Loose Leaf Notes

1.  Is chagrin the opposite of grin?

2.  I only have one key on my key chain.  I think that says a lot about my lifestyle.

3.  It’s that time of year again.  We’ll not really. There are fires and droughts in California, record breaking heat in the Southwest and other severe weather events consistently being reported.  Here in Virginia, the seasonal wildflowers are almost a month early.  There was a time when we picked apples in October.  Our latest yearly picking hike happened in the last days of August.  But the apples were the best they have been in years.  We went around sampling fruit of the different tree varieties like wine tasters sampling wine.  – More from Nature’s Grocery Shop HERE.

4.  Is it Nature’s Own or Nature Zone?

5.  One of my favorite parts of the classical Indian music concert that we attended Saturday night was when it ended.  Not because it wasn’t good – it was positively transcendent – but because the long silent pause that happened when the hour or so of constant playing stopped was so rich, still and full.  I could hear the crickets outside, like the aftershock drone continuing the hum of the tanpura.   – Story and photos coming. Watch a video clip HERE.

6.  “And, you know, I’m not going to let this issue drop. We’ve got to do something about crazy people getting guns. And, you know, and the problem that you guys have is that — and I know it’s the news business and this is a big story. But next week it isn’t going to be a story anymore and everybody is going to forget it. But you mark my words, my mission in life — and I talked to the governor today. He called me and he said — and I told him, I said, I’m going to do something, whatever it takes, to get gun legislation to shame people, to shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes in background checks and making sure crazy people don’t get guns. And he said, you go, I’m right there with you. So, you know, this is not the last you’ve heard of me. This is something that is Alison’s legacy that I want to make happen.” ANDY PARKER (FATHER OF SLAIN JOURNALIST ALISON PARKER)

7.  Is it consistent or constant?

8.  I Only Remember the Nightmares / Or the dreams where you show up / I’m worried and ask / “Does this ever happen to you?” / But I never remember your answer … Read the rest of this poem HERE.

9. In the past I’ve had eye related 13 Thursday posts titled Keep Your Eye on the Ball, The 13 Eye Witness, The 13 Bullseye, The Eyewitness Muse, The Way I See It and Bird’s Eye View.

10. I call this poem A Pupil of Poetry. It was written for Joe, maybe in 1989:  I’m a mandala in your eye / a sunflower dancing on a black scrying mirror / where the sun and moon are lovers.

11. “People are too wrapped up in the world of money and cars and computers and aren’t fully alive on earth.  What does it mean that Americans have built endless suburbs in which you can’t easily step out and enjoy a simple walk?  There are whole neighborhoods with no sidewalks!”  – David Mason on The Power of Poetry, The Sun Magazine

12. Sign seen on Facebook: If we simply required gun owners to carry liability insurance the insurance industry would destroy the gun industry.

13. THEY still got it,  make a good point and still give me goosebumps

________Thirteen Thursday