A late update

I promised myself to post to my blog before the end of the year – so I don’t have much time.
-Failed-

Clueless!

The obvious thing is to write about the New Year and its meaning. The endings and beginnings. I don’t have a good handle on that but I can take a metaphorical swing at it.

Endings: I visited my mother the week before Christmas. Her mind is deteriorating. Oh, she is has medical problems but is healthy in the areas that count for longevity – good lung and heart. Unlikely to have a stroke or heart attack. While she complains – a lot – she was feeling better given the amount of energy and time spent fussing at me and the Mrs.

Let see, just to name the highlights, I need to lose that gut, we spend too much money, we are wasteful because we keep turning on the lights to see, I used the wrong trash can, and I put coffee grounds in with the regular trash! With her memory going we would discuss these issues to where I thought they were resolved, but he next day it was all new to her. It was like the movie Groundhog Day.

I feel guilty for getting so upset with her, but there are those old buttons she knows how to push. Didn’t yell or do anything mean, mostly sulked.

Lost opportunities: So many regrets. It would be nice to pass along all the life lessons I have learned to my children, but as the years go by it is clear they have to make their own mistakes. What is my job? Keeping them from making too big of mistakes, catch them when they fall or help pick them up. Not sure I doing so well. I see the failures, not the successes.

Cats: Nothing to do with the New Year that I can see. May be too subtle or I’m too close.

We have one cat that is relatively fearless. If I ry to get him to shoo so I can get into a box he is on and he just stares at me. Literally I have to pick him up and move him. Other cats in the house hear me coming, crouch down and scamper off. One does this regularly, other occasionally. My suspicion is that if they are in a good position to trip me, they stay put. I know they think my job is to rub them on demand and to open doors.

Tomorrow will be another year.

things worth believing in

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.

Hub – Secondhand Lions

VLT (Very Large Telescope) HD Timelapse Footage

Awesome

Another Mother-in-Law Crisis

MIL: Oh, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, my television is on the blink.

Ms.  Mousebert: What’s wrong now mother?

MIL: I don’t know. It started acting funny, so I started pushing all the buttons on the control thingy and then on the TV and cable box, and now all I get is static. I’ve tried disconnecting things and plugging things back in.

Ms.  Mousebert: Well you did the right thing, because when you have a problem the first thing you should do is push all the buttons you have no idea what they may do and start disconnecting and  plugging then back into God knows where, instead of calling me first.

MIL: Well that makes me feel better. I thought I might have screwed it up.

Door Mats

OK, I received this by email and I have been sharing it with friends. For some reason gmail can mess with jpegs and I keep forgetting that.

Enjoy!

If you could read my mind

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see. 

If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take!

I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let's be real;
I never thought I could  feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feeling's gone
And I just can't get it back. 

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong.
With chains upon my feet.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back!

Just waiting

Sitting here, outside on a Sunday afternoon with the sounds of suburbia
the birds, the gentle breeze, mixed with the random cacophony and constant background sounds of man and his influence
the bark of a dog,
the hypnotic hum of compressors
the paroxysm of a car alarm

Calm – interrupted by the sucking mosquitoes (euphemism)

A red tail hawk, a chicken hawk, stares at me
I’m too big for a meal
chased away by smaller blackbirds

The Turkey vulture circles overhead – I’m not dead yet.
dog dumps in yard
that shall draw in the muse I wish to attract!
Now rolling in the grass, fortunately not the same spot

The beer is more bitter than I care for
odd, usually I like this brand, and it’s far less bitter than many I drink

There a faint perfume in the air
chirping house sparrows (English Sparrows)
they are very friendly, but messy
Jasmine!

Inspected by a wasp
I am of no interest
a Warning?

Where is the damn muse?
Cheep, cheep tweets the sparrow
please, no aerial presents

I know where the muse hides
but like the cat scampering about
she must come to me
I cannot chase her down and catch her
must set the mood and entice
occasionally I can grab and hold
like the cat, she purrs for a moment then leaps free

I know what frighten the muse
but powerless to rectify
I am not her master

Morning Daffodils

Daffodils

As I stroll among the hills,
and gazed upon the daffodils.
sunrise mist streams gently down
the people stir in nearby town

Arising from slumber’s thrall
The steam kettles to breakfast call
Oh, what splendor I do view
Aurora’s fields in glistening dew

As clouds meander over waves of daffodils
I recall the lass with unlaced espadrilles
The mind does wander to times long lost
Unknown to me would be its cost

I charged les châteaux dans l’air
Upon arrival, there was nothing there

She was lovely as the daffodils
Beyond my reach
Forever still

And still I hope to see once more
The lovely lass whom I’d adore
With field of daffodils and spring in air
I know it’s not, I shall not dare

Version 3.0: What do you thing? Vote early, vote often.

As I stroll among the hills,
and gazed upon the daffodils.
sunrise mist streams gently down
the people stir in nearby town

Released from slumber’s thrall
The steam kettles’ shrill to breakfast call
Oh, what splendor I do view
Aurora’s fields in glistening dew

As clouds meander over waves of daffodils
I recall the lass with unlaced espadrilles
The mind does wander to times long lost
Unknown to me would be its cost

I charged les châteaux dans l’air
Upon arrival, there was nothing there

As lovely as the daffodils
Beyond my reach
Forever still

And still I hope to see once more
The lovely lass whom I’d adore
With field of daffodils and spring in air
I know it’s not, I shall not dare

Wordworth's Daffodils

 

 

View from Wordworth's Estate

On the One Road

We’re on the one road, sharing the one load
We’re on the road to God knows where
We’re on the one road, it may be the wrong road
But we’re together now who cares?
Northmen, Southmen, comrades all!
Dublin, Belfast, Cork or Donegal!
We’re on the one road, swinging along, singin’ a soldier’s song!

Though we’ve had our troubles now and then
Now’s the time to make them up again
Sure aren’t we all Irish anyhow?
Now is the time to step together now

We’re on the one road, sharing the one load
We’re on the road to God knows where
We’re on the one road, it may be the wrong road
But we’re together now who cares?
Northmen, Southmen, comrades all!
Dublin, Belfast, Cork or Donegal!
We’re on the one road, swinging along, singin’ a soldier’s song!

Tinker, tailor ­ every mother’s son
Butcher, baker ­ shouldering his gun
Rich man, poor man ­ every man in line
All together, just like Auld Lang Syne!

We’re on the one road, sharing the one load
We’re on the road to God knows where
We’re on the one road, it may be the wrong road
But we’re together now who cares?
Northmen, Southmen, comrades all!
Dublin, Belfast, Cork or Donegal!
We’re on the one road, swinging along, singin’ a soldier’s song!

Night is darkness just before the dawn
From dissensions, Ireland is reborn
Soon, will all United Irishmen
Make our land a Nation Once Again!

We’re on the one road, sharing the one load
We’re on the road to God knows where
We’re on the one road, it may be the wrong road
But we’re together now who cares?
Northmen, Southmen, comrades all!
Dublin, Belfast, Cork or Donegal!
We’re on the one road, swinging along, singin’ a soldier’s song!

Francis O’Donovan

What I want

What I want
(Why was this so much to ask?)

What I want is to hold you tight and keep you from harm.

For you to charge fearlessly into the world, then share your adventures with me.

What I want is what I knew, all those many years ago when we were young and I saw your beautiful smile for the first time; I want to grow old with you by my side.