Saturday, August 31, 2013

A day in the life of.....

Here I am, devoid of any inspiration, but it has been a good day!
 
I wakened early and as I came in to the kitchen, with Callie brushing against my ankles in anticipation of her morning kibbles, I caught the faintest glimpse of pink through the branches that screen the west window.  It is not often that I catch a sunrise, enveloped as I am in greenery and garden and neighbouring houses. 
 
Will it still be there while I dress?  No, of course not  - it is only the faintest pink, not a full blown production with scarlet and fiery orange and deep rose, and perhaps a dash of purple.  Hesitation will only bring with it disappointment.....  Slippers and robe will have to do.
 
There, in the east, delicate wisps and ripples, and the last silver crescent of the old moon. 

 
I feel somewhat blest, and stay to take a few more pictures of the sunflowers.

 
 
 
and Callie, who turns to look at me with her green eyes questioning this early morning romp.


After I have dressed I step out on to the front porch
 and discover the pink clouds have turned to silver,
 
 
and I am absolutely enchanted!!!
 
After coffee and a chat with my loving and faithful daughter, who comes each morning on her way to work, I do up the dishes, visit for a bit on Skype with my youngest son in the Chilcotin,
feel even more blest, and gather up the cake I am taking as my contribution
to a funeral reception.
 
Then it is off to the library where I spend an inordinately long time looking at DVDs
to help pass the long evenings, and searching the knitting and weaving shelves.
 
I come home with a knitting book featuring scarves, shrugs and shawls,
three DVDs, Jean Thompson's "The Year we left Home". Mark Steyn's "After America"
(which I expect will depress me)
and a book by a local Okanagan author and piano restorer,   Marinum J. van Prattenburg -
"Mr. Sebastian - the life story of a mid-nineteenth century grand piano".
 
I arrive just in time to click on the Berlin Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall
to listen to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of
Manfred Honock in the opening concert of Musikfest Berlin 2013.
 
The program features Witold  Luteslawski's Chain 11 with
Anna-Sophie Mutter as guest soloist.   Beautiful!!!
The quiet conversations between violin and orchestra and violin and piano were charming.
And they had two encores,  - the last one being the Last Waltz from
Richard Strauss'  der Rozenkavalier. 
I sighed and went to have lunch....
 
In the afternoon I cut the back lawn which was at least nine inches high!!!
It called for a scythe, I think.
 
And then I rested, and looked at some pictures of early
days which I am adding to a digital album in memory of my darling -
and after a while I had my supper.
 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
I am reading, - randomly - essays by Chris Arthur from his book entitled
"Irish Nocturnes"
They are absorbing and intriguing and his words,
and the way he puts them together, fascinate and delight me.
 
Off to make some hot chocolate and explore this lovely treasure of books,
and when I go to bed I will say White Rabbits last thing so the
thought will be with me in the morning, the first day of September.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, August 26, 2013

ABC Wednesday
August 28th, 2013

The letter is G  for GRASSHOPPER



(The Grasshopper Poem)
The Summer Day
 
Mary Oliver
 
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down -
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down to the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
 
For more interpretations of the letter G hop on over to ABC Wednesday, here,
with thanks to Denise and Roger and all their hoppy helpers.