"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." ~~ Carl Jung

A few words from Ivy

It had rained hard, really hard all night long and most of the day before, the huge piles of snow that some kind person had shoveled off Ivy's sidewalks, had almost vanished. Someone had even cleaned off her car after each of the storms. Storms came one after the other this year. making it very hard for her to get out and run errands or shop. Spring was beginning to win out over winter at last.
The old cottage had been built over a spring, there was a large cement trough in the basement which was once used to keep the milk from Grandpa Dawson's small heard of cows cold. You could now hear the sound of running water in almost every room in the house. Ivy was in the kitchen scrubbing the saucepan she had used to make some pudding from scratch. She stood at the sink looking down the hill to the stream where she could also see that the water was rising. Most of the the year it was scarcely more that a thin rill. There was a bridge across the little creek, it had been there for as long as she could remember, some years it would be washed away, Gus Nelson who had bought most of the old farm, would rebuild it each time. Gus was probably 80 or more years old now, so his daughter ran the farm, but he still drove the tractor and did what he could.
The sun was sinking low and Ivy was thinking about the daffodils that would bloom along the stream very soon, wondering about who had planted them, or if indeed anyone had. The very hardy bulbs could have been washed downstream and planted themselves there during an long ago Spring flood. Spring was indeed coming,but not soon enough to suit Ivy. She put on her thick socks and slippers and headed up the stairs to her chair near the attic window. Drawing the blanket around her, she turned on her lantern.
Snow was beginning to fall, just a few large flakes at first, as people began to appear at their windows and wave at one another. Ivy sat curled in her chair enjoying the falling snow. thinking to herself, how much she would like to find out who it was that cleaned the walks and swept off her car

I would think

I walked out to enjoy the night.
It was warmer that it had been in months, and the scent of earth, and deep woods was enough to make me want to stand there forever, just stand there, and wait to see what happens next.
The bare branches, rustling a little in the breeze. As my eyes became more accustomed to the dark I could see more and more stars. If I didn't know those were suns in other solar systems, I would think that they were fires, very distant fires , blazing across the plain of the earth. I am sure I would wonder about the people who built those fires, were they peaceful, or were they warriors? Would I ever meet up with any of them, and would I want to?

"No blue Day"

On the second floor our my house there is a very small room, or a very large closet. take your pick. Where for years we have been putting those items we use occasionally, like the good china, and Holiday decorations, over time this closet/room has also acquired some items that were put there.....well just because they were.

Might use that, might want that, might fix that, might finish that, might put that in a Yard Sale, but I never did. Now loaded up, some headed for the dump and someare headed for Goodwill. And truthfully a few things did get to stay, but most of the "might"s are either out in the car or soon will be.

Still pondering the memories that these items brought back, is good. Some outright make me laugh. A few are sad, some just crazy, as I wonder what I was thinking. It is fun to look back, especially on the home made Halloween costumes, that were worn around the house for weeks afterward, even though they are best described now as faded shreds of well used fabric. And that huge paper Easter Bunny, with his crooked smile and bright blue eyes, who presided over every egg hunt, now falling to pieces and truly beyond salvage this time.

Those things put here, which I told myself I fully intended to repair, repurpose or re-use. I didn't and I know that the reason was probably not so much lack of time but lack of motivation, even then.

I am not the person who looks back on these and says," I wanted to do this or that,but I never did."
There are no regrets here. Only things that got left behind while I was off doing other things. May they all find loving homes.

Who has seen the Wind?

Somehow I thought it would be a grander looking poem. much longer and filled with flowery prose. a Victorian Chocolate box of verse, dreamy allusions and complex rhymes and mythological references just swirling with beautiful phrasing.

But no, it is simply a straightforward. statement....like the wind itself.





POEM
Who Has Seen the Wind?

by Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.






For months now the wind has scoured the landscape and rattled the doors and windows, even slipping into this old house through every crack and pore. Though I never saw it, I heard it and felt it and even smelled it, it's strength made itself known to me. And soon by making my kites soar.

February Full Moon

Ah, the moon is full, and surrounded by a halo of clouds, as you can see from the photos I just took. It is possible there will be a display of the Northern Lights tonight, but it will be difficult to see.


The full moon of February has been called the Wolf Moon, was hungry wolves prowled the woods looking for whatever they could find. Their hungry calls must have filled the air and left people feeling very glad to be indoors. Likewise it has been called the Hunger Moon, the provisions stored away from the harvest having dwindled. The Storm Moon and the Candle Moon which seem to go well together if you live in an area where every time there is a storm the power goes off, are also names for it.

Sometimes called the Quickening Moon, unseen the earth is quickening under it's snowy blanket. A moon of new beginnings and hope for the approaching warmth of Springtime. I would love to break through the snows icy crust and see if I can find any green shoots beneath. but then if I didn't find any...........

Sunday afternoon thoiughts

photo by http://www.etsy.com/shop/missgaylee


What a wonderful day, I awoke to the sounds of icicles crashing down.
True, there are still cold and blustery days ahead, the suns angle is higher and the cheerful rainbows cast by the prisms in my kitchen window are smaller, fewer in number, appear earlier in the day, and no longer shine into the interior rooms. The sun is warm on my face and hands, which always makes me think about the the auction I went to so many years ago, and stood for hours in the late February sun and never bought a thing...but got a sunburn! The sunshine, now being strong enough to warm up tree trunks, clothes poles and telephone poles and even foundations causing them to melt away the blanket of snow. swirled so snugly around them by the winter wind.
No it's not over yet, but the snow is melting off the roof and the eves drip like there is a rainstorm going on, and the air is thick with moisture. There is something new going on, sap is rising, and there are stirrings.

Today is also, purely by chance is Paternalia, the first day of the Roman Feast days remembering the dead, these end on the 21st, a day called Ferailia, which has some characteristics of Hallows Eve.

Where am I going with all of this, no where, just rambling on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons were just made for rambling, and pancakes.