I Will Try

"'I can’t do it' never yet accomplished anything; 

'I will try' has performed wonders."

~ George P. Burnham

Make the Most

"What I have learned from life 

is to make the most of what you have got."

~ Stephen Hawking

Hear the Voice of Invitation

"We must be careful and mindful 
to truly see what is going on, 
not through a narrow view, 
but a more open, panoramic view, 
so that we can hear the voice of invitation."
~ Issho Fujita

Running Out of Time

“Why do you write 

like you're running out of time?” 
~ Lin-Manuel Miranda

Choose Joy

"Choose joy. 

There is always a choice, 

and a grand choice is joy."

~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Hate

“Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”
~ Richard M. Nixon

In Love with Life

"To be creative means to be in love with life.

You can be creative only if you love life 

enough that you want to enhance its beauty, 

you want to bring a little more music to it, 

a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it."

~ Osho 

Faith Is the Essence

"Peace of mind can heal anything. I believe faith is the essence, a simple solution, yet too hard for most people to practice."
~ Bernie S. Siegel


Waiting for the sunrise.
Asheville, Western 
North Carolina Mountains. 
"No Ka oi" 
Aloha to y'all

Faith in Humanity

"You must not lose faith in humanity. 

Humanity is an ocean; 

if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, 

the ocean does not become dirty."

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Do It Twice

Happy Birthday, Aunty Georgia

"If you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it twice."

~ Jim Croce

Go Meta

"Step back a notch, 

or as we say, go meta, go one level higher — 

so don't try to prove your side in the debate, 

just describe the debate — 

and do that in a fair way."

~ Jimmy Wales

We Travel

Highway I-81 North-East of Radford, Virginia

"We travel, some of us forever, 

to seek other lives, other souls."
~ Anais Nin

Two Steps Ahead

"When everyone begins to laugh at you, 
then you know you are two steps ahead."
~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Alive

"This moment, you're alive."

~ Joanna Macy

In Silence

"What we cannot speak about 

we must pass over in silence."

~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Into the bucolic cove, I recognize my soul.
Diving connection, 
submerging
defying definition.

Rising.

My heart floats there,
mist, fog, the world.

Nature hums light

and the clarity of color.

Silence, except for the birds.
no words, no one.
Just understanding
and infinite gratitude:
I am and will be.

Remedy For Love

"There is no remedy for love, 

but to love more."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Poetry of the Heart

"Poetry is the music of the soul, 

and music is the poetry of the heart."

~ Darshan Singh

In Touch

"If you want to 'get in touch with your feelings,' 
fine, talk to yourself. 
We all do. 
But if you want to communicate 
with another thinking human being, 
get in touch with your thoughts."
~ William Safire

Thinking: August Gold

A Light From the Shadows

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.” 

~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Postpone a Sunrise

“You are living in a poem.” 
~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Next to you

sweet justice

even the rain

knows

water cleans life

with efficiency.

Rain may postpone

a sunrise

but memory still

remembers the sun.

Intoxicated With Color

"We become intoxicated with color, 

with words that speak of color, 

and with the sun that makes colors brighter."

~ Andre Derain

To Discover and Reveal

"All art is a kind of exploring. 

To discover and reveal is the way 

every artist sets about his business."

~ Robert Flaherty

Stubborn Hope

"Hope begins in the dark, 

the stubborn hope that if you just show up 

and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. 

You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

~ Anne Lamott

Inspiration Usually Comes

"Inspiration usually comes during work 

rather than before it."

~ Madeleine L'Engle

Let Go

"Let go. Let peace. Let joy."

~ Susan Jeffers

As a Writer

"As a writer, 

you should not judge, 

you should understand."

~ Ernest Hemingway

Magic Carpet

"Imagination is the true magic carpet."

~ Norman Vincent Peale

Laugh At Yourself

"More important than talent, strength, 

or knowledge is the ability to laugh at yourself 

and enjoy the pursuit of your dreams."

~ Amy Grant

Sharing Tales

"Sharing tales of those we've lost 

is how we keep from really losing them."

~ Mitch Albom

Be Open-Minded

"If you want to be happy, 

you need to be open-minded."

~ Carl Jung

Strength

Sunrise off Charlotte Street, Asheville

"Joy is strength."

~ Mother Teresa

Love Always Hopes

For Dana and Mark

"Love... 
always protects, 
always trusts, 
always hopes, 
always perseveres."
~ 1 Corinthians 13:7

I Think Of Beauty

"When I think of art I think of beauty. 
Beauty is the mystery of life."
~ Agnes Martin

The world is a crazy place. And somethings things happen that scare me, things I don't understand. But with all of the challenges and uncertainty comes the rising sun. Radiating beauty. Proof that life goes on and each new day brings hope and some answers or perhaps better understanding... and love.

With Gold at Both Ends

“Dare to love yourself
as if you were a rainbow
with gold at both ends.” 
~ Aberjhani

Always it seems, I let the sky speak to me.

Summer Solstice Aloha

Delight In Colors

"Among the several kinds of beauty, 
the eye takes most delight in colors."
~ Joseph Addison

An Amazing Miracle

Each morning a miracle occurs. And what's more, I can share this miracle with you.

"You ARE the universe, 
an intrinsic part of it...
What an amazing miracle.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

A Place Inside

“Find a place inside where there's joy, 

and the joy will burn out the pain.”

~ Joseph Campbell

A More Human World

"Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, 

a more human world."

~ André Maurois

Into a Sun

"One must not imitate the sun, 

one must make oneself into a sun."

~ Raoul Dufy

The Rhythm and Vibration

"Music is in all our souls. 

We are actually surviving

because of the rhythm and vibration of music."

~ Yoko Ono

Leaning Unnecessary

Happy Mother's Day

"A mother is not a person to lean on, 

but a person to make leaning unnecessary."

~ Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Days Are Nouns

"The days are nouns: touch them."

~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Out front this morning with the sun through my Japanese maple tree.

Keep In The Sunlight

"Do not anticipate trouble, 

or worry about what may never happen. 

Keep in the sunlight."

~ Benjamin Franklin