Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Walking Among Flowers

Tiny feet, 42 of them, invisible to me at least--I wasn't looking, somehow tiptoed into my kitchen sink from a canning jar bouquet of field flowers. Identifying which Coleopterans these were anyways, I came to a site of adventures, Walks Among Flowers, with information in a charming narrative.

Invisible hours, hundreds tiptoeing by while I wasn't looking, brought different bugs these many months, some from where no water springs or flowers grow. But, the day's delights continue including that so far, the sun is still shining, the fields are still blooming, the ocean still makes rocks into sand, and I'm pretty sure more tiny feet will arrive with the next bouquet.

Here is a photo from the travels of Tony and Val, who have walked around the whole border of England, some 2,500 miles.



Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Time Traveler from Old Mrs. Romine's


While gazing into a blue summer sky, whose brilliance backlit tall treetops into silhouettes, I was surprised by a tiny white speck. A small downy feather floated in slow motion from up seemingly nowhere and landed in the middle of me sitting there. It seemed to have traveled from the puff of a rosy-cheeked little boy that had sent a dandelion silk seed up into somewhere on a day just like this in a field where goats stood on old cars.

Blue Salt

Friday, July 30, 2010

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Due by 5pm

"Artist's Statement"

Zygote is my favorite word. Everyone once was one, and no one had a choice where on this blue dot they would land, or whether they got brown eyes, black, green, indigo or not. I wish everyone could learn to swim and read and not drive under an influence. I think everyone has a spark of creativity inside that longs to get out there; some don’t realize it yet or have not found a way to do that, but they do recognize sparks in others, and it doesn’t necessarily take language or a set of rules to express it. One look, one touch, one aroma, one taste, one harmonica playing somewhere. That could be the door.




`

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Blue Sky Kiss

Was lying on a bench after my walk in a game-filled, 3-diamond ballpark and picnic playground, looking at the clouds, imagining if I could see a message in the sky, when a jet made a trail. Then another jet went by and its trail criss-crossed the first.






(pic from my cell)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Namaste, Everyone

Added to the short list of favorite words . . .

namaste (nah-mah-STAY)

A Sanskrit word:
"All that is best and highest in me greets/salutes all that is best and highest in you."

A story I read:

Albert Einstein was fascinated by Mohandas Gandhi. He watched newsreel after newsreel of Gandhi's doings in India. Having seen Gandhi greet people in the street with his hands placed together, as if in prayer, and with a bow, he wondered what Gandhi was saying. Einstein wrote Gandhi and asked him what he was saying. The simple reply: "Namaste." Einstein then wrote again to ask the meaning of this Hindu word, "namaste," and the reply was: "I honor the place within you where the entire universe resides; I honor the place within you of love, of light, of truth, of peace; I honor the place within you, where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us."

Friday, June 25, 2010

One of the Most Beautiful Places

6-22-10

In the imaginary world of Aurora Boring Alice, Alice Krupperminsk was the clerk who helped Americanize old Great-Uncle Stanley’s family name, the name that had made her tougher for life. “Mm, Krupperminsky. Let’s see, you could shorten that to ‘Krupa,’ like the boat company. Or, now, ‘Copper’ with the hard ‘C’ would be attractive. Or, how about ‘Rupp,’ or ‘Permi.’ That--‘Permi’--has an important, scientific ring to it . . . So . . . what will it be then, Mr. Krupperminsky?”

“I think you can take away the ypsilon,” he said. He had learned English, though British English, so he had a charming, mixed, musical accent. “Yes, Krupperminsk. Krupperminsk. I like that.”

6-23-10

Of course, her name wasn’t really Aurora Boring Alice, either. That was the nickname Donald MacDonald had called her in fourth grade at Greater Gratiot Elementary School when they were studying the atmosphere. He was also the one who once sat by her on the bus and told her somebody had bitten him that day, after which he bit her shoulder and said, “Like this.”

When Alice recounted the story to Mama, she briefly thought about passing the bite along, for effect, of course. But that was what was wrong with Donald’s storytelling in the first place. In the second place and third place, Alice loved her Mama Lina--short for Emilie Ottilie Marie Carolina--so much, she was ashamed to have even had the fleeting thought.

Alice was nonetheless pleased to have a bonafide nickname that did sort of refer to something beautiful. Plus, everyone knew that Alice was not boring, so it was a kind of tease that included her into most everything that went on at school. She was a quiet and good student, so no one who might later depend on her as a study buddy would be too mean.

What made her not boring were two things. She could draw anything on anything with anything and she could hum and whistle at the same time. If it was during lunch, she’d wash her thick and thin sandwich down with water and do a requested round, say, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” or “Three Blind Mice,” humming first, then adding the whistled round. Her best one was “Dona Nobis Pacem,” which she’d do if someone added in a piece of licorice or some potato chips.

That doesn’t include the fact that Alice also spoke two other languages besides English. To her, since she was not allowed to speak them around people who might not understand them, it was really like that part of her was invisible. Except, once in a while, she experienced “auditory delay” in responding to a question in English that was being filtered through those two other languages. People would get impatient with her sometimes, or think she wasn’t listening, which taught her to be very quiet, so fewer questions would be asked of her. This also taught her to be patient with herself, because she was always thinking very fast and in layers. There were so many ideas and funny and ridiculous scenes that floated by as she sat listening and doodling on her papers.

She’d count how many times Mr. Helmer took off and put on his reading glasses, while she thought of how many words she could make with the letters of her name.

A L I C J A S U S A N N E K R U P P E R M I N S K

A E I U C
A E I U J
A KK
L
M
NNN
PP
R
SSS

ARE SPARE PARE PAIR PAN PANS ANT ANTS AUNT
AREA SPARES PARES PAIRS PANT PANTS AUNTS
AREAS SNARE SNARES MAIN MAIL MAILS UNCLE
EAR LIP LIPS CLIP CLIPS CLAP CLAPS CAP UNCLES
EARS PLEASE PLEASES EASE EASES SEAM NAP NAPS
CAN CANE CANES RULE RULES REEL REELS SEES
CANS CAPE CAPES LAKE LAKES LAME CAMERA SEE
MAN MALE MANE MANES NAME NAMES SAME SNAIL
MEN CAKE CAKES LAMP LAMPS SLIM SLIME SNAILS
MASS MASSES MISS MISSES KISS KISSES SAIL SAILS
MANNER CAR LIKE LIKES PAL PALS PAIL PAILS RAIL RAILS REEK REEKS CREEK
MANNERS CARS LAIN LAP PLAN PLANNER PLANNERS PLANK PLANKS PLANE
PAPA PACK CARE PAIN SAP SAPS MAP MAPS SMACK SNACK SNACKS PLANES
PAPAS CARES PAINS SPA SNAP PLAIN PLAINS PEAK PEAKS SPEAK SPEAKS
PRIMER NEAR PALE SNAPS SNIP SNIPS SPIN SPINS PIN PINS PEN PENS
RIM PEAS NEARS PALES SCAM SCAMS SCRAM SCRAMS ALMS CALM CALMS SUN
RIMS PEA PEAR ALE SUNS SCAR SCARS SCARE SCARES RACE RACES SPACE
PRIM RUN PEARS ALES SEA SCAN SCALE SCALES SPACES RANK RANKS REAM
PRIME RUNS SEAR SALE SEAS SCENE SCENES SINK SINKS INK INKS LINK LINKS
PRIMES SEARS SALES SPAN SICK SICKNESS PICK PICKS PINK PINKS PIE
PRINCE SMEAR PANE SPANS SPRAIN SPRAINS RINSE RINSES RISE RISES
PRINCES SMEARS PANES REAM REAMS REAL LEARN LEARNS EARN EARNS . . .

Then, if she would add the letters from “Aurora Boring,” that could make more than a hundred new combinations and sentences. As Alice thought about the words she was forming from her name, each one came with at least one picture. There would be the one thing connected to the word that first--almost instantly--appeared, and then other pictures would follow. Many pictures that were connected to her other languages would dance around the words.

6-24-10

She would doodle on the edges of her papers including the loose leaf holes as she listened to Mr. Margitan tell about the perfect right triangle and the Pythagorean Theorem. Alice liked Pythagoras and Euclid and Newton. Where were the boys that turned out to have ideas with pictures and symbols like that, she wondered. It seemed there weren’t very many girls with these thoughts, so Alice was quiet about that. She smiled as she designed a scalloped collar on the back of the “Estimating the Height of a Flagpole” homework assignment.

What made her laugh in school were things like Mrs. Magee exclaiming, “My stars and steel-rimmed garters!” in English class. This kind of thing would get Alice to drawing any number of versions of stars and steel-rimmed garters, and whispery giggling. Mrs. Magee was the one who began encouraging Alice to write about her family. She also encouraged Alicja Susanne to use her real name.

Most of all, Alicja Susanne loved music. Every day after warm-ups, Mr. Hanawalt would introduce a song in a story, give out sheet music, and show a movie clip including that particular song. Then, they would sing it. They sang “Bali Hai,” which had a mysterious quality expressive of yearning for grown-up love and exquisite beauty surrounded by swaying palm trees. They could almost feel the warm, white sand between their toes even though they were singing in a windowless cement block room that terraced down to a piano from behind which Mr. Hanawalt’s tan, bald head nodded and turned. The lenses of his black-framed glasses made his eyes look huge when they looked at the group singing the melody and then cornered left and right to keep everyone together. Once in a while, he would play the piano with one hand so he could direct with the other, but mostly it was his trusting gift to their independence that he sat down there on the bench, playing up to them with sweeping flourishes.

6-25-10

Many years later, when Alice was married and the mother of several children, she’d remember the thrill of “Bali Hai” and try as a grownup to reimagine the exotic beach with the warm trade winds gently caressing her cheek. For a moment, she’d wonder how that whole movie turned out, but it was almost better not seeing it, because it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Steady Sunrise

Steady sunrise whispers, hey there,
Peeking over fuzz of blankets.
Far beyond the snow wave contour,
Lacy blues and silvers glisten.
Golden streams through quiet branches,
Warm bird chirps now softly waken.
Ball of new flame, steady, spreading,
Steady glowing, steady growing,
Burns away the great, gray-white mist,
Dances with my pen and fingers.
Rainbows flashing on my lashes--
Hello, steady, I remember.
In the night I yearned for you.