Breath of Hope

Deep inside all new beginnings, there breathes a song of hope.

Pay Attention

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

~Maya Angelou

Being

At the end of the day, all that matters is who is in your life.

Crazy Making

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

~Winston Churchill

Unfortunate

Adulterate: to debase or make impure by adding inferior materials or elements ; use cheaper, inferior, or less desirable goods; to falsify.

latin - "adulteratus": to falsify.

In one context, making an impure substance.

A substance can also be the opposite: unadulterated, pure.

In another to make a relationship impure, harmful and less valuable (adultery).

Truth

You'll never leave where you are until you decide where you'd rather be.

Resilience

Even the most fragile wildflower crushed beneath your scornful heel will bloom yet again.

Beach Flowers

A gypsy told my fortune and I told her hers.
I said you'll die high in the mountains wrapped in silver furs.
You'll be looking for you lover in the midnight sun,
And you'll perish for your lover when the frost has begun.

~Stars

Domination

An abuser only wields power over his victim as long as she agrees to comply with her silence

The Struggle

Break through the tyranny of the familiar. Shift your perception and open your mind to the unknown. Prepare to be amazed.

Disconcerting Truth

Love itself threatens peace of mind...

Earth Voices

by: Bliss Carman (1861-1929)

I

HEARD the spring wind whisper
Above the brushwood fire,
"The world is made forever
Of transport and desire.

"I am the breath of being,

The primal urge of things;

I am the whirl of star dust,

I am the lift of wings.

"I am the splendid impulse

That comes before the thought,

The joy and exaltation

Wherein the life is caught.

"Across the sleeping furrows

I call the buried seed,

And blade and bud and blossom

Awaken at my need.

"Within the dying ashes

I blow the sacred spark,

And make the hearts of lovers

To leap against the dark."

II

I heard the spring light whisper

Above the dancing stream,

"The world is made forever

In likeness of a dream.

"I am the law of planets,

I am the guide of man;

The evening and the morning

Are fashioned to my plan.

"I tint the dawn with crimson,

I tinge the sea with blue;

My track is in the desert,

My trail is in the dew.

"I paint the hills with color,

And in my magic dome

I light the star of evening

To steer the traveller home.

"Within the house of being,

I feed the lamp of truth

With tales of ancient wisdom

And prophecies of youth."

III

I heard the spring rain murmur

Above the roadside flower,

"The world is made forever

In melody and power.

"I keep the rhythmic measure

That marks the steps of time,

And all my toil is fashioned

To symmetry and rhyme.

"I plow the untilled upland,

I ripe the seeding grass,

And fill the leafy forest

With music as I pass.

"I hew the raw, rough granite

To loveliness of line,

And when my work is finished,

Behold, it is divine!

"I am the master-builder

In whom the ages trust.

I lift the lost perfection

To blossom from the dust."

IV

Then Earth to them made answer,

As with a slow refrain

Born of the blended voices

Of wind and sun and rain,

"This is the law of being

That links the threefold chain:

The life we give to beauty

Returns to us again."

Björn

Meet Björn. Isn't he an absolute sweetie? He was evidently quite busy foraging for food. One gets just a tad hungry and perhaps a little cranky after an entire winter of fasting and doing nothing much other than on and off napping in one's den. And the spring has been so slow in coming this year, but things are looking up and the sun is shining and it makes one feel like having a little snack. And I suppose some of you are wondering about the name. Björn is a good Scandinavian name of old Norse origin meaning none other than "bear." Most appropriate, don't you think? I did, for a moment consider naming him Benno after a much loved uncle (Benno also contains the element bear), but this time my Norwegian side won out.
And now for my experiment... Do you recognize the following? I spent three days in the woods last week and the forest was absolutely rife with these plants ... wild strawberries!!! Well, I have so many wild plants growing in my yard anyway, that I thought why not strawberries. So I just dug up a number of these plants and transplanted them into my own little garden. I don't know if they'll bear fruit this year, but I'll let you know how they fare as time goes on.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Very well, thank you. My garden has been absolutely loving this rain interspersed with bursts of sunny heat. Although I would love for it to be just a tad warmer, my garden thinks this weather is just perfect.

My Rhodo is in full bloom. The blossoms sport a soft pink which turn to an almost snowy white once they're fully opened.

The Chives are blooming wildly...and although I probably shouldn't be letting them go to seed so quickly, they look so lovely that I can't bare to pluck off the purple blossoms.

The following is a parade of Pansies that are coming up just about everywhere. Somehow I even have a slew of tiny delicate wild ones that have somehow seeded themselves. They are so cheery that I am more than happy to let them do their own thing.

The Iris stands proudly surveying the whole yard. You don't see it in this picture, but there is actually a little bee seeking shelter from the rain inside its petals.

My garden sings in the rain. How about yours?

Sakura

There are times when no words are necessary; when silence is our greatest ally.

Spring Has Sprung

After much eager anticipation, it seems that spring has finally decided it's time to show its face. She arrived this weekend bringing us weather reaching up to the 20's...that's Celsius for all you Americans reading. Virtually overnight a myriad of tulips and crocus decided to show their pleasure at the arrival of our long awaited visitor by donning the brightest array of colours they could muster up. The songbirds sang their hearts out in a symphony of chorus and we were all most pleased at the performance. We certainly hope honoured guest was too and that she will decide to stay.

As for me, I even took a wade up to my knees in our frigid Kootenay lake. My Nordic blood was overjoyed at the exhilaration of it all, but not quite enough to go for a total dip. Perhaps that's because I didn't have my swimsuit with me, nor a towel. Perhaps next time.