Put This Under 'Cool Anxiety'

Eric Striffler for The New York Times

My friend David tried to explain this house to me. His description made absolutely NO sense. He sent me this link. Read the article and be sure to watch the "audio slide show" listed on the page.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/garden/03destiny.html?_r=1&ref=garden&oref=slogin

S P R I N G !

I knew there was something up when I walked outside my duplex today at 5:45am and heard the noisy chatter of birds off in the darkness.

The afternoon was glorious and filled with bright rays of sunshine.

Suddenly, in late afternoon, dark clouds rolled in and momentarily muted the sunshine.

Eventually the rays of sunlight broke through and with the still dark clouds in the foreground a burst of rain droplets began to fall.

'The first spring rain!'....cleaning away all that the forever dark and cold winter left behind.

With that I took a deep breath and my smile came back.


Here's a great springtime poem to keep the mood flowing:

A Prayer in Spring

Robert Frost (1915)


Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

His Words Resonate More Today Than Ever Before

Martin Luther King, Jr
January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968

"If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive. "

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. "

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

"That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing."

"We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. "

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

The Jokes On Us

Mother nature has played the best April fool's joke
of all. We were all under the impression that spring
was finally here, heck we got close to 50 degrees a
couple days last week. Silly us, mother nature dumped
7.5" of snow on us yesterday and I swear
I heard off in the darkness of night a gentle voice
saying "Happy April fools"!