L’Hymne à l’amour

Sunday, March 30, 2025. It's Sol's day … TulseyTown remains under a New Moon, which makes little difference since it's hiding behind clouds along with the Sun. Forecasts indicate a right cool day in the low 60's. Moderate to strong Northerlies may bring some peeking into the late afternoon skies.

“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.” – Emily Dickenson

On this day in 1867, the United States agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia

Vincent Van Gogh was born on this day in 1853 Zundert, Holland.

I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can’t.

– W.S. Merwin, “Berryman,” featured in Maria Popova's Margialian, 3.30.25.

Other creative's born on this date:

Céline Dion turns 57. The French-Canadian singer was born in 1968 Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada

Eric Clapton turns 80 today. The British singer/songwriter/guitarist was born in 1945, Ripley, Surrey, England.

Closing the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony with a performance of Edith Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour,” Celine Dion climbed the Eiffel Tower to mark her first live performance since 2019, and her first since she revealed her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome.

I've also provided a previous recording of the Hymn with French and English lyrics.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. – Helen Keller

Mayhem and stillness . . .

Saturday, March 29, 2025. It's the Satyr's day … and TulseyTown is under a New Moon witnessing a warm, cloudy day in the mid 80's. Forecasts indicate moderate to strong Southerlies, a peek at sunshine later this afternoon before thunderstorms tonight. Strong storms are likely to extend into Sunday morning.

Meditation and contemplation. What's the diff? Fr Richard Rohr explores in Meditations from The Center for Action and Contemplation.

All the mayhem created by the administration has created enough backlash that the White House appears concerned about upcoming special elections on April 1. Heather Cox Richardson filed a update in her Letters From An American.

In case you ever did wonder, today in 1897,the Dominion of Canada was created by the British North America Act.

And in 1974, the terra-cotta army, 8,000 life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses was discovered in the tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

A Seeming Stillness

We love the movement in a seeming stillness,

the breath in the body of the loved one sleeping,

the highest leaves in the silent wood,

a great migration in the sky above:

[…]

This is how you were when you first came

into the world, this is how you are now …

– David Whyte, “A Seeming Stillness,” from David Whyte: Essentials.

The ghosts of Matt Brady . . .

Friday, March 28, 2025. It's Frigg's (Freya's) day . . . a cloudy, Springtime rainy day for TulseyTown.

This is the human situation: We often see others through our prior experiences and expectations. We are so mesmerized by these ghostly images that we don’t really encounter each other. Memory ghosts can be so dense and murky that we can’t see through them, forming a protective shell that makes us feel disconnected from life. – Tim Burkett, Zen In The Age Of Anxiety, Shambhala, 2018.

Today is the birthday of novelist Nelson Algren. The multiple award laureate was born in 1909 Detroit, Michigan

Another literary laureate, Russell Banks shares this date. The poet, novelist, and short-story writer (The Sweet Hereafter) was born in1940 Newton, Massachusetts

[T]he goal of those currently in power was never simply to change the policies or the personnel of the U.S. government. Their goal is to dismantle the central pillars of the United States of America. That is exactly what they are trying to do. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An Amercan, 3.27.25.

Trump understands his vulnerability: The rule of law can still hold him accountable. That’s why he’s attacking it on all fronts. That’s why it’s so important that the lawyers are pushing back. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse, 3.28.25.

[T]he more Trump’s policies hurt his followers, the more likely they are to cling to him. – Chauncey DeVega, in Salon, 3.27.25

Mat Brady's Ghosts

Xmas trees – the furry-skinny General Douglas kind –

lying on the ground in the flat fat cold rain

like dead soldiers waiting to be identified;

like dead soldiers ordered into cord-rows waiting

to be claimed by a child,

a mother, a dad, a friend,

a wife, a lover.

Anyone.

Anyone: Their claim would make it worthwhile –

All the waiting and lying around in the flat fat cold rain;

all the ordering into rows,

even the anonymity –

even the like dead soldiers death.

– james allen bethel, “Matt Brady's Ghosts,” Halloween Songs, in search of a publisher.