Time is just a book of words . . .
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
It's Odin's day … Dawn in TulseyTown was bitter cold at 3º with a wind chill at -14º below zero with 4” of snow on the path to the Mailbox. The high is forecasted to be 16º above with wind chill holding at 0º sustained by Northerlies and cloud cover. Forecasts indicate no respite above freezing until Saturday albeit with the cloud cover abating and sunshine returning tomorrow.
There is nothing solid to hold on to. Even the realization that there’s nothing solid to hold on to. Notice noticing.
The greatest challenge to being alive is this: to witness injustice in the world and not allow it to extinguish your light. – Thich Nhat Hanh.
Today is the 552nd birth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus. The astronomer/astrologer was born in 1473 Toruń, Royal Prussia, Poland. His work on what has come to be known as the “heliocenteric” model – Sun centered plantary orbits vs. the then prevailing earth-centered view – challenged almost every “received” truth and established a path to the scientific method.
On this day in 1945 U.S. Marines began their invasion of Iwo Jima. The ensuing battle was one of the bloodiest of WWII. While U.S. forces prevailed, the event remains a hard-learned lesson in war histories.
The novelist/poet Carson McCullers was born on this day in 1917 Columbus, Georgia.
On this day in 1963, journalist Betty Friedan published her first book, The Feminine Mystique. It was one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century initiating a social change movement that still reverberates now well into the 21st.
And, yesterday, in Letters From An American, Heather Cox Richardson posted a major report on the status of the Trump/Musk DOGE.
From the Book of Time
...maybe just looking and listening is the real work...
For how many years have you gone through the house
shutting the windows
while the rain was still five miles away.
– Mary Oliver, “From the Book of Time,” The Leaf and the Cloud. Da Capo Press, an imprint of Perseus Books, a subsidiary of Hatchette Book Group. 2000.
Snowfall is a quiet song . . .
Tuesday, February 18, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . and A Winter storm is settling over TulseyTown today. Forecasts indicate strong Northerlies, up to 6” of snow by nightfall along with dropping temperatures during the day into the single digits and wind chill well below zero. The cold forecasted to extend through tomorrow, easing Thursday and a warmer weekend. Needless to say, yers trooley is in for the day.
Personal growth is the process of learning to lie to ourselves less. – Mark Manson
Today is Ramakrishna's birth date. The Indian Hindu mystic was born in 1836 Kamarpukur, Bengal Presidency, India. He advocated the essential unity of religions and proclaimed that world religions are "so many paths to reach one and the same goal" unifying the many Hindi faiths.
Yoko Ono is celebrating her 92nd birthday today. The Japanese artist and musician was born in1933 Tokyo, Japan.
Today is also the birthdate of Toni Morrison. The Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, editor and professor was born in 1931 Lorain, Ohio.
It's the 126th anniversary of Enzo Ferrari's birth. The Italian motor racing driver and founder of the Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque was born in 1898 Modena, Italy.
Sheryl Crow sold her Tesla and donated the funds to NPR. That's putting your money where your mouth is. How 'bout you?
“The Ugly American” showed its true face at the Munich security conference just ended. – Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From An American.
And Sophie Strand recently posted an update to her sudden yet-to-be-diagnosed illness.
Winter Dharma
We're into the Winter side of the Solstice. And while the daylight is growing
now by several seconds each day, we still need times of darkness,
quietness, and stillness for healing and rest,
as much as we need activity, noise, and light.
Nowadays in the Western world, the shift to winter barely registers
for most people, anyway - except that maybe it's time to haul your heavy coat
out of storage, lace up your boots
and turn up the dial on your thermostat.
Ancient cultures like the Egyptians, the Maori, the Maya,
the Inca, the Druids, the Celts, and so many others -
all celebrated Solstice. In the Chinese Taoist tradition,
winter solstice is considered the most yin of days
(dark / feminine / damp / intuitive / formless).
Energy comes to a momentary point of pause
before it gives birth to yang (its light / masculinity / heat / its logic / all its forms).
Yin and yang are the basis of most Chinese medicine, philosophy and meditation.
And according to these schools of wisdom,
neither Yang nor Yin can exist without the other.
These two seemingly opposite forces are intimately
interconnected and wholly complementary.
The words of Yang — as are these —
attempt comprehension beyond their grasp.
The meaning felt in your mind in this moment
is Yin, singing ever so quietly.
– jab
Poetry farming . . .
Monday, February 17, 2025. It's the Moon's day . . . she'll be hiding her waning face from TulseyTown tonight and tomorrow as moderate Southerlies maintain a mix of clouds and sun becoming cloudy this afternoon with mid 30's. Northerlies return tonight bringing a Winter storm tomorrow with bitter cold and up to 5” of snow in the forecasts.
Reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors or revivifying old, is not the cause of truth, but its condition. – C.S. Lewis
Today in 1913 the Armory Show opened in New York City. It was the first comprehensive exhibition of modern art in this country.
Crime novelist Ruth Rendell was born on this day in 1930 London, England.
Poet Jack Gilbert was born on this date in 1925 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"It's not a business with me. I'm not a professional of poetry; I'm a farmer of poetry." — Jack Gilbert
The courts aren't the cavalry. We are. – Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse
Is it time for America’s judges to go on strike? – David Coale, Commentary, Salon, 2.15.25