happy birthday, mary oliver!

Today is poet Mary Oliver's 81st birthday. I am so glad she came to be in this world. I am so grateful to have found her poetry.

“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”    ― Mary Oliver

in your eyes - another take

Someday, I would like to go to Toronto and join in with Choir! Choir! Choir! Enjoy one of the most beautiful songs ever. Sung with many voices: simple, beautiful, and chant like, Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes.

spaces of memory

My Facebook feed is full of cute memes and profile photo filters celebrating 50 years of Star Trek. I have very happy associations with the show as it reminds me of my cult-nerdy first couple of years of college. The show was already nearly 20 years old when I was in college. I was always attracted to the show in high school, but I hadn't watched it all that religiously before college. I fell in love with the show my freshman year, and when I think back to those times, I conjure up the feeling of lightness and fun and community that Star Trek thoughts have come to mean for me.

In my dorm, it was a rare student who had a television in their dorm room. (Heck, very few of us even paid to have a phone in our room for the year... there was one pay phone in the lobby we took turns using to call home once a week.) Watching television was not a big thing except for late night when a small subset of dorm residents. We were maybe 20-30 people out of 200. I'd like to think now that we were the equivalent of what "hipster" is now. Monday through Thursday evenings, in the dorm lounge, in slippers and sweats, toting blankets and pillows (or in my case, wearing my famous green plaid wool blanket poncho with the diagonal zipper at the center) and we would watch Star Trek followed by The Twilight Zone before programming went off for the night. (Cue the multicolored bar graph icon followed by black and white t.v. snow on the screen.) I can't even remember if this was 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.? I think it was.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun enjoying and poking fun at the show at the same time. My friend Susan and I were more "ironic trekkies" than some of the assembled. We saw the sexism in the show and just laughed. I loved Kirk's bad acting. I loved Mr. Spock, my favorite character. I loved the drama and the ethical and moral dilemmas.

These days it is hard to imagine that college students could have this kind of experience. Cell phones are ubiquitous. People can watch Netflix on their phones or laptops. There isn't the kind of community gathering we had, even though there are still dorm lounge events. Our dorm lounge was our living room except on weekends when it became the party place. I would like to think today's college students have something equivalent. For their sake, I truly hope they do!

Anyone who remembers Star Trek really, REALLY, needs to watch Other Space on Yahoo streaming. I have watched the series 2x now (there are only eight episodes). Brilliant and so funny. It is today's cult-nerdy offering for those who might have fond Star Trek memories. If you watched the original MST 3000, you will see a familiar character in this series.

who really knows?

My birthday, as pleasant as it was, has come and gone; Labor Day Weekend, so beautiful as it was, come and gone. The first day of school (on Facebook) has come and gone. [So, so odd to not have a first day of school after 13 years....] Things are abuzz on the campus where I work and I haven't sat down at the home computer to write for a bit of time.

I had mentioned I planned to treat myself to a new flute and I am ecstatic to report that I found a beautiful instrument ... it is hand-made, was pre-owned but well taken care of, and the nicest instrument I have ever played/ owned. In every spare moment I just want to practice! We have had off from band rehearsals since the beginning of August and start up again next week. I cannot wait.

With highs and lows, I try to keep the old Chinese parable with the wise refrain, "we'll see" in my mind to try to stay with some sense of equanimity. Do you know the story? Worth a read and a moment of contemplation.

Meanwhile, enjoy this driving piece, Roll the Bones, by Shakey Graves. Thought-provoking lyrics. I guess we may all be rolling those bones.

music for a sunday groove

WJPP here bringing you no stranger. Andrew Bird is a musician featured here several times in the past. So.enjoyable. Thanks KEXP for this live studio performance recorded earlier this year.  Set list: Capsized, Are You Serious, Left Handed Kisses, and Roma Fade. Three out of four of these may be familiar from a recent TinyDesk concert I posted a bit ago. Not sure about you, but I don't tire of any of these. Back to the day full of allergens, scratchy throat, and heavy eyelids. Wishing I didn't have to work this afternoon/evening. So goes life.

saturday skips

silent chimes before dusk - 8.26.2016

Skipping yoga, here I sit sipping a second cuppa with sunshine out the window. I have to work this afternoon and tomorrow evening for the opening of school, making for not a whole lot of weekend, so am savoring a little time at home this morning.

Summer isn't officially over, but it has felt over for me starting this past week. Faculty are back on my campus, buzzing around and getting ready, and I've been working all summer except for a week here and a couple of days there. I try not to sigh too much thinking about what is ahead. Keep smiling and contentment fills in. Summer always goes too quickly for my liking. Even the very hot, humid, drought-filled summer that we had was a needed, needed season after the long winter and minuscule spring. My mother tells me that when I get older and am retired, I will love autumn.

Some of my favorite ways to savor the end of summer include sitting in an anti-gravity chair under the oak tree, or looking at the sky from the deck, listening to the gentle wind chimes and the leaves rustling gently. I've been writing small stone poems over at tiny river splash daily, and that has been fun.

My birthday is around the corner and I am going to treat myself to something I have dreamed about for a long time... not sure when it will happen, but I have started the process. I will be buying a new flute. The one I have had since 1977 was a great flute at that time. Had I gone on to music school, I would have upgraded then, but since I didn't, it didn't make sense to make that investment. As it is, my current flute stayed in its case mostly dormant for 30 years. Now, I am enjoying playing again with the concert band I joined last year and it's time. The musicians around me have some fine instruments, and I know my playing will be enhanced with a better instrument. That high A-flat? Well, that is partly me and partly my flute. I will keep working on it.

I write here so sporadically these days I kind of wonder if anyone reads these posts at all. Yet, I keep coming back to check in as if it is my connection with the unknown reader. Yes, I know I have a few blog friends who check in on me as I do on them. Thanks! Even without readers, this is as much of a diary as I have ever kept. It is interesting to observe what I choose to give words to and what stays hidden. The same goes for my other social media fun outlets Instagram or Facebook. What do I choose to "capture" and share, and what do I let go or just experience privately. It's a curious time we live in.

Anyway, have a lovely day. I hope to do the same. 

atomic number and nine others

WJPP sharing a recent top ten songs list by WFUV:

1. Wilco  "If I Ever Was a Child"
2. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings  "I'm Still Here'"
3. Maggie Rogers  "Alaska"
4. Father John Misty  "Real Love Baby"
5. Michael Kiwanuka  "Love & Hate"
6. The Head and The Heart  "All We Ever Knew"
7. case/lang/veirs  "Atomic Number'"
8. Radiohead  "Burn the Witch"
9. Ray LaMontagne  "The Changing Man/While It Still Beats"
10. Beck  "Wow"

I had some fun searching these out on YouTube and checking out lyrics. I decided to showcase Atomic Number by case/lang/veirs.  Neko Case,  k.d. lang and Laura Veirs. Honorable mentions to Wilco, Michael Kiwanuka, and Ray LaMontagne. I actually like nearly all of these. Have some fun. 

imam bayildi

I used to have this dish - or a variation of this dish - at yoga retreats in the late 1970s, early 1980s. I always thought it was Indian. Turns out it is a Turkish dish. My mom told me how to make this over the phone, and I decided to consult a couple of online recipes for "tips and tricks" just to be sure on timing, etc. I came up with the following variation -- adding in some garam masala dry spice and some Egyptian stew spice a friend gave me last year to add flourish. If I do say so, this was a winner! So glad the weather cooled a bit and I felt like cooking. We cooked the basmati rice in the rice cooker out on the deck to save on some kitchen heat. This dish tasted a lot better than it looks in these photos. The pics were an after-thought so I didn't do any fancy food arranging for blog aesthetics. (I actually just took them to text to my mom to show her I did it, and then decided on this blog post as an afterthought to save the recipe I'd sort of adapted/ made up while it was still fresh in mind.) There are many ways to make this dish.

Imam Bayildi

Ingredients

1 eggplant, peeled and cubed into 1 inch cubes
1 large cooking onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes (or stewed tomatoes)
1/2 c. (a handful) of raisins
olive oil for sauteing
salt, pepper, and if you have it, Egyptian spice and garam masala powder
cooked basmati rice







Directions

• soak the peeled eggplant cubes in cold, salted water in a mixing bowl (placing a medium plate over the top so that the floating eggplant pieces stay submerged - for 10 minutes - then remove and pat dry.)
• while the eggplant is soaking, saute the onions and garlic until nearly translucent
• stir in the eggplant on medium/high flame until coated with what remains of the oil - stir 1-2 minutes
• add in the tomatoes and raisins, cover, heat on medium to medium-low -for total of 20 minutes until everything is soft
• in the last five minutes of cooking, add spices to taste as sauce thickens
• serve over basmati rice. (Tom added toasted almonds for protein. I think you could add rinsed chick peas for protein also).

Yum!

the joy formidable

This is the best band name I have seen in a long way. This is The Joy Formidable and "Little Blimp," at the noon hour here on WJPP. I hope you are having a great day and regardless, let this piece leave you energized!

things you can change

"when combined, they look like wisdom."

Jessica Hagy - thisisindexed.com

lake street dive tiny desk concert

Here's a different lake take . . . enjoy this NPR Tiny Desk Concert. So much talent! SO much fun.

the beauty of the lake

I am sitting here just thinking about the beauty of the lake and the scent of the Adirondack breezes. Here are a few more photos from the 2016 collection. It is amazing how one week back to work and routine makes the distance from that relaxing time magnified. It feels like weeks since I was there, and it has only been 7 days.

An American Painted Lady Butterfly -- this beauty likes the mountains.

Can you hear the lapping waves? Can you feel the lovely breeze?

Even cloudy days bring muted beauty -- shades of blue and gray and green.

on the genius of tom petty and other memories

With my daily micro-poem writing over at tiny river splash this month, I haven't been spending much time here. But after going on a Tom Petty video watching marathon last night (streaming YouTube on the television screen), I knew I had to post a video or two today here. (My) Tom and I had read an article on the seven most underrated Tom Petty videos since we both agree he presents as just one of the coolest human beings ever. (Do you notice his detached observation mode in almost every performance? The videos somehow capture that ethos.)

Anyway, from the moment I first set eyes on him singing Refugee on Saturday Night Live in 1979*, I have felt a strange kinship with a rock and roller I will never meet. There is a deeper level to his lyrics and videos than the surface might show. He seems to have an understanding of suffering, pathos, and mistreatment of human beings in this world and yet, his songs and countenance portray the necessity that we still exist within and among this array of emotions and scenes, this crazy world.

Anyway, feel free to scan the article linked above and search out the seven videos. You might certainly be thinking of some of the more famous videos like Last Dance With Mary Jane... that one doesn't appear because it certainly isn't underrated. I will embed two below that I found interesting, disturbing and brilliant, each in different ways. These videos remind me of the MTV era of my younger days when there was a layer of interpretive art added to what would otherwise have been more two dimensional listening of music. We have been mainly back to just listening and watching live or studio performance videos with only the occasional true art video in recent years. Enjoy Swingin' and Walls. You will see a few cameos in Walls if you look carefully.

*Watching Tom Petty on his SNL debut is a very clear memory. Just recalling it now, I am transported back to the family room of the Moritz's home on W. Pine St. in my hometown where I was babysitting into the wee hours of the morning most Saturday nights. I was 14 years old with fairly conventional and strict parents. I would otherwise not have been allowed to be out at night at that hour and I wouldn't have been up allowed to be up watching SNL on the family TV. I loved babysitting at the Moritz's. Not only did they have great snacks (and always macaroons during Passover), the kids were nice, went to bed by 10, and I had hours of freedom after dark in a fun home. Sometimes I would call the late night radio host and request songs, in the days before caller ID, preserving my anonymity. My guess is that the DJ did not know how young I was or he wouldn't have flirted with me the way he did. The family paid pretty well (although babysitting wages were abysmal), and they came home happy and toasted. It was definitely one of my better babysitting gigs.

by the way, I'm still ranting on the cartoon caption contest

Some may know that I continue to enter The New Yorker cartoon caption contest. Not weekly, mind you, but often enough. Am I discouraged by the sexism? Yes. Do I wish I had made my profile name "George Elliott"? You betcha. I have had some close entries in the past, and some have said I have entered even better captions than the three finalists in the past (back when the editors were narrowing down the final three for votes). These days, The New Yorker has changed the way the finalists are chosen. They get more than 5,000 entries per week, so it doesn't surprise me they have gone to crowd-source voting.

The last contest I entered (before vacation) left me perplexed. I voted on about 50 entries (unfunny, somewhat funny, funny) without seeing my own entry before giving up for lack of time. One of the entries below was in the mix. I voted it "somewhat funny," but would have voted my own "funny." My entry, below the first, I would argue is funnier. Worthy of top three? Maybe. Because I was on vacation, I missed the voting on the top three. I don't know what they were and will find out when the winner is announced. Anyway, my disappointment continues. Will I keep trying? Probably. 

POST SCRIPT!! Just learned (Tuesday, August 9th, two days after writing this post,) that the top three captions for this contest included one that was EXACTLY the same as mine, entered by a Susan Robinson, of Willow, NY!!!! What?!? How can it be? My exact entry is in the top three, but someone else's name is underneath it in my printed copy. It is a mystery to me how these are selected. I wish I could have voted for "mine". (The other two were: "There's really nothing to it," and " If you see the cartoonist, have him drop me a line." Both are also very funny.) If you want to see what the winner ends up being, go to: http://contest.newyorker.com/ and the winner should be announced soon. I still can't believe all this happened while I was away for one week. How did I find out? Tom made my lunch today and put the following in my lunch bag as a "note." (It got a bit crunched in the lunch bag.) If I hadn't screen captured my original entry, I might not believe it. Boo hoo. 

POST POST SCRIPT.... (8/19/2016)... MY CAPTION WON! (I mean, Susan Robinson's caption won.) Arghhhhhhh.

the return

We returned from a week at the lake on Friday afternoon. Here are just a few photos for you. I took so many it was hard to pick just what to post here.

Yesterday was spent in laundry and readying-for-the-week-ahead mode. Today has just a few things on the list as I prepare to go back to the routine tomorrow.

This annual lake vacation is something I treasure. We enjoyed the beauty of the Adirondacks... a cloudy day, a brief heavy rain, a nighttime thunder storm, and mostly perfectly sunny, breezy, warm days. The sunsets were beautiful. The week included some reading, a couple of mountain climbs, one tennis match, swimming, card playing, and taking in the vistas.

Not only is the environment completely re-charging, but I get to spend it with my family, recalling years of good memories and creating some new ones. To be together (and apart) in one familiar place is a lot of fun. Each year we have a pitch tournament (card game) and one team of two ends up with first prize mug "trophies." We take turns cooking and we go out to eat a couple of times. We have a lot of little traditions. Each year is different, and each year has common threads.

No week "all together" is completely perfect of course. There are a few moments of "button pushing," where we are reminded of the enmeshment of personalities that make up a large family. Someone might be sad one year due to one loss or another. This year we all grappled in one way or another with the loss (by impending divorce) of a brother-in-law. We all missed the old "entire" family after many, many years. We remember lasts. (Last year he was with us). There are new firsts. (This year my other sister had her longtime boyfriend stay for a few nights.) We know that future years will hold other losses. Loss is part of life, and life is all the sweeter to appreciate what we have right now.

Another thing I realized, and I don't know why I was so surprised by this, but vacations are different when your child gets older. The teen arrived late to the week and left early due to his work schedule, and it was odd and a bit worrisome to have him away from us for three of the days. Thank goodness for text messaging to give me some reassurances. Probably my happiest snapshot memory this past week was the night before the teen had to leave, and all the cousins knew it, they all decided to run to a dock and jump in the water (some in their clothes...) and go night swimming. They actually without realizing it jumped in in age order with my guy first, then the other four cousins following -- with just a moment's hesitation by the youngest (10) before she plunked in. They swam together to a shallower part and played in the water and they tapped into that happy, carefree childhood place that I wish we could bottle.

Every year, I see a friend and colleague from within my university system who vacations the same week we do nearby with her extended family.  We see each other more on the beach in this one week of the year than we do otherwise because she lives/works about 3 hours from where I do. Her children are still young and she doesn't get to relax much. We had a laugh about how she was jealous of me being able to read in a chair at the beach area, not having to be lifeguard, being able to relax during the days ... Meanwhile, I was a bit jealous of that sweet time with a young child when I knew everything about when my son played, ate, and slept. Now, I am awake many nights at 3 a.m. when my son is at his late night food delivering job and I wonder if he is safe, if he is tired, if he is eating properly (because he certainly doesn't have a good sleep cycle.) I guess being a parent means to never relax if you let that stress and worry and fear get to you -- and it means coming into harmony with those things as possible. My mom and I had a talk about letting go of "control" in being a parent. She wisely stated that it is a fine line between "control" and "responsibility," and finding that balance is the key.

Separation is normal, and it happens, and I suppose we are never quite ready for it. The challenge is to have a strong mind, a present mind, and I did okay. One thing I decided to do was the #AwakeAugust small stones writing month. I haven't been writing much lately. The small stones form is a form I very much enjoy. If you are interested, they are posted over at tiny river splash.

So, off to the day I go. Holding onto this inner Adirondacks peace as long as I possibly can. Ciao.

mandala thoughts

"Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life."  -- Pema Chodron

[Had some fun coloring this past week...]

crystal river

I have been enjoying Mudcrutch lately. This is of course Tom Petty singing with some friends of his... and a mildly Grateful Dead groove like thing going on. I like the idea that "nothing can touch me here on Crystal River." Today is my first day of some much needed time off. It is sunny and warm and I couldn't be happier than I am in this moment. Enjoy this day.

hungry no more

It's request hour here at WJPP and Tom picked this: Hungry No More by Mudcrutch. Yes, you do know these guys. You do. We have 2 Mudcrutch albums and they are both terrific. Thanks YouTube for doing what you do. (And as a P.S., if *only* I were hungry no more. Off I go to have a little snack.) And by the way, my honorable mention, perhaps my pick, would have been Beautiful Blue.

high hopes

Friends, having trouble blogging poetry or positive thoughts lately. Words are on my finger tips. I am seeking wisdom and comfort in the words and voices of others right now. The state of the world is depressing. I can't bring myself to blog about the RNC or Donald Trump or race relations and the violence that is going on between certain lives and certain other lives because I get seriously nauseated (and/or numb).

Even with all the privilege I have allowing me at times to bury my head in the sand, everyday life can be challenging in its own ways. Living moment to moment is good - and I am finding wonderful distractions, however temporary they may be. This is a melancholy selection. It is a beautiful selection.

Enjoy this track off Pink Floyd's 1994 Division Bell called High Hopes. I posted another version of this song back in 2012, but the video has been taken down. It is worthy of repeating.

Pasted below is a selection from one of my favorite writers Anne Lamott who recently provided some powerful inspiration. She is a bit too "born again" for me at times*, but I adore her writing and her fierce, loving voice, wit, and intelligence. (*Don't get me wrong, I have faith and seek to experience the divinity of the universe . . . I just don't have the specific faith beliefs she ascribes to. Her progressive and liberal activism is admirable. When she asks WWJJD? She really looks into what that means!)

"Life has always been this scary here, and we have always been as vulnerable as kittens. Plagues and Visigoths, snakes and schizophrenia; Cain is still killing Abel and nature means that everyone dies. I hate this. It's too horrible for words. When my son was seven and found out that he and I would not die at the exact same second, he said, crying, "If I had known this, I wouldn't have agreed to be born." Don't you feel like that sometime?

My father's mother lost a small child in the 1918 flu pandemic. Someone in the family is having a nervous breakdown. A yoga teacher was shot down the road last year by some druggies, while walking on a foot path. A yoga teacher! And then in recent weeks, Orlando, police shooting innocent people, and innocent police officers being shot, and now Nice.

How on Earth do we respond, when we are stunned and scared and overwhelmed, to the point of almost disbelieving?

I wish there was an 800 number we could call to find out, so I could pass this along to my worried Sunday School kids.But no. Yet in the meantime, I know that we MUST respond We must respond with a show of force equal to the violence and tragedies, with love force. Mercy force. Un-negotiated compassion force. Crazy care-giving to the poor and suffering, including ourselves. Patience with a deeply irritating provocative mother. Two dollar bills to the extremely annoying guy at the intersection who you think maybe could be working, or is going to spend your money on beer. Jesus didn't ask the blind man what he was going to look at after He restored the man's sight. He just gave hope and sight; He just healed. To whom can you give hope and sight today. What about to me, and disappointing old you? Radical self-care: healthy food, patience and a friendly tone of voice, lotions on the jiggly things, forgiving pants, lots of sunscreen and snacks. Maybe the random magazine.
Do you have your last computer on the shelf, that you really don't have time or effort to take to the after-school program in your town--but you are going to do today? Go flirt with the oldest people at the market--tell them you are glad to see them. Voila: Hope and sight.

Remember the guys in the Bible whose friend was paralyzed, but couldn't get in close to see Jesus preach and heal, so they carried him on a cot, climbed the roof, and lowered him down for the healing? Can a few of you band together--just for today--and carry someone to the healing? To the zen-do? To a meeting? Help a neighbor who is going under, maybe band together to haul their junk to the dump? Shop for sales for a canned food drive at the local temple or mosque? How about three anonymous good deeds?

There is no healing in pretending this bizarre violent stuff is not going on, and that there is some cute bumper sticker silver lining. (It is fine if you believe this, but for the love of God, PLEASE keep it to yourself. it will just tense us all up.) What is true is that the world has always been this way, people have always been this way, grace always bats last, it just does--and finally, when all is said and done, and the dust settles, which it does, Love is sovereign here."  Anne Lamott

all things connect

#prisma

"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."   ~ Chief Seattle

hearts and bones

I've been listening to some old Paul Simon lately after falling in love with his current album. This song, going back to 1983, is such a standout. The lyrics contain some of my favorite lyric snippets of all time. So, I appreciated finding this video with the lyrics flashing across the screen (something I ordinarily find a bit annoying). Savor the music and the words. (My suggestion if you have time is to listen to a version without the words visible after reading through the words once to experience the listening only version.) Nicely done, Paul. Thanks, YouTube. WJPP here wishing you a good day.