the folding of the wings

A dear old friend passed the other day. Passed as in died.

It had been years since I'd seen her, even though she only lived an hour away. I spoke with her a couple years ago, and meant to make - and keep - plans to get together, but never did.  A few months ago I got word that she was terminally ill, and even though there was part of me that wanted to go see her, wanted to say goodbye, there was another, obviously stronger part that just...didn't.

So I didn't.

And now she's gone beyond the veil, and I hope she forgives me for being such a terrible friend. Or not a friend.

The fact is I really am a terrible friend.  I'm not sure why, but I am. I don't stay in touch, I go incommunicado for years at a time, I don't call or write or visit...and yet, for some reason that I don't comprehend, people still love me, and rally 'round to offer support when I need it, and miss me when I'm gone (which is always).

There will be a celebration of my friend's life later this week, at the home she loved so, for the people who love her. As much as I want to be there, I think I forfeited that right by not visiting when she was alive.

I love you, Georgie.  As long as I can I will look at this world for both of us.

George Anne Egerton
April 6, 1931 - August 11, 2011

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.

Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~ Rabindranath Tagore



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removes the rough edges

We watched the movie Cinema Verite last night. Have you seen it? It's based on the true story of the Loud family, who were the "stars" of television's first reality show in the early 1970s. This film tells the behind-the-scenes stories of what went on during the taping, which is interesting enough. For me, though, the real fascination was the set and costume design (and watching Diane Lane; she was phenomenal).  I was awash in nostalgia by the time it was over.

That said, there was some really great design in the 1970s...and some that was truly hideous. I'll let you decide for yourself how these images measure up.

"WOMAN ALIVE" 

Is this little perv looking up her skirt?! I think so!

(Speaking of pervy...)

Random '70s guy

Sexy!

 Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days. 

~Doug Larson

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this is life

Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe that. 

You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.

- Grace Jones

*****

THIS IS LIFE

Grace Jones

This is my voice
My weapon of choice

This is life
This is life

This is plate
This is a cup
This is a story I didn't make up
This is a girl lost in the woods
Some kind of wagon from some other 'hood

This is a voice
These are the hands
This is technology
Mixed with the band

Are you going into the light
Are you free of fear today
When you lie down to sleep do you kind of float away

This is life
This is life

Most of my crimes are of optimism
40 thousand volts of recognition
They tried to strip me of dignity
But I still have tenacity

These are the words I didn't invent
Only an attempt to say what I meant

This is the paper
This is the pen
This is my weapon
A means to an end

Are you going into the desert
You're out of control of your fate
There are no warriors without a war
So get ahead before it's too late

This is life (ya'll)

Lay down your spear
Let go your fear
Far becomes near

Oh Lord
This is life (hey!)

This is the tree
The Buddha slept under
These are the clouds
This is our thunder

This is what makes me look up and wonder
Into the eye of the wind
Through the rain
On to the plain

This is what I'm focused on
This is my head on straight
This is the harness
This is the bait
This is me
I'm flying again

This is a lawyer
Professional liar
There, Taking
Igniting the fire

This is the key
This is the door
Imagine the view from the basement floor

(Hey!)
Now you're going into the desert
You're out of control of your fate
Are you a slave in a chain of command
Serving up another man's head

This is life

Lay down your spear
Let go your fear
Far becomes near
Look out

This is life

Are you going into the light
Are you freeing your fear today
When you lie down to sleep
Do you kind of float away

This is depression
It comes when you're blocking
This is expression
It comes when your rocking

This is life

This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
This is (ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)

When you lie down to sleep
Do you kind of float away
(This is a plate, this is a cup, this is a story, this is a story I didn't make up)

When you lie down to sleep
Do you kind of float away
(This is a plate, this is a cup, this is a story I didn't make up)

This is the world still healing
This is man that's feeling
This is the world still turning
This is the rage still burning
This is the man not learning
This is life

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

DISCLAIMER: I found this post HERE first. I loved it so much, and it so perfectly fits how I feel,  that I decided to repost - with a few edits - it here, in my world. Thanks to AGNETA for the inspiration!



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the cure for anything

I've had the sea on my mind a lot lately. I've been drawn to images of water and sand and sky. I've been thinking about boats, and anchors, so much so that it feels like "Yeah, a boat on the sea, I know about that, that's something I'm going to do..." As if it's part of my life. Which it isn't.

 I think it's symbolic, my longing for and (totally false) feeling of familiarity with the sea.

 I just have to figure out what it's symbolic of.

I'm sure it's partly to do with not going to Scotland this summer. But it's more than that.

Do you have any ideas?

When I get it figured out I'll let you know...



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the peace of wild things

We moved to the country for many reasons. We wanted privacy, quiet, security, room for our dogs to roam and romp..and the simple beauty of living where the world is slightly less tame, and slightly more wild.

BlackBaroque on etsy

We've found all that and more here on Moss Hill, and although most of what happens here - at least most of what we witness - isn't particularly spectacular, and is, in fact, really quite routine, the wonder of it all never ceases to delight and amaze.

Quail scurry around  - looking rather idiotic - eating the bits thrown from the bird feeder by messier birds. Deer pass through every evening, always along the same path at the edge of the yard. Hummingbirds swoop and flitter around the feeders, fueling their mania with sugar water.

Under cover of darkness, tree frogs swim in the pool, and climb onto our outstretched hands if we're in the water with them. One of them has taken up temporary residence on the porch, singing from the rim of the fountain in the evenings, and sleeping in the now-empty pollywog pool during the day. (Did I tell you about the pollywogs?...We raised a dozen or so in a habitat I put together using an under-bed storage tote, sand, rocks, and water. They all grew up over the course of the summer, some into toads, others into tree frogs. The last one moved out yesterday.)

tinyartjewelry on etsy

Bats soar and dive at dusk and dawn...Last week I lay down in the grass at sunrise as a whole cloud of bats fluttered and plummeted to within a few feet of my face, catching their breakfast of insects rising up from the warming grass. I had to hold my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out, it was so thrilling. My equivalent of swimming with dolphins, I think.

I know these things are commonplace, but to me they'll never be ordinary. This humble world of hours is a marvelous place, and I, for one, am madly in love with it.

Property of Russ Thompson, Louisville KY
Visit Enjoyable Hummingbirds to see more.

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me, 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be - 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, 

and the great heron feeds. 

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. 

I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. 

For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry

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