Circles

#28 Invited Memories

Standard


A circle is the reflection of eternity. It has no beginning and it has no end
– and if you put several circles over each other, then you get a spiral.
Maynard James Keenan

At dusk, children filled Madeira Street with games of tag, races and baseball when I was in fifth grade. Afternoons were for porches where we drank Kool-Aid and ate baloney and chipped ham sandwiches slathered with mayonnaise and sweet pickles. Where we played hangman, Sorry and checkers, the game of circles trying to survive and cross squares. And when a checker reached the far end of the board, it was “crowned.” Another circle was placed on top, granting the right to travel as far as it wanted in a single move. Years later, remembering the song of the ice cream truck and sparkling shaved ice with rainbow syrups, children’s voices calling through the smoky cuddle of summer twilight and the smell of lacquered cardboard and wooden checkers, I think: How nice that we can invite happy memories to re-visit.

Support Write For Life,
an important and beautiful documentary about the power of writing poetry and fiction, memoir and essay to uplift and transform lives.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/82318308/write-for-life?play=1&ref=search

WORTH A LOOK
Inspiring 2-minute video about zebra attacked by lion


http://youtu.be/bx796zSg5gs

#27 The Circler Circles & The Great Choice (video)

Standard

Think of the wonderful circles in which our whole being moves and from which we cannot escape no matter how we try. The circler circles in these circles.
E. T. A. Hoffman

In Dr. Cherie Carter Scott’s book The Rules for Being Human, Guide # 4 states: A Lesson Is Repeated Until Learned.

I admit that, after reaching a certain age, I spot patterns. Sometimes, the lover who wasn’t quite right (or even awful) shows up wearing a different body but with the same modus operandi. Sometimes, I re-encounter – in different guises – situations that offer second, third and fifth chances to make more ethical, humane, courageous, integral or honest choices. Like a comet circling a star, my orbit does return me to the same messes (okay, growth opportunities). Sooner or later, I’ll improve, no matter how scary … I hope.

Worth A Look

WordWitty encourages a love of language and is especially for Educators, Wordsmiths & Word Gamers.  Herbert Bayer said, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” WordWitty adds: The broader our vocabularies, the bigger our worlds, the vaster our communicating tools and Scrabble scores.

This week’s (Scrabble) Witty Word: ROOD

  1. crucifix: a crucifix, especially one mounted at the entrance to the choir or chancel of a church
  2. quarter of acre: a unit of area equal to 0.1 hectare0.25 acre

“Nood” led to JUBE – noun Architecture . 1. a screen with an upper platform, separating the choir of a church from the nave and often supporting a rood.

And “Jube” led to: JUBILUS  (BIJLSUU Scrabble Alphagram w 50 pt bonus)-  in Roman Catholic music) a rejoicing, melodic group of tones to which is chanted the last “a” of the second and third alleluias, often following the gradual of the Mass.

Visit my blog of inspiration & information for WordSmiths

#25 Tomorrow & Why People Are In Our Lives

Standard


Life become real only when we begin to face and solve our own problems.
Until then, we only swim in circles.
-source unknown

Last year, after the hedges proved as wooden and hard to trim as oak, I hired a man who yanked them out like teeth. Determined to have low-maintenance and colorful yards, I dug up the grasses and planted perennial seeds, bulbs and baby plants.

I hesitate to call the re-growth of pre-existing yard flora a Battle of Wills. That implies intent of their part. As I prepare to weed the grasses infiltrating my flower beds, what is clear is that facing and solving problems may end the circles but are likely to create spirals … hopefully upward.

For the time being, I tell myself: Tomorrow will be better.

I wish the same for you.

Worth A Watch

Going Round – Part 1

Standard

Kennywood Amusement Park

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Albert Einstein