Queen Autumn

Autumn robes the trees
In fiery reds and golds
Signaling her reign

Today is the first day of my favorite season - Autumn. My favorite because the weather (at least where I live) is, in my opinion, the best at this time of year- nice warm days, cool nights, low humidity. It's also the time of year we usually go on vacation and so the memories of those past trips always come rushing back when the days start to get shorter. And since my daughter was born in the fall last year, there is a new reason for me to enjoy it.

Not to mention that the changing of the leaves is one of nature's most beautiful annual events. I could drive around leaf watching for days. Of course instead of driving, hiking is really the preferable mode of transport.

Enjoy the fall days and the changing of the leaves. These days are fleeting.

Never Forget

Please take a few moments out of your day today to remember the victims and heroes of 9/11/2001. May they be forever in our hearts.

Learn more about this 9/11 Remembrance flag here.

This is another 9/11 Remembrance flag. You can read about it's symbolism here.

I wanted to share two poems with you. The first one is below. The second was rather long, but if you are interested in reading it, you can find it here. It's titled "Out of the Blue" by Simon Armitage.

The Names
September 6, 2002
by poet laureate of the United States Billy Collins

Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name --
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner --
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds --
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

I Picked These Flowers For You

Flowers Through the Years

A child’s handful of wildflowers given with all the love in the world
A corsage of tiny roses worn on prom night
Graduation day proudly brings a dozen long stems of red roses
Bright bunches bought to brighten a first apartment’s humble furnishings
The Wedding day bouquet full of passion and grandeur
Baby’s arrival brings a sweet nosegay
A wreath laid on the grave and we become one with the flowers

An original poem by Cindy

I picked this tiny bouquet of flowers this morning and wanted to share its simple beauty with you along with some verse.

Happy Birthday America!

Song of the American Eagle
by Author Unknown

I build my nest on the mountain's crest,
Where the wild winds rock my eaglets to rest,
Where the lightnings flash, and the thunders crash,
And the roaring torrents foam and dash;
For my spirit free henceforth shall be
A type of the sons of Liberty.

Aloft I fly from my aërie high,
Through the vaulted dome of the azure sky;
On a sunbeam bright take my airy flight,
And float in a flood of liquid light;
For I love to play in the noontide ray,
And bask in a blaze from the throne of day.

Away I spring with a tireless wing,
On a feathery cloud I poise and swing;
I dart down the steep where the lightnings leap,
And the clear blue canopy swiftly sweep;
For, dear to me is the revelry
Of a free and fearless Liberty.

I love the land where the mountains stand,
Like the watch-towers high of a Patriot band;
For I may not bide in my glory and pride,
Though the land be never so fair and wide,
Where Luxury reigns o'er voluptuous plains,
And fetters the free-born soul in chains.

Then give to me in my flights to see
The land of the pilgrims ever free!
And I never will rove from the haunts I love
But watch, from my sentinel-track above,
Your banner free, o'er land and sea,
And exult in your glorious Liberty.

O, guard ye well the land where I dwell,
Lest to future times the tale I tell,
When slow expires in smoldering fires
The goodly heritage of your sires,
How Freedom's light rose clear and bright
O'er fair Columbia's beacon-hight,
Till ye quenched the flame in a starless night.

Then will I tear from your pennon fair
The stars ye have set in triumph there;
My olive-branch on the blast I'll launch,
The fluttering stripes from the flagstaff wrench,
And away I'll flee; for I scorn to see
A craven race in the land of the free!


While today is a day of picnics, fireworks, and celebrations, it is also a day to remember those who fought to make this country free for the past 232 years and those who still protect that freedom today. Please keep all who serve this great country in your thoughts and prayers.

Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!

God Bless America!

Seashells

The Seashell

Formed
Hard layers to protect the creature within
A home at the bottom of the sea
Abandoned
Pounded by the surf
Washed to shore by the tide
Discovered
A treasure grasped by a child
The jewel on a necklace of string

Thunderstorms

A Thunderstorm
by Emily Dickinson

The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low, -

He flung a menace at the earth,

A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees

And started all abroad;

The dust did scoop itself like hands

And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,

The thunder hurried slow;

The lightning showed a yellow beak,

And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,

The cattle fled to barns;

There came one drop of giant rain,

And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,

The waters wrecked the sky,

But overlooked my father's house,

Just quartering a tree.

The other day we had an afternoon thunderstorm. Thunderstorm is an understatement. It was severe storming, with hail, lots of thunder and lightning, and flooding. While this was going on, I was safe in my home and I started thinking about thunderstorms and how although they can be very awe inspiring, they can also be very destructive.

I know many people who love thunderstorms. They love to watch them blow up in the summertime or come in from sea. And while the best places to experience this is somewhere flat, like the mid-west or the coast, not necessarily Western Pennsylvania, I still know many people who just love storms. And I have to admit I am one of them, at least I used to be, now as I think about it, I'm not too sure if I still am.

If you have nothing to lose in a storm or the chances of the storm causing you some lingering pain and suffering are very slim, then it is easy to just enjoy these demonstrations of Mother Nature's awesome power. But if that 20 minute storm has the potential to change your life, and not for the better, you have a different attitude towards it. Just ask any one of the thousands of Iowans affected by the recent floods; or someone whose house caught on fire after being hit with lightning; or someone who had a tree fall on their car.

As this storm started pounding the house with rain, I worried: is the roof going to leak, will we lose power and the basement fill up with water because the sump pump can't run, or will a tree fall over and cause untold damage. This picture shows one of our Willow trees after a brief summer storm three years ago. And this wasn't the only damage.

I guess I wish I could still enjoy thunderstorms like I used to, but life's funny ways have stolen that from me. Even if I am traveling away from home I doubt I can enjoy them as I used to. No matter where you are, it's someones home.