30 May 2004
::today
sunrise : 5:37am
sunset : 8:39pm
day length : 15h 1m
moonset: 3:26am
moonrise : 4:37 pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous 11 days
.....................................
A Flower No More than Itself
She was there on the mountain
still as the fig tree and the failed wheat.
Only the lizards and a few goats moved.
Everything stunned by heat and silence.
I would get to the top of the terraced starkness
with my ankles cut by thistles and all of me
drained by the effort in the fierce light.
I would put the pomegranate and the anise
and a few daisies on the great rock
where the fountain was long ago.
Too tired to praise. And found each time
tenderness and abundance in the bareness.
Went back down knowing I would sleep clean.
That She would be awake all year with sun
and dirt and rain. Pride Her life.
All nature Her wealth. Sound of owls Her pillow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
~Linda Gregg
.....................................
sunrise : 5:37am
sunset : 8:39pm
day length : 15h 1m
moonset: 3:26am
moonrise : 4:37 pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous 11 days
.....................................
A Flower No More than Itself
She was there on the mountain
still as the fig tree and the failed wheat.
Only the lizards and a few goats moved.
Everything stunned by heat and silence.
I would get to the top of the terraced starkness
with my ankles cut by thistles and all of me
drained by the effort in the fierce light.
I would put the pomegranate and the anise
and a few daisies on the great rock
where the fountain was long ago.
Too tired to praise. And found each time
tenderness and abundance in the bareness.
Went back down knowing I would sleep clean.
That She would be awake all year with sun
and dirt and rain. Pride Her life.
All nature Her wealth. Sound of owls Her pillow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
~Linda Gregg
.....................................
23 May 2004
::today
sunrise : 5:41am
sunset : 8:33pm
day length : 14h 52m
moonset: 12:13am
moonrise : 8:49m
moonphase: waxing crescent 4 days
.....................................
The Horticulture of Human Culture
Certain species of plants
can be forced into flowering
simply by depriving them the nourishment of water
It seems prolonged drought
eventually wakens within these flora
the fear that Death may be close at hand
Thus threatened, they hasten to blossom...
mustering all the hidden energies necessary
to ensure fulfillment of Creation's Great Urge
Now, is there not a parallel here
that bears upon our own parched nature
in today's unhappy world?
After having impoverished ourselves for so long
of all enthusiasm, achievement and rebirth...
of all that refreshes and nurtures our garden of humanity...
do we now hope
this odd method of self-cultivation
might finally frighten a renaissance into bloom?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Robert Urban
.....................................
sunrise : 5:41am
sunset : 8:33pm
day length : 14h 52m
moonset: 12:13am
moonrise : 8:49m
moonphase: waxing crescent 4 days
.....................................
The Horticulture of Human Culture
Certain species of plants
can be forced into flowering
simply by depriving them the nourishment of water
It seems prolonged drought
eventually wakens within these flora
the fear that Death may be close at hand
Thus threatened, they hasten to blossom...
mustering all the hidden energies necessary
to ensure fulfillment of Creation's Great Urge
Now, is there not a parallel here
that bears upon our own parched nature
in today's unhappy world?
After having impoverished ourselves for so long
of all enthusiasm, achievement and rebirth...
of all that refreshes and nurtures our garden of humanity...
do we now hope
this odd method of self-cultivation
might finally frighten a renaissance into bloom?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Robert Urban
.....................................
20 May 2004
::today
sunrise : 5:44am
sunset : 8:30pm
day length : 14h 45m
moonrise : 6:22am
moonset : 10:31pm
moonphase : waxing crescent 1 day
.....................................
Cascadilla Falls
I went down by Cascadilla
Falls this
evening, the
stream below the falls,
and picked up a
handsized stone
kidney-shaed, testicular and
thought all its motions into it,
the 800 mph earth spin,
the 190-million-mile yearly
displacement around the sun,
the overriding
grand
haul
of the galaxy w/ the 30,000
mph of where
the sun's going:
thought all the interweaving
motions
into myself: dropped
the stone to dead rest:
the stream from other motions
broke
rushing over it:
shelterless,
I turned
to the sky and stood still:
oh
I do
not know where i am going
that I can live my life
by this single creek.
~A.R. Ammons
.....................................
sunrise : 5:44am
sunset : 8:30pm
day length : 14h 45m
moonrise : 6:22am
moonset : 10:31pm
moonphase : waxing crescent 1 day
.....................................
Cascadilla Falls
I went down by Cascadilla
Falls this
evening, the
stream below the falls,
and picked up a
handsized stone
kidney-shaed, testicular and
thought all its motions into it,
the 800 mph earth spin,
the 190-million-mile yearly
displacement around the sun,
the overriding
grand
haul
of the galaxy w/ the 30,000
mph of where
the sun's going:
thought all the interweaving
motions
into myself: dropped
the stone to dead rest:
the stream from other motions
broke
rushing over it:
shelterless,
I turned
to the sky and stood still:
oh
I do
not know where i am going
that I can live my life
by this single creek.
~A.R. Ammons
.....................................
19 May 2004
::today
sunrise : 5:45am
sunset : 8:29pm
day length : 14h 44m
moonrise : 5:47am
moonset : 9:31pm
moonphase: waxing crescent 0 days
.....................................
The Late Singer
Here it is spring again
and I still a young man!
I am late at my singing.
The sparrow with the black rain on his breast
has been at his cadenzas for two weeks past:
What is it that is dragging at my heart?
The grass by the back door
is stiff with sap.
The old maples are opening
their branches of brown and yellow moth-flowers.
A moon hangs in the blue
in the early afternoons over the marshes.
I am late at my singing.
~William Carlos Williams
.....................................
sunrise : 5:45am
sunset : 8:29pm
day length : 14h 44m
moonrise : 5:47am
moonset : 9:31pm
moonphase: waxing crescent 0 days
.....................................
The Late Singer
Here it is spring again
and I still a young man!
I am late at my singing.
The sparrow with the black rain on his breast
has been at his cadenzas for two weeks past:
What is it that is dragging at my heart?
The grass by the back door
is stiff with sap.
The old maples are opening
their branches of brown and yellow moth-flowers.
A moon hangs in the blue
in the early afternoons over the marshes.
I am late at my singing.
~William Carlos Williams
.....................................
14 May 2004
::today
sunrise : 5:49am
sunset : 8:24pm
moonrise : 3:53am
moonset : 4:06pm
moonphase: waning crescent..24 days
.....................................
The Seven of Pentacles
Under a sky the color of pea soup
she is looking at her work growing away there
actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans
as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.
If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,
if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,
if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,
if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,
then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.
Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.
You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.
More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.
Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.
Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.
Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.
Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.
Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.
Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,
a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us
interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.
Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after
the planting,
after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.
~Marge Piercy
sunrise : 5:49am
sunset : 8:24pm
moonrise : 3:53am
moonset : 4:06pm
moonphase: waning crescent..24 days
.....................................
The Seven of Pentacles
Under a sky the color of pea soup
she is looking at her work growing away there
actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans
as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.
If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,
if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,
if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,
if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,
then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.
Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.
You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.
More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.
Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.
Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.
Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.
Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.
Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.
Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,
a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us
interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.
Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after
the planting,
after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.
~Marge Piercy
LINKS
:: Myth*ing Links
:: Odin's Castle
:: Calendar Zone
:: Algy's Herb Page
:: Gardenweb
:: StarDate
:: Candlegrove
:: You Grow Girl
F A C T S
:: 42.16 lat -122.62 long
:: zone 7
:: elevation 1374
O U T S I D E T H E W I N D O W
:: Winter Hazel
Corylopsis sp
Hamamelidaceae
ARCHIVES
T H A N K S