isn't that the cutest puppy ever?!

There was a hummingbird flying around these flowers, but by the time I got my camera, he was gone. I'll keep trying to capture him on film!

Abby is waiting for me to throw the ball!