Loose Leaf Notes

1. Where does the sound of a bell go?

2. “We fell asleep in one world, and woke up in another. Suddenly Disney is out of magic, Paris is no longer romantic, New York doesn’t stand up anymore, The Chinese wall is no longer a fortress, and Mecca is empty. Hugs & kisses suddenly become weapons, and not visiting parents & friends becomes an act of love. Suddenly you realize that power, beauty & money are worthless, and can’t get you the oxygen you’re fighting for.The world continues its life and it is beautiful. It only puts humans in cages. I think it’s sending us a message: “You are not necessary. The air, earth, water and sky without you are fine. When you come back, remember that you are my guests. Not my masters.”-Haroon Rashid

3. Are you tripping? A glimpse of God? The Hubble Telescope’s 12 Best Photos on the 30th Anniversary of its Launch into Orbit HERE. 

4. While others are watching cat videos, I’ m watching THIS.

5. “Set your Alarm: Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon will be Aligning to form a smiley face -The moon, Jupiter and Venus are going to be showing off for us on the 16th of May 2020, by aligning in a rare position that will form a smiley face in the sky. This rare spectacle is called conjunction and is not to be missed, as the last time this happened was 12 years ago in 2008, so not a regular occurrence.” See HERE.

6. Hitting an emotional chord, talking to my late sister through poetry, becoming a tourist to my own aging and inhabiting the inner life where the ground of consciousness isn’t mine alone, these are some of the themes that my new collection of poetry, Objects are Closer Than They Appear, explores.

7. Dreams are like movies / of untrue stories / that are based on real life / There are no written routes / or souvenirs to take / only unscripted hints / of memories erased / Only rumors spread thin / and heroes and heroines / whose fates you inhabit / whose habits you break… Read Don’t Adjust Your Television in its entirety HERE.

8. People used to live in the Rock Castle Gorge when communities were self- sufficient, before the industrial revolution and before the blight of the chestnut tree that provided chestnuts that were fed to the hogs and were traded as a commodity. The Gorge was named Rock Castle because it was once filled with quartz crystals, which looked like castles to the folks who lived there. More from We Found the Castle in Rock Castle Gorge HERE. 

9. Our grandson Liam (9) wanted to see the house we described to him in the Rock Castle Gorge from when families still lived there. He had the idea of sleeping in the abandoned house as a challenge but settled for looking in the windows. More from Sometimes Pandemic Hiking is a Family Affair HERE.

10. I was telling my grandsons about the dwarf iris wildflowers on our latest hike. They looked confused or concerned. I later learned that they thought I said “dwarf virus.”

11. A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope, but they can also be called a swarm. They regularly congregate to “puddle,” or absorb minerals and salts from the soil.

12. “The end of stay-at-home orders doesn’t mean the pandemic is over, it means they currently have room for you in the ICU.” – Sign seen on Facebook

13. “Yeah, we got dealt a shitty hand, but it still comes down to how you play your cards.” -My friend Jeff on Facebook

_______Thirteen Thursday