A Bone to Pick With Me!

I parked my car right by a trash can in Westgate park today.  After stretching out for a few minutes to catch forty winks, I sat up and noticed who was eating lunch:

It’s such a cliché, that “one’s trash is another’s treasure.” However, I somehow delighted in this frisky omnivore’s ability to make a feast on what someone else threw away–including a packet of barbeque sauce to go with his chicken (unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to catch it).

At a time when so many are feeling the pain of having less than what they did, maybe we can all salute the squirrel, who takes what someone else threw away, and adds another layer of fat for the long winter!

“Squirrels in my Pants” Music Video

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

On the Bike with Jack

(Saturday night, before going to bed)

“Do I pack my flannel-lined jeans and leather jacket, or not?  Hmm…sure, why not.”

(Sunday, noon)

There stands Jack.

“I’ve got a bike in the parking lot, and I’m ready to go.”

In just a minute someone else was ready to go too.

Helmet hugs head.  Phil hugs Jack.  Motor on.  Rubber hugs road.

Whoosh!  We’re off!

Bare trees.  Blue sky.  Heat of warm sunlight cannot seem to work its way through whistling wind. Brown woolen scarf was not quite tucked in.  Damn!  Dancing in the wind, just like me.

Stopping to care for a sweet dog, very close to the end.

“What do you want for lunch?”

“I’m not picky.”

“Well, Dee only likes five star when we go out.  I like to go slummin’!”

“Lets find a dive!”

Whoosh!  We’re off again.

Lunch at not quite a dive, but more than a feast.  Hot coffee opens my sinuses and clears my throat (Deo gracias!).

Stomach full, fingers, toes, nose and heart warmed.

Whoosh!  We’re off again!

Scarf tucked in, better this time.  Did I learn?

Stopping off again to see Dee and Lindy.

Whoosh!  Off one more time.

Back in the parking lot.  My lingering feet tell me that I don’t want this to end.

Thank you.

Steppenwolf – Born to be wild 1969

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Beginning At the End

This evening I heard someone say,

“We are beginning at the end.”

end, or beginning?

And like that infinite reflection of blue sky and tree bough, for a moment, none of it mattered, and it was all now.

Lord let me know mine end – Greene (1696 – 1755)

Some day, I will be part of the earth, and the tree and the vapor in the air.

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Happy Leaf, Sad Leaf

Sometimes we think this is what is going on:

In reality, this is what was going on…

Sometimes, we even misread those in ourselves.

And the moral of the story?  Watch carefully and pay attention, but even then, we never know, do we?

Who’s On First

“Always pay attention to the first thing they say…”

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Poor In Spirit

“O Lord, how joyful and happy must they be who, when they come to consider their own selves, find in themselves nothing remarkable whatever. Not only do they not attract attention outside themselves, but now they no longer have any desires or selfish interests to attract their own attention. They remark no virtues; they are saddened by no huge sins; they see only their own unremarkable weakness and nothingness but a nothingness that is filled obscurely, not with themselves, but with Your love, O God! They are poor in spirit who possess within themselves the kingdom of heaven because they are no longer remarkable even to themselves. But in them shines God’s light and they themselves, and all who see it, glorify You, O God!”

from “Dialogues With Silence” (T. Merton)

Orthodox Byzantine Music (Worship) Angelopoulos Beatitudes

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

No Turning Back

Today provides us with irrevokable proof that Autumn is winding down.  The oak leaves have begun to fall.

What do we do with such evidence?

Today a student of mine learned a lesson today in inference and proof.

“Well, in the end, we just don’t know, do we?”

Is there anything else to say?

Rascal Flatts Why

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Endings and Beginnings

Perhaps it has become an annual tradition now…

Elizabeth Parcells sings Last Rose of Summer

When does one thing end, and another begin, anyway?  Today, it’s difficult to see the possibility of that.

It’s not an easy feeling to admit the construct of beginning and end.

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Putting In Your Two Cents

There was something about that story that really reached me today.

In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood.”

(NAB, Mark 12:38-44)

And something happened when those two coins finally fell out of her hand, and amazingly, she was at peace.

Perhaps we’re not talking about widows and money here, are we?

Maybe you can just reflect on that for a while.

my two cents

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Losing a Sense of Self

Can we ever really have a self-portrait, anyway?

What does that show us?

What happens when we fear losing our sense of self in…

…a relationship

an interaction

our work

…

can that really happen?  Or what if you were to just sit, and breathe for a moment, and then realize…that the losing and gaining all is, and when all is said and done, nothing can really be taken away or given.

I don’t know.  I’m still thinking on that.

[Les Miserables] 10th anniversary – WHO AM I?

Be well, and at peace,

 

Completion?

The kitchen is finally done.

So what do we do with that?

Or maybe there are some things that are yet left to do with it…

That’s it.

Rattle those pots and pans

Be well, and at peace,

Phil