Tom and Ralph

February 7, 2010
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, from essay “Self-Reliance.”

February 7, 2010
“Don’t plant your bad days; They turn into weeks.”
- Tom Waits

This one constantly gets mistaken as “Don’t plant your days, they turn into weeds” but after looking at the Tom Waits Library and the explanation of the intro to “More Than Rain” during a concert/movie Big Time, this quote makes more sense.

February 6, 2010
“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (I can’t find the published source, but the quote is attributed to Emerson.)

Beauty, Truth, and Love in Storms

A few quotes to wrap up the week.  It has been storming and raining here in Oklahoma, and today we have sunshine.  A friend posted today’s quote as his status message last night, from memory, and asked if I could find out who said it.  I really like the encouraging feeling it gives.   It implies, to me, that everything and everyone is beautiful and there is someone who will appreciate each one.  That all truths, no matter your perception, will have an ear who agrees to it.  And that for every heart that loves, there is someone who will receive that love, and maybe return it.

February 5, 2010
“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.” – Ivan Panin (Russian mathematician, 1855-1942)

February 4, 2010
“All was silent as before, All silent save the dripping rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

February 3, 2010
“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” – Morris West

Love Threads

A friend commented recently that all she wanted was to feel needed, that her significant other every so often let her know that she was needed, wanted, appreciated.  That they were thankful she was sharing her life with them.   And to give her wants a voice, to show that through time she is not alone in having those feelings, I found the quote for February 1st.

I have also been thinking about an idea for a new series of poems, working with a metaphorical concept with thread.  So I found a quote for February 2nd that sounds suitable.  I think my poems will have a more familial bond than a lovers’ bond, but maybe I might work with both.  I’ll see.

Is there a thread of emotion that binds you with another, or that loosely strings you along through your day, your life?  Is there a thread of thought that lingers?  Write for 15 or 20 minutes about it, continuously, without self-editing.  Let your thoughts wander as you write and see where the “thread” might lead you.

February 2, 2010
“No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread.” – Robert Burton (English Writer and Clergyman, 1577-1640)

February 1, 2010
“To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.” – Mary Stuart (Scottish Queen, 1542-1587)

February 1, 2010
“In all our contacts it is probably the sense of being really needed and wanted which gives us the greatest satisfaction and creates the most lasting bond.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

February 1, 2010
“Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.” – Charles M. Schulz

Goodbye January, Hello February

So I had a little bit of cabin fever this weekend. Stayed home from Wednesday evening through Sunday evening. I didn’t pull my car out of the garage until Monday morning to go to work, hopeful that the roads I needed to drive on would be clear and mostly free of ice. My tires… I need to get new ones but its just going to have to wait another month until I can afford it. So, if it is not too much to ask, no more ice and snow, please. Thank you!

I did get out once, on foot, to the nearest grocery store. I would love to live closer to some locally owned places but unfortunately I am closest to one of the biggest conglomerates and have to make do with it for now, especially when the weather has been this slushy!  On the way back I took a few pictures of my house as the snow became more blustery. The camera was starting to get damp, so I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked.  I did get a few pictures of a fire hydrant and a stop sign that someone hit.  Played around with them in Picnik, a free photo-editing website.  I ended up making some fun pictures.

I love looking out at my backyard and seeing a great sheet of white only disturbed by a few trees and a birdbath. It would be neat if I had some of those colorful bouncing balls from the toy department scattered throughout the snow. Pretty playful picture.

After work today I drove to Lake Hefner because I missed getting a few ice and snow shots around the lake when it snowed in December. I took a few today, but I may try again tomorrow. I love the little naked trees that curve in the direction the wind has blown.  These trees show the movement of the past.  My fingers were getting super cold! Silly me not wearing gloves!

Saturday I made some miniature frittatas. I am trying to learn to just combine what is important from a recipe with whatever I think I can add or subtract from the recipe. I didn’t have any half-and-half, so I used a little milk. So I used a box of frozen spinach I’ve had a while, chopped up some cherry tomatoes, sautéed them in olive oil, dropped a teaspoon worth in a greased large muffin pan, and poured beaten eggs and milk mixture on top. Added a little cheese and cooked it in my old gas oven for around 30 minutes at 350. Turned out pretty good!

Winter words

Tomorrow I return to work! Thursday my department took off work due to the weather we knew was arriving, and Friday the Museum was closed. So I have been home since Wednesday evening. Only Friday did I walk over to the store to get some groceries and that’s been the only time I left the house! I almost like it, but I think one more day of it I would have to go somewhere… Might as well be work!

So here’s a couple quotes to close the winter days and start February on the “right” foot.

January 30, 2010
“I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.” – John Burroughs, The Snow-Walkers (US essayist & naturalist, b.1837 – d.1921)

January 31, 2010
“February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March.” – Dr. J. R. Stockton

Overdue Writing Prompts

Here’s a few quotes for writing prompts. I missed a few days due to work and now weather, ultimately just being lazy about not posting them. I still had these as my status each day on facebook. I hope you find something inspiring from them.

January 26, 2010
“And now the sun might sink. The light of the whole world by no means died with it.” – Emerson Hough, from his novel, The Covered Wagon

January 27, 2010
“Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. The problem with making mental notes is that the ink fades very rapidly.” – Rolf Smith

January 28, 2010
“The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned.” – William Somerset Maugham

January 28, 2010
“In skating over thin ice our safety is our speed” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

January 29, 2010
“Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.” – Robert Frost

A Ribbon at a time

“I’ll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time.” – Emily Dickinson

Whenever I see the sunrise, or even a sunset, I think of this line from one of Emily Dickinson’s poems. I love that detail, imagining each little bit of light as a ribbon. And what do we do with that ribbon as the day moves forward or closes? If you could take a ribbon of sunrise with you throughout your day, how would you feel? And what difference would it make?

Use this line alone as a free-writing prompt for 15 minutes or so, and just go with it. I’ve also included the entire poem below.

I’ll tell you how the Sun rose
by Emily Dickinson

I’ll tell you how the Sun rose –
A Ribbon at a time –
The Steeples swam in Amethyst –
The news, like Squirrels, ran –
The Hills untied their Bonnets –
The Bobolinks — begun –
Then I said softly to myself –
“That must have been the Sun”!
But how he set — I know not –
There seemed a purple stile
That little Yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while –
Till when they reached the other side,
A Dominie in Gray –
Put gently up the evening Bars –
And led the flock away –

Pursue your path

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

And write about this path.  Where will it take you?  Why are you on it?  What brought you to this path?  What do you think you will learn about yourself on this path? Do you feel good about it?  Or focus on the physical landscape around the path that you envision you’re on. Trees, creeks, desert, mountains, birds, pavement or gravel or dirt road?  Go for it.

Sunday Sunset, 1-24-2010

Sunset at Lake Hefner, January 24, 2010

I went to Lake Hefner around 4pm to walk for a while. I pulled out my old running shoes, still a little dusty from being worn for a hike or camping trip, and tied them on.  I get started walking, not in the power-walk way or too slow of a stroll either, just fast enough to keep beat to some of the faster paced songs on my music player.  Then I started getting bothered by the upper heel of both shoes, the part that rubs against the back of my ankle.  I stop at a bench, take off the shoes, and tug and pull to stretch the shoe some and bend back the upper heel. This doesn’t really make much of a difference. I’m already a good way in, so it’s okay to turn back now.  I’d been walking for about 30 minutes. Plus, I had stopped to take a few pictures until the battery in my camera died.  I just knew it would before I left home!

So I finally get all the way back to my car, realize I have a couple of batteries that work, but I don’t know for how long.  I just want to capture the sunset again. So I sit by this solitary tree for another 30-40 minutes, thinking, exploring ideas for the next poetry book, thinking about people, and listening to the songs on my music player. I realize my left ankle feels stiff, so I check it out.  Apparently it did blister and bleed.  The little elastic pull loop at the upper heel of the shoes had worn through and had rubbed at my ankle until it bled.  Oh great. Ouch.

But at least I got some pretty sunset pictures (look at the Lake Hefner set on flickr) and I did manage to walk around an hour total.  :)

Color a Gray Day

It is a very gray day today in central Oklahoma.  I am working on getting my computer back to snuff; It tried to bite the dust this morning after a Windows update sent it on a cycling reboot.  I don’t know if the problem is deeper, but I couldn’t get it to stop so I had to dig out the recovery disc.  *sigh*  I was looking over my Flickr pictures and saw some of the flowers I took way back in the day.  Here’s a few of those colorful shots.

Stargazer lily in Berea, Kentucky, 2007

Flower somewhere out in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, July 28, 2008

Sunflower and Bee in Berea, Kentucky, July 20, 2008

Purple, Kentucky, 2007

Giant Daffodils in a cemetery, Rockcastle County, Kentucky, March 11, 2006

Trumpets of a beautiful day, Berea, Kentucky, 2008