A Tidings of Magpies

It is a kind of love, is it not? How the cup holds the tea, How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare, How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes Or toes. How soles of feet know Where they're supposed to be. I've been thinking about the patience Of ordinary things, how clothes Wait respectfully in closets And soap dries quietly in the dish, And towels drink the wet From the skin of the back. And the lovely repetition of stairs. And what is more generous than a window?

there's a train a-coming. don't need no ticket, you just get on board." Went to a funeral today, my hubby's co-worker, dead at age 54. What once sounded old to me has changed over the years I realized as I stood with our friends in the early afternoon light on this beautiful golden October day and watched the casket being placed into the hearst. Because we are nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and we daily watch the current of morbidity, mortality pass by us it's easy to believe that we are safe on dry land protected from those chilling waters. But life is what it is. No more, no less. Few words of comfort for the group gathered here today. Michael had collapsed at work and the resuscitation attempts were done by those who knew and loved him well. "All the King's horses and all the King's men..." During the service I had the uncomfortable feeling of being at the losing end in a game of Tug of War and the priest knew he was dragging us all th...

This past summer we spent two weeks in one of our most favorite places in the world with two of our most favorite people. Last week one of those people, the "best man" at our wedding, underwent a mastectomy and is now learning about her options for chemo and radiation therapy. If she were my blood sister I would sign up for this study in a hot second, but she's not, and I can't. I can spend money for products that donate to research, but I can offer very little hands-on help for my friend and it's breaking my heart. If anyone out in the blogosphere is interested and eligible for a sisters' study check out Army of Women. please note: art by Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey

This is what life does. It lets you walk up to the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a stiff knee. It lets you choose the way you have your eggs, your coffee. Then it sits a fisherman down beside you at the counter who says, Last night, the channel was full of starfish. And you wonder, is this a message, finally, or just another day? Life lets you take the dog for a walk down to the pond, where whole generations of biological processes are boiling beneath the mud. Reeds speak to you of the natural world: they whisper, they sing. And herons pass by. Are you old enough to appreciate the moment? Too old? There is movement beneath the water, but it may be nothing. There may be nothing going on. And then life suggests that you remember the years you ran around, the years you developed a shocking lifestyle, advocated careless abandon, owned a chilly heart. Upon reflection, you are genuinely surprised to find how quiet you have become. And then life lets you go home to think about all...

I live in a bi-political party household and, while I don't have the luxury of feeling smug and sanctimoniously intelligent about all my decisions, it has made me a better listener forcing me to be more tolerant of the thoughts driving diverse opinions. The one thing I am hearing from everyone I hang with is that WE ALL WANT THINGS TO CHANGE in our country and we all want it to change for the better. That alone is something to unite us as Americans despite the ever escalating negative campaign ads. For those youngsters voting in this election who are sick and tired of hearing about the Sixties and fighting old battles --close your eyes, cause you ain't gonna wanna to hear about the Forties either. But, as my BFF Winston Churchill stated after Victory in Europe and after he was roundly defeated in Britain's first General Election since 1935, "They are perfectly entitled to vote as they please. This is democracy. This is what we've been fighting for." I may ...

Thought I'd write a few words for a friend who has left the fair CinCity for Germany. Rachel is one of our new nurses from the Neurodrama ICU. She has gotten herself a job working in the United States military hospital at Landstahl and we,of course as Mama Birds are want to be, are hugely impressed and proud of our young chickie. God bless, girlie, write soon and have a fantabulous time.

Happy New Year, Mr. Morrison "I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace When the leaves come falling down In September when the leaves, come falling down"