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Text of the page (random words):
the crow december 2011 the crow random observations from an old crow saturday december 31 2011 i resolve no resolutions this last day of year 2011 finds me with too many things to do that i d rather not have to do at least not today i wanted to write a serious post one that requires serious thought and analysis of my chosen subject that being where do i go from here redundancy intentional it isn t that i haven t a clue to answering that question just that i want to give it the undivided attention it deserves instead i have errands to run housework that must be done absolutely must be done my house is beginning to resemble a rabbit warren one thing i will not waste time on is making resolutions for the coming new year i never keep them maybe i should resolve to keep my resolutions no not on your life it won t work trust me i know me too well what will happen is that for the first couple of weeks in january i will remember the list of resolutions first thing every morning pointing out to myself that i haven t made any effort to keep even the simplest of them next comes the the compromise that okay so i didn t do it yesterday but i can do it today just as soon as i get x y and z accomplished this morning by early afternoon then well for chrissake before bedtime anyway the next morning starts off the same and goes on thusly for perhaps ten days at which point the resolutions have become a niggling nagging mosquito whiny something or other thing i was supposed to recall upon rising the word resolutions has faded from conscious memory and my subconscious has dug its grave laid the banana peel at the edge of the hole and is waiting quietly for the word to wander by whereupon it will be guided to take a look at what s at the bottom of the grave you know the rest of the slap stick routine now see i could have spent the twenty minutes or so that it has taken me to scribble write type this nonsense thinking about the more important things i wanted to say but no o o o i m going to post this sans picture sans relevance then run my errands what was it i said i would do today while i was sitting on the side of my bed trying to wake up this morning aha i have a resolution i know i can keep i resolve to take a pad of paper and a pen upstairs for my bedside table so that i can write this stuff down at the moment the thoughts occur in fact i will place them on the stairs as a reminder before i run the errands yes that s what i ll do keystone cops moment woman slips on ignored pen still on stairs the next morning and slides down the steps face up head first airborne pad of paper lands on her face on the top sheet of paper in bold face two inch capital letters is her note to self take this upstairs fade to black posted by the crow at 1 26 pm 20 comments labels more nonsense the last for this year thursday december 29 2011 celebrating leonard a recent discussion of leonard cohen and his music started at lorenzo da ponte s blog then moved to avus blog where he posted one of the many lc songs that move me that touch my soul that stir my heart feel free to substitute any other clichéd but sincere phrase used to express adoration i fell for leonard cohen s writing when i was 22 when i first heard his song suzanne his song title became my daughter s middle name as lc has aged so has his voice once as smooth as the skin on his face but now wrinkled by time and smoke and living into the seductive to my ears gravelly growl that only endears him to me all the more you can hear the change from youth to older man in these two links another of his songs that i cherish dance me to the end of love happy new year everyone posted by the crow at 4 55 pm 9 comments labels leonard cohen tuesday december 20 2011 hark photo taken last year holiday decorations wouldn t be complete without the little hummel angel strumming her lute i think she is older than i am though not by much best wishes for a happy successful new year too posted by the crow at 10 41 am 9 comments wednesday december 14 2011 gifts gifts come in all sorts of packages including no package at all the best gifts come when we least expect anything or from someone we don t know i think the greatest gifts we receive and can give are friendship compassion and understanding today wednesday was a day of such gifts for me starting with the one when i awoke another day kid try not to waste it will you my habit each morning is to visit blogs while having breakfast i don t always have time to leave comments but i like to visit to see what s new in other parts of the world when i visited zhoen s place today i listened to the song she had embedded by singer lesley sam phillips titled one day late on first listen you might think this is a lament or a complaint but i didn t take it that way i took it to be a song of hope perseverance and encouragement as such it came at the right time for me i planned to write z a short note when i got to work this morning but was surprised to find she had already emailed me with the lyrics of the song and more words of encouragement her gesture was completely unexpected yet so like her another gift from the secretary of the historical society where i work was a vaseful of cuttings from her herb garden martie is a master gardener in our county as well as co chair of the committee that oversees the lawns and gardens of our two properties she brought in clippings of sage two kinds of rosemary and scented geraniums thyme and marjoram as the day wore on in the office the heat in the room caused the plants to release their oils creating a melange of delightful aromas that lifted my spirits every time i walked past them then there is gustavus gus as his family and friends call him my angel in a blue cap i ran out of gas within sight of the gas station i was headed toward and coasted to a stop near an auto and tire store parking close to a large eighteen wheeler sitting nearby i borrowed a gas can from the auto tire shop next door and walked to the station on the way back my asthma kicked in and i was struggling to get back to the car from out of nowhere this young man was at my elbow took the can and poured the gas into the jimmy s tank i thanked him for his kindness and said that his mother certainly had raised him right he laughed and said that when he saw me with the gas can he knew his grandmother would never forgive him if he didn t come help me gus is from mobile alabama near where an aunt of mine used to live until the bp oil spill he was a shrimper in fact he is known as gus the shrimp king from my boat to your throat he said is his business slogan advertising the freshness of his catch now he drives truck up and down the east coast i think he d rather be back on his boat out in the gulf hauling in shrimps gus s gift was not so much his assistance with the gas can although i am grateful he came up when he did as it was his chatting with me about the south about what life is like there about some of the places i remember well and miss i ve lived here in pennsylvania for two thirds of my life but my heart belongs to the south probably buried there with my mother i get homesick for that part of the country and for my family members who still live there especially at this time of year gus with his soft southern speech his gentleman s mannerisms and his thoughtfulness took away some of the homesickness took me outside of my blues these are gifts you can t buy for any amount of money they will be treasured and forever remembered brought out on cold lonely nights to warm my heart and spirit again and again thank you zhoen thank you martie and thank you gus safe journey home posted by the crow at 11 31 pm 8 comments tuesday december 6 2011 food bank those of you who don t like long posts should skip this one roughly 75 of us showed up at the food bank last night some with children in tow so maybe there were 85 of us squeezed into a room big enough for 40 at most we ranged in age from an infant only a few months old to an old woman in her 80s a few of the people were migrant workers very few most of us were caucasian most of us were unemployed or underemployed a few of us smelled like we had just crawled out of a vat of cheap whiskey the rest of us tried not to notice or we stepped outside to escape the odors and the noise no matter our differences we all were there because we needed food because we couldn t supply that for ourselves because we all were hungry a couple of times i thought of leaving because i was ashamed to be there after all i have a job yes it is part time and does not provide all the income i need not all i want mind you just what i need to survive but i have a job i think one third of us in the room have jobs but those jobs aren t providing what we need to adequately feed ourselves and our families i also have a home it is falling apart faster than i can repair it and i can t heat it adequately but i m not living in shelters or worse and like a few people in the room trying to survive out on the streets how could i sit there waiting for my number to be called to fill a shopping cart when so many others sitting around me have it so much worse i felt like a whiny ass fraud but i stayed i needed the food the church was giving out more than i needed my dignity at that point the first time i went to the food bank i arrived in time for the sermon i listened to the fellowship pastor talk about papa god s love for all his children and big brother jesus ultimate sacrifice so that we could beat death all around me people sat with downcast eyes looks of shame or embarrassment on their faces one man twisted his cap in his hands as if trying to wring poverty s neck anything to make the woman stop talking about how we were sinners and if we turned to papa god and our big brother jesus everything would be forgiven and we would see the kingdom of heaven what does that have to do with the immediate need of finding something to eat does that mean that if we weren t sinners we wouldn t be at the food bank hat in hand so to speak asking to be fed if i d had a cap i d have been wringing it to pieces too after i registered for the food bank i was taken to a back room to be interviewed about my employment status my income my bills each month how many were in my family and whether i was a christian i said no i am a quaker thank heavens the pastor woman thought i was joking and laughed i told my daughter later that had i known i would be asked about my relationship with bbj in order to be allowed to receive food i would have worn saffron robes and danced the krishna for pastor woman when she got to that part of the process no offense to any religious group belief or creed intended last night was my second visit to the food bank and i got there about half an hour after the doors opened to avoid the sermon i arrived late enough to be near the end of the line and the need was so great this week and there were more families with young children needing help that the shelves were nearing empty by the time my number was called that s the trade off i guess but the good thing is that the young families who have many mouths to feed were served well as it should be still there was enough for all of us thank you papa god for the generosity and compassion of the people in this church now let s talk about this economy pg what can you do to fix this mess and could you visit a little hard times on your child newt gingrich i think he could do with some compassion and a whole helluva lot of humility posted by the crow at 1 38 pm 11 comments labels food bank gratitude newt gingrich newer posts older posts home subscribe to posts atom about the crow photo behind the blog title brian stormont took this picture of the crow in february of 2006 with his new camera i m following his blog eye dull moments stargazer about me the crow home is in a small town in south central pennsylvania 45 miles as the crow flies north of baltimore i am a displaced southerner aging less gracefully than i d like a helluva lot faster than i d like but i m trying to slow things down a bit to make this ride last as long as possible view my complete profile blog plaid the crow s wings followers blog archive 2022 1 november 1 2021 3 august 1 july 1 june 1 2020 6 december 1 june 1 may 2 april 2 2019 5 august 3 july 1 may 1 2018 5 december 1 october 1 august 1 june 1 january 1 2017 1 january 1 2016 11 december 1 november 3 september 2 march 3 january 2 2015 19 december 2 november 3 july 3 june 2 may 1 march 2 february 2 january 4 2014 8 november 3 october 1 september 1 july 1 march 2 2013 17 december 1 november 1 october 1 august 1 july 2 june 4 april 2 march 1 january 4 2012 30 december 2 october 4 september 1 august 4 july 8 june 3 april 1 march 4 february 2 january 1 2011 61 december 5 i resolve no resolutions celebrating leonard hark gifts food bank november 6 october 1 september 5 august 6 july 9 may 8 april 4 march 6 february 6 january 5 2010 62 november 2 october 4 september 1 august 7 july 12 june 2 may 3 april 1 march 3 february 16 january 11 2009 123 december 16 november 9 october 11 september 15 august 7 july 11 june 14 may 9 april 12 march 6 february 8 january 5 2008 30 december 2 november 12 october 16 meaningful quotes we are displaced by time marian marshall suplee griest late first mother in law spoken to me in january 1994 in a dream after her death we ve got to live no matter how many skies have fallen d h lawrence via whiskey river 8 22 2014 there is something scary about letting ourselves go it means that we will screw up that we will relinquish the possibility of perfection it means that we will say things we didn t mean to say and express feelings we can t explain it means that we will be onstage and not have complete control that we won t know what we re going to play until we begin until the bow is drawn across the strings while this spontaneous method might be frightening it s also an extremely valuable source of creativity the lesson about letting go is that we contain our own creativity we are so worried about playing the wrong note or saying the wrong thing that we end up with nothing at all jonah lehrer via whiskey river 10 22 2014 shrinking simple theme theme images by sololos powered by blogger