WHO?

LOOKING BACK
Just a few months

to
January 8th 2019
Response to a Prompt
(photo 2009)

'Where I Come From'

I'm from my mothers womb,
from the blood line of Celtic Crones,
from galaxies where stars explode.
I'm that longing answered again,
another message in a bottle
riding the storms of human being.

~*~

Time

https://youtu.be/c1f7eZ8cHpM

March 13th 2019

(photo from December 2018)

Wednesdays are s’pozed to be ‘hump’ day in the work world-the half-mark of a now extinct ‘9 to 5 world; Our devices have become the new ‘office’ and the work week is 24/7 - I don’t ‘work’, that is, I don’t participate in any traditionally accepted work for hire. I’m officially ‘retired’, spending my days and nights in personal maintenance, sleep, speculative and historical research, reading and viewing others work, art play (writing, drawing, photography), face to face or voice to voice contact with friends and strangers, occasional free entertainments, random sorting and clearing sessions, and regular Zen practice.

March 14th

Although I'd planned to sleep longer, due to another brief failure of our heating system around 4 a.m., I was awake through resolution to 5 or 6, or was it 7? I slept again. However, everything that truly needed to be done got done today and I had a fine evening meal while watching to the PBS re-broadcast of JONI MITCHELL TRIBUTE at SEVENTY FIVE, remembering who I was when I'd first heard and been transported by that great heart and voice.

 https://youtu.be/0YuaZcylk_o
Baked five sweet potatoes after supper while spending time on Face book with 'Friendlies' and reading favorite blog posts - timer set so I don't get lost - one will be breakfast and two are for Friday supper. The last two will be wrapped and frozen for future warm up. Now, at 2 a.m. Friday morning, I'll slip into comforter comfort, pop in earbuds to listen to the last chapter of "Chasing the Last Laugh" by Richard Zach
Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World-Comedy Tour.
(6 Minutes)
 
https://youtu.be/SbFnX7aLYg4

Thank Goodness it's Friday

A busy day went on about it's struggles and pleasures without me while I slept 'til after noon and how it will be one day when I am forever absent.

 
***
 
 

BEFORE DURING and AFTER

Midnight on the 20th
Meditating in silence with St. Francis at the Church garden around the corner.

 ~*~

2 PM August 21st
I decided to avoid the heat and crowds; stayed home with a fine internet view from NASA

https://youtu.be/nheFJhANgy0

My front window as the sun returned

Dancing Shiva
"This dance is not just a symbol. It takes place within each of us at the atomic level at every moment. The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the covering of the soul and its revelation…these are the five acts of this dance. All that has been made will be unmade, and all that has been destroyed will be resurrected."

(See Link)

Lord of the Dance
by

Sydney Carter

I danced in the morning when the world was young
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he
I danced for the scribes and the Pharisees
They wouldn't dance, they wouldn't follow me
I danced for the fishermen James and John
They came with me so the dance went on
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame
They ripped, they stripped, they hung me high
Left me there on the cross to die
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he
I danced on a Friday when the world turned black
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body, they thought I was gone
But I am the dance, and the dance goes on
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he
They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life that will never, never die
I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the dance, said he
Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

https://youtu.be/CgCEw5bcimY

4PM
Spent time viewing and sharing views from all over the country and around the world. This face-book post from my old friend Zeynab Devries now living in Turkey. "It is a popular misconception that the phenomenon of a total eclipse of the sun is a rare occurrence. Quite the contrary. Approximately once every 18 months (on average) a total solar eclipse is visible from some place on the Earth’s surface. That's two totalities for every three years."

https://youtu.be/-gN_8NRLuBA

"It is a popular misconception that the phenomenon of a total eclipse of the sun is a rare occurrence. Quite the contrary. Approximately once every 18 months (on average) a total solar eclipse is visible from some place on the Earth’s surface. That's two totalities for every three years."

6PM
Meditation with my Sangha of New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care on West 23rd Street, Manhattan New York


8PM
During my slow walk back East to Gramercy Park, passing two historic homes I've loved and fantasized over since moving nearby in 1969, I encountered a 'ghost' not visible to my eye but discovered on the shot. Imagining that it was the former residents still haunting their brief lives and I am already composing a short story.

(See link for fascinating one page real History)

Fragrant Mimosa tree in bloom on the South West Corner of the park

The multi-storied bird house at the South side of the park is an ornamental remnant of the Victorian past and a perpetual empty nest.

 ~*~

All day the 22nd
Tuesday I slept. Inordinately tired since discovering the surprising and uncomfortable re occurrence of a systemic fungal disease acquired as a gardener in 1996. Sporotrichosis, also known as the Rose disease, is carried by roses and results in a rash that can become very serious, even life threatening if left unattended. I was fortunate. At the time my Health clinic director recognized it immediately and a few months of treatment had it under control. One more less aggressive outbreak in 2008 was similarly treated and managed in a shorter time. This time however, I can not take the recommended medication due to dangerous interaction with medication I'm taking for a chronic digestive disorder diagnosed in 2016 without abandoning the second in favor of the first, and tolerating whatever the consequences of that will be. A classic example of "If it isn't one thing, it's another."

~*~

August 23rd and 24th
Simultaneously I have just registered with a new clinic nearer home but have not yet been assigned a regular GP.  I'm treating just the symptoms with a mixture of Witch hazel and Aloe-vera topically applied.  It's okay for now but not sufficient. Next week I will visit the new clinic and see what's what. Meanwhile, cheerful in the sure and absolute knowledge that nothing lasts, I stumble along.

Links

Shiva
http://sivasakti.com/tantra/other-hindu-deities/shiva-the-god-of-destruction/

#3 and #4 Gramercy Park
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/12/nos-3-and-4-gramercy-park-west.html

Park History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramercy_Park

Sporotrichosis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporotrichosis

N0 TIME

If time does not exist

when did this building rise to ten floors ?

 Did this store vacate overnight?

 Was this building ever occupied?

 Was this street corner suddenly a movie set?

 *

If time doesn't exist, do my lists matter,

is the calendar relevant, and does Buddha know?

 Did the phone ring, and was the message true?

 *

If Time doesn't exist, did Shiva ride a bull?

 Is poor-folks food real?

Is health food healthy?

 

 Will Calms be my forte',

and what did the snail mail guardian guard?

Has harry Potter learned to fly?

 *

Time, which does not exist, stood still

at Broome Street Temple

 A mother bowed her head

 Her child gazed at me,

then headed to the music.

 Timeless chanting began,

 and the tabla kept time,

though time did not exist.

*
http://www.broomestreettemple.org/

 ~*~
Julian Barbour explores the history of scientific thought on the concept of time and presents his own interpretations of what time is.

 ~*~