Dreamiest of the Dream Pens

I don't know if the lettering will show up but this magnificent Italian pen, the first to be truly leak-proof, costs $1,436.00 and that's the SALE price! It will have to be, always, a dream pen
but I most certainly love looking at it!

SOME OF THE TERMS OF LONG TERM CARE

1. Eat at least one grapefruit every morning, especially
in the winter.

2. Keep a garden, even if only in your imagination.

3. In order to take yourself lightly, practice high wire
walking every day for at least five minutes. Make sure
to keep a trampoline directly beneath the high wire
which, incidentally, should be no more than two feet
off the ground.

4. Read a good poem before you go to sleep.

5. Read a good poem upon waking.

6. Allow rebirth to occur with essay writing. For every
creative essay you write, you extend your life by one year,
your health by two.

7. Say Yes loudly three times and take action on each
sweet golden sunrise before you allow the tiny
hard seed of no to sprout in the very dirty dirt of doubt.

8. Visit the Bedouins at least once a year.
Bring your own camel.

9. Believe in the rivers that have disappeared under deserts.

10. Every animate and inanimate being is inhabited
holiness. They pray for you. Remember to pray for them.

11. Go to an antique store and buy an old sled. Use it in snow,
on sand, in petals.

12. Build a bed in a tree. Sleep there. You will not know
if you are in a boat or a hot air balloon. Your dreams,
thus suspended in a sanctuary of light leafiness,
will teach you the miracles particular to hand carved wooden
bowls, the secrets hidden deep inside mirrors, the architecture
of birds nests and pyramids.

13. Yes, it is worth buying -- costs nothing, lasts as long as you do.

Home

As a kid, I spent every free moment living inside the forsythia bush -- when it bloomed. It was so huge that the blossoms hid me entirely. A brief but miraculous castle.

Complete Silliness

FIRST INDOOR ANT OF SPRING!

Just in the last hour, the tulips are beginning to open. It's over 90 degrees outside --
middle of summer heat in April. But that's New England. Seems to me there has never been a book on earth more beautiful than this bloom!

I feel quiet, sturdy joy every time I see the green world defeat concrete, even if the concrete is a wall on my property! In this case, the plant life seems to be making a leafy chapel.

Slept a long time at the bottom of the sea

When the ship sank, this small tea bowl and saucer drifted to the bottom of the South China
Sea and stayed there for over 300 years. Today, I
took them down to the river to photograph them. But not too close. It seems unlikely they'd want anything further to do with heavy water. I haven't even been able to make myself pour tea into the cup. But I do spend a fair amount of time daydreaming about their long, long drift and sleep in the South China Sea. . .

One of our very best patients

A heart for Clytie

If you haven't, you should check out
this very cool blog:
http://clytie- randomhearts.
blogspot.com
She's got a real gift for finding hearts in the most unexpected places.
I found this heart for her today after a long rain. This is the asphalt of my street. The heart lasted for about 20 minutes, then was gone. It's left half is made of tree reflections in a waver and the right half is reflecting sky.
Nice balance!

In the Exam Room

Yesterday, at the wildlife refuge where I volunteer, we received a murre who came in covered with oil. I'm on the right, restraining the bird. You can see the tip of its bill, just barely, on the left side of my hand. Amy's on the left, trying to get a blood sample from its leg. Later, I held the bird while Amy washed it with Dawn soap, a long, difficult process for all concerned. Had to use lots of soap and very nearly hot water. Amy scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. She probably had to do it all over again today.

Murre

Not my picture, but you can see how beautiful the bird is.

Just came home from the grocery store

It probably goes without saying but my favorite things in the grocery store are the packages of edible flowers.
Once, when I had a broken heart,
and really could not eat, I tricked myself by making salads entirely from flowers. And it worked!

Marjoram

How anything survived this winter is more than I can say but deep beneath the biggest pile of old leaves, I found the marjoram and felt like someone had just given me a new bicycle. That happy!

Surrounded by appreciative Sweet Williams,
a tulip, in light from the west, does a grand ballerina imitation.

New Money?

Was outside for six hours today, tending to the iris, tulips, daffodils; weeding, raking and raking and raking. It was 50 degrees, rainy, perfect. I have over 30 packets of seeds. Too early to plant. But the packets are so beautiful. I wish we traded them instead of dollars.

After taxes, life begins anew

Today was one of those deliciously warm days, all the more delicious because there are days and days of cold weather lined up, waiting to reclaim their kingdom! But I got the summer quilt washed and the sweet day dried it. Even if I don't use the quilt until June, it will, I am sure, still smell of early spring.

The Nap Collapse!

And just to help things along inside. . .

Despite wild wind and unseasonably cold weather, spring has taken matters into its own hands, so to speak. This is the day all the trees looked as if they had been beaded overnight. Buds, really. And this sweet gift of leaves is new to the blackberry vine.

EASTER MERMAID

Eloise

Every time I fill Eloise's water dish,
she drops in this toy. You can see its ears are totally soaked and one arm is becoming submerged. E. always drops the toy in a pose that suggests the purple dog has given up hope of ever living anywhere but in the water dish.

My friend Kimberly's a terrific poet. You read her poems and feel glad to be alive. She's shy, though. I had to take this picture of her when she wasn't looking. . .

When I look out the window of my second floor writing room, this is what I see. Picture on the right is a little blurry, partly because the glass in the window is 100 years old and full of age swirls. In a few weeks, the water won't be visible, hidden behind a veil of leaves. Every day has its own special reasons to be loved.

Happy Birthday to the Buddha

Today is the Buddha's birthday. And the moon is only hours away from being full. What is more Buddha-like than the moon or more moon-like than the Buddha? The message from tonight's full moon: When you are feeling the most splintered, that's when you are most likely to he barboring a secret and beautiful fullness.

ANIMAL TAXI

I volunteer for a wildlife rehabilitation center. They called me yesterday to locate and capture
a "beaver with rabies." At least that's what the person who phoned in said. I have my rabies shots, no problem. But how does one capture a beaver? Fortunately, for me and the critter, the beaver in question had vanished. Most likely it had been sunning on the road. And even more likely, no rabies. Here is a little beaver info: they are the largest rodent in North America. The only larger rodent is the capybara, native of South America. One native American word for them translates to "affable." Beavers can weigh up to 5o pounds. And a little more than 13,000 years ago, beavers were the size of black bears! While I cannot say that I have ferried about a beaver, my car has been transport to baby skunks, porcupines, pigeons, bats, raccoons, crows, sea gulls, a parasitic Jaeger, great horned owl baby, red tailed hawk and cormorants. Most well-behaved passenger? The porcupine!

Rilke for a very rainy, dark night

Randall Jarrell did this "adaptation" from Rilke. Adaptation, same as translation but more honest. Here, it's a raw, cold, rainy night and the wind sounds particularly harsh. Good night for this poem, one of my favorites.

A VARIATION ON "To Say To Go To Sleep"

If I could I would sing you to sleep.
I would give you my hand to keep
in yours 'til you fell asleep,
And take it away then, slowly.
I would sit by you and be.

In the world the dark would be deep.
I would watch. And at last, I would sleep.

But if rain should star the stream
of your sleep, I would whisper, "See
you are asleep" and slowly
your breath would change in your dream.
'Til ages and ages deep
in the dark, you would say to me
I love you.

I love you,
but I am here always.
Sleep now.
Sleep.

Randall Jarrell from Rilke

If it's true that April showers bring May flowers then we'll be
petal-flooded in no time at all. Just beyond the tree, the river's
moving. Tide coming in. You can't see the water because its
the same color as the rain. Perfect color for a nightgown. . .

Here, clearly, the Buddha is laughing the flowers into place! I have fallen so in love with everything blooming.

There are two Buddhas in the garden. One is laughing and one is serious. Here, the crocuses
are sneaking up on the serious one. Of course.

Chloe's roses

Same Flower, Sunlight instead of rainlight

"Stand Still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here. . ."
--David Wagoner
from "Lost"

Bought this plant years ago for the outdoor garden but
I bring it in during the winter. Have no idea what it is.
At least a close cousin to hibiscus? Whatever it is, its my
first choice at the reincarnation desk!

Geranium leaves by rain-light.

1993-2009

Winter's Left-Behinds

And yet another lost shawl. . .

Everyday Life

Loneliness, my everyday life.
The sweeping winds pass on the
night bell sound.
--Ching An

Her Majesties.

Snow or no snow -- doesn't matter much to the crocus who is definitely the Queen of late March and early April. Also, found this one blade of grass poking up through roadside leaves. That's my watchword for the season: persistence.

Just went on a pre-sunset walk looking for signs of spring. Found many stone stairwells
that seemed to be occupied by something that vaguely resembled a dirty white fur
tossed from a car by some drunk glamor girl after a rough night on the town.

Flowers and Buddha have a good laugh over the whole thing.

This is Itsy, of Itsy, Bitsy, Mitzi, Ditzy and Betty, all rescued from being fed to owls and hawks. Yes, I know the birds have to eat, too, and when I find them snacking at the birdfeeder, I've learned to let nature take its course. But these girls are my pals. Just to give you a sense of scale, Itsy's on a butter box! Hmmm, I just realized that I've posted a mouse right on top of the head of a cat. . .

Another day, March sunlight just a little bit warmer and Izzy Flowerbird is now minding
his own Beeswax! While he's napping, I'm drawing blue winged creatures who are completely allergic to paper.

Happy First Day of Spring

Izzy Flowerbird making sure no further activity occurs
in the journal.

Life is good. The evidence? I no sooner finish cleaning out the two aquariums housing my mice (Moon Man, Isty, Bitsy, Mitsy, Ditsy and Betty) than Stan the Dog spews the dirty wood chips all over the room and then lies down on what remains of the debris, a black dog in a black bag. The truly funny thing is Stan standing up, decorated all over with various bits of wood in the oddest places!

Windowsill critter guarding basil flowers.