Hope is a thing with feathers, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all.-Emily Dickenson

Friday, November 16, 2007

Where the Great Heron Feeds

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
OK, so the real name of the poem is The Peace of Wild Things and it was written by Wendell Berry. I was introduced to this poem about a month ago and was immediately taken with it. A few days later I memorized and read it at a church retreat while Ladyburg drew a beautiful picture of a heron. That was the Magical Mystical Church weekend.
After our morning of sharing in poetry and so much more, we headed to Cherokee park to do more of the same and have a picnic lunch. The experiences shared there were magical all on there own, but just before we left, Jud spotted a great blue heron. While all of us enjoyed the heron for a bit, it was Katie, Ashley and myself that seemed unable to walk away from this beautiful creature who seemed so unconcerned with the very nearness of us. She was beautiful and graceful and stepped through the water with an elegance seldom seen. She came even closer to us, bent down, plucked this big red fish out of the creek and strutted to the other side of the creek, faced us and held it in her mouth for it seemed like a minute or more. She then opened her mouth and swallowed the fish whole. Down the long slender neck it went... we saw it slide down until it rested just above her shoulder where we could still see it distorting the shape of the base of her neck. She then shimmied and the shape disappeared into her belly.
It was an amazing weekend. A weekend where I was fed and one in which I am still being fed. It was a grief anniversary weekend for me where I was able to literally go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

I've Been Tagged by LadyBurg!

Tagged = someone challenges you to come up with 10 random things about yourself, then you have to tag 5 other bloggers.

10 Random things about me:

  1. I have a soft heart and maybe even a slight obsession with both vultures and opossums. I think they are the under-dogs of the animal world and feel that they are severely under-appreciated.
  2. I can tell you that a Taco Bell taco-the regular corn, hard shell kind- when properly made, weighs 3 oz. Those 3 oz consist of 1.5 oz beef like substance, ½ oz lettuce, ¼ cheese, and the shell weighs ¾ oz. Add another oz for a supreme (3/4 oz sour cream, ¼ oz tomatoes)
  3. I have always wanted to learn to play the cello. Last summer I rented one and tried to teach myself. I gave up after a month. I still want to learn, but will try an instructor next time.
  4. Although I am a self proclaimed vegetarian… I LOVE bacon!!! It is one of the biggest temptations is my world. I consider bacon the gateway meat- in the same way that pot is sometimes said to be a gateway drug, opening the door to harder ones.
  5. I love plants and I love to garden, but I tend to forget to water plants for months at a time and generally, eventually kill them.
  6. I grew up near the beach and spent summers vacationing in Kentucky. Never thought it odd until I moved to KY and found everyone here vacations in Florida.
  7. I visited East Berlin in 1987, 2 years before the wall was torn down. The only picture I have shows a big thumb covering 90% of the picture. You can see my bright red pants and white Reebok high tops and a bit of graffiti on a wall behind me.
  8. I have been to the Daytona 500.
  9. On January 28, 1986, I watched the space shuttle Challenger blow up from my high school campus, less than three miles away from the launch site at Kennedy Space Center.
  10. I have a sometimes considered odd or uncanny memory for dates of happenings, I can generally tell you what time it is within 15 minutes, and I don’t use an alarm to wake up in the mornings (that was three in one… a couple of bonus ones there)!

I tag:

Melanie at melanie's meanderings
Jens at Rest Break
Rachel at i'm not sure...
Tiffany at Lost in Louisville
rachelerin at This day...
and because I can't count...
Dott at Dott Comments

Friday, November 02, 2007

Jewelry

Here's some of what I have been creating this week:

note: the red at the top of both photos is the pins holding the necklaces in place