Monday, January 9, 2017

Mind of Winter

Six below zero this morning.

The Snowman
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Friday, January 6, 2017

wood stove

During most of the year, the wood stove is just a piece of iron in the kitchen. Often, miscellaneous items get left on the griddle. In the depths of winter, however, the stove is the center of the house. Wood heat is so comforting.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

l'heure bleue

Take a winter with snow on the ground, a clear sky, and mix in just a hint of sunrise (or the last light of sunset), and this is what you get. The French call it l'heure bleue, the blue hour. What color is snow, really?

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

alive

Canada geese waiting it out on the Otter Creek. There was at least 100 of them. I drive by this spot frequently. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. It was so interesting to see that as I approached them for this photo, as a got to about 100 yards from them, they began to move away. Life is much more uncertain for geese than it is for us in some ways. They are very careful with their lives.

I am alive. I am here. I am trying. That is enough.
Dele Olanubi
Zen page-a-day calendar 

Friday, December 30, 2016

happy new year


There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
Zora Neale Hurston
Zen page-a-day calendar

Thursday, December 29, 2016

snow


Walking outside to start the day. The smell of snow in the air. It's coming.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Happy Birthday

Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks.

I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come, too.

Rainer Maria Rilke