Another Week Down

So, this has been the second full week of 2017. So far, not QUITE as shocking as 2016, but still pretty darned depressing.

We have been threatened with ice storm Armageddon, and had temps in the 60s during the past week.

Today is the day we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  If ever we needed a leader like him, we need one now.  We need someone who  can speak truth to the people, and make them hear it.  We are all of us going to have to step up in the next four years and be prepared to say "NO! That is NOT what America is about!  America is NOT about racism, or letting our allies down, or making enemies out of our friends, or honoring our enemies INSTEAD of our friends. "
Keep calling your representatives and Senators, every single time an issue concerns you, let them know you are concerned.  CALL.  That is something the staffers have to deal with, and they will definitely tell their boss about the calls.

I think one reason it has been so easy for a foreign power to encourage us to be divided and hateful is because we have gotten complacent and lazy about our democracy.  We do not involve ourselves, we don't go to city council meetings, or pay much attention to anything our elected officials do, unless it threatens to directly affect our pocketbooks.  Well, friends, the stuff our Congress is talking about doing right now is going to affect ALL of our pocketbooks, big time.  The only ones who will benefit are a few very rich people who will get a nice tax break, while the rest of us stand to lose our health care and the Social Security and Medicare benefits WE'VE been paying for all these years.  Don't let them do it.  Call and voice your concern!

So, enough of that, on to the journal:

January 9, 2017

Today's Lyrics are :

"Because Of
Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
To my old age.
They make a secret place
In their busy lives
And they take me there.
They become naked
In their different ways
And they say
"Look at me , Leonard
Look at me one last time."
Then they bend over the bed
And cover me up
Like a baby that is shivering."

- Leonard Cohen

Perhaps he found his experience that way -
or perhaps this is a bit in jest-
But sometimes an artist's work will touch us
and we MUST respond
One way or another.

"Naked in their different ways"
again perhaps there are more difficult types of nakedness than the physical.
Sharing our thoughts, our honest thoughts - with another is very scary business.

I grow sleepy
Too weary to wield the pen
So - off to bed
To sleep
Perchance to dream...

January 10, 2017

Today's lyrics of Leonard Cohen are "Bird On A Wire"

This song is so familiar to me, I've heard it so often, that I really have to stop and look at the words.
Though that image of "A drunk in a midnight choir" is one that always makes me smile.
Free, indeed.  No inhibitions.
I don't always see the birds perched on wires around here as free.  They seem to be in rigid formation, all spaced just so - all taking off or landing at the same time.

The images of the baby still born and the beast with his horn "Tearing everyone who reached out" for him, that's an odd and very effective image for me.
Several friends, and even a family member, have had stillborn babies.
It hurts SO much, even when you aren't a family member - the lost dreams for that little one who was loved even though they weren't quite here yet.


January 11, 2017

Today the temperatures are in the 60s, and the sky is blue, streaked with feathery clouds.
The breeze is from the South, the air is moist, for a change.
Yet we are threatened with ice and then cold rain
As soon as the day after tomorrow.
Such a world we live in-
Such a world.

Today's Song lyrics are "Boogie Street"
The whole thing is about how we live in this hustling, bustling, working world, and have so very few so very short - lived reprieves of love and closeness,
and then we're back out in the world -
Back on Boogie Street.

Mr Cohen has said that the respites are tine spent with loved ones, or with a spouse or lover making love -
But to me, the respite sometimes comes in singing

Choir rehearsal tonight was a much needed, sublime experience of losing myself in the blend of our voices in song.

Many of us have been singing together for many years-
These are people I care for - my choir family- we lift our voices in worship and praise, and it is also work, to get the notes right, to get the sound to come out right,
But it is also love -
Love for God, for each other, and for that beautiful music.
We are made new,
Refreshed,
Blessed,
By our time with the music.
 Our voices blend - becoming one voice -


The part of "Boogie Street"  that
most speaks to me is:
"So come, my friends, be not afraid
We are so lightly here
It is in love that we are made;
In love we disappear.
Though all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for."

The sublime moments seem to be what life is about, yet they are so fleeting and we're - boom- back in cold, hard reality again - back on Boogie Street.

But what he's saying is- these moments of losing ourselves  - in love, beauty, pleasure -
THAT is real life -
and we don't have a clue why all the hustle and bustle of Boogie Street seems so necessary -
No one's told us- are we to learn from it, learn to  do without it - or just endure it?

Perhaps it serves as contrast
so that we may TRULY appreciate those moments of transcendent bliss
When they appear.

January 12, 2017

Today's song lyric is By The Rivers Dark

"By the rivers dark
I wondered on
I lived my life
in Babylon

And I did forget
My holy song.
And I had no strength
In Babylon

By the Rivers dark
Where I could not see
Who was waiting there
Who was hunting me..."

A powerful lyric, and one we seem, unfortunately, to be living out.
Cast into a suddenly foreign place
By our fellow citizens who voted for "change"
They voted for revenge,
But the joke's on  them.
They are getting disaster
And unfortunately,
They will take the rest of us
down with them.
They will not realize until
Far too late
That they sold themselves
Onto Evil's plate,
And they shall be consumed.

However,
I have NOT forgotten
My holy song
That God is LOVE
And if we are of God,
We must conquer fear and hate
With LOVE.
We must fight back
and sing our holy songs
As loudly as we can.
The Spirit sings in all
Who believe
And will amplify our voices
Come, let us sing!

January 13, 2017

Cold
Icy
Slippery
Still we are at work
But tomorrow
Will be a day
To cower
Inside
With a hot beverage
And a good book
In my cozy nook
Where I can watch
The ravenous cold
Work it's icy will
Upon the world.

Today's lyrics
"Came So Far For Beauty"
"I came so far for beauty
I left so much behind
My patience and my family,
My masterpiece unsigned

I thought I'd be rewarded
For such a lonely choice
And surely she would answer
To such a very hopeless voice."


This song details a search for the approval of the desired object "Beauty" - or the attention of someone- and how no matter what the seeker does, his or her suit goes unremarked, ignored.

How often do we pursue some unobtainable, really unnecessary goal - someone's attention, recognition from a certain person or group, self-aggrandizement - how often are we ignored
because we make this pursuit for the wrong reason, or out of purely selfish need.

How often do some think they can buy approval
Only to learn that it really
Must be earned.

I should avoid the Friends shelves.
Yet another book has beguiled me.
I have so many already
Yet to be read
I'll still be reading
Ten years after I'm dead!

January 14, 2017
Today it was cold, but the rain was rain, and did not freeze.
A hawk grabbed a bird on our porch and hauled it across the street to make it his brunch.

It was one of those days when steam from heater and water heater vents streamed toward Texas on the North Wind.

It is also the day that Chelsea Hotel #2 is the Leonard Cohen Song of the day.

It does give one a glimpse of life for performers in the 60s - especially rock stars.

There is a sadness, and a little nostalgia, perhaps, in those words.

Today has been an out of sorts day for me.  I don't feel I've accomplished anything but my workout and a few loads of laundry.

January 15, 2017

A dreary, wet, lazy Sunday.

We went to church
We went out to lunch
Came back home and read
A bunch.
Then I did my elliptical training
Because by then it was REALLY raining.
Got inspired and baked some bread
The kind you eat with tea
Now we're probably too well fed
We'll just have to see

Today's lyrics are "Closing Time "

Such a long piece, and well done.
Brings out the manic
and the melancholy
of the bar scene.
Not that I ever experienced
The bar scene,
But I know those who have,
And I read a lot.
< Intermission...........
And here hath several pages to one another clung,
And thus caused an unintended empty space
To be sprung
Into this journal.

So now I must blather on
And fill this space, else
it be wasted,
And I cannot tolerate
The waste of journal space

Sometimes
The blank page
Seems an  insurmountable
Challenge.
Nothing
Comes to mind
To be placed on
The page.
Other times
The hand cannot
Write fast enough
To keep up
With the flood
Of words-
Perhaps
If one is lucky
In those profuse times
An idea or two
Pops onto the page
Amid the crush
Of words.

Usually
One is not lucky
Words may pour forth
But they are mundane
And pedestrian
No inspiring images
At all.
Having a bit of
That problem
This evening
Though
That rain
Drumming down
Out there
Begs me to do
Something
With it -

For so long
It has been so dry
The plants all threaten
To shrivel up and die
But today
The rains came
And they have been
Steady.
The kind the plants
Will find useful
So there may be hope
Of a garden again
Once Winter thaws
Into Spring.

The rhythms of rain
Are various
Not just the varying
Tempo
Of its fall to the ground,
But many other things
Affect the sound,
Windshield wipers
Whoosh, groan and thump,
Tin roofs
Make for popcorn sounds
Dull thuds come from
The shingle covered wood
Above my head
Splats from overburdened gutters
Spilling over.
But mostly
The gentle, lovely
Murmur
Of rain
Refreshing the earth
Lulling us to sleep
Soaking in deep.
--------------------> and now, back to our show!

"And it's partner found,
It's partner lost
And it's hell to pay when the fiddler stops:
It's CLOSING TIME."

A metaphor for the progression of a relationship, too, I'm sure- much of Mr. Cohen's work is.

Outside, the rain pours down
And I am grateful for a sound 
Roof over my head
And comfortable things
In a comfortable house.
Grateful for food to eat,
And electricity to keep the
House running.

January 16, 2017

Martin Luther King day -
And what an odd day in our National life it is as our president elect continues to say things that leave us in grave danger.  He would abandon our friends in NATO in favor of his man-crush Putin.
Shame on him, and shame on Congress if they let him do this.

At least today the sun came out after a long abscence
I walked outdoors again for the first time in days.
Today's lyrics:
"Coming Back To You"

Indeed this seems like a calling out to his Muse, not a conversation with a real person.  But these days I am so discouraged, it's hard to find inspiration,
Even when handed such
Beautiful words.


Liberty
(C.K.Armistead 1/16/17)

Oh, Lady,
What have we done?
Your torch has gone out,
You're losing your crown;
 We've let ourselves forget
The best things we stood for
And it ain't over yet
But it feels like we're done for.
There's a man hurling hate
At anyone brown
Threatening to close the gate
Threatening to tear it down
We must raise our voices
While we still have them
And say his are not OUR choices
And see if we can stop him
But the way ahead is uncertain
We don't know what to do
He's building an Iron Curtain
And he's drawing it around you.

Humbly submitted for your consideration.  These are rough works, mere jottings, just a discipline to make me revisit them and edit them.  I hope you enjoy them, and that they make you think, and maybe do some writing of your own.

Fear and Loathing, Or Politics In America Today

I despise our political process in this country.  It has devolved into some sort of contest to see who is the biggest bully or the glibbest liar. 
That said, I wade through stories and statements and reports, and try to make intelligent decisions when it seems most of my fellow citizens either do "eeny, meeny, miney mo"  or vote for the one who has gotten the most publicity, or in some cases, for whomever their pastor has instructed them to vote for. 
This year, I have decided that NONE of the Republican possibilities are qualified to be President.  None have the presence, or the presence of mind, or the ability to execute that office without sinking this great nation into a slough of disaster it might never recover from. 
On the Democratic side, I'd love to be able to make a hybrid of the two candidates.  We need Hillary's experience with working the system and dealing with the rest of the world, we need Bernie's sensible ideas about getting things on track here.  I really do hope whoever wins, that those two will work together, and it is my most fervent prayer that God deliver us from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.  Both of them have demonstrated ignorance of our Constitution, and shown contempt for people other than themselves.  It frightens me that such as they could even be seriously CONSIDERED for the office of President. 

All that aside, here are this week's ruminations on life, the universe, and everything

3/7/16
Again faced
With an empty page
Each day's challenge
The same, but not.
Because no two days
Are really
The same.
So many  things I could
Be doing
But I promised
I would Write. So here I am
Filling lines
And time
With not much.
Story of my life.


3/8/16

Left it late
We often do
Leave what should
Be done
To the last possible
Moment
Catching ourselves
On the ragged edge
Of commitments
And needs
How prone to wander off
Is the mind
Especially nowadays
When so many
Beguiling
Electronic amusements
Beckon
Some feel productive
But they all
Just eat our time.
Some time IS
Well spent
If it allows
Us to connect to
Others
But most is
Just vacant
Staring at words
And cat pictures
On a screen.
Or playing idle games.
All of it gone
With the flip of a switch.

Perhaps it is an apt metaphor for all of life.
 So much of what we do seems pointless
 and yet is important to someone.
And our very existence could be wiped out just that quickly -
The strike of a meteor,
The launch of a missile
The spread of a microbe -
We are far more vulnerable than we wish to believe.
So, I'll cherish all my friends
The ones here,
And the ones all over the world
Online
All just as real
As you or I
For all that
Some
I've never met in person.



3/9/16

O coffee,
Elixir made
From magic beans
Hot and strong
Waking me up
On a foggy, grey
Morning.When I would much
Rather
Stay in bed.
Giving back
The ability
To think ,
Clearing my head
But this morning
Your flavor
Reminds me
That I need
To clean
The coffee maker
But still,
You are good.
For there are magic
Cocoa beans
In this batch,
Too.


O Lord,
How we
Poor,
Blind humans
Grope about
Seeking You.
We each have
Different perspectives
On what the greater
Power is -
Some don't see You
Because they cannot
Or will not
Others have tried
In so many ways
To describe
That which cannot BE
Described.
 I believer we are ALL
Responsible
For living up to the
Truth
However we received it -
And that Truth
Universally
Seems to me to be
LOVE.
So many
Use the name
Of God
As an excuse,
A rallying point,
For behavior
That goes directly
AGAINST the heart of
EVERY message
About
You
 That we have ever heard
From the teachers you
sent
And from You, Yourself,
As I believe
You came
We are NOT
Loving our neighbors
As ourselves,
And we are
Certainly
NOT
Loving God with all of our
Being.
Forgive us
And help us
Before we
Destroy
Each other -
I beg You!

Lord, in Your Mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER !


3/10/16

I missed a day.  Easy to do when there are so many things that clamor for time and attention.
I thought I had that is, - turns out that pages stuck together
I THOUGHT I had written yesterday, but the evidence
Seems otherwise.
No coffee
Today
So I am
Slower to
Wake
But I can't
Have that jolt
Too often
It isn't good
For my body
So my mind
Must patiently
Rouse itself
Instead of depending
On Coffee's
Alarm
Calling all things
Into focus
And action
More slowly
Instead of
In the fire-drill
Immediacy
That Coffee
Can cause
For me.

An adventure tonight
At work
I've done it
Only once before
But it's
ZUMBA TIME
and I'm going
To work out
With them
The adventure really
Is in remembering
ALL the details.


3/12/16


Another lost day.
Yesterday I just wanted to read.
Writing appealed not at all.
Today I have more time,
But I don't feel there is anything to say

Other than
To express my sorrow
Over the mess
Our election process
Has become.
I really fear that
Trump is popular because
He knows exactly how to
Manipulate the fearful and frustrated
among the
Great, under-educated masses
In this country.
He panders to the selfish nature
Of those who seem to
Think they pay for
Everyone else.
I can understand frustration
I cannot understand naked hatred
And seeking to blame
A group or groups
For your problems.
That sounds too much
Like a song we heard before
From a guy named Hitler.
Remember him?
Remember how many people
DIED stopping him?
Remember how many he
Slaughtered
before the world
woke up and decided to
Stop him?

This generation would do well to quit being so selfish and lazy and look to long - term and HUMANE solutions to our problems.  Hate and blame do not solve problems, they create MORE problems, bigger problems, the kind that will see this great nation reduced to rubble.
Trump doesn't care one BIT about ANY of you and your frustrations, except as a means to give himself power.  He will throw you under the bus in a hot minute if it will suit his purpose.  He doesn't care for anyone but himself, and he certainly doesn't know a single thing about God.  His behavior and his words show that.  Treating anyone who disagrees with him like garbage to be thrown out - he shows us exactly what kind of state we'd be in if he wins. 
You enjoy your right to free speech?  Kiss it and your social media good-bye.  Trump is threatened by opposition of any sort.  He will quash it.  Whether it is legal to do so or not.  The law of the land does not seem to matter to him, either.
He will start rounding up any group he dislikes and "disposing" of them because they are "a threat to the country" - If our Congress would do it's job, he'd be impeached the first time he tried any of that, but who knows?  Most of Congress (and alas, our population) seem ignorant of the very Constitution that they have sworn to uphold.
Trump has stirred up something vile in this country.  For the first time, I really fear the end is near.  I beg of you, vote for anyone other than a man who openly shows his contempt for every single principle of freedom that this country was founded on.  While you're at it, keep an eye on what the other Republican front runners are saying, because some of them sound like religious cult leaders rather than presidential candidates. 
This country needs common sense and cohesion, not a narcissist stirring up division and dangerous hatred.
Our strength is in our ability to work and live together, in spite of our differences, and our ability to use those differences to solve our problems.  You can't go wrong with a variety of talents and perspectives brought to bear on our issues.  That's how this country became a great nation to begin with!

Here They Come Again...

Those random thoughts that don't really go together, or make enough for one blog post on their own...


Why do I have so little patience with politicians?  I really DON'T want to listen to them.  I just get the feeling that if their lips are moving, they're lying.

Why are we having potentially severe thunderstorms in FEBRUARY ??!!  This crap isn't SUPPOSED to get serious until MAY.  Go away, Bloody Weather!
(Monty Python reference, for those of you who don't get it...)

How is it that I set out to get some things (like making birthday cards) done, and end up putting it off until it's almost too late?  (Perhaps it's a denial of how swiftly time is passing...)

The heartbreak of forgetting to put on your fitness tracker before a workout when you've just joined a competition on FitBit...

How is it that I gained no weight on a trip when I ate all kinds of fattening stuff, but gained three pounds after I've been home a week?


Strange how close you can be to people who live far away.  I have family and friends like that.  Treasures.  So glad for all the new ways to stay in touch.

I am sick unto death of the presidential race already, and primary season isn't even really kicked off yet.  Sigh.  It's going to be a LONG year.

Why are quality eyeglasses so expensive?  If I don't buy the more expensive frames, they fall apart early.  I am rather hard on my eyeglasses, as I wear them so much.  Lately though, I don't need to wear them 24/7, so I take them off from time to time to let my eyes readjust.  So, I just spent a young fortune on something I need, but may not need to wear all the time.  Nice.

All kinds of shopping is more fun with your girlfriends.  Even if those girlfriends are on Twitter, and not in the store with you.  My sister #PerlGirls helped me pick out my frames for my new glasses and sunglasses today.  I think we did well.  We'll know for sure in about two weeks.

Hey, they showed up early!  I got a text to pick them up this morning. Not too shabby, eh?

Every now and then, I have a really grouchy, self-doubting day and think that I've been deluding myself all along about what my life is really like...

Sometimes, even things that should be good things make you sad.

Trying to get something out of your head and onto a page is the most difficult job there is.  God bless the writers who manage to do this every day.

New glasses always take some getting used to.  These are better than the old ones, but I still have to hold my head at an awkward angle when using the computer sometimes.  As long as I can focus toward the bottom of the screen, I'm good.  Higher up on the page, and I have to tip my head back to see through the proper lens.

Time flies, even when you're sitting on your bum and staring at the wall. (I meant to be reading, but got lost in thought...)

Third Week Of Advent

Last Sunday we lit the third candle on the Advent wreath, the candle of joy.  Only problem is, this year, I'm not really feelin' it.  Oh, I'm content enough, but I just don't have the anticipation that I usually feel for the Holiday season.  Christmas has become just another set of chores.  This makes me sad, because I have always loved this time of year. Usually, you can feel the extra joy and caring in the air, but this year, everything seems so sinister, and depressing.  So much hate right here in our own country, so many hard hearts, so little compassion. 
Even the traditions I cherish are not giving me much peace or joy this year.  I don't feel particularly depressed or anything, just kind of blah.  Hard to get excited about anything much right now. 
I know there are good things happening, there are LOTS of caring people around still, but the overwhelming media blitz of idiots spouting hate is blotting it out.  Let's hear more about the good things people do, and less about the politicians who just say whatever to get attention. 

Let those of us who are Christians act a bit more like Jesus, and a bit less like the Pharisees.  Let us all be a bit less swift to judge, and a lot faster to offer help. 

I wish for all of you a season of peace and joy, of little things that bring comfort, and loved ones to share it with.  I wish for all of us a world where love grows and hatred fades, and where the joy we are supposed to find in this season is ours all year long.