...But It's Getting There

Monday Music: I Dream a Highway (Gillian Welch)

My thanks to Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound, for introducing me to "I Dream a Highway," by Gillian Welch.  Here is what he said about it in an email from the On Being Project:

The first time I heard it, I was transfixed. I sat at my table — it was on the radio and I was cleaning the kitchen after a party. I turned out the lights and listened to the song in the dark. Ever since, I have turned to the song from time to time, always with the lights off, always with my eyes closed.

It’s a song of extraordinary longing. When I was writing this, I wrote “a poem of extraordinary longing,” and my mistake isn’t much of a mistake. The voice in the song wonders what will sustain her through a long winter, and she dreams of a highway back to a “you” — who is the you? A lover, perhaps. Or a friend. Or a family member. Or herself. Or all of these. It’s a lyric that’s seeking healing, not perfection. It’s a lyric that’s so full of yearning, it bears its own healing in the sounding of the words.

 

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Saturday Haiku: City Green

 

in green-leafed branches
above busy city streets
finches frolicking

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Photo by Charles Kinnaird

Outside UAB's Spain Rehab in Birmingham, Ala.

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A Sad Farewell

Drawing by Elaine Kinnaird

A light in our household has gone out. Last week we had to say goodbye to our Buddy who brightened our lives for 11 years. He developed a cough which we came to discover was due to cancer that had metastasized to the lungs.

Buddy never met a stranger. He thought everyone was top shelf. During his life, companionship was his mission. Whenever one of us was ill, he stayed with us until we were better, This time it was our turn to sit with Buddy during his last two weeks until it was time to make that final trip to the vet. We miss him and will remember the joy and enthusiasm he brought to life and to everyone around.

Concerning the lives we share with our pets, no one said it better than Suzanne Clothier in her book, Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs:

"There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other.

To those who have never lived through its turnings and walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible.

Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given." 

                                               

We buy food and medicines for our dogs and cats from Chewy Pet Supplies online. When the people at Chewy's learned of Buddy's demise, they sent flowers.

 

Nature Speaks

Sunday Night was the first night I heard cicadas outside. Two nights earlier I heard katydids singing from the trees while walking the dog. Here is a shot of our oakleaf hydrangeas in full bloom last week. If you turn on the sound, you'll hear birds in the background.

 

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Monday Music: Sweet Mary (Blackberry Breeze)

Blackberry Breeze is a band that hails from my hometown of Dadeville, Alabama. They have a nice southern reggae sound and are celebrating 10 years of making music.

 

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Saturday Haiku: Rehab Days

artificial limbs
wheelchairs and family members
all function with hope

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(Public Domain photo)

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Hope Dances

 More encouragement this week from the backyard...

Hope Dances

Dove chases dove,

squirrel chases squirrel

in nature's dance.

Oak leaf hydrangeas in bloom.

Bluebirds build a second nest.

Hope is not done yet.

 

                                 ~ CK

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Photos by Charles Kinnaird

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Monday Music: The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Dating back to 2100 B.C., it is probably the oldest written story on Earth. It is breathtaking that this most ancient text begins with the words, "In those distant days..." 

The video below contains the opening lines of the poem accompanied by a Sumerian lute known as a "gish-gu-di." From the YouTube notes: "The location for this performance is the courtyard of Nebuchadnezzar's palace in Babylon. The piece is four minutes long and is intended only as a taste of what the music of ancient Sumer might have sounded like."

 

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Saturday Haiku: Accidental Memorial

 

my friend's name appears
a Facebook birthday notice
as if they still lived

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(Getty Images photo)



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A Backyard Lesson

 

Last week I was fed up. There was so much bad news; too much anger, sorrow, despair, and danger out there. My backyard is my sanctuary, so I took my coffee out there one morning and let the birds guide me.

My Neigh­­­­bor’s Cat

I’ve invited nature­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

into my backyard:

hydrangeas,

Japanese maple,

indigenous oak,

hostas,

blooms in pots,

and birdfeeders.

Towhee, dove and cardinal,

finch and sparrow,

chickadee

bluebird­­­­­­

woodpecker

and thrasher

all bring joyful sounds,

flight and color;

an enticing wildness

that I cannot quite touch

without it fleeing.

 

My neighbor’s cat

slinks into the yard

and the joyful dissipates.

All is quiet.

Uneasy quiet.

The cat hops up on the fence,

turns her head,

then departs.

 

Birds return with their joyful.

Quick to dodge danger,

just as quick to sing again.

Just as quick to sing again.

 

              ~ Charles Kinnaird

 

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Goldfinch Drinks

 A female goldfinch thought the ant trap on the hummingbird feeder was the perfect place to grab a drink!

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Monday Music: I Shall Be Released (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)

"I Shall Be Released," from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s new album, "Dirt Does Dylan,"

 

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Saturday Haiku: Two in the Morning

 

it is 2:00 a.m.
mockingbird chatters its song
streetlights pierce the night

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Photo by Charles Kinnaird

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Robin Bathes

Nobody enjoys a bath quite like a robin. Watch how she meticulously prepares in anticipation before she even gets into the water! 

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