Calling on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

"We do not walk on our legs, but on our Will." ~ Sufi proverb

Slippery Slopes

If you're living on the slippery slope, better learn how to become a mountain goat.

For the Grandfathers, Fathers & Sons

Sons and Fathers

He carried you on his shoulders
Always remember this:

He offered you his back
To climb upon

So that you could see farther
Than he would ever see

As it should be
Pass it on

><><><><><><



Fathers and Sons

He sees a horizon
That we can only imagine

Lifted by his Father
He stands on strong ancestral shoulders

He is a good man
A strong man --

Your son
He rises

The Tramp Meets the Fiddler of Dooney

Charlie Chaplin in 'Sunnyside': The Tramp Dancing with the Wood Nymphs

 

The Fiddler of Dooney  

 by W.B. Yeats

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With ‘Here is the fiddler of Dooney!’
And dance like a wave of the sea.
  

Perspective

One of my favorite 3rd grade facts: There is no new water on the planet and there never will be. Water that the dinosaurs drank, peed and that ran back into the earth, evaporated into the atmosphere and fell as rain. This has continued, the water being recycled again and again, including our own body's waters. Proving once again that there really is nothing new under the sun.

Now that's some serious perspective -
and responsibility.

Harry Nillson presents another version, a bit more people-centric, but no less true, in an excerpt from the 1971 movie 'The Point':

Pure and Happy ~ Raising the Sun

From the movie 'Black Orpheus' ~ pure delight and happiness. A wish for the same for you, dear reader ~ all it takes is carving out a moment to play a song and help the sun rise another day. Here's to you, m.c., one of my best carving teachers, and to another spin around the sun. Here's to rising again...

Time Sensitive Material

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  - Mark Twain

Forty-four days at sea crossing the Atlantic, from the Caribbean to Europe, via sail only, my son, his crewmates, and the ship, Tres Hombres - all arrived safely to their home port in the Netherlands this week. Another safe crossing into and THROUGH another Great Unknown as they "sailed away from safe harbor" wondering: How many days will it take? Will our food last? Will we catch the wind?" Many unknowns.  None with answers - not until they've finally arrived. 

Now, for the 'next' - the next new horizon for himself unknown - as it is for all of us awakening to another day, facing the eastern sun greeting us again - welcoming us to another precious morning.

Use it well.  There's no do-overs.