April 22, 2002
"Thoughts Of Nature"
''Earth Day'', it is. The newscaster this morning announced she wore a green dress in honor of this day. There was tree planting at a local park today. And a small group of pagans met at a coffee shop tonight.
A nice gathering, it was, full of interesting conversation. There are plans to meet more regularly. But Earth Day was a good beginning for it.
Thoughts of nature have been with me lately. You might say the celebration began Friday night. The three of us went to Monarch's Rest to start the weekend early. Oh, I ate far too much. The gorganzola dip was one thing, and the mediterranean pizza was another, but the huge beer batter onion rings were entirely too much. I simply could not be moderate with the rich things.
But my indigestion is not what I want to remember about this weekend. For one thing, after the meal, Monarch's Rest featured a non-food 'dessert': a slideshow about Butterflies In Arizona. Priscilla Brodkin, one of the authors of a book about this subject showed many lovely pictures she and others took of the lovely creatures. She also gave the names of them, showing them by class. Several were exotic looking, of 'ooh and ahh' quality, while some were quite plain. I recognised one of the plainer varieties as being one I'd captured in a photo at the arboretum.
Later this weekend, I tried to remember its name. I learned it at another site about butterflies in Arizona. Sure enough, my photo matched shape of wing and spot for spot one of their photos.
''Clouded Sulphur'' (Colias philodice)
Indeed, it must be, for later this weekend, we went walking at the bike trail alongside the canal. While we paused in a shady spot, a Monarch briefly settled near us before flitting off to spots elsewhere.
While the three of us were out for that Sunday stroll, we also saw a huge gray crane soar by us with its very wide wingspan. I'd not seen such a huge bird so close up before. Also, as I walked up the path to work one day last week, I saw another unusual bird. There are always plenty of black crows, and petite brown cactus wrens rising high and landing again here and there. But this day, one of those birds surprised me with a bright yellow underside as she lifted up for her ascent.
Perhaps one of these days I'll be motivated to hunt its name out, too. For now, 'yellow bellied bird' will do.
April 24, 2002
"Maybe One Day"
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''But it wasn't the first time
I could chase after it, with short legs, and panting. How do I make it mine? There is a way, I know. Camera eye to it, it's in my sights. I will capture it, mid flight and study it, in quiet reflection. Scaled like this, muscles mostly hidden, I will learn its secrets. Then maybe one day I will ride this soaring thing. How high we then shall fly.
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April 27, 2002 - A
"The Weekend Has Arrived!"
9:30am . . .
Too early for treats at Starbucks (via Barnes and Noble), Laura suggested we kill the half hour at a nearby store. Wandering the aisles, I was in search of pens and a cheap notepad. Oddly, I met Laura in the pen and paper section, and discovered she already possessed the necessary items in her purse. Happily, for this saved an expense, and I really had no interest in the mostly garish store displays elsewhere.
No, when I have a free half hour, I'd rather visit my own mind. It's been a strange week, REALLY strange. Work was insanely busy. We had to turn some sad faced people away, for they could not wait until when we are booking.
Busyness at this time of year is odd enough, but a very strange thing happened mid-week at work, something I've not encountered in twenty years of sewing. I've found a few odd things in pockets of customers' clothes, but none this odd.
It was for a Marine I was sewing his chevrons on his tan shirts. Nearly all the shirts had received their new arm 'adornment', when I brushed by something thin and hard in one of the shirt pockets.
''What's this?'' I wondered as I pulled it out. My jaw dropped and my eyes bulged as I discovered what was tucked there. It was a polaroid snap of a woman wearing nothing but a smile, however crimson coated those lips surrounding her big, white teeth. She sat on the lap of a young man, holding up her tremendously round and huge 'twins'. Agile, she was, for the ability to spread her legs so wide to display yet another of her feminine attributes.
''HUH??????, I muttered in disbelief. ''Look what I found in this guy's shirt pocket!'', I exclaimed as I showed this amazing discovery to the other seamstress. She was certain she recognised the man in the picture as the one who'd come in a couple of weeks ago to have the sides of his jeans split open and velcro attached. He shyly explained they were 'for a party'. Having done such a thing before, I knew they were stripper's 'breakaway' pants, as the man I'd done them for a few years ago was not so bashful. Yes, indeed, it was SOME PARTY he was at!
The other seamstress rushed next door to share the photo with the cleaner-side girls. We all had a good, deep belly laugh, a well-deserved treat at the end of a hard day. I wonder if the guy has ever wondered where his photo went?
My memories of the past week recorded, Laura and Julia returned to the car, Laura with a small bag under her arm. It was time for the coffee shop to open.
1:45pm . . .
A few hours later, with a caffeinated mind, I am back at the journal, this time with the glowing screen before me. We had a pleasant gathering, with the 'company' of the writers on the wall along side us. The mural depicts various writers of the 1920's in a coffee shop of their own. I don't know what Langston Hughes been drinking, for he's a little green. But everyone else is just doing coffee. Anyway, they seem to exist, in their age, along side us, in our age.
Their gathering, however, seems more serious than ours was. About eight pagan or semi-pagans gathered for a pleasant chat. A couple hours of interesting conversation, a 'Tazoberry' and a 'Writer's Chai' later, and here I am.
Has the tasty and aromatic 'Writer's Chai' inspired me to something literary? Now, as I sip a blend of tea Julia made, I am just happy the weekend has arrived.
April 27, 2002 - B
"Reflections On A Conversation"
Quarter after three, lunch of rice with melted pepper jack and feta cheese well-digested, I am having reflections on an earlier conversation today. One lady at the far end of the table this morning said she was glad of her faith in times of dealing with death, that without it, pondering Ultimate End would be unbearable. My mind then thought of Laura's skepticism. There's a clean honesty in that. I, at the crossroads between belief and nonbelief, thought, I shall have to see if there's a poem in me about that.
Poem, I did.
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Yet what is the reason for it all?
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(The coin I refer to is the British Bi-metallic £2 Coin, 1997 onwards, which has on its rim the words ''Giants standing on the shoulders of giants'', such that it goes around and around. It's a good expression of civilization itself. The words have been taken from a letter written by Isaac Newton to fellow scientist Robert Hooke on February 5, 1676, where he very modestly claimed that his success had been built on the achievement of others: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".)The poem may be not so much. It didn't ripple the edges of my mind with neat excitement, BEFORE I read it to my small and non enthusiatic audience. Truthfully, I do like the one I did a couple of days ago, Maybe One Day, much better. Still, today's is the result of pondering that conversation, and I'll keep it. 'Maybe One Day' I might have some pithier and fresher thoughts.
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Standing outside my pointed-roof hut, how much space do you think is inside? All the worlds of the universe are there, with room to spare for a zazen cushion.
When nothing comes to mind, I sweep the steps when the west wind is done. I make a path for the moonlight
~ Stonehouse (145 & 157)
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So, I shall 'make a path for the moonlight'.
April 29, 2002 - A
"MORE Reflections On A Conversation"
My brain is slow, it is. Thus it is, my reflections continue over days. So, it re-iterate the thing that got me to thinking. A fellow pagan had said she was grateful for her faith when someone dies. For her, the firm resolution of the atheist concerning no after life would be very hard to bear.
At first her comments filled me only with a deep wondering, which is what Saturday's poem was about. Basically, keeping 'an open mind' is a good thing.
But what do I really feel about 'life after death'? It took me two days to get a poem which is really about that!
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What mysteries await us at the end?
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April 29, 2002 - B
"Standing On The Shoulders"
I've fairly decided Saturday's poem is rather insipid as poems go. But I've learned a bit of interesting history from one of my readers as a result. So it's not all bad. The English coin, which I imagined its quote emphasizing the inter-relatedness of all humanity, is not at fault.
Apparently, the author of those words, however, did not mean those words as humbly as the designers of that coin have taken them. Or, really, as any innocent reader would. As it would happen, the author really meant something quite less honorable.
According to my source, (who has reliable sources himself) Isaac Newton, though a genius, was also a pompous jackass. He took credit for the work of others, which, of course, got him in lifelong feuds with those whose work he filched. Robert Hooke, to whom he had written those lines "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants", was one of those people.
Hooke had done some work with the 'inverse-square law'. Newton did his usual game of waiting until someone announced a discovery and then claiming that he had already discovered the same thing but just hadn't got around to telling anyone about it. In the letter to Hooke, Newton was actually accusing HIM of trying to claim credit for NEWTON's idea. The quote, although couched in outwardly courteous terms, was actually an underhanded slap at Hooke's physical stature. Hooke was almost short enough to be classified as a dwarf. And since he was accusing Hooke of trying to claim credit for his own idea, it could also be read as accusing Hooke of standing on Newton's relatively GIANT-LIKE shoulders.
(Thanks, Richard!) I searched on the web, and found many references to Newton's vindicative nature. Hooke is unjustly obscure in scientific circles today, due to Newton's behavior.
Piffle! Humans can be really be jerks at times. It is at these times, some turn to the wisdom of other creatures - CATS, for instance.
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"If I have seen further than others, it is because
I stood on the shoulders of humans."
Sir Bantus Newcat  Bantus on human Alvis
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