madrigal

the window opens out
passing sun through its panes
and there is morning
wet, unbruised, and
very quiet

the trees are stunned
before their leaves
which gather up the light in rhythms
like the sound of birds

and then the window drifting closed
awakes me to myself
and closing down the latch, I smile
for I
have opened
_______________
Deep Thought: With every new sunrise, there is a new chance. But with every sunset, you blew it.
Today I am grateful for: Chances to rest

Friday Five

I must say I’m annoyed that Friday Five seems to have stopped producing new sets of 5′s, so I’m using old ones for now.

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
The first I recall was during Haight-Ashbury days. It was Ike & Tina Turner. I was on acid and got right up near the stage, then drifted back to lean on a big pillar which I later realized wasn’t there when I turned around to check. I got to see B.B. King, Cream, the Jefferson Airplane in the park, Santana, Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, and so many more. Wish I could do it over again without chemicals.
2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
No particular one – latest favorites are Lucinda Williams, Eric Clapton, Alison Moorer, Jonny Lang, Kasey Chambers.
3. What’s your favorite song?
The Captain by Kasey Chambers.
4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
I do play the piano and I wish I had one and I’m going to get one before another 5 years goes by. But I also wish I could play electric bass or rhythm guitar.
5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
George Harrison comes to mind. I didn’t think his music was particularly grabbing, but he seemed to be such a spiritual seeker. I’d like to see what he came up with in the end when he was meeting so many challenges.
Deep Thought: In my next life, I hope I come back as a parrot, because I already know quite a few words.
Today I am grateful for: Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color

Retail Therapy

Did you know they have special stores for us? Click on photo.
Deep Thought: Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the greatest works of genius ever created by Man.
Today I am grateful for: Grandiosity

Ghost Town

Stumbled across this at sean808080‘s blog.  It’s amazing.  Nuff said.  Click on the photo.

Deep Thought:  One day a beaver and a termite were walking down the road together. “I can eat through a tree with my teeth,” said the beaver. “That’s nothing,” said the termite, “I can burrow through a tree.” Then they heard a voice behind them. “You two think you’re so smart, but you’re nothing!” It was a bitter old drunk lady.
Today I am grateful for:  Voyagers

Masked and Anonymous

I have to say this is one of the most bizarre films I’ve seen in awhile.  I picked it up because I’m a stone Dylan fan from the early days and I was curious why he would lend himself to a flick.  Kind of hesitant too because it’s almost as scary to see Dylan in his senior years as it is myself.  Most of you young folks don’t remember where you were when you first heard Dylan like many from my generation do.  (I was living in a pre-hippie utopian school community in a big house in Pacific Grove, California and the Monterey Pop Festival had just happened.) He was not your basic macho hero type.  He was a slender tiny bodacious songwriter out of Hibbing, Minnesota of all places, who blew us all out of the water with his musical journey.  Who sings about war and peace anymore anyway?  About the closest we get to the truth these days is gangsta rap.  Dylan didn’t even have a melodious voice.  It was more like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.  But you didn’t care.  Because it was him singing.  Anyway, this film is surreal.  Dylan gets to sing some and kind of limp around from place to place observing the madness.  The fascination is in the cameos by, for example:  Jessica Lange, Christian Slater, Mickey Rourke, John Goodman, Luke Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Jeff Bridges, and many more.  Did they just want to hang with Dylan?  Did they need the money?  What?  There is no serious plot.  At the very end there’s a long close-up of Dylan and he still has the same fine eyes, but he never smiles.  But then I don’t remember him ever smiling in the Good Old Days either. 

Deep Thought:  If aliens from outer space ever came and we show them our civilization and they make fun of it, we should say we were just kidding, that this isn’t really our civilization, but a gag we hoped they would like. Then we tell them to come back in twenty years to see our real civilization. After that, we start a crash program of coming up with an impressive new civilization. Either that, or just shoot down the aliens as they’re waving goodbye.

Today I am grateful for:  Calendars

Daylight Savings Time

Thanks to Xanga, I remembered at bedtime yesterday but still overslept this morning.  Plus I thought it was going to be lighter when I came out of the house and instead it was darker.  Duh.

Deep Thought:If doctors ever tell you that you’ve “flipped out,” don’t believe them, and just keep on doing what you were doing, because something tells me “the Man” is behind this.

Today I am grateful for:  Visine

THINGS THAT REFRESH MY SOUL

Faces

Have you ever had the experience of walking along in your daily life and passing someone who looks right at you with the most open friendly smile, maybe just when you’re feeling a bit down yourself? You’d remember it if you did, because it really doesn’t happen all that often in this bustling stressed-out world we live in. Mostly faces are turned away at some angle or another, lost in their own thoughts, or if they look at you the look is suspicious, antagonistic. I treasure those moments of connection with the smilers. I call them Salt-of-the-Earth people. Faces tell us pretty much everything, even if a person is guarded. There are frown lines and laugh lines. There are the wrinkles of aging and of suffering. There are calm faces of those who have somehow found inner peace. There are children’s faces, not yet showing the loss of innocence. (The photo is my daughter in her early Haight-Ashbury years.) There are the faces of lovers of any age regarding each other with confidence in that love. There are angry faces, lonely faces, sad faces, frightened faces. There are faces of different colors. There is your own face looking back at you from the mirror. Hopefully, you like your face and it has served you well. I hope you will smile and look right at someone today with it.
Deep Thought: It’s funny that pirates were always going around searching for treasure, and they never realized that the real treasure was the fond memories they were creating.
Today I am grateful for: Cosmetics

Bummer Days

You would never guess that Nike is missing his upper left canine this morning. When I took him a few weeks ago for his regular yearly shots and exam, the vet said he had broken off that tooth far enough down that it could get infected and it was either approximately $600 for a root canal (that might or might not work) or $400 to pull it. I won’t even break down the various costs that go into that astronomical figure. Of course, even contemplating that amount of money put me in Paranoid Picked-On Pissed-Off Unfair Outraged mode, but what choice do I have as a responsible pet owner? This particular cat is the sweetest, gentlest soul, one of the strays that showed up in my back yard and stayed. Boy, did he hit the mother lode. So anyway, after calling around a bit to other vets to compare prices, I decided to go ahead and stay with my vet of many years. So I took him in Thursday night so he could be kept foodless and picked him up Friday late afternoon. I hated the whole project so much (not only because of the price but because of him having to lose one of his major teeth) that I was the opposite of nice to the desk girls who checked him in. (Aren’t they part of the The Plot?) See, I had a couple of molars of my own pulled in recent years – they’re way in the back but I can’t replace them with anything because they’re back teeth, important teeth, teeth that I figured show when I grin. I think it changed my grinning capacity forever. I had to grieve that. So I had to grieve Nike’s canine, even if he didn’t probably. Anyway, he sailed through. Now he has to take antibiotics for a few days but he’ll probably do fine. And you’d never guess, right?
Deep Thought: Life is a constant battle between the heart and the brain. But guess who wins. The skeleton.
Today I am grateful for: Liquid cat antibiotics so you don’t have to stuff a pill down their throat

Friday Five
1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life?
Many many many many. Early life mostly in one on the farm (for about 12 years). During college, the dorm one year and then about 6. The wandering years from 21 till 26 – dozens. The raising children years – about a dozen. The past 10 years – one. Not planning to move again ever unless my family ups and moves to far away.
2. Which was your favorite and why?
I haven’t actually lived in houses that much – mostly apartments and duplexes and flats. The three I liked best were the farmhouse where I grew up, a little whitewashed cottage with no plumbing or electricity on Formentera where I lived for 6 months in my 20′s, and the one where I live now.
3. Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why?
The moving itself is very stressful. Being in a new house is exciting.
4. What’s more important, location or price?
Price. Within what I can afford, location comes next, as well as ambience.
5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)?
I wrote this when I was 50: I would like to be living within 15 minutes of where I work, so I have to spend as little of my day commuting as possible. It will be a small house or duplex, with its own small private yard and/or garden and some kind of a view. It will have two bedrooms so that even if I live alone I can have a guest when I feel like it. Portland is fine. I have no desire to move anywhere else anymore. I don’t want to own a home – at my income level, it’s more expensive than it’s worth. My little house will have all white walls inside, many plants, beautiful framed pictures, a superb sound system, oriental rugs, natural wood contrasts, and lots of light.Well, much has changed in the 15 years since then. I did buy a house and I feel it was a good investment – $80,000 in 1994 is now worth about $150,000. Refinanced to a 15-year mortgage last year. My commute isn’t bad though I won’t miss it now that I’m going to part-time. I get to drive it at non-rush-hour traffic times. It is tiny, but it has 2 bedrooms and a sweet yard in back which I’m trying to make as private as possible. No view – sigh. Been thinking about painting a few of the walls other colors than white lately. Not so good with plants, could probably use more. Did the framed pictures thing – lots of art by my family. Still don’t have the superb sound system but I don’t listen to music that much when I’m alone. Makes me lonely for some reason. No oriental rugs yet. Maybe this summer’s garage sales… Could use more actual wood. Plenty enough light for me. I like cozy.
Deep Thought: I knew Mrs. Stewart, our neighbor, was afraid of black cats, so one day I dressed up in a black cat costume and went over and mowed her lawn. Then I left. I think that cured her.
Today I am grateful for: Home equity