Or at least the planning stages a drive across country: Burlington, Vermont to the Columbia Gorge, Washington State. I bought the "Delux Road Master Atlas" today at Barnes and Noble. 144 pages, all 50 states along with Canadian provinces and parts of Mexico. Yesterday I googled for "routes across the USA" and came up with the following interesting sites:
http://www.roadtripusa.com/
http://www.charm.net/~jdholmes/america/usaroute.html
Any suggestions?
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
XL
Only love has brought us to the world:
Beauty finds itself, and we are found.
All time, all places, call - here, not here:
no mirror finds the truth but in itself.
To know - what do we know? To worship -
emptiness takes us into its craving.
Any trace, glimpse, whatever flickers -
that's all we have, known or not known.
Held by the word, targeted here in openness,
Earth receives the sky bent forever in greeting.
Translated from Urdu by William Stafford
from Poems by Ghalib (1969).
Beauty finds itself, and we are found.
All time, all places, call - here, not here:
no mirror finds the truth but in itself.
To know - what do we know? To worship -
emptiness takes us into its craving.
Any trace, glimpse, whatever flickers -
that's all we have, known or not known.
Held by the word, targeted here in openness,
Earth receives the sky bent forever in greeting.
Translated from Urdu by William Stafford
from Poems by Ghalib (1969).
Pearl. Happy Easter and a Naming Ceremony
Yesterday I went to my first Jewish naming ceremony. My friend's Jena and Greg (along with their daughter Aviva) orcastrated a beautiful welcome into the world for their second daugter Pearl Renner Luna Strong. Family and friends gathered together to create a moment and mark the miracle that brought this new beauty into the world. Jena and Greg read notes to Pearl written when she was still in the womb, they spoke of their desire to have the community share in her development, we all sang songs in Hebrew to welcome her to the earth and then sealed the moment with toast of wine. I don't think I had ever been a part of a ceremony that was so humble yet placing.
Kristin (the woman serving as the "guide" for the ceremony) said the most amazing word in Hebrew. This word means "that would have been enough". Kristin said that if Jena and Greg had only been paired in marriage, that would have been enough. Yet they chose to have their first child Aviva, and that would have been enough. Yet now they have brought a second child into the world, which is also enough. I breathe deep wondering what it would feel like to be so held by the concept of enough and knowing that your actions to create family and a community (without fame, global recognition, or profound fortune) are enough.
After the ceremony I called an ex-boyfriend because I'd been reminded of a poem that I rediscovered after 9 years through our relationship (see the next post). He's engaged.
Later in the day I made eggs with Rob and Jill then hid plastic eggs around the yard. I watched them run and wrestle as they gathered all 12. In the teekee torch, under the artist's conch, inside a narled stump, beside the flower in the grass, inside the desk, on the windowsill, hidden in the mailbox, tucked beneath an oil can, set in the crook of the fence, resting on the "y" of a tree branch, and two other locations I can't recall. Rob with 7, Jill with 5 (he passed one over to even the spoils). I felt young and if I was part of something -- the creation of memory? the perpetuation of cultural meaning? smiles, laughter, and life?
mmm. 26. Who is not searching for purpose and meaning? Matthew. Family. Beautiful space. Thank you for this life.
Kristin (the woman serving as the "guide" for the ceremony) said the most amazing word in Hebrew. This word means "that would have been enough". Kristin said that if Jena and Greg had only been paired in marriage, that would have been enough. Yet they chose to have their first child Aviva, and that would have been enough. Yet now they have brought a second child into the world, which is also enough. I breathe deep wondering what it would feel like to be so held by the concept of enough and knowing that your actions to create family and a community (without fame, global recognition, or profound fortune) are enough.
After the ceremony I called an ex-boyfriend because I'd been reminded of a poem that I rediscovered after 9 years through our relationship (see the next post). He's engaged.
Later in the day I made eggs with Rob and Jill then hid plastic eggs around the yard. I watched them run and wrestle as they gathered all 12. In the teekee torch, under the artist's conch, inside a narled stump, beside the flower in the grass, inside the desk, on the windowsill, hidden in the mailbox, tucked beneath an oil can, set in the crook of the fence, resting on the "y" of a tree branch, and two other locations I can't recall. Rob with 7, Jill with 5 (he passed one over to even the spoils). I felt young and if I was part of something -- the creation of memory? the perpetuation of cultural meaning? smiles, laughter, and life?
mmm. 26. Who is not searching for purpose and meaning? Matthew. Family. Beautiful space. Thank you for this life.
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