Still walking (not fast though)

I walked this morning and it was quite lovely! It was cold and quiet and I could hear birds singing and the freeway background noise (which I actually like). I didn't take one picture. I was tempted but it seemed like a morning to just enjoy the walk. Here's some pictures from my walk yesterday.

Walking

My mantra: Walking is good. Excruciating pain is good. Exercise is good. I've been (mostly) walking every day though not as far as I'd like. This is due to the excruciating pain part. My back is hurting and I know the only way to get rid of the pain is to keep walking. So I trudge along muttering my mantra and hoping I'll make it home.

I do manage to take pictures as I trudge along and I thought I'd share some. Also a blog: The Solitary Walker is a great blog I stumbled on some time ago. It's interesting to read and he has wonderful pictures!

I found a little sidewalk art but not much. I have to walk a different way tomorrow and look for more. The tree in the fourth pictures is one I know I have a picture of when it was full of leaves. I need to look for it!

Hammarskjold - Week 2

On April 7,1953 Dag Hammarskjold was appointed as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammarskjöld was not a member of any political party and regarded himself as politically independent. That attitude combined with his Swedish neutrality made him a candidate acceptable to everyone.

He was not aware that he was under consideration for the position and was surprised when the news came. When he arrived in New York he was met by Trygve Lie the current Secretary-General with the words “you are going to take over the most impossible job on Earth.”

His career up till that point would seem to have prepared him. In 1945, he was appointed adviser to the Swedish Cabinet on financial and economic problems. In 1947 he was appointed to the Foreign Office with rank of Under-Secretary. In 1949, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Foreign Office and in 1951, he joined the Cabinet as Minister without portfolio. He was a delegate to the Paris Conference in 1947 and he was his country's chief delegate to the 1948 Paris Conference of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC). He was Vice-Chairman of the Swedish Delegation to the Sixth Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly in Paris 1951-1952, and acting Chairman of his country's delegation to the Seventh General Assembly in New York in 1952-1953.
 
From Markings:

What next? Why ask? Next will come a demand about which you already know all you need to know: that its sole measure is your own strength.

Sunday Thoughts

Yoda is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. I thought I'd share some wisdom from him today. And this reminds me that I used to have a little plastic Yoda. I don't know what happened to him, I'll have to look around!

Fear is the path to the dark side... fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate.. hate leads to suffering.

Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.

Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.

Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

When 900 years you reach, look as good, you will not.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?

Secret, shall I tell you? Grand Master of Jedi Order am I. Won this job in a raffle I did, think you? "How did you know, how did you know, Master Yoda?" Master Yoda knows these things. His job it is.

To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan. Be a candle, or the night.

Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless.  

  

 

Friday's Poem

Let Me Die A Youngman's Death

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

by Roger McGough

I thought this was a funny poem with some truth in it! I think Friday will be a poem day from now on. It seems like a good way to end the week.

Beautiful Night

It's quite beautiful outside tonight. I can see the Moon and Venus and despite being in the middle of a city, I have a clear view of Orion. According to my handy widget thermometer it's 53 degrees. I hope wherever you are it is just as nice! By the way, if you like space images NASA's site is a great place to visit. You view thousands of pictures and download them also. I especially love galaxy pictures!

A Year with Hammarskjold

Many, many years ago at a bookstore in San Francisco, I bought a book called Markings by Dag Hammarskjold. Hammarskjold was a Swedish diplomat who served as UN Secretary-General from 1953-1961. After his death, the manuscript for Markings was found in his home along with a letter explaining that it was a diary that he'd begun without thought of it being public. As his fame increased he realized the possibility that it would become public but continued to write for himself. He called it "a sort of white book concerning my negotiations with myself - and with God."

Over the years I've read and re-read Markings numerous times. It is one of my favorite books. I realized recently that I know very little about Hammarskjold aside from the basics and, of course, what is revealed in Markings, so I've started reading a very long biography called Hammarskjold by Brian Urquhart. It's a good book - I'm only about 1/3 of the way through as it's slow reading but I'm enjoying it.

To change the subject a little (although you'll see how this ties together), over the last year I've been reading a blog called A Year With Rilke. The blog authors were posting excerpts from a book of the same name. This gave me an idea! As you've probably guessed, my idea is to do A Year With Hammarskjold. I'm going to post excerpts from Markings and provide some biographical information. I'm only going to do this once a week though, not daily. Monday seems as good a day as any so I'll make Monday Hammarskjold day. And here's the first entry!

Dag Hammarskjold was born in Sweden July 29, 1905. He was born into a family with a long tradition of public service which he was to continue. On the influence of his parents he said:  "From generations of soldiers and government officials on my father's side I inherited a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country - or humanity. This service required a sacrifice of all personal interests, but likewise the courage to stand up unflinchingly for your convictions. From scholars and clergymen on my mother's side, I inherited a belief that, in the very radical sense of the Gospels, all men were equals as children of God, and should be met and treated by us as our masters in God."

And here's this week's quote from Markings:

Only tell others what is of importance to them. Only ask them what you need to know. In both cases, that is, limit the conversation to what the speaker really possesses. Argue only in order to reach a conclusion. Think aloud only with those to whom this means something. Don't let small talk fill up the time and silence except as a medium for bearing unexpressed messages between two people who are attuned to each other. A dietary for those who have learned by experience the truth of the saying, "For every idle word..." But hardly popular in social life.

This is one of my favorite quotes. I hate small talk with strangers or acquaintances and I'm kind of bad at it. I think that people talk too much. I generally don't unless I'm nervous and then I tend to babble a little. A habit I'm trying to cure myself of. I like this quote so much because it expresses clearly what I feel about conversation. Too often people aren't really listening to one another, they are talking just to talk. When I feel that the person I'm talking to isn't listening I usually stop talking. I suppose that's a little egotistical actually. I don't know. Anyway let me know if you like the quote!

Last but not least! You may have noticed that my links are to Goodreads. I never finished my reading challenges last year so this year I've decided to do something different. I'm tracking the books I read on Goodreads and I've done a personal challenge for myself to read 150 books this year. If you are on Goodreads or join, please send me a friend request - I love to see what other people are reading and maybe something I'm reading or have read will sound good to you!