Pavement

Haiga 23

Here is a wonderful quote that I received in a card from Eleanor:

"It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that storybooks had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming up themselves like grass." - Eudora Welty

Abstract Journey

Haiga 22

I dreamt last night that I was sketching. Someone approached me and started to show me how to draw beautiful pictures, well-proportioned figures, landscapes with correct perspective.

I let them finish their attempt to assist me. Then, I went back to making quick sketches with random shapes and ill-proportioned people.

I looked over at them and said, "Thank you, but I'm not trying to make "fine art". I'm just here to enjoy myself, and this is more fun."

Haiga 21

Free Hugs Video, Life & Compassion

My friend, Sue North, sent me the link for this sweet video which ends with this beautiful quote:

 "For one moment our lives met, our souls touched." - Oscar Wilde




A Compassionate Life in 12 Steps a new VOOK by Karen Armstrong - fans of the Charter For Compassion have been sharing their own take on living a compassionate life.

Here is one of them whose thoughts I related to:

Pam: "I think it's important to remember that we affect things with each person we encounter during the day, not just the ones we KNOW we're influencing, but each person. Are we patient with someone else who is NOT having such a good day?"

haiga 20

"For age is opportunity no less than youth itself, though in another dress, and as the evening twilight fades away, the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Uneven Day

"Nothing is as frustrating as arguing with someone who knows what he's talking about." - Sam Ewing

 Haiga 19

Happy Birthday, Jan

"The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had.  - Author Unknown

Haiga 17

"Middle age is having a choice between two temptations and choosing the one that'll get you home earlier."  - Dan Bennett

 Haiga 18

Now, I feel like throwing in a couple of blessings:

“May God grant you always...A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.”

May you have a year that comforts and delights you
May there be soft, easy places to sit
May your commute be safe, easy, and inexpensive
May you have more than enough

      

Haiga 16

“comfort was allowed to come to them rare, welcome, unsought: a gift like joy.” - Ursula K. LeGuin

                                      haiga 15


"The thing about the light is that it really isn't yours; it's what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself. So I sat still." - Anne Lamott

Resting

"A work of art is a world in itself reflecting senses and emotions of the artist's world." - Hans Hofmann

                           Haiga 14

We did not come to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves like the trees,
The trees that are broken
And start again, drawing up from the great roots.

                                                   - Robert Bly

Listening To Pain

"I have woven a parachute out of everything broken."  - William Stafford

 can't seem to clear her voice from my mind
"No, no, no, NO!!! They can't have taken it.
I'm on a pension, they can't have taken my money."
one minute voice sweet and melodious, then
anguished utterings trying to brush away disaster

i don't know how to change her reality

a rough an tumble night on the emotional front
i am brought back to another disembodied voice
"Please you have to help, me please, please . . .
I just need milk and oranges for my children
desperate pleading trying to pull in compassion

i don't know how to change their reality

i am softly quiet, stunned disconnected
i can't believe she's dead and I didn't know
my father said, "I had no idea how to reach you,
she died two weeks ago, but I couldn't tell you."
sadly remorseful pleading for forgiveness

i didn't know how to change his reality

the sadness of anguished voices call each other
the pleading tumbles into one thread
tugging on my heart to recall the deeper truth
they may keep hammering there until it awakens
and i learn i am only the witness to their story

their reality is not mine to change

                                    Haiga 13

I just came across the Lord of the Rings quote that touched me the most:

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back. There are some things that time can not mend. Some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold.”

Sketches

"I come in. I'm going to sketch, I'm going to drape, I don't know what I'm going to do." - Geoffrey Beene

the image comes forth

not like a grand sonata

but like a sweet giggle

Haiga 12

And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves "It's pretty, but is it Art?" - Rudyard Kipling

"A" Short Word Play

Artistic Aardvarks Actively Ate Aromatic Artichokes Amusing Aging Antelope

"Truth stands, even if there be no public support." - Mohandas Gandhi

                                         Haiga 11

“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” Chuang Tzu

                                                          Haiga 10

                                        

                               Haiga 9

"You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born." Rainer Maria Rilke

                                     Haiga 8

I Love You

After writing of my line from a dream including rose petals, I went back to John Fox's Poetic Medicine book only to read about his reference to rose petals after having his leg amputated in the chapter titled "Heart, Who Will You Cry Out To":

. . . After writing this poem, I tried other healing exercises in place of painkillers. I visualized rose petals falling . . . floating down over my stump. Using this vibrant image eased pain considerably and helped gently open my heart to reality of my loss. I did this with real rose petals too: to see my stump strewn not with hot embers of rejection and self-pity but the soft petals of care.

Now, I believe I need to give my line a poem to live in.

I Love You

I cried when I could not kneel to pray
feeling sad and old that ground seems so far away
angry when the long staircases barred my path
tired when I could not easily stand or sit
resigned that running is only something to watch

most of my life I have taken you for granted
you have carried me many, many miles
through all the ups and downs of my life
across bouldered shorelines, urban stairways
into Egyptian tombs, down sandy beach trails

you have helped me balance on pebbled paths
sustained me in fording a rushing stream
helped me catch grounders, and make rebounds
climb trees, ladders, a lifeguard station. into a bed
scarcely a whimper, complaint or refusal

you have worn down from bearing burdens
only now am I beginning to feel grateful,
after railing against your imagined failures
to carry me over the same ups and downs
only after blaming you for life changing

I am grateful for the distances you still carry me
bearing the consequences of my culinary choices
I am grateful to be able to stand up and walk
So to my beautiful, faithful, hardworking knees:
Someday I will write "I Love You" in the sky with rose petals

-LRB

"Only 10% of all reported stories worldwide have women as the central focus." Global Media Monitoring Project

shall I do housework
or let my soul run free
this there a difference

Heard on the old TV classic Leave It to Beaver:

June: "Oh, Ward. I failed as a parent."
Ward: "No. They have succeeded as children."

Poetic Threads

I woke up from a dream with the words "someday I will write I love you across the sky with rose petals". Ah, a beautiful thought/line, but what or who was I dreaming about . . .

"For us, there is not just this world, there's also a layering of others. Time is not divided by minutes and hours, and everything has presence and meaning within this landscape of timeliness." - Joy Harjo

what is the difference between vacant and empty, a void and an opening . . .

From Charles Olson's poem, These Days, referenced in John's Fox's book Poetic Medicine:

whatever you have to say, leave
the roots, on let them
dangle
And the dirt
Just to make clear
where they have come from

                           Haiga 7

the poetry of my youth
was words yanked from murky depths
yanked up with dangling participles
bits of blood, soul and anguish
brought nearly to sunlight
then quickly swallowed with sobs
few fertile words escaping to paper

right now I do not search for roots
I prefer the ease of picking blueberries
juicy, sweet, tangible pleasures

- lrb

Elfin Cove & Knob Noster

I saw the names of two towns I never heard of before yesterday: Elfin Cove & Knob Noster. Elfin Cove sounded so magical. And, Knob Noster, I misread as Knob Monster so I got curious as to how it got it's name.

From www.commerce.state.ak.us:

Elfin Cove lies on the northern shore of Chichagof Island, approximately 33 miles west of Hoonah and 70 miles by air and 85 miles by boat west of Juneau. The community is only accessible by small seaplane or boat.

This protected, flask-shaped harbor was originally called "Gunkhole" by fishermen anchoring here. Its safe anchorage and proximity to the Fairweather fishing grounds made this a natural spot for fish buyers and supplies. Ernie Swanson built a store, restaurant, and dock here in the 1920s. His wife Ruth applied for a post office in 1935 and gave it the new name of Elfin Cove. John Lowell, another fish buyer, arrived in the 1940s and built a second dock, warehouse, store, and restaurant. According to locals, the Tlingits who visited the harbor would not stay over winter because of the "evil spirits" there.

The population of the community consists of 0% Alaska Native or part Native.

From www.knobnostergov.com:

Knob Noster is located on U.S. Highway 50, approximately 60 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri.  A short distance northeast of town there are two hills, called knobs. The hills have become a landmark for the community and are closely related to the organization and background of the town.

According to historical information, the name Knob Noster is taken from the hills.  Knob, meaning the hills, and "noster", being the Latin derivation meaning "our", were formed together to create "Our Knob", or Knob Noster.

Poetic Medicine

Poem below is from the website, for The Institute for Poetic Medicine - To Awaken Soulfulness in the Human Voice, www.poeticmedicine.org

Say this:

...say threshold, cottonmouth, Russian leather,
say ash, picot, fallow deer, saxophone, say kitchen sink.
This is a birthday party for the mouth—it's better than ice cream,
say waterlilly, refrigerator, hartebeest, Prussian blue
and the word will take you, if you let it,
the word will take you along across the air of your head
so that you're there as it settles into the thing it was made for,
adding to it a shimmer and the bird song of its sound...

--Marilyn Krysl from Saying Things

The first book I purchased when I moved to Washington state, over a decade ago, was a book about poetry. The title of the book is what caught my eye rather than the subject. Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making by John Fox.

I have yet to do much more than thumb through it though it is a wonderful, rich book.

I still remember finding it on a shelf in a small bookstore area that resided over an artist co-op store in Olga on Orcas Island. There was (is it still there??) a cafe attached to the store that baked their own cinnamon rolls. Beautiful handcrafted art wrapped in cinnamon.

Yesterday, I started reading another book by John called Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making. Right after the title page, I found the poem below(which I loved):


The Sleepless Ones

What if all the people
who could not sleep
at two or three or four
in the morning
left their houses
and went to the parks
what if hundreds, thousands,
millions
went in their solitude
like a stream
and each told their story
what if there were
old women
fearful if they slept
they would die
and young women
unable to conceive
and husbands
having affairs
and children
fearful of failing
and fathers
worried about paying bills
and men
having business troubles
and women unlucky in love
and those that were in physical
pain
and those who were guilty
what if they all left their houses
like a stream
and the moon
illuminated their way and
they came, each one
to tell their stories
would these be the more troubled
of humanity
or would these be
the more passionate of this world
or those who need to create to live
or would these be
the lonely
ones
and I ask you
if they all came to the parks
at night
and told their stories
would the sun on rising
be more radiant and
again I ask you
would they embrace

~ Lawrence Tirnauer

Missing

Haiga 6

"The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too." -Teresa of Avila

Haiga 5

Seen, Heard, Uttered

Bumper Stickers

"This is not an SUV, it's just a really big purse"

"Wag more, bark less"


Corporate Confusion and Mirth

I

Our new corporate logo was unveiled, and an email was sent with our logo, address format for emails. We all dutifully pasted and copied the new information sent out by Bob Brown. Fortunately for me, I was a little uncertain if I had done everything correctly. This time being a little less certain of the computer led me to discovering a
potential problem with the new address, and fixing it before I emailed clients.

The next day, the new signature, logo, and address format was attached to most everyone's email, along with the mistake I saw. If someone clicked on an email link to reply, the mail went to Bob Brown regardless of the typed email address. We all copied his hyperlink. For some reason, I had a great time emailing people who emailed me letting them their email hyperlink was directing their email to Bob.
(an email was sent out letting people know about the error so it looks like it was handled before emails went to external customers).

II

With our new name just unveiled, we have to make sure old clients recognize us we are when calling. Protocol requires that we use both name, but it can be cumbersome. So my phone call to a regular client whose company, also, just had a name change went like this:

"This is Lynn calling from ABC Blank Blank Blank formerly known as Blank Blank Blank."

"Hello, this is Chris with Blank Blank Blank formerly known as Blank Blank Blank"

"Hi, Lynn"

"Hi, Chris"

Bemusement all around

III

Another part our computer systems was converted this past weekend, adding a new element into the mix. Two of the three systems we use now are on Pacific Standard Time(PST), and the new added in is on Central Standard Time(CST). Sunday, I was pleased and amazed lunch time had come so quickly . . . then, wait a minute, oh rats, I am looking at the system operating in CST.

IV

A co-worker asked a client for his address, He replied (seriously), "I don't know I haven't seen it in two days."

V

A co-worker received a call from Mr. Flaghorn (name she actually heard). She became concerned when she couldn't find a file for him. It seemed a pretty straightforward spelling even if she was slightly off. But, not finding it, her last resort was to have him spell it. He said, "B - R - O - W - N" . . .


Sad & Touching

A friend took a call from someone who called her to report a stolen credit card. He found the card on the street, and picked up. He hadn't eaten in several days, he was an out of work fisherman living along the U.S. Gulf Coast. He went to a local restaurant and ate a $9.72 dinner. After he finished eating, he felt horrible about what he had done so he knew he had to report the card stolen by himself. My friend said the man insisted on leaving his name and phone number, promising he would find a way to pay the person back, and apologizing profusely.

'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive. - John Sheffield

Undefined

"When we understand the outside of things, we think we have them. Yet the Lord puts his things in subdefined, suggestive shapes, yielding no satisfactory meaning to the mere intellect, but unfolding themselves to the conscience and heart." - George MacDonald

Haiga 4

Haiga 3

Haiga 2

Dear Blog - Happy Bithday - A Haiga For You

“PLeas'd look forward, pleas'd to look behind,
And count each birthday with a grateful mind.”
- Alexander Pope

My first blog post was one year ago today. Bon Anniversaire.

Haiga definition from http://raysweb.net/haiku/pages/haiga-definition.html:  

Traditional Japanese haiga involved brush art work coupled with a haiku poem done in brush calligraphy. Like the haiku poem, the focus of haiga is in simplicity of expression.

Digital art-haiku is one form of modern haiga. Other forms include photo-haiku [haiku attached to a photographic image] and all modern forms of art coupled with haiku. Of course, traditional haiga is still practiced.

Just as the haiku form often contains a juxtaposition between two of its lines and a third line, so does or can modern haiga contain a juxtaposition between the haiku itself and the digital art work.In short, the art work does not necessarily directly represent the images presented in the haiku.

If you would like to see examples of other forms of modern and traditional haiga, simply search the internet with the following key terms: haiga, japanese, haiku.

~ Ray Rasmussen

"A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip!" - Anonymous

Calico Cupboard - Anacortes - Yum

Multi-award winning restaurant.  In the past I had the best bacon omelette ever. Yesterday, I enjoyed a delicious delicious turkey pot pie, an excellent veggie filled split pea soup, and good acai green tea.

All their food is so fresh, much is local, and they bake their own muffins, breads, pastries.

Whidbey to Fidalgo Island Jaunt

cool island journey

joined by many

savoring summer