A poem for a new friend: Light Dances…

LIGHT DANCES

 

Light dances unseen through the bleak reaches of space, ignoring the darkness, born of the wrath of the spindrift stars. Light strikes the ethereal shield around the earth-mother, tinting the edges of the sky with subtle watercolors. Light throbs with life as it finds things to cast itself upon, coalescing into beams and rays racing each other through the air.  Light peeks above the silhouettes of peak and ridgeline, searching for the low places.

Light dances across meadows, sparkling the dew, waking the night sleepers and sending the day sleepers scampering to their dreams. Light highlights even as it throws shadows, filling furrows or leaping across them, depending upon their orientation.

Light dances on the surface of a bubbling, babbling stream, skipping, gleaming, flittering, giving birth to tiny suns in the beaded spray. Light lands on leaf and branch and stream bank, leaving shade-shapes to play in the air and the water. Light becomes a living thing. Light delights.

Light dances over waving seas of grass in the meadows, and flits among wind-blown shadows. Light runs its fingers down craggy cliff faces, setting crack and protrusion into relief. Light reaches its zenith, and shadows draw in upon themselves, biding their time until they can stretch forth once more. Light flicks the dust most floating on the breeze. Light dapples the forest floor into a moving confusion of misshapen shapes.

Light dances even as it relents, softens, fades, but this is the illusion of light, its magic, for it does none of these things. As it picks up its brushes to color the heavens once again in a never-ending array of masterpieces, it is not giving up one iota of its power… it moves to dance in a new place, leaving this place to prepare for the next day’s dance.

Light dances slowly away. Light lingers, caressing the edge of forever, giving one last playful wink before the dance moves on.

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Okay, so I sometimes write poetry. Not all the time, but now and then. I know that not everyone likes poetry. You might find it boring or even pretentious. I sometimes do, But not always. This ‘silver’ poem is for a new friend I made here on the blog recently. I just opened a new blank page in Word and let the crack squirrels in my head control my fingers.

If anyone is interested, I was thinking about my recent adventure in Yosemite when I was typing this. You can find more of my poems by using the word-cloud thing in my sidebar, I think. I don’t know. I am a computer moron. Somebody helped me set that up.

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The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 7… let’s talk about presents!

a 1

The first two pictures are of a gift I made for my wife. It is a custom-printed pillow case. On the one side, I took a photo of our daughters, taken at the wedding of my older daughter Jessica, on the left. Mollie is on the right. I added a floral border thing. Now, my wife can sleep surround by the love of our beautiful girls, or just see them when she walks into the bedroom. On the back, well, that is where my artistic genius comes in, because…

a 2

… it is a big old picture of me. Now, if she needs to fluff up here pillow, she turns it over, and pounds the living crap out of me.

a 3

For Mollie, I had a custom tote bag made. On one side is a picture of Mollie and my mom on the London Eye. I added the flag background. My mom, who is now 96, takes all her grandchildren to Europe when they turn 16. My wife and I were lucky to be able to accompany them on this trip. I posted all about it a couple years ago.

a 4

On the reverse side of the tote bag is Mollie in Paris, inside St. Chapelle. I added a French flag. I also used the Photoshop smudge tool to turn the other gawking tourists into swirly works of art. I love that picture. That is a look of pure wonder.

a 5

For my mom, I made a tote bag that was the same as Mollie’s on one side.

a 6

The back is… uh… okay, that is a picture of my mom showing Mollie and my wife the sights of London. She is passing on her love of travel and history to two new generations. The thing is… (hey, thing, where you been?)… my wife does not want to be in the blog, ever, so I had to cover her up. And speaking of covering stuff up, you may notice some flowers and birds in the image. The original photo had a man’s jean-covered butt on the right side, so I covered it with flowers in Photoshop. I covered some person’s arm on the other side in the same way. The birds are covering smudges on the window.

a 7

Okay, this is hard to explain. So, I took a couple of photos and printed them out. On the left is a silhouette of my older daughter, son-in-law, and wife, on the roof of the building in New York where the kids live, looking across the East River at the lights of Manhattan, from our New York trip that I just finished posting about yesterday. The other is a photo was taken on Maui, as my wife and I renewed our vows on our second honeymoon. I posted all about that trip as well. Go down there in the basement and do some digging! I smudged my wife out for the post, not in the actual picture.

a 8

It is hard to tell with the lights of my mom’s living room reflecting off the glass, but I built little boxes, and inside, I put Christmas light ornaments. Let me see if I can get a better shot.

a 9

Still hard to tell, but for that one, I covered the back of the photo with aluminum foil, then poked a needle through all the individual lights. When you turn it on, the lights really light up.

a 10

For that picture, I used colored lights, and it makes the sky glow in all kinds of colors. I know, I am a romantic fool, but what can I say, I love my little blue blob!

a 11

And what did I get? Some awesome stuff.

a 12

Is that…???

a 13

Why yes, yes it is. I can now take pictures from above myself!

a 14

Also, I am totally going to start a podcast. As soon as I figure out how… and get over this nasty cold.

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So, about my post that has 45,047 comments…

Visit it. It is right over there, at the top of the sidebar on the right.

I do not suggest that you visit the comment post for my own benefit. Everyone should go there. You can vent, you can rant and rave, make friends, make points, make mischief, make waves, make someone’s day, make declarations and proclamations, make a fuss, make a scene, make a fool of yourself… or someone else, make suggestions, make mountains out of molehills, make this a better world, make up your mind, make a commitment, make a decision, and even make a place for yourself in history. Hell, you can even make a grilled cheese sandwich. As far as I know, nobody has shared recipes in here, so make my day and make a meal!

*** COMMENT HERE ***

 

 

There, I tried to make a link to get you there. Did it work? I am a computer moron, after all.

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It turns out that cartoon me is kind of a jerk… part 5…

a 50

I mean, I feel bad, but they are tastier than turkey… just sayin’…

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It turns out that cartoon me is kind of a jerk… part 4…

a 1

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The New York City adventure, the final chapter, the final day, the final post… finally…

a 1

Yeah, I got a hat. That is what tourists do. I don’t do organized sports, but I like a hat that tells me and everyone else where I have been.a 2

I took a few phone photos in front of the hotel where my wife and I stayed. I met so many cool people and petted so many cool dogs on that bit of sidewalk.

a 3

There was a Bernese Mountain Dog living in the high rise next door that I fell in love with.

a 4

I ate so much good food in New York.

a 5

Fancy cookies in Central Park… mmmmmm…

a 6

On our last day of our 3-and-a-half-day adventure, all we really did was meet my son-in-law and our daughter at this underground food court before leaving for the airport.

a 7

It was so New Yorky!

a 8

They had a mini- Katz’s deli!

a 9

And just about every other kind of New York food you could want. Also, it was right between the hotel and the place the kids live.

a 10

Oh yeah.

a 11

I knew my wife wasn’t going to eat a whole pastrami sandwich from Katz’s…

a 12

So I got me some pierogi too.

a 13

And I wore my new hat.

a 14

Did I mention we ate cookies in Central Park? Also, I totally just petted that dog.

a 15

An adult beverage at that cool old tavern we ate at, the one where George Washington used to hang out, after the Revolutionary War was over.

a 16

I rode on subways!

a 18

I got drunk in interesting places.

a 17

I walked under the Brooklyn Bridge.

a 19

It was a good trip. We saw a lot of stuff in a short time.

a 20

I imitated sexy sculptures.

a 21

I was boozed-up in Times Square. And we went up in the Empire State Building. And saw the 9-11 memorial pools.

a 22

I love reliving my adventures with you.

a 23

Because after I do the posts, these are just memories and photos stored in the cloud.

a 24

But right now, as I post these, I am that 59-year-old man/12-year-old boy, pretending to be a giant in a tiny castle.

a 25

Fee fi fo fum!

a 26

Peace out!!!

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The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 6…

a 1

I am excited to finish up my two dueling post series projects of my time in New York and my more recent time in the Bay Area, so this can go back to not being a travel blog.

a 2

Aside from the defunct Alcatraz, the Bay Area also hosts San Quentin prison, still very much a going concern.

a 3

This post should finish up our day-trippin’ in ‘Frisco’, (which you should never call it, unless you were born there)…

a 4

And I was.

a 5

Mollie, my younger daughter and pre-med wonder-child. Yes, she did have magically pink and purple hair, but in order to do volunteer shifts at a hospital for college credit, she had to have ‘normal’ hair color, which is funny, because she is a blond, but that would never have covered the bright colors.

a 6

Mollie and her best high school friend.

a 7

I wish I could explain how sweet and kind and smart Mollie is, but I can’t.

a 8

Fort Point…

a 9

They left the old Civil War fort under the bridge when they built the bridge.

a 10

After this post, I have a few more photos of Christmas on my phone to share.

a 11

And then we can get back to the weird stuff.

a 12

Oh yeah!

a 13

So hang in there, kids.

a 14

Walk towards the light.

a 15

And then you will emerge back into the darkness that is my crack squirrel-infested wasteland of a blog!

a 16

Where nothing makes sense unless you make the sense yourself…

a 17

And you never know what will pop up next…

a 18

I thought she was being a fluffy-necked condor or buzzard… but she said: “look, dad, I’m a uterus'”

a 19

Yup, that’s my kid!

a 20

I finish with these few photos… say that 5 times fast… of an imaginatively-carved hand rail on a staircase at a restaurant we went to.

a 21

It was delightfully off-kilter.

a 22

Uh… okay…

a 23

The oh-so-rare elephant fish plant!

a 24

Watch your air hose there, buddy.

 

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The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 5…

a 1

I believe I promised you some more Victorian houses. Those are the famous ‘Painted Ladies’ of San Francisco, made popular by the TV show Full House.

a 2

But the city by the bay is full of these marvelous constructions.

a 3

Just driving around the city is a treat for the eyes.

a 4

You never know what you will see.

a 5

a 6

a 7

a 8

a 9

We also took the girls down Lombard Street…

a 10

Mollie and my wife and I have done this many times, but Mollie’s friends have never been to the Bay Area.

a 11

And there is a rumor going around that they are closing off the twistiest street in the world to public traffic. Maybe you need to get tickets or something.

a 12

Anyway, Mollie always has a great time at Grandma’s house.

 

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New York City… day 3… part 17… a drunk blogger with a head full of crack squirrels and a camera, what could possibly go wrong?… part 4…

a 1

Well, you made it to the end of the third day of my three-and-a-half-day adventure in New York.

a 2

I am drunk, armed with a camera, and wandering around Times Square.

a 3

The lady and Elmo have the same look on their faces, the same look everyone had in Times Square. The look of being overly stimulated by too much light and too many advertisements.

a 4

There is a large police presence in the area.

a 5

Obviously, if terrorists want to strike at the heart of America, crass commercialism makes a good target.

a 6

I loved the cage as a photo-op.

a 7

Of course I asked my daughter and son-in-law to step inside.

a 8

Oh yeah, that feeling when they release you from lockup.

a 9

I may have gotten sucked into becoming part of a street performance.

a 10

But only because I was drunk.

a 11

I tried to be a good sport about it, but I am shy.

a 12

I didn’t really enjoy it, but my family got a kick out of it.

a 13

So yeah, Times Square. Now, I just have a few random photos on my phone to download.

a 14

And we can wrap this New York thing up!

a 15

 

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The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 4…

a 1

Where in the world can you see that…

a 2

Or that? I would like to say that this is a costume shop, but it isn’t. This is how people dress in the place I am talking about.

a 3

I don’t even know what that is, but I like it.

a 4

Strange inside and out.

a 5

Okay, that is a pretty good hint about the general location of the place I am talking about…

a 6

He was there… you know he was there, back in the day.

a 7

Yup.a 8

It’s only teenage wasteland…

a 9

That place is full of bones and death.

a 10

That is the fire escape that you use to escape from a burning reality.

a 11

If you like Victorian buildings, wait for a later post. It will blow your mind.

a 12

When we were touristing around earlier in the day, I spotted this VW van that does hippy tours. I knew it would turn up later.

a 13

And it did, in the place I am talking about, which is where I expected it to.

a 14

It smelled like pot… weed… dope… and love.

a 15

The Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. The center of not one but many universes. Google the history of this place.

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