Heart of the Melody

"The heart of the melody can never be put down on paper."
~ Pablo Casals

Last evening, my ridge & moon at dusk... Photo

This morning, more snow flurries... & more hearts in the clouds...

Surprise! Now my sun is cooking! Photo
(Look at the difference 15 minutes makes... You never know.)

Follow Your Dreams

"And to all young people, in mother's words; 'If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.' Follow your Dreams." ~ Jane Goodall

To Be

"Everything comes to us from others. 

To be is to belong to someone."

 ~ John-Paul Sartre

Companion of Religion

"Music is the child of prayer, the companion of religion."
~ François-René de Chateaubriand

Doubling Our Joy

"Friendship improves happiness and abates misery,
by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief."

 ~ Cicero

Getting ready for Bev and Sandy, arriving Charlotte tomorrow for brief stay... Excited! 

Overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this new day... Counting my blessings. Trying to choose a sunrise photo. & Eating cantaloupe... I never choose photo #1. Never. Until today.

Into the Firmament

"An old story tells of a man who grew so fond of the sky—of the clouds like hills and the shadows of hills, of the birds like notes of music and the stars like distant blessings that he made his heart a kite and sailed it into the firmament."

~ Kevin Brockmeier

Letting Go

"The spiritual life is always about letting go. It is never about holding on."

 ~ Jesse Lee Peterson

Passion

"If I had to choose my driving force,
it would be passion."

 ~ Anita Roddick

Clouds are all smeared and swirling against the horizon. Quite wonderful to watch... Easy to be happy when a glorious sun is coming soon: Photo. Wow. Wow. Radiant light extending completely out. (So nice of those clouds to hang right there.)

Passing Time

Spectacular dawn fog. Colors of bold passion, my heart reflected. Get a load of what is going on this morning...

The colors have dissipated. Don't know what kind of sun (if any) is coming, but it is gorgeous gray and fog outside. 

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

~ Earl Nightingale

Glorious Uniqueness

"While we have the gift of life, 

it seems to me 

the only tragedy is 

to allow part of us to die 

whether it is our spirit, 

our creativity

or our glorious uniqueness." 

~ Gilda Radner

Gold dawn. A plane soars straight up to heaven. Photo


All gold and glorious outside. Not too cold. Small flying birds soar all around me. Waiting for the sun to crest. Photo

Information & Energy

Ridge glows golden. Good grief, look at these clouds. 

Wow. Wake up world! Photo

"Anger is loaded with information and energy." 

~ Audre Lorde

I love it
when the clouds and sun dance
in the morning sky.

Me & the Pisgah Forest
stand still & watch
Like interlopers.

Every Hour

"To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle."

~ Walt Whitman

orange sherbet
Asheville sky... Photos 1 | 2


Backlit by the sun,
the bare row of trees
are ablaze
with gold white light

Hope to Hope

My mountain ridge
glows golden. 

Saying my prayers. 

So easy to be grateful...
 & hopeful.

As the sun crests
my heart soars
like that airplane
lifting the sky.

"The natural flights of the human mind
are not from pleasure to pleasure,
but from hope to hope."
~ Samuel Johnson

So Startling

Accuweather says it's 15° but with wind chill,
 it is -10° here. Negative Ten.
Thinking it is time to jump back under covers. 

Or not.

 "To live is so startling  

it leaves time for little else."

 ~ Emily Dickinson

How Will I Know, ♪♫ ♪♫ Whitney Houston ♪♫ ♪♫

Thousand Rays

"When you come right down to it
 all you have is yourself.
The sun is a thousand rays
 in your belly.
 All the rest is nothing."

 ~ Pablo Picasso

Clouds,
somewhat clear
horizon.
Maybe a sunrise? #fingersCrossed

Snow this morn
 in Asheville.
Sticking. Photo

Profound Secret

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon,
that every human creature
is constituted to be
 that profound secret and mystery
to every other."
~ Charles Dickens,
 TALE OF TWO CITIES

I never grow tired
of waiting for this sun
to crest.
My heart thumps
loudly, steady.


Ice everywhere.
Fire in the sky. 

Quiet Places

Cloud or fog. Fog or cloud. Just can't decide. That fine fog in the cove is my fave, but I'm obsessed with this cloud this morning. Which one?

"In quiet places, reason abounds." 

~ Adlai Stevenson

Video. 
thought I'd try see...

Trust Yourself

"Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live." ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

And as the mighty sun crests
through the bare winter branches,
my heart bursts with love.
And gratitude.

"my heart bursts"

So much light.
New day,
endless possibilities.
Again. Photo


Cornflower blue sky.
Radiated by gold.
How can it be this beautiful?

Intimate Connection

"To have an intimate  connection with the world... (is)... to know about its passing."

~ Natalie Goldberg

It is so lovely again this morning.
Low hanging clouds.
Cotton & marshmallows.
& gold light. Photo.


Above, a jet hums the sky.
A cawing crow harmonizes nearby.
Clouds are turning red before my eyes.


Red, my favorite color: Photo.


When gold takes over,
the clouds smooth,
transformed from passion to holy spirit.
& now all golden, here comes the sun.


Sun sun sun here it comes... Photo.

Always Intoxicated

"We were always intoxicated with color, with words that speak of color, and with the sun that makes colors live." ~ Andre Derain

Orange sherbet sky
with purple frosting.
smells of clean wonder
sounds of blue birds
giving spirit light.

Absolutely Miraculous

"The ordinary can be absolutely miraculous."

 ~ Simon Armitage

Sweetness of Gardenias

LIKE THE SWEETNESS OF GARDENIAS

Mother, you died 15 years ago. At first, I felt shards of pain so deep I couldn't breathe, then numbness so complete the sun could not break the clouds. Then there was just stillness like the sweetness of gardenias in the crystal vase on your yellow kitchen table. so fragrant, so strong. Today the tradewinds blow your voice to my ear reminding... a pleasant mantra of tenderness: magic words that move my palms, your palms, together we mold, help, create. your gift has become my gift. In the mirror I see your eyes, your beautiful brown circles looking back, so radiant. "Don't forget me," you whispered that morning your heart stopped forever I won't forget.

Superb Meteor

Cold this morning.

Even though it looks warm out.

It is not.

Ice on skin hurts.

Need to remember this.

And my shoes.

Happy Birthday, Rick... & Dana...

"I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." ~ Jack London

Pleasure and Joy

"Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live." ~ Thomas Merton

Listened to Mozart in the bath. All clean, inside & out. Waiting for the sun & I have three things to say:

1. Best religious teachings are by example.
2. Compassion is at the heart of the matter.
3. There is nothing more sacred than the sunrise.

light, light,
clouds, love.
Wow. Photo


Rain.
Grey.
But still enough there
to give you pause. Photo

Pure Chaos

"There seems to be a kind of order in the universe, in the movement of the stars and the turning of the earth and the changing of the seasons, and even in the cycle of human life, but human life itself is almost pure chaos." ~Katherine Anne Porter

Grey sky this morning
over Asheville.
 Aloha! Photo.


But right over me,
clouds moving right to left.
Have some color, some hope. Photo

Active Voice

Oh gosh. the Asheville sky is gorgeous again. Stained with orange and red. Here i am. gazing at Asheville's golden Pisgah Forest. Waiting for sun:  Photo

 ...My photos miss some of the million colors I am watching.

...A raven came & sat in this tree.  Cawed for me to take her photograph.

 

Kolo watching sunrise with me... 

"Live in the active voice, rather than in the passive. Think more about what you make happen than what is happening to you."~ William De Witt Hyde

Had to choose this one. My back deck perch on left, a jet leaving Asheville stains a trail in the sky. And oh, the colors of that passionate sky. It is morning in Asheville.

Sun

"The Sun rules your life and mine."

~ Bob Berman

Oh... what a Magnificent sky. 
Clouds. fog. colors. absolutely breath taking...


Cloud action toward Asheville..Photo


Who am i to question this all-knowing sky? Photo

Soul So High

"Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it." ~ René Descartes

Fog & light this morn, some sort of wonderland dream... Photo 
...Wowie. 
Fog, 
sliver moon, 
rapid moving clouds. 
Color! Now. 
Photo

High Sensory Equipment

Cloud cover! For awhile there I thought the clouds were too heavy. Well, no. That sun just burst on thru w/ prolific power.

"Talent is an amalgam 

of high sensitivity; 

easy vulnerability; 

high sensory equipment (seeing, hearing, touching, 

smelling, tasting—intensely).

~ Uta Hagen

Sliver moon is rising where my sun will soon rise. There are stars all around. It is absolutely gorgeous on the back deck: Photo ...Just a magical dawn in Asheville.

Darkness Into Light

"There can be no transforming of darkness into light
and of apathy into movement without emotion."

 ~ Carl Jung

Orange golden sky, just before the sunrise: Photo  ...Look at how cool the clouds are right now: Photo. New day, new music.

Bruce Springsteen, ♪♫ ♪♫ We Take Care Of Our Own ♪♫ ♪♫

Love Illumines

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
 Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
 Hatred darkens life; love illumines it."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

World Moves In and Helps...

"Sunshine caresses each new waking hour..."

"Follow your inner Heart
and the world moves in and helps."

 ~ Joseph Campbell

I drove in the gently falling snow at midnight to pick up Kayla from Asheville airport. The night was beautiful, but not as beautiful as her smiling face. I had such a good trip to Hawaii in November/December and it sounds like her trip there was wonderful as well. We have bridged the long distance--of land and sea and moments--with love.

With Kayla home, my heart is so full. These photographs I just took of the sun are too lovely. I cannot decide this morning, so will post two. And play the Young Rascals, one of my Aunty Georgia's favorites...

 Rascals, ♪♫ ♪♫ It's a Beautiful Morning ♪♫ ♪♫

Overcoming Adversity

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity."
~ Albert Schweitzer

♥ It... is... FREEZING. Tell me again why I left Hawaii? Sky is full of twinkling stars. It is so beautiful outside.

...White tail deer in my garden, just off my front porch, amid my solar globes. Lights of Asheville behind her: Photo Can you see? She posed, then flew through my garden in a few hops. Am pleased w/ myself that I had camera around my neck w/out flash. Still need to work on remaining calm. 

...Not a cloud in the sky. Clear for miles and miles. Golden sky, golden sun.

Poetry of Earth

"The poetry of earth is ceasing never."

~ John Keats

The skyline is beautiful. It's cold, but crisp & clear. Feels great to be right here, right now...Waiting for the sun... Magic! iPad Photo 


...Just a lovely solar pillar. Gives me goosebumps watching it shoot heavenward.

Hopeful Eyes

Red sky. And a fine mist in the cove.  Plane soars above...

Spectacular... Sky and clouds so magnificent, I need a wider lens.

"All things in this world must be seen with youthful, hopeful eyes."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Uphold It

"Mystery is part of each life, and maybe it is healthier to uphold it than to spend a lifetime in search of half-made answers."

 ~ Linda Hogan