JUST DOWN THE ROAD OF LIFE

(I wrote this today, 1 Sep 2011, thinking about how the seemingly
IMPORTANT things and events in my Life, were but a faded memory
that only came to Call when a song, sound, smell, or visual brought
it to the Fore.)

*** JUST DOWN THE ROAD OF LIFE ***

"As I Travel farther Down the Road of Life, the view in the rear view
mirror takes on a different perspective.   What seemed a major event
at the Time, now seems but a 'bump in the road'!   I am what I am
Today, because of all the 'bumps' that challenged my Mind, Heart,
and Patience!"

{SPECIAL NOTE: Be careful what you ask for or pray for,
because if you PRAY for patience, in my experience you may
most definitely get more 'trials' and 'bumps' to weather,
to Test your Patience (and thereby give you more Practice).
Practice makes perfect - Practice makes Patience.
(AND, more Practice means you will get better at what
you strive for or pray for!!!) } !!! [dht-2011]



[Photo Source: National Geographic online images - Bodie, CA]

[Location Info for Bodie, CA, you can use this link
http://www.google.com/ to do an internet search for Bodie, CA ]

FOOTPRINTS ON MY HEART

(I wrote this, 21 Aug 2011, thinking how the treasures of my memories anchor me in the present, while at times impeding my Day's Journey. Living in the shadows of my past, haunting Dreams of Love, family, home, and passion, flee, leaving only their FOOTPRINTS ON MY HEART.)

*** FOOTPRINTS ON MY HEART ***

Thoughts adrift on Evening's Chill,
Senses teased by memories old.

Each breath increases awareness of environs,
Suggestive of a different path,
Echoes of Future's beckon.

Yet bonds of yesterday hold ransom,
Hampering fleeing memories.

Pains and fears awash the mind,
Whispers of the past surface,
Beneath the shifting sands of Time's Journey.

Abiding sadness permeates Day's Path,
Regrets a constant companion
[dht-2011]

[PHOTO SOURCE: Cousin L. J. Scott, edited]

PATH -- Waiting for a Sign

                             [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

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SOME OF MY WORDS

I gave a ragged cry of despair at the losses in my life (youth, innocence, health, family, love, money, opportunity ...). In my heart, I heard a consoling voice.

Do not weep. As the winds of time blow across the land, all must find their path. You will see your path; it will be written in the sand and dust, and whispered in the breeze. Then you will know. It may not be the path you desire; but it will be the path you are meant to follow.
[~dht-2011]

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NOTE:  I chose this PIX to pair with my words, for to me, it graphically depicts a structure showing the ravages of time and sand, where there is no life, where there is no path. There's just lots of dust waiting for some stupid sign about some stupid path to be written in the dry, hot wind.

Here are the thoughts my Kindred Spirit and Cousin proffered about this posting:

The photo fits perfectly with the words; "winds of time blow across the land ... sand and dust ..." . Good job. Photo reminds me of visiting ghost towns in California; always interesting imagining the people who lived there and what their lives were like.

As humans we are usually wrong when we say "there is no life" when what we mean is that there is no sign of "human" life. What is wonderful about this pix is that is shows absolute signs of life, of nature reclaiming yet another abandoned human structure ... and life goes on.

NATURE'S SECRETS

               [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

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SOME OF MY WORDS

WHAT sweet poetry of NATURE'S anthem

resides in this inhospitable shell

WHAT mental stream of consciousness

keynotes a monologue of regret

WHAT creature exists on Earth's plane

at the changing mercy of NATURE'S whimsy

WHAT awaits the searcher

at the gong of life's end clock

WHAT unanswered calls of yesterday

go unsaid today and forgotten tomorrow

WHAT new dawn foretells

of fortunes lost on yesterday dreams

WHAT spent passion wounds

there cauterized by heartache

WHAT layers yet to unfold

reveal repeating patterns of yesterday shadows

WHAT sweet NATURE does restore

the balance and chase away demons

WHAT instrument NATURE's brandish

doth level the sharpness of lingering regret

WHAT rich nectar of NATURE does sustain

through moments of despair with assurance all's well

[dht-2011]

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SOME WORDS OF MY KINDRED SPIRIT AND COUSIN

This is "sweet poetry" indeed!  The poem goes so well with the picture.  The thing that first caught my attention was the circular patterns in the photo and the poem seems to be of things 'coming around', changing, the "circle of life" (so to speak).  I would venture to say the above questions might be part of your creative process.  "... phantoms, demons, shadows await the explorer" to be sure, but adventure, beauty, and solitude also await.  Although the season is irrelevant (to me), I feel it is late Summer or early Fall ... and I am a "participant", i.e., it is me in the photo standing outside the tent - waiting for my companion to return (notice the two sleeping bags) and enjoy the perfect moment-in-time together.

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"OH MY WORD! YOU have such a poetic SOUL and NATURE! YOU 'see' what is only revealed by the inner heart! YOU are truly one of the NATURE'S BLESSED!! [dht-2011]

Twice BLESSED are ye who see the heart where time and 'stance masks!"

[dht-2011]

‎"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”

[C. Pissarro]

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In this offering: What do you notice about the words? Their meaning? Sentence structure? Pairing of Sentences? First word, middle, or last words of Sentences? What words could be substituted? What connection words added for clarity? What meaning of your own would you assign to these words, phrases, sentences?

--------------- OR, Why didn't you just say so! ---------------

WHAT patterns do you see in this PIX?

WHAT mysteries of NATURE come to mind?

WHAT phantoms, demons, shadows await the explorer?

WHAT season is this?

WHAT time of day's cycle?

WHAT abode? Permanent? Temporal?

WHAT are you? Participant? Observer? Advisor? Companion? Uninvolved? Disinterested?

Don't give a 'hoot' or 'whistle'?

JUST an interesting PIX and some jumble of syllables?

---------------

Penguin -- Another Day, Another Nature

                         [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

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SOME OF MY FAV QUOTES

My grandmother used to say, “If you can't change something, change the way you think about it."

[-Maya Angelou]

**"GRAMs always 'know' best!"  [dht-2011]  **

 

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

[-Maria Robinson]
 

“Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.”

[-unknown]

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” 

[-Flora Whittemore]

“Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” 

[-Keri Russell]

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

[-Pericles]

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”

[-Winston Churchill {Sir Winston Leonard Spencer -Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS (30 Nov 1874 – 24 Jan 1965) was a British politician and statesman} (my Maternal Cousin, THAT's right!) ]

“Life can either be accepted or changed.  If it is not accepted, it must be changed.  If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.”  [-unknown]

“You've changed so much.  I guess that's what happens.  I wish you knew how much you changed me.  I wonder if I changed you, if your life is different because of me.  Because mine's different."

[-unknown]

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

[-Reinhold Niebuhr]

“Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”  [-unknown]

“Everything in life is connected somehow.  You may have to dig deep to find it but it's there.  Everything is the same even though it's different.  Somehow, everything connects back with your life.  The faces in certain places may be different, but the situation is the same.  Irony is a hidden factor that creeps around us in life, letting its presence felt only after it has left.  Picture back to a year ago and the situations you were in.  Look at how things are different yet somehow everything is still in some way cognate [alike].  Everything connects together to form the balance of life, to maintain structure.  Change is and always will be inevitable, but everything is relative, and all the moments and times in your life will come back around again, you just might find yourself on the other side of the coin.  Things are always changing, as fast as everything stays the same.”

[-unknown]

“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret, and depression.  Do not repeat them in the future.”

[-Swami Sivananda]
 

“Life is change.  Growth is optional.  Choose wisely.”  [-unknown]

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love.  It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”

[-William Somerset Maugham]

“It is always the simple things that change our lives.  And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen.  Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so.  You feel like running, but life is on a stroll.  This is how God does things.” 

[-Donald Miller]

 

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SOME OF MY WORDS
 

TODAY, 26 Feb 2011, was a life-changing day for me.  So I am posting these sayings that seem to 'fit' my new perspective with a photo that seems to pair with the 'new' !!!!

MY FAV saying and the one that most 'fits' me today is the last quote by Donald Miller!

 

THE PHOTO illustrates to ME in its imagery ---

ALTHOUGH I may look different on the outside while among you, IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, you will see how much we are the same—IF YOU TAKE THE 'TIME' TO LOOK CLOSELY!

[dht-2011]
 

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DAY'S VENUE

                      [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

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WHERE goes the day

Down yesternight's passage

How blind today's privilege

Lost fast in yesterday's grasp

Tomorrow's dream a pledge

Whence nature's precedence assures

Breast expanse upon deep breath

While shallow essence sums life's interval

What key holds true for grantor's trust

Whilst surety and worth stand anon
 

Time bespoke metered sameness

Whose vowel foretold spoiled fortune

Ribbons linger as fragments

Where once whole, a heart full

Shattered spectrum of hopes

Cast away on ocean's tears

Love's gamble played and lost

Age of regret the debt

Once concealed by life's chains

Now released by nature's bail

What hostage behind the threshold

Where compromise affords release

What sound the closing door

What venue the open window

What knock insures a beggars entrance

What token barters the price

[DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, dht-2011]

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In this offering:

What do you notice about the words? Their meaning? Punctuation? Sentence structure? Pairing of Sentences? First word, middle, or last words of Sentences? What words could be substituted? What connection words added for clarity? What meaning of your own would you assign to these words, phrases, sentences?

--------------- OR, Why didn't you just say so! ---------------

Today is just a memory that has passed into yesterday.

Thoughts of yesterday blind you to the beauty of today.

Tomorrow is a new beginning as sure as the sun will rise.

Now the lungs expands, as if you had been living with too little air for a long time, where before your breaths were shallow and the pain too great for deep breathing.

What is the secret to giving your trust to another, while other(s) do nothing to earn and secure your trust?

The rest of your life will be nothing but more of the same ... misfortune.

The ones you LOVED the most in this world, have all cut away a piece of your heart, until all is left are tattered ribbons of melancholy and despair.

A bright future so full of a kaleidoscope of hopes lays shattered, lost and washed away with oceans of tears.

It may be better for some to LOVE and LOSE, than never to LOVE at all; but what price must be paid and for what duration.

The years of aching emptiness and pain are camouflaged in life's daily routine, but soon there will be an end to the pain as nature ends its hold to death's surrender.

Where are the words of forgiveness and compromise that release pain's grip on a broken heart?

The silence of the closing door confuses the opening of a window; as the lack of plain speaking confuses the path to understanding.

What will it cost the one who knocks; and what more must the one who knocks surrender?

[DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, dht-2011]

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PHOTO CAPTION -- or just a few words to go with the PIX.

It is astonishing how a few short phrases pierce the gray of your world with a single beam of light. [DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, dht-2011]

 WINDOW DREAMs

How sharp the contrast between

the heart's abode now worn with time's despair

and

the gaping mawe of fate with

its distant vistas casting new shades of meaning

on another world (another life, another time, another place)

filled with vibrant colors, sweet breaths, soft gentle breezes,

and LOVE's warm embrace.

[DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, dht-2011] 

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