Loneliness can be swiftly slow
It's Freya's (Frigg's) day . . . a warmer five days ahead flirting with near 70 midweek before the Winter chill returns. TulseyTown is likely to receive needed rain tonight.
…all true artists shed their hides multiple times in their lives, letting any trace of a fixed mark fall away in the process.. – David Whyte
Birthdays
Taylor Swift turns 35 today. The multitalented singer-songwriter and global superstar was born in 1989, WestReading, Pennsylvania.
From the NYTimes: Dick Van Dyke, the lithe and witty nonagenarian whose career spans more than seven decades, has added yet another role to his lengthy résumé: music video star. Dancing barefoot in the backyard of his Malibu, California home, Van Dyke, turning 99 today, is the focus of Coldplay’s latest music video, “All My Love.”
Poet James Wright was born today in 1927 Martin's Ferry, Ohio.
It's the birthdate of playwright and actor Marc Connelly. One of the key members of the Algonquin Round Table, and Pulitzer Prize laureate was born in 1890 McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Trump’s deportation plan would cost 8x the price of housing all of America’s homeless. – Pitt Griffin, at Daily Kos, 12.09.24
We do not have to accept Donald Trump and the demise of the rule of law as inevitable. — Joyce Vance, in her Civil Discourse.
Holiday loneliness is a special kind of torture.
There's music, then there's music that defines an entire season.
Somebody's gotta do it . . .
It's Odin's day … a warming trend – if you can call low 30's and upper 50's warming – is settling into TulseyTown, mixing Northerlies and Southerlies and slight rain chances in the longer term forecasts. In other words: Okieland in early Winter.
Ordinarily we are swept away by habitual momentum. We don’t interrupt our patterns even slightly. With practice, however … We can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day simply by exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment—over and over again. – Pema Chödrön
Today in 1918, Nobel Prize laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918, Kislovodsk, Russia.
My fave, poet, novelist and screenplay writer — dare I say role model — Jim Harrison was born on today's date in 1937 Grayling, Michigan.
And, the writer Thomas McGuane, who convinced Jim Harrison to write his first novel, turns 85 today. He was born in 1939 Wyandotte, Michigan (1939
Somebody has to be committed to the idea of truth – Tom McGuane
Why, to write down the stuff
and people of everyday,
must poems be dressed in gold,
in old fearful stone? …
I want poems stained
by hands and everydayness.
The holly before the mistletoe...
It's Tiw's day . . . while Northerlies continue, a warming trend is beginning tomorrow here in TulseyTown for a forecasted ten day run.
There are multiple energy currents surrounding us, dear readers. Too many to enumerate beyond a few examples: the recent election outcomes, fall to winter transition with its rollercoaster weather into the solistice, not to overlook Xmas and a new year. Quite the brew with the positives seeking balance with the negatives. Yang with its instance, Yin with her equinimity. All notwithstanding our own personal stuff. For me it's a Xmas visit from my quantam physics genius son who I've not had but facetime visits for many years, and today's announcement from by grandson that he is getting married … in a zoom ceremony. Ain't technology grand?
Point being: Stress. Insist on a bit of self-care for your own benefit as well as those around you by taking time to settle into presence. Breathe in with the thought “calm,” breathe out with the thought “ease.” 3 reps ought to do it.
Allow for mishaps:
When you find yourself being too naive, something else happens ...You’ve been thinking that the smoothness of things will go on and everything's going to be ok. Suddenly something comes up. There are always reminders taking place. – Chögyam Trungpa, Transforming Confusion Into Wisdom, Shambhala, 2009.
In the mailbox this morning:
The Encyclopædia Britannica was first published in 1768, when it began to appear in Edinburgh, Scotland. It continues in publication today.
It's “Human Rights Day” celebrated around the world, absent a few predictables.
Emily Dickinson was born 190 years ago today in 1830 Amherst, Massachusetts.
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published on this date in 1884.
And, Kenneth Branagh turns 64 today. the rish-born English actor, director, and writer was born in 1960 Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Before the ice is in the pools
Before the ice is in the pools,
Before the skaters go,
Or any cheek at nightfall
Is tarnished by the snow,
Before the fields have finished,
Before the Christmas tree,
Wonder upon wonder
Will arrive to me!
– Emily Dickenson, this poem is in the public domain.