Certainty in the garden . . .
Friday, December 5, 2025. It's Freya's (Frigg's) day . . . Forecasts indicate a partly sunny sky for TulseyTown by afternoon as moderate Southerlies clear morning cloud cover and bring low 50's. Pretty much the same forecasts for the next ten days. Chilly mornings.
Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard has died. He passed on November29th.
Essayist and novelist Joan Didion was born on this day in 1934 Sacramento, California.
It's Walt Disney's birthdate. He was born in 1901 Chicago, Illinois.
Writer John Berendt is 86 today. Born in 1939 Syracuse, New York, his novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was turned into a well regarded film directed by Clint Eastwood which is streaming on several sites.
And its the birth date of physicist Werner Heisenberg. The author of the uncertainty principle was born in 1901Würzburg, Germany.
At Play in the Garden Park
The end of time does not come tomorrow,
but in the moment we witness the end of the past
and the leading edge of the future.
In this place, into which we are invited,
there is little for the ego to do but sing
the songs of Hafiz and Rumi,
write the poems of Rilke
and Whitman, and Oliver
over and over and over,
as if there were no tomorrow.
– jab
A sky made of stone . . .
Thursday, December 4, 2025. It's Thor's day . . . Northerlies bring clouds toTulseyTown today, with upper 30s and the possibility for a few flurries or snow showers.
I awoke this morning
gifted with the insight
that I – like Jim Harrison –
had just completed half a year
blinded by the alphabet.
– jab
A super “Cold Moon” rises this evening.
The New York Times has sued the Pentagon over its policy restricting journalists, citing violation of the First Amendment.
Federal agents today arrested a suspect in a Jan. 6 pipe bomb investigation
The first Mars roaming robot research vehicle, Pathfinder, was launched on this day in 1966. The mission was a NASA/JPL project headed up by Donna Shirley, the first woman with an engineering degree at JPL among 2,000 men. I'm rather proud to say I am a friend. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband George who is also in my small circle of friends.
The pioneer of abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky was born on this day in 1866, Moscow, Russia.
Today is the birthday of poet Rainer Maria Rilke, born in 1875 Prague.
I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not ever complete the last one,
but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, that primordial tower.
I have been circling for thousands of years,
and I still don't know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song? — Rilke– Rilke's Book of Hours, English version by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Original Language German, Riverhead Books, 1997.
The moon can be a cold, harsh mistress.
Light in darkness: Where the love dogs are.
Wednesday, December 3, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate moderate Easterlies bringing increasing cloudiness and upper 40's this afternoon as the breezes shift to Northerlies. Much colder tomorrow.
Today is the birth date of Anna Freud. The founder of child psychoanalysis was born in 1895 Vienna.
Polish novelist Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness) was born on this day in 1857 Berdichev, which is now in the Ukraine.
At Trump's meeting yesterday his cabinet appeared to applaud, although it is not clear whether they were agreeing or hoping to stop him from talking like a Nazi. He kept nodding off through much of the meeting. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Hegseth seems to be a war criminal. Without a war. Interesting achievement. – George Will, cited by Joyce Vance in Civil Discourse.
The end of Trump's power. – Robert Reich, online, 1.3.25
Catching Thoughts Before They Escalate
Having a regular meditation practice makes us more aware of what’s happening in our mind, the mental undercurrent that tends to go unnoticed when we’re caught up in our daily activities and interactions. With meditation, we begin to catch some of the ember-like thoughts and subtle emotions that, left undetected, escalate before we notice them. – Pema Chödrön, in How We Live Is How We Die, Shambhala Press. 2023.
There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.
Give your life to be one of them. – Rumi