A Tidings of Magpies

We went to a wedding on New Year's Eve...the eldest son of my best friend from high school. My friend who recently died. The wedding was held in the same church as her funeral four months ago. Seems like yesterday. The wedding was beautiful, and joyful, perhaps more so because of the sorrow that each one of us felt at our loss of her. It's no secret that not all marriages end happily ever after and the priest talked about the courage that this couple had in making a commitment of marriage and in having hope for their future. He is correct. It does take courage and, of course, his words were meant to do more than seal the deal for this young couple. The priest was aware of all the broken hearts in that church on this cold winter evening and of the power of love to heal them. To believe that is a path of the brave. A Wedding Poem by Thomas R. Smith   Bright faces surround the woman in white, the man in black, the sweetness of their att...

The Coming of Light by Mark Strand Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of light. You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves, stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows, sending up warm bouquets of air. Even this late the bones of the body shine and tomorrow's dust flares into breath. please note: photo by Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

with many thanks to Debra Heller Bures from whence I reallocated these bits of wisdom!! and I'll add one more of my own... Love. All ways.

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

Dewey's pizza and a movie with hubby and the girls. 'Cause nothing says Christmas like watching a hot mess ruin a perfectly lovely family occasion, or as we say in my family, "Merry Damn Christmas!!" (apologies to those of you who did not grow up with alcoholics)

A woman in the Playhouse audience last night asked the sound check man if the lead, Carter Calvert, had an understudy and he said no, ma'am I don't believe she does. I'd been thinking I didn't know how she could given the actress's voice and her seamless fit into the role, but as I Googled for a video or a photo I found different productions and actresses. Amazing that there are so many talented people in the world and bless them all. If I could just sing on-key for the length of a song I'd be happy. If this show ever comes to your town or close by it's worth the dressing up and stepping out. Beware though, Patsy makes today's radio pop music sound a bit tarnished and thin. A Wife Explains Why She Likes Country by Barbara Ras Because those cows in the bottomland are black and white, colors anyone can understand, even against the green of the grass, where they glide like yes and no, nothing in between, because in country, heartache h...

then and now...

We, through a serendipitous stroll in our neighborhood yesterday night, found ourselves in front of a restaurant we'd not been able to try. La Poste. It was late. We'd just left a bar with a good sounding band, but loud, and we'd started walking towards home listening to the revelries on the street and watching the young girls walking in their sky high heels. La Poste was having quite a posh five course meal tasting and we happened to stop in at the right time after all their reservations had been seated and we could pick off the night's menu. The food was amazing. Hubby had duck breast and I had mushroom ravioli, but those words don't do justice to the food. And so, by luck and happenstance we found ourselves in the midst of friendly faces and kind souls with a glass of champagne and chocolate mousse at midnight. It was a good night. After Our Wedding by Yehoshua Nobember When you forgot the address of our hotel in your suitcase, the driver had to pull over...

Going into the fix-'em-up brain factory this morning, hoping the census is low and a few of us can go home early. Or not... Whatever the day brings, I plan to have a glass of bubbly in hand at midnight yelling out a welcome to the new year and a fare-thee-well to the old one. Wishing you and yours much joy and happiness in 2011. Resolutions?...I may have to fine tune a bit, but the sentiment above seems okay with me!

by W.S.Merwin The long waves glide in through the afternoon while we watch from the island from the cool shadow under the trees where the long ridge a fold in the skirt of the mountain runs down to the end of the headland day after day we wake to the island the light rises through the drops on the leaves and we remember like birds where we are night after night we touch the dark island that once we set out for and lie still at last with the island in our arms hearing the leaves and the breathing shore there are no years any more only the one mountain and on all sides the sea that brought us

for my honeyhaired girl...

...after the festivities subside.

The Saints of April by Todd Davis Coltsfoot gives way to dandelion, plum to apple blossom. Cherry fills our woods, white petals melting like the last late snow. Dogwood's stigmata shine with the blood of this season. How holy forsythia and redbud are as they consume their own flowers, green leaves running down their crowns. Here is the shapeliness of bodies newly formed, the rich cloth that covers frail bones and hides roots that hold fervently to this dark earth. --For Jack Ridl Blessings to all today.

Much happiness and joy to you and yours...polar bears optional.

excert from A Line-storm Song by Robert Frost The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift, The road is forlorn all day, Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift, And the hoof-prints vanish away. The roadside flowers, too wet for the bee, Expend their bloom in vain. Come over the hills and far with me, And be my love in the rain.

The bad news-- in the worst snowstorm of a generation, London has NO snow plows. The Good news--you'd still be in foggy London Town. Not a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but these two men could totally change my mind. Uhmmmmm...I am entranced by fancy footwork. And, for anyone who might have been pondering deeper questions in this big blizzard we call life... I am Boggle. Come on. You know you want to take the test-- What Board Game Are You? You Are Boggle You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person. You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done. You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes. You're constantly inspired. Yeah, like I'll be putting that on my resume and request to transfer. CollegeGrrrl and CollegeTown just got their electricity back on yesterday although the rest of the state is still without power and, yes, it is snowing ag...

please note: photo by 5chw4r7z Opposing Forces by Eamon Grennan Even in this sharp weather there are lovers everywhere holding onto each other, hands in one another's pockets for warmth, for the sense of I'm yours, the tender claim it keeps making ? one couple stopping in the chill to stand there, faces pressed together, arms around jacketed shoulders so I can see bare hands grapple with padding, see the rosy redness of cold fingers as they shift a little, trying to register through fold after fold, This is my flesh feeling you you're feeling. It must be some contrary instinct in the blood that sets itself against the weather like this, brings lovers out like early buds, like the silver-grey catkins I saw this morning polished to brightness by ice overnight. Geese, too: more and more couples voyaging north, great high-spirited congregations taking the freezing air in and letting it out as song, as if this frigid enterprise were all joy, nothing to be afraid of.

Don't think you'll be going anywhere today... and here's why your STAT XRAYS are going to be a little late today:>) please note:photo by the Radiology department in the hospital courtyard where I believe they still stand, frozen stiff.