Beyond The Perfect Blue


Unexpected sunshine and the choice to go outside, and the windows open and fresh warm air circulating, I probably don't have to explain this section of my happy day. 
Up to 400 verses in this experiment now, only 600 more noteworthy moments to find. Meanwhile, the habit of noticing things is becoming indelible and I'm digging up old diaries to find and share the formula/attitude/secret of appreciating life as it's happening and not living in a limbo of nostalgia and longing for change. Easy to say, but how is it that I can do it?  





391
Unseasonal strength of sunshine
Surprises everyone. A heat flourish
Enchants water from the dirt, shimmer
Of evaporation fuzzes over horizon lines

392
The sun takes centre sky, sets about
Changing the scene, fixes a different
Mood for the morning, from the
Insular rain to the sprawl of ultraviolet

393
Indoors I lift each window latch in turn
Push the glass open and feel the breeze
Rush in like a child bursting with news
Blowing the wood-soot, chasing stale air

394
Vegetables keep cool in the fridge
Poised for dinner. Meanwhile I will
Attend to the long list of outdoors jobs
First, to deduce which task has precedence

395
As we assemble work tools
Birds are raiding the buddleia seeds
Cat lazes on the table, stuffed
With mouse-meat and biscuit

396
Several crows crowd a looping buzzard
And break its patience. One less pestering
Crow in the world now; the rest disperse
Buzzard circles in satisfactory peace

397
Dog gets happy as soon as we put boots on
Boots for outdoors, that happiest of places
She paces to the field gate to remind us
This is the way, the path to follow

398
The wheelbarrow is waiting, holding
One billhook, one roll of string
We admire it as the kettle steams
And the tea brews in a leopard print pot

399
The day is coming up beautiful
Right in front of us, shining
We can reach our hands out
Feel the warmth in our palms

400
Like we had described
Our perfect blue
And the sky had gone
One blue further

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contact Pants Conundrum

Image
There is weather today, I do note it: take a few moments to reckon the size of a cloud (big) and the frequency of rain (sporadic.) Centre of my interest though is a stack of magazines. Not the fashion kind. This is martial arts research. I'm not even sure what it is I'm looking for, but intuition calls loud. A range of old adverts skew some amusement. Contact pants, for example. Pants are not trousers where I come from. They are underwear. Professional contact pants: improved smirk value. But why would a person be likely to purchase a grappling hook and a lock pick set? For specialists and hobbyists only, the blurb assures. Guidance on the pheromone spray that attracts women against their better judgement? I doubt it works any more proficiently than the mysterious potion that defines your muscles while you sleep. But, then: I wonder is some sprayed on this paper? What was my intuition thinking, making this ghastly shout… Tea break time. There's a lot of words
Read more

A Candle Lit

Image
We live by the light of those we love, whether they are here or gone. That light is inextinguishable. To have the light and not the company is an adjustment process we call grief. Loss is a shadow, equal to the light. We adjust not to lose the shadow but to see both. Hard to bear - yet without darkness, light cannot show its full wonder. Let us look after each other, then, and value our days, our company, and live to leave vast shadows, and understand that pain is a strange gift, a tender, haunting, purposed gift. And if you are grieving: let your tears flow, let your anger shout, let yourself plead and deny and feel terrible: it is not an easy process.  Know that other people know grief.  Know that other people are hurt to see you grieve.  Know that love is a fundamental response. There is no time limit to this adjustment process. No right or wrong way to feel. One day you will stand back and see that the shadow is proof to the strength of the light, a
Read more

Spring Is Ticking

Image
It has been a while since I wrote a blog post - I have been writing books, and keeping a diary, the days and the work aren’t lost, just ticking quietly in a corner. [There’s a little dust in that corner but the shelf is made of strong oak planks, and the light is enchanting. A plant grows in a pot, it spouts leaves. A half candle stands in a china holder.] At Paddock Garden (properly titled Paddock Garden Orchards, I am a lazy typer) a tree corral has been constructed. It contains persimmons which may not have survived the recent cold blasts and heavy rain, along with some happy pepper trees, bladdernuts, and plum yews. We plan to underplant and interplant extensively in this concentrated area. Around the grounds also we have begun some windbreak hedges, mostly of elaeagnus and hazel. We have a line of sapling native oaks edging the spinney. The first of our camping bay areas is growing emerald grass that was seeded last autumn; the second has recently been seeded; the last three need
Read more