The Girl Who Likes Ravens

I swear the winter Ravens come to me out of the blue. I saw this big guy out and about today, and then at the library book sale I saw a kids book called, "The Girl Who Liked Edgar Allan Poe," or something like that. After I grabbed the picture of the crow, he flew up to a roof and cawed like crazy ~ (see this post). There are some things to like about winter, after all.

I've Noticed Trees

The thing I've noticed about trees is that they do not have a good or bad "side."
They photograph well any way you look at them. They cannot help but be photogenic
because their souls are beautiful, and it comes through.

Beautiful every which way
They stand tall and ready all the day

Copyright A. Rich 2015, All Rights Reserved

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born

Eponine's Tears

This morning getting ready for the day, I looked out my window and saw rain drops. Raindrops always make me think about Eponine from Les Miserables. I am not sure why, but I envision her walking through rain and her teardrops mixing with the rain on the French streets as she mourns Marius, ...but now I imagine, they would flow for Paris.

by Joseph Zbukvic

Emily Reminds Us

Happy Birthday, Emily Dickinson! With this quote, she reminds us to enjoy each and every day!

That it will never come again 

is what makes life sweet.

 

 ~Emily Dickinson

 

 

Congregate

When the skies get pale ~ they are streaks of coal,
Jet-black and quick-like burning the sky.
Lonesome and frost-bitten,
They congregate to cry out their cold-cries,
And their breath hits the air like a puff of engine-exhaust,
Sputtering out as an after-thought,
An ethereal-poem released,
Hanging mid-air for a moment and then disappearing,
Over the branch into the common-air,
Who swallows it up in one bountiful-gulp,
 And the raven-birds create tension on the quiet-branches,
That draws my impatient-eye to them.
Seeking change I congregate with them, a respite from the bitter-cold.
The lifeless-branch moves, and I cannot look away, .....I will not look-away.

                             ~~Bookishkind, Copyright 2015, All Rights Reserved

This is My Autumn Prayer (Repost)

I wrote this 5 years ago and I try to repost it every year. We have much to be thankful for!

 

(Autumn Prayer) ~ I Raise My Cup To Fall

I raise my cup to fall, to blessings given one and all.
The harvest bounty laid, before eyes and hands bent in Grace.
 

                        ~Bookish Kind

Close Up

Fall - Autumn - Harvest Time - Whatever you may call it, there is nothing like it. Here is a close up in case you need one.

Bookmark!

Source

Winter Kin

The sky is your playground,

Yet you seek a friendlier place,

For a time.

Before you leave,

You paint the sky,

With feathers and song.

I will remember you,

All season long.

Yet

Here comes the winter kin,

To take your place,

To make the cold,

A friendlier place,

For me and my kind,

Who drench themselves,

In what they can find,

When scarce it becomes.

Silence

Silence can be a good thing and often times there are good reasons for it. I've had a season of silence lately, but words are starting to spill out here and there, and maybe, or maybe not, I'll start writing thoughts again soon. My mind has always been wired with words, words, words, and the need to spill them out is why I write here. Silence begets words.

Silence begets thoughts for me,

A certain sort of reverie,

Is required to have fruits of any kind,

That flow with freedom from my mind ~ 

First Breath

As I walked out of Church today, I felt 

fall's first breath in the air.

Now I can breathe too.

Walden, A Poem

WALDEN -----

A pond.

Simple, beautiful.

Everything was as it should be.

The clear blue.

The sky.

The evening star."

--(a found poem, gathered by me)

photo by slice the life dot com

 

Poemtry

What do you do with all of those extra falling apart shabby books that you have lying around? 

Open the book, 

take one page out. 

Gather words, 

Make a poem.

I am having fun creating some "found poems" from some of my old books. Still trying to figure this out and I am not quite sure if these are good or not. But so far, I've come up with two poems. Poemtry as I call them.

STILL------
"The garden had fallen still,
Quiet and light,
Pale and quivering.
Dreaming of the air,
And morning."

 

and this one:

HER WILD NEST ------
"Love, words, all those things
Warm her wild nest.
Faith, soul, body,
Catch the breath." 

It's quite fun to gather the words and see what jumps out at you as you find the hidden poem on the page. Love my words.

Emily High Fives

See this post: http://bookishkind.blogspot.com/2015/07/phosphorescence-emily-dickinson.html

 I thought this was a fun sight to see "Emily" D high fiving the producer of the film they are working on, not to mention jumping in the air. You never know, Emily may have been a high fiver and jumper in real life if she had lived now. (I doubt it though).
It looks so real I think because Emily appears to be in sepia tones versus the rest of the picture.

Photo Source

Night at the Museum: Walk With Me

I found the most gorgeous blog with pages upon pages of beautiful art. Many I've never seen before. Seems it is a night at the museum tonight. 

Walk with me: https://rceliamendonca.wordpress.com/

Phosphorescence - An Emily Dickinson Documentary

There is a new kickstarter project for an Emily Dickinson Documentary! It would be a companion to the new film being made about her called, "A Quiet Passion."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/851040969/phosphorescence

This is exciting news! I will be looking over the items on the pledge page and making a pledge. I watched the video and Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth Bennet to Colin Firth's Darcy) is also in this. She appears in the pledge video in her true American accent (she has an American Father and British mother, or did I get that backwards, not sure!). 

And Happy Birthday to the other Emily today.
This Emily:

Source

Daydreaming

It's either insomnia or there are beautiful things running around inside of your head. Pulled another all-nighter last night and I'm still up. Must be daydreaming.

P.S. When I daydream so does the kitty. He's been up all night too.

Happy Fourth

Photo by Earl Dibbles, Jr

Goodnight, Sky

Summer Sky

Is anyone else peeking out each night at the summer sky? 

Planets and moons and stars, northern lights. Beauty formed and directed by the Hand. 

I notice as much as I can.

It's really all any of us get to take with us, after all.

Source - http://www.skyandtelescope.com

Listen to the Beauty

Listening to a thunderstorm pass through tonight ... as I type I can hear the raindrops falling down and the music of rolling thunder come down from above. 

It's nice to have fresh, clean air drenching the house with fragrance and sound. 

Rain can wash away a multitude of fears. Each little drop coming together in a symphony of beauty and grace.

And the Conductor makes it all pass through so elegantly and naturally. One roll after the other timed perfectly with the raindrop's constant rhythm chiming in. Listen if you will. Listen to the beauty.

Driving Through A Rainbow

We have had a lot of rain lately and today was no different. It was misty and very heavy rain came down. As I was driving home in it all, I saw a rainbow ahead and realized I'd have to drive through the rainbow on my way home.
Driving through it was pretty much as you'd expect ... misty and sunny at the same time. A magical white glow appeared on all of the cars ahead of mine as their tires dusted the wet off from the road, and some cars even had little mini rainbows that followed them in the misty glow never leaving the shadow of the car.
I half expected a unicorn to pop out somewhere or a little leprechaun to guide me to some gold, ...but it didn't happen that way. If you ever get the chance to drive through a rainbow I hope you do.

"Heaven's Rainbow" by Linda Sannuti ~ Found at "Fine Art America"

In My Dream

In my dream I went to look at a house. At first, it seemed just an ordinary house, small and typical. But as I kept going through the house it soon became apparant that this house was special. There was a "magic window" where the most amazing beauty could be seen.
Looking out the window, I saw a huge flock of white birds sweep the sky back and forth all just for me. They were so beautiful and breathtaking, I was in awe of them. The window also held other beauties, and there were even little kittens just outside the window who came to the window to greet me.
When I looked at the outside of the home, the natural beauty was all around. I knew that I had to have this house. But after meeting with the owner, I learned that it was a very sought after house and very expensive. I wanted to live there, but could only afford two days of living there. I made the arrangement for the two days, and left vowing to come back as I could. Somehow the home was available to all those who wanted it for however long they could stay there. You could always come back to the house and I was in mind to do so as soon as possible.

(This is the best I can remember my dream last night. This morning in the early hours, I vowed to remember all of the details so I could write it all down. Some of the details have escaped me, but what I do remember is all written here. For what it's worth, yesterday there was a huge flock of pelicans flying in the sky that I happened to notice - so that's where the bird thing came from - in my dream they are not pelicans, but still white and flying. And we are hoping to add another kitten-friend here soon, so the kittens in the window are inspired by that, I'm sure).

Photo Credit - http://www.honeykennedy.com/2012/08/house-of-maryanne/

A Common Bird

There is a little bird outside my living room window who sings a song on repeat every morning, and every evening, too. She knows only one or two notes but she sings them ever so cheerfully and faithfully. I think she wants me me to know her song, and I do.

This morning, I finally got a peek at her and discovered she was a robin red breast. So yes, a common bird with a common song, nothing special. And yet, she really is special because she sings her only song with a loud and strong voice that wants to be heard. And she is. Her singing is not ever in vain, she is heard.

She must be hard at work with her nest building and preparing for little ones to come. Or maybe they are already here and she sings for the joy of it. She is a beautiful bird who knows who she is and makes no qualms about it. And when she rests her voice I know she is dreaming of the songs she could sing. Common as she is, she is a thing of beauty for those who hear her. I wonder at how many common things we pass all day long and never seem to notice. If only we heard the beauty or saw the wonder of each little creation, it would stack up to a whole lot of exceptional. 

There is nothing common in the simple beauties of the day.

Young Girl with a Bird: 1891 by Berthe Morisot

Emily's Grave - Called back

May 15, 1886, Emily D died. I love her gravestone saying "called back."

When it comes, 

the Landscape listens - 

Shadows hold their breath - 

When it goes, 

'tis like the Distance 

On the look of Death.

~Emily Dickinson

Heaven's Tears

It's a dreary, rainy, windy day.

I wish all of the days

Came like this one.

I could take one in seven days

With sunshine

And the rest of them

Soaked with raindrops.

It must be heaven's tears of joy

Coming down to touch earth.

Feels like heaven to me~ 

I Love A Good Maypole, Don't You?

It's May Day!

Read more about it here ~

My favorite bit from the linked article:

"By the Middle Ages, new customs had been added to what had become England’s favorite holiday. Men and women spent the night in the local woods gathering flowers and blossoming boughs to ‘bring in the May’ at sunrise."

A Little While Longer

the fairies are holding back their flowers,

a little while longer,

to drench themselves in the fragrance.

we'll have to wait, 

a little while.

(written before spring, of course now we are seeing their blossoms everywhere)

Anne Shirley and Diana Barry

I love it when art reminds me of literature. This one, by John Singer Sargent, reminds me of Anne Shirley and Diana Barry ~ (from Anne of Green Gables, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery). Anne is one of my most favorite book heroines, I just love her. I bet it's been twenty or more years since I first read all of the Anne books. My favorites are "Anne of Green Gables", "Anne of the Island", and "Anne's House of Dreams". I really should re-read them. If you've never read them before , I encourage you to, ...they tell a beautiful story. You might just gain a "kindred spirit."

Through the Field Path

in the morning,

through the field path,

i strolled where old roses bloomed,

having long since been forgotten,

but to me, bright as sunshine through rain,

~~and new

Catrin Welz-Stein

Catrin Welz-Stein - My favorite new artist~

Imperfection (mine not yours)

imperfection (mine not yours)

at first glance all I see 

is all your imperfection

staring back at me

you might call it foolish

it is nothing that was planned

and eschewing even just the thought

would make a better man

i fully realize that all you've

shown to me is magnified

a million times back
what you must see in me~

(why does man see the imperfections in others so readily instead of
the beautifulness that each one of us is. ...the man begging with his sign,
the chubby girl walking past, the ugly man with his head down. they are
us and we are them. all of us the same, brothers and sisters.
i want nothing but LOVE to shine through from me, ...simple love shining
right back on you. my light may be small, but it's growing)~

Words Can Be Beautiful

When you gather words together 

Into imagery that speaks,

That is beauty.

Words can be beautiful.

Beholder

 Caught another pretty sunset with gorgeous cloud formations this evening. I am just so in love with the beauty,

so beautiful it almost hurts - I'm sure you know what I mean.

Some days I forget to look, 

To actually behold the everyday beauty.

I want to be drenched in the beauty,

And covered by the One who made it. 

This beholder is impressed.

This beholder finds beauty beautiful.

 

House of Tree

Just Let It Go

It's the ying and the yang of life where you add something in and let something else go. Just let it go - off into nowhere because you are simply done with it. You can only juggle so many balls at a time and there comes a time when something's gonna be left behind - and it's okay.

Just

let 

it

go

Source

Dash in the Sky

There was a fifty yard dash in the sky

The birds were racing for first place

As one giant bird and they

All came in first place together

In their fifty yard dash in the sky

Photo by Javier Etcheverry

Four Crows - A Glance, A Nod

Source

Today I saw four big black crows on a rooftop as I left a store. One of them flew towards me, or I would not have even noticed them. They were enormous, 

and beautiful, and Poe-ish.

I've always liked crows and I am not sure why - they are mysterious, and I love watching them. At the Tower of London they are supposed to bring good luck, if I remember that correctly. So when one jumps out at you, you should not walk away without at least a glance, a nod. 

Little moments you don't expect, but that are welcome.