Tuesday Haiku

Shadow on the stair.
Velvet nudge soft as snowflakes.
Tiger in the house.

Again with the science . . .

These are some of the most impressive photos I have seen in a long time. In addition to the other science sites/blogs I visit, this one is new to me and terrific. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment based at the University of Arizona.

Saturday Haiku

A sniff is a kiss,
But a bat is only that
in cat sign language.

The Winter Sky

I went downstairs the other morning. My thoughts were occupied by the things I needed to do to get ready for work, feed the cats, pack a lunch, etc. My attention was suddenly arrested by the view from my dining room windows. From those windows I can see across my neighbors' lawns, across the street, and over the high school's baseball fields. The bare tree trunks on the tree lawns were black silhouettes. The sky was a vibrant raspberry. Over the next few minutes, the dynamics of the sunrise ran through colors from raspberry, to strawberry, to mango, then paled to apricot. I fed the cats and when I looked again steel gray clouds on a faded pale sky had replaced all of those amazing colors. Fleeting, but spectacular.

Welcome New Year

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

My Calendars Are Printed

Every year for the past - I don't know, but there are been many - years, I have designed and printed a calendar. It started out as a way to showcase quotations that took my fancy throughout the year. It became a way to commemorate special holidays and observances.

The calendar grew from a handmade creation printed on a copy machine - the first year I stamped all of the illustrations with hand-carved rubber stamps...and that was the only year that I employed that method. Three years ago I invited my creative friends to submit their drawings, paintings, photographs, etc., for each month's illustration. It has been the most fun to see what everyone submits and the calendar is gorgeous, dynamic and eclectic. Production quality has improved, too, as I have begun using a professional printer, enabling the reproduction of full color pages.

The calendars are my holiday gifts to the contributors and I get to enjoy the end product all year long. Thank you, friends.

Possum the Sequel

I was awakened by a clattering in the back hall. I investigated and found a couple of jars were knocked off the shelves - my back hall has shelving and is my pantry. I figured I had mis-stacked some items and went back to bed. All was quiet. The next night - same thing. This time a jar of marachino cherries was on the floor broken - and some other stuff. The other stuff smelled like cherries and something much less pleasant.

It turns out that sweet little possum that I had found earlier at my back door, was now in my back hall. He apparently snuck in when the cats were out. So how come the cats did not dispatch him. Fifty-one sharp little teeth may be one reason.

Anyway, after dismantling the pantry and judicious use of a broom, the little guy was on his way into the neighbor's yard. He can go be cute over there for a while.