Apr 2024

Spring blooms revel in magenta...

I will never say “pink”
Because pink is so namby pamby.
Well, maybe not hot pink..
But magenta is a major force
By itself… and
Helps make everything
In the world
When it hangs out
With cyan and yellow
And together they let black act
Like the black velvet background
To all of Life’s hues…
And we all say
Oooohhhh!

These magenta offerings
Come from Kate’s bus stop
Near her New Jersey
Clifftop home
That overlooks Hoboken.
In close-up they resemble
The magenta-edged versions
Of magnolias we see
In these northern climes.
But these are something
Much smaller...



As one can see when
Google Maps shows us
A bit wider view
Of that same
Springtime bus stop.

As I look back at my
Floral calendar missives
Here...
Over these past 25 years
I see many display themselves
In magentas.
Wondering now:
Is that because Mother Nature
Favours this colour
To prance about with
Her fresh new spring greens?
Or is it just some personal bias
I didn’t know I had.
I knew, of course,
About my teal fixation…
     But…
What other biases
Might I harbour
Unknown and
Unacknowledged?

You?
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

 

Spring 2024

Spring! Spring! Spring! Sang the animals...

When Kate was wee
She loved the Little Golden Book,
Home for a Bunny
By Margaret Wise Brown…
Whose name should have been
Margaret Wise Green.
I read the book to Little Kate
Several times every night
For what
Seems like years
And years.
I can still recite
Much of it.

As an astrologer
Each spring I find myself
Entranced anew.
I revel in the combination
Scientific reality
Of the equality of
Light and dark…
And of the ushering
Of the Sun
Into the sign of Aries.
The Sun holds sway
Over our personal egos,
Our focus and attention,
And our will to self-actualize.
The sign of Aries
Is the first sign of the Zodiac
Leading the way
Into a fresh new year.
Aires, then, places our focus
On action, initiative, and vitality.
It’s a time when the earth
Pushes up its long-protected
Seedlings and sends
Them forth with renewed
Determination.

From our beginnings
Humans have sought
Understanding
Of Life itself
Through observing
How Nature
Repeats herself
In endless cycles.
All cultures
Have sought
Ways to observe
And even predict
Nature’s cycles.
Peter recently visited
Stonehenge,
One culture’s evidence
Of such seeking
And understanding.

Today I celebrate
This Equinox…
It came early
This year partly because
Of Feb’s leap day.
I hereby send
This, my own seedling
Into the ethers
Where you might
Join my praise
Of the eternal
Quest for awareness.

I invite you...
Seek out your own
Hosannas
And traditions.
Here are some ideas:
Get outside.
Plant some seeds.
Host or attend a bonfire.
Bring spring buds into your home.
Get creative!
Sunset Magazine offers more ideas here.
...
Be sure to listen to me read the Bunny book.
Here's the link again.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

Mar 2024

 

My Balcony Buddha ponders the eternal play of Lions and Lambs

Blue is merely the milieu
Not the mood.
Yesterday was definitely
A day of the Lion
Here in Toronto…
And today’s totally
Lamby-pie.
Laced with a
Sunny and sweet
Demeanour, today is
Like Shari Lewis’s
Lambchop.

So... Leap Day was a Lion
Which gave
The First of March
The opportunity
To be a Lamb.
Thank you, Science,
For bringing in our new month
Brimming with hope
And eagerness…
No matter that
Environment Canada
Says there will be
A plethora of both lions
And lambs in store
This month.
Let’s all simply
Bask in the
Time of the Lamb
While it lasts.

Pondering is optional.
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course

Feb 24

Everything old is new again...

A few weeks ago, Kate and David
Joined friends in the Riviera Maya,
Just south of Cancun in Mexico…
For lots of sun, sand, tacos, tequila,
Tzereques, pisotes, iguanas,
Howler monkeys, peacocks, and
One very friendly cat.

Then…
A trip to the ruins of Tulum…
The fort that the Mayans
Built as their coastal defence
Sometime before the 13th century…
And abandoned
At the end of the 16th century.
Yup she’s old,
But with the tourist development
In Cancun, Tulum is now back
On the beaten track…
Indeed she’s now her own destination.
Her splendour renewed
By all the attention, she sprawls aglow
In her own wonder.

Like Tulum, I, too, have become old…
OK less old in years, but still officially
People-y old.
And a few weeks before
My November b’day
I undertook an adventure
To renew my own splendour…
And now after lots
Of generous attention
From dentist Dr. Divya Patel
And the whole delightful staff
At Dr. Teodoro Happy Tsang’s
Main Street offices, I am
Proud to announce:
As of this past Monday
I have nine new teeth!!!
Here’s a pic.



The good news is
You can’t tell the diff…
But I certainly can.
Now I’m learning to eat again…
And
I’m learning to talk again, too.
I have quite a lisp
Which Dr. Patel says will
Gradually disappear.
In the meantime, remembering
Last month’s alliterative poem,
I’ve read the first stanza
Of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
Both before and after
Installing the new teeth.
As benchmark, I’ll re-read
That same stanza each week…
Plus…
Throughout each day
I have little sessions where I say
RED LEATHER. YELLOW LEATHER.
Over and over and over again
Just like an eager actor warming up
For a big show.
Yes, I’m practising sprawling aglow, too,
In my own renewed wonder.

Me and Tulum.
There’s a lot to be said for simply
Lasting.
...
As usual this month’s calendar in higher-resolution form, lives here. In the same folder there is also a version without the RED LEATHER-YELLOW LEATHER line at the bottom, in case, like me, you’d rather spend this month with just Tulum’s unadulterated beauty on your desktop. In that same folder I’ve included the animals Kate and David encountered around their hotel... a couple of them are little movies!
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
              ~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course