Lens Filter

There are many ways to make something look better than it is.
 There are as many ways to make something be better than it is.
 Choose.
It takes no wisdom.

Inquiry

Being in the moment is good,

but ask at the Start Line,

 if today's race is

a 50 yard dash

or a 50 mile Marathon.

Then, because you're ready, stay in that moment.

Hotel

Ideas arrive as tourists;

some with bags and bags,

some with just a smile,

some so lost that

the map they stare at

 is all they will ever see.

You're the hotelier;

make each one feel at home.

Pour the Puzzle Pieces Out

Once, the jigsaw makers put

 "Sunset in the Mountains"

 in the box I bought marked

"Italian Seaside Village".

Every day is no different.

Start with corners and go.

Out the Back

This is the latest visitor to our backyard. (Okay, it's not a yard. It's kind of a canyon between this building and the one to the West. )
He (looks like a Tom to me) lay around in the sunshine for about thirty minutes and then, yowling a little, headed North along the wall.

Headlight

There are times when the truth is so bright you can’t look right at it.

Close your eyes and it’s still there.
It does no good for you to wait until it passes.
Whichever way you turn the light is rising.

Flare.... .

What if what you signal is not seen, what if dreaming does not lead your forward movement?


Set ten thousand lights alight and dream through all your moments?

Yes. Yes. That's a good beginning.
Yes.

Everything According to .... .

Embrace all surprises, hold sweetly all disappointments.

They are guidesigns;

they are proof that your trek is taking place in a wonderfully unordered world.

Hey! hey.... hey.

Wave all you want, the Universe cannot see you.

'Tis blind, deaf and speechless;

but, like the sightless in the street,

 it feels your presence here

and

wraps you up in swirling galaxies of love.

This is not a Waltz.

Spring has this act she is trying

 out on us.

First,

 a glimpse of ample warmness,

 a peek at pink and yellow lace,

now turning, turning,

tossing her bare branches in cold disdain.

"Later," she sighs,

"First, I have to wash my hair."

Moment

Wait.


No, don't wait. Stay.

Stay in just this moment.

Shh.

The next moment will be waiting for you, it will;
while you, all that is you,
stays here in this one,
 this everlasting one.

Oh, there it is.

SuperMoon

Baptism

Shh.
Fear itself has a fear itself,
that you will call its name.
Do that and fear,
poor thing,
crumbles before you
as so much dust.

Pass It On

Yes. Today, be as gentle to someone as this rising is to this dawn. There is sweet breeze and birdsong, yes. And have a bit of that gentle for yourself. Yes.

Here it is, just like you wanted

Fable:

 Once long ago, I knew people, and someone, who did not know what to do with their gifts.

 Ah, they all grew and so did that someone.

The End.

The Benches of Central Park Part 3

Central Park is full of benches.

Benches in the shade, benches in full sun, benches with a view of a lake or of Cleopatra's Needle. 

Some come with plaques which are memorials,

some come with plaques which are mysteries,

some come with both.

Now we have to get over to the garden to see what this means.

Just three letters

Really just two letters and they describe a universe.



Wha?

The universe, like some deaf old uncle, nods that it knows what you want, then brings whatever is on its mind.

Overture

As the orchestra plays and the curtain is rising, be on the stage instead of watching.

The Chime

Listen to your morning silence,
Let the other voices wait for tea,
Laugh a little as they fall silent,
the water softly starts to boil.

Last Set before the Sunset

These pre-Spring days, these pre-Spring nights, are full of odd colors, odd moments, which should not be unexpected given that the world is about to give birth to a whole new season.

Benches 2 // Central Park --- New York

There is so much to look at in Central Park. Yesterday in the rain, I saw a hawk take a swipe at a crow who was trying to have some lunch on the Great Lawn. The hawk missed, there was a brief flurry of wings and then...everybody settled back down on the lawn. The hawk took a breather in a nearby tree.

Don't you love this bench plaque?  I wonder how it went? Did Mark get the bench set up, making sure everything looked right and then say "Hey, let's go for a walk in the Park tonight.", the ring in his pocket, his heart in his throat.

Ah, love. So, getting close to nine years now. Was it one of those clear crisp winter days?  Was there a long hug and some kind of "YES!" kiss?

Love of many kinds, delight of a thousand others.



Was he Granddad or Grandfather, Grampy or Grampa David?
He is still present here.



   I really like this one. Fifty years together and that was thirty years ago, cheers to Richard and Stephen who, as far as I can tell, did no damage to the institution of marriage.

Ashleen - a compromise combination of two aunt's names, Ashley and Eileen?
Or had there been Ashleens in every Flaherty generation throughout all recorded time?

Last one for today, they'll be lots more in the future. Central Park Conservancy estimates

there are two thousand benches with plaques. 

Who's there?

Be pleased on those mornings when you don't seem like yourself; acknowledging that feeling
is the first step of awareness.

Choosing

We don't choose which day we are born nor which day it rains;

but life begins the day we start to celebrate both.

Benches 1 - the Short Novels

Whenever I am in Central Park I like reading the short novels, that's what I call the plaques  on many of the benches there. They tell, in about as few words as one could, the biography of a person or a couple, the rememberance of some great love, a few final thoughts on how someone saw the world.

There are constant surprises, small insights into the lives of these lovely people. They must have all been lovely and loved. 

I'm going back to take another shot of this one from Richard to Alice. 

I'll  take some more as I see them and share them here.

If you're interested in supporting Central Park, Click Here

See you in the Park.