Small Stone: January 24, 2013

A question for the prickly pear.

What protects?

Little impedimenta,

limiting life, achieving

neither security,

nor freedom

from petty fear.

It is a time 

to remove

the spines,

one by one.

Small Stone: January 23, 2013

Looking out, or light coming in.

I am unsure. Even the light seems

at odd angles.

Little things alter my focus,

skewing much larger values,

questioning some long-held beliefs.

Aging and letting go? Perhaps.

With some sadness:

relevance and meaning

may well be the issue.

Window in the chapel at the Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, CA--the very last mission built at the end of El Camino Real.

Small Stone: January 22, 2013

The delicate fragrance brought me to a stop as I walked down my busy street this evening....could not imagine where it was wafting from…it came from the same scraggly magnolia that caused me to laugh at its impertinence the other day…blooming on the edge of winter....reflected in the amber street lamp…a waxing gibbous moon in the distance. First seeing, now experiencing the fragrance of this street tree is the message: this is my environment. And, I have a new friend.

(Japanese Kobushi--the mountain magnolia)

Small Stone: January 21, 2013

 

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall ... Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."  

                                                    President Barack Obama: 2nd Inaugural Address

 It seemed unimaginable that in my lifetime the President of the United States would state that gay rights are a civil right in the inaugural address. Tears and applause were appropriate!

 

A beautiful ending to a very special day.

Small Stone: January 20, 2013

Lots of things are making me laugh

these days…maybe the winter doldrums

are over? I do know it is simply good

for the soul to be cheerful.

This fellow in his hoodie, sitting at the trendiest

bakery/sidewalk café with his latté sipping

owner, didn’t seem to be having much of a laugh.

But, I did.

Small Stone: January 19, 2013

A friend was thinking about lichen

and commented on her blog about

its symbiotic connections over vast spaces.

Today, I saw a tree branch

where the lichen's relationship 
was an epiphyte.

I sometimes feel like that…

separate, but hoping to grow upon/with

my environment, but, like this lichen, 
not as a parasite.

Small Stone: January 18, 2013

It was warm today ─ broad smiles

exchanged on the street,

dogs cavorting, an air of festivity

proclaiming: winter’s over.

(Well, at least for the moment)

This is just a silly photo of a new bench

in front of a local artist's cooperative.

It made me laugh. Seems that it was

once a carnival object…and it seems

my City is a carnival.