Time for a poem

Long Enough
  By Richard Hoffman

You would have thought it foolish to speak to the dead,
but I have lived two decades longer now than you
and all this time I have carried you in my head

so I think I have the right to question what you said,
dear teacher. My religious upbringing's residue,
you would have thought it foolish. To speak to the dead,

however, is sometimes necessary, especially haunted
by all the things I know you hoped I'd do
with all this time that I have carried you in my head.

In a dream last night I followed where you led
until you asked me in a loud voice what I knew.
(You would have thought it foolish to speak to the dead,

but I was dreaming and could not refuse.) I said
that you were wrong, that I could see your bitter view
(since all this time I have carried you in my head)

for what it was, and you for who you were. Instead
of dreaming your reply I woke as you withdrew.
You would have thought it foolish to speak to the dead
but all this time I have carried you in my head.

Not my best walk

I went to the park today for a walk. The walk was a good idea but the location didn't work out so great. There's a small lake and I thought I'd walk around it. As you can see from the pictures, there are a lot of ducks and geese. Aside from the worry that a couple of them seemed to want to attack me, their droppings make walking on the path a little difficult. You have to continually look down and watch your step. I tried walking on the grass but it's even worse because it's harder to see! Also the path is very uneven in spots and I felt like I was walking sideways. I made it around the lake though and got a few good pictures.

Returning to my car I pushed my little electronic opener to unlock the car, got inside and went to put the key into the ignition. There was no key. This isn't a regular size key, it's a large one, with a heavy black top so I don't know how I missed that it was gone. I searched through the car, I walked back over the grass to where I was when I took my keys from my pocket, I looked around my car. Nothing. I sat in the car for a few minutes wondering what I was going to do. I have a spare key at home but it was too far to walk so I finally decided I'd have to call AAA. I thought I'd take one more look around the grass before I called. When I got out of the car I realized I hadn't looked underneath it. Yep, there it was, lying near the back tire. I don't know if I dropped it before or after my walk but I was very grateful it was there!

Anyway it was a beautiful day and despite the path and lost key I had a pleasant time. After retrieving my key, I sat in my car and read for awhile and that made everything better!

Pictures from my walk

Silent Sunday

Elephants

For some reason elephants keep catching my attention. I guess it started because I was thinking about making an elephant. I've wanted, for a long time, to make a stuffed elephant and decorate it lavishly with fancy fabric and beading. Similar to the picture but mine will be much more elaborate!

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Anyway, since I've been noticing elephants, here are a couple of poems that reference elephants and some elephant trivia & quotes!

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.
~Dr. Seuss

 Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole.
~Samuel Richardson

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
~Abraham Lincoln

 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

• September 22 is Elephant Appreciation Day.
• Elephants are pregnant for nearly 2 years.
• A group of elephants is called a herd, a parade, or a memory.
• The elephant's trunk has about 15,000 muscles, and it takes baby elephants quite some time to learn to master its use. The trunk combines both nose and upper lip and transforms them into a single powerful organ that is able to touch, grasp and smell.
• Elephants are the largest living land animals.
• Elephants live in a structured social order. The females spend their entire lives in tightly knit family groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female called the matriarch. Adult males live mostly solitary lives.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Ghost Elephants  
by Jean Valentine

In the elephant field
tall green ghost elephants
with your cargo of summer leaves

at night I heard you breathing at the window

Don't you ever think I'm not crying
since you're away from me
Don't ever think I went free

At first the goodbye had a lilt to it—
maybe just a couple of months—
but it was a beheading.

Ghost elephant,
reach down,
cross me over—

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The Elephant in the Room
 by Kay Ryan

It isn’t so much
a complete elephant
as an elephant
sense—perhaps
pillar legs supporting
a looming mass,
beyond which it’s
mostly a guess.
In any case, we
manage with relative
ease. There are just
places in the room
that we bounce off
when we come up
against; not something
we feel we have to
announce.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Only once?

I thought I'd share this quote from Bob Marley. It was too long for a side quote so I put it into a post. I like it a lot but I hope the only once in your life part isn't true!

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life. 

Arboretum!

My daughter and her boyfriend have been visiting and on Sunday we went to the Arboretum at Sacramento State University. It's a 3-acre site with about 1200 trees. It's also very shady and cool! It was fun to walk around and look at the trees and sit in the shade.