Monday, March 7, 2011

NATURE'S HOURGLASS

                         [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]
                         (Weathered clothes pins on clothes line in an outdoor setting)

SOME OF MY WORDS

Our middle years are the best of times and proffer a chance to take 'stock' of where we have been and where we want to go. Down the road of tomorrow, the ravages of age will line the face and make us frail. However, these are but layers of time cocooning the child that lives in happy wonderment of making it to another birthday. [~dht-2011]


Each year is a special gift that you can hold and put into your Heart's Treasure Chest nestled with all the treasures and memories of yesterday. [~dht-2011]

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SOME WORDS OF OTHERS


"I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth." [~Jonathan Swift]

Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all!.... his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes. [~Charles Dickens]

A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time. [~Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.]

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. [~Ogden Nash]

They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body. [~Author Unknown]

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now." [~David Grayson]

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. [~Author Unknown]

Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people, the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. [~Charles Dickens]

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. [~Mark Twain]

It's important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle. [Author Unknown]

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. [~Samuel Ullman]

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt. [~Author Unknown]

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. [~Bob Hope]

The years teach much which the days never knew. [~Ralph Waldo Emerson]

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. [~Nikita Ivanovich Panin]

A man's age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man's age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. [~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. [~John Barrymore]

Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart. [~Caryn Leschen]

Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age. [~Victor Hugo]

Years ago, we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush to the net. [~Franklin Adams]

Everyone is the age of their heart. [~Guatemalan Proverb]

Youth is a disease from which we all recover. [~Dorothy Fulheim]

There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going. [~J.B. Priestly]

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now. [~Author Unknown]

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. [~Oliver Wendell Holmes]

Age is a high price to pay for maturity. [~Tom Stoppard]

The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible. [~Judith Regan]

The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity. [~Mark Twain]

The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. [~Doris Lessing]

There is still no cure for the common birthday. [~John Glenn]

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. [~Martin Buxbaum]

You can't hide your true colours as you approach the autumn of your life. [~Author Unknown]

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. [~T.S. Eliot]

Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age. [~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]

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Thursday, March 3, 2011

TWO SIDES OF A COIN


                             [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]


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This Posting was a difficult one for me to 'post',  and I almost did NOT post it.  And then when I did post it, I ALMOST deleted it!!!   NOW, I feel REALLY GLAD that I overcame my "..." , for the comments proffered were very meaningfully to me personally! A special THANK YOU to my Kindred Spirit and Cousin for her comments, which I have posted below (near the end of this posting)!!!

SOME OF MY WORDS


Knowing something and feeling something deeply are two sides of a coin.

Some things that happen are so devastating that they eclipse everything else until healed.

Some things are so wonderful that it's hard to relinquish them.

Two different feelings.
Two different perspectives.

Both powerful responses in a different landscape.

Polar opposites—
sunset – sunrise
night – day
rain – shine
cold – heat
wet – dry
dying – living
death – birth
moonlight – sunlight
endings – beginnings
goings – comings
goodbye – hello
low – high
short – tall
ugly – beauty
old – youth
dull – sharp
sour – sweet
hate – love
down – up
far – near
left – right
east – west
north – south
false – true
fake – real
push – pull
passive – aggressive

JUST A TOSS OF A COIN!

[dht-2011]

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Here is what my Kindred Spirit and Cousin said about my words.


This reminded me of a quote: '"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see... what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something." Richard Feynman, US educator & physicist (1918 - 1988)


‎'Polar opposites', the balances of life.
"Some things are so wonderful that it's hard to relinquish them" = parenthood.  Even though we remain parents after our child have left (as we want them to do), the longing for the child remains. Today's poem/reflection (to me) is all about family and especially about children and also about 'changes' that occur regardless of whether or not we want them.  The question is always:   Will we be able to adapt [to our life's changes]?  Or will the changes encompass us, drag us down and spit us out [a more weary, fragile, and wary person]?  Good points to ponder.


***************
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 will today bring?
Are events and circumstance just a toss of the coin in one's life?
If there a choice, on which side of the coin will you live?


(COMMENTS ENCOURAGED and WELCOMED)

NATURE'S SECRETS

               [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]


***************
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]

***************
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?
---------------


Saturday, February 26, 2011

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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Monday, February 21, 2011

SPRINGTIME in my Garden

                     [PHOTOS SOURCE: my camera—my garden, a "Brandy Rose"]


(I wrote this , 21 Feb 2011, and took some photos, just awed and inspired by the wonders happening in my garden with the arrival of Spring in California!)


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I hear the remembered sounds of a spring
dawn in my garden
 
Bird song tempts me closer to my window—
camera at the ready
 
I thrust back the draperies
to reveal the restoration of my garden in full progress
 
Spring has arrived!

Flower blossoms greet the welcome blessings of sunlight
 
Butterflies flirt on petals
 
Bees conduct honeyed business
 
Hummingbirds anoint and twitter
 
Robins forage and primp

 A WALTZ is played –
the tune, the lyrics, and
the rites of SPRING!

[dht-2011]


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                               [PHOTOS SOURCE: my camera—my garden, "Canna"]


                  [PHOTOS SOURCE: my camera—my garden, "Iris and Petter Pan"]










Sunday, February 20, 2011

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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Saturday, February 19, 2011

MY KITCHEN CHILI


                                        [PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

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NOW, before you even think about trying this recipe of 'My Kitchen Chili', I'll have to tell you that it is one of my Crock-Pot-Recipes that I use to "empty my frig at the end of a week".

That being said, you will understand that the CHILI is never the 'same' from week to week, as each week my frig and pantry have a different variety of 'end of week food stuffs'!

SO, like any recipe make this YOUR OWN, by using YOUR OWN MAGIC TOUCHES and PROCESS! THEN, SHARE your magic with me -- by leaving a comment on this posting!
---------------


SO, I begin by putting the following basics into the CROCK-POT (or whatever favorite slow cooking pot you prefer from your kitchen). (With the changing sizes of cans and containers, you will have to use your 'cooking eye' to measure. I would guess that a can of 15 oz size would yield about 2 cups!) SO, here we go!!!


MY KITCHEN CHILI


PUT INTO CROCK-POT--
1 large can diced tomatoes (about 28 oz size)


1 can tomato sauce (about 15 oz size)
1 cup BEER (use your favorite!)
1 can black beans-rinsed and drained (about 15 oz size)
2 cans dark red kidney beans-rinsed and drained (about 15 oz each)
1 can undrained corn (or I use frozen corn, it's healthier) (about 15 oz)
1 small can jalapeno (about 1 cup)
(HINT—use the rest of the can of jalapeno for the cornbread. It is OKAY to make cornbread from a MIX, just add your 'magic' – like jalapeno, frozen or canned-drained corn, red bell pepper, and/or anything else that suits your 'fancy'!)

DICE and add to CROCK-POT-MIXTURE--

(I use a food processor or my NEW knives that I bought myself for my Birthday this Jan 2011—love those new knives!!!)

6 diced green tomatillos
(these are green tomato things in the grocery, or use can of tomatillos –they are in the 'ethnic Tex-Mex section of your grocery store' about 1-2 cups)
1 – 2 stalks finely chopped celery (I even use the leaves)
1 – 2 grated carrots (cleaned and peeled, I PREFER GRATED so I do NOT have to look at the carrots--for when grated the carrots sort of 'dissolve')
1 cup seeded and chopped green, red, and/or yellow bell pepper


SEASONING to TASTE--

Now I keep a package of Lawry's Taco Seasoning MIX on hand, and feel no GUILT about using it for this CHILI. BUT, sometimes I like to use my own 'magic' and 'seasonings', so that being said, DO YOUR BEST with these ideas and TEMPER them to YOUR SPECIAL TASTE for "hot" or "spicy".

Seasonings (as I said to your taste)


3 Tablespoon chili powder
¼ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp dry parsley
1 Tablespoon dry, diced or fresh garlic
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cocoa powder (NOW, this is my SPECIAL MAGIC!!!)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (this makes your chili hot and spicy)
1 tsp Tabasco (this makes your chili hot and spicy)
1 tsp white sugar (or sweetener, honey, or brown sugar)
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 T white flour to thicken

BEEF and ONION MIXTURE--

BROWN and STIR 1 pound lean ground beef with 1 large chopped white or yellow onion (the BROWNing gives the onion and beef more FLAVOR. POUR off any fat!

POUR / sprinkle seasonings onto beef onion mixture and heat to release the flavor of the seasoning and infuse them into beef and onion.

NOW, pour the beef, onion, seasonings into CROCK-POT! AND, cook until you cannot help yourself anymore, and just have to have a serving!!!!

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WELL, now that I have 'worn out your eyes' and 'scared you with all the fixings';
here is my usual 'LAZY-BONES KITCHEN CHILI'!


LAZY-BONES KITCHEN CHILI

1 pkg Lawrys Taco dry mix
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 cup frozen corn (always a staple in my freezer)
1 cup bell pepper (fresh, or frozen in my freezer)
1 lb browned and drained ground beef
1 large chopped onion (cooked in microwave for about 3-5 minutes)
1 stalk chopped celery
1 carrot grated
1 Tablespoon chili powder
Garlic to taste (dry, powdered, fresh, whatever is on shelf)
½ tsp cocoa powder (NOW, this is my SPECIAL MAGIC !!!)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (this makes your chili hot and spicy)
1 tsp Tabasco (this makes your chili hot and spicy)
1 tsp white sugar (or sweetener, honey, or brown sugar)
2 Tablespoon white flour to thicken
¼ cup olive oil

---------------
NOW, after about F-I-V-E hours of slow cooking--


GARNISH and serve with any/all of these toppings
cilantro fresh leaves to sprinkle on
sliced green onions (pretty when cut on diagonal)
grated cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese)
Serve with warmed (in microwave) corn tortilla chips,
sour cream
diced avocado
sliced black olives

Side serving of a terrific green salad and/or Corn Bread

SERVE with your favorite BEER, TEA, or beverage

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SPECIAL NOTE: 

My BELOVED daughter has this to say about this posting of My Kitchen Chili,
"Sounds YUMMY!  Hadn't thought of cocoa, but it soungs GREAT!"

a