Monday, June 30th 2014

Yosemite & Heroes

The U.S. government set aside scenic land for
all people to enjoy on this day in 1864.
Abraham Lincoln had a vision for the future
of our country even though he was in the midst of a
terrible war.

   

                               &

The great poet Czeslaw Milosz
born in Lithuania on this day in 1911 wrote:

"We don't know who the person next to us is.
He may be a hero, a saint, a genius."

                               Also one year ago today, 19 firefighters died 

in Yarnell, AZ.

May they rest in peace with our gratitude.

Sunday, June 29th 2014

Prince & Egret

Antoine de Saint-Exupèry, the writer 

and aviator was born on this day in 1900.

He wrote The Little Prince in 1943. 

A small book with big thoughts and

bigger questions that we still ponder today.

Perhaps your friend is an egret instead of a fox.

You watch the Snowy Egret for many 

long minutes hoping to understand

his "quiet  sweetness."

"What saves a man is to take a step. 

Then another step."
                  

                 -Antoine de Saint-Exupèry

Saturday, June 28th 2014

BLUE

Do you ever feel blue?

Everyone loves the color blue, but no one
would choose to feel blue.

You may meet someone who is feeling sad, or lonely,
or depressed -- and you take the softer way of
trying to help them by inviting the word blue into
your conversation

Music can share emotion with songs like:
Blue On BlueMidnight BlueMr. Blue

Blue flowers live

on our blue planet. . .

       Share them  and . . . 

"Let no one ever come to you

  without leaving happier."

                       -Mother Teresa

Friday, June 27th 2014

FUN & PLAY

Do you ever have a day when everything in life
seems serious and all you want to do is have
a little fun?
Sometimes when we are working, we forget
the pleasures of creation -- making something
new.

How many sunsets have you captured? (Hundreds at least, 

if you carry your camera with you.) 

+Find a photo of a sunset. Some of your favorite colors? 

+Be sure to save the original image.

+Go to the photo program you use.

+Now just start playing. Really.

+All those tasks you've never tried -- try them now:

  stitching, cutouts, special effects, touch up, etc.

What did you create?

Our lovely sunset is now telling us that even the night has eyes 

for those who choose to see !

Thursday, June 26th 2014

Green Fields

A picture is worth a place in the sun --
and the proverbial thousand words.
Think of some place you recall vividly.
Think of how it has changed.
Maybe an empty field where wildflower
seeds were planted, arrived, and then
never re-seeded due to lack of water.
Think California drought.

                 

"Once there were green fields kissed by the sun . . . "

                                        -The Brothers Four 1960

But then something changes. One day you see a
young person in that empty field practicing his trumpet.
That field is no longer empty.
The very air has flowered.

Yes. Change is the very air we breathe. 

Are you open to change in your life?

Wednesday, June 25th 2014

KOREAN WAR

On this day in 1950 the people's army of
North Korea invaded South Korea.
It was the beginning of a conflict that would
cost the lives of 5 million people.
Many felt at the time that this war was a
war to stop Communist aggression.

Korea is still a

divided country 

today.

The television show "Mash" was 

an attempt to reveal something of

the conflict in Korea.

War stories are still being

remembered and told today by

the men and women who were there.

If you ask you will get the real story . . . 

BROKEN WEATHER

                             -County Kerry

                                                       

I am the woman photographer

and you, the priest.

We meet in a storm-beaten cottage,

the air full of Irish blood pudding

and aromatic peat.

You speak of Heartbreak Ridge 

the Korean War.

As the fireplace spits

you bow in supplication. 

“I did not drive the Jeep,

or I’d be dead.”

Your spirit seems unredeemed 

like something left behind

in a pawnshop along the quay.

After you leave, I focus on you

through the misty window.

When the film is developed,

it is not you,

but my steady hand reaching

through a pane of glass.

                             -Kathleen Gunton 

                            ÓFree Lunch #32

                                     Winter 2004

R.I.P Tom

June 2014

Tuesday, June 24th 2014

Our Brothers -- John, John, John.

John the Baptist was born 6 months before Christmas.
He became the messenger preparing the way for Christ, "the
voice of one crying in the wilderness." He was beheaded
for speaking the truth.

Living in the desert prepared

John for his mission.

Saint John of the Cross was born on this day in 1542.

He was a Spanish mystic, priest and poet, famous

for La noche oscura del alma (The Dark Night

of the Soul), in which he describes the growth

of the soul toward God. John was imprisoned for

his attempts to reform some Religious. 

John Ciardi, the poet and educator was born on

June 24, 1916. His famous textbook on poetry,

"How Does A Poem Mean" is still in use today.

He is also know for some of his delightful children's

poems.

"The poet cannot know where he is going: he must
take direction from the poem itself" -- wise advice
from Ciardi.

"I am in Rome,

Vatican bells tolling/

a windowful of God

and Bernini."

           -John Ciardi

What fills your mind, alone in the quiet room . . .                      -John Ciardi