For Jean

Mother to Son (Child)

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Langston Hughes

Rise and Shine

"The sun never sets. It is we who rise and think to shine."
Earle Birney, in The Old Farmer's Almanac 2009

Beautiful Pomegranates

How to eat a pomegranate. So far, nothing beats fresh, like an orange. Umm, crispyluscious. I've never heard of anyone getting sick from eating too many. (?) While expecting Molly, I ate 3-7 oranges a day the last three months with no apparent afteraffects, my only scientific basis.

Crispyluscious!
Pomegranate cheers!

Spirit in the Sky

It seems lazy, and it is kind of, but I'd put this one in my favorites, too. Song of the Year for 1969:

http://www.wildeblue.blogspot.com/