Thursday 29th jan2009
It’d going to be cold night but there is a beautiful crescent moon hanging in the clear sky like an expectant touchstone to wish upon. The world should hush a moment, still a breath and be amazed because the natural world in the northern hemisphere is changing for the better because spring is coming.
Really don’t know where the week has gone so fast. Work is pessimistically busy (or at least half of it is.) Finally changed my internet supplier and am working out how to set up the new email account. I should have it boxed by this time next year...technology is one ology too far for me. Well of course they tell you it is simple because if you thought about it you’d get out the pen and paper and buy a stamp. Ah the human condition...and we fall for it every time. What’s the line “you can fool all the people all of the time”...think they had me in mind.
Another weekend begins tomorrow so if you get a moment have a look at the moon and make a wish so that when I win the lottery tomorrow I know you’ve been thinking about me.
Hush sweet one a while
Take a moment to smile
The moon is so bright
In a cold clear night
Dress up warm and go outside
Wish on the moon with pride
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What glorious light breaks through yonder window...oh scrub that...been done already!
Soft enters the dawn into a sleeping face to rouse it from glorious dreams into the world. A face is lit seeming full of wisdom with its contours etched into smooth lines gently dappled by the radiant day. Sunshine laps the skin and warms the eyes and any face would be so beautiful should I perchance gaze on it now, but then every face is truly beautiful with the right eyes to behold it and the sun to dance across a room that beholds vistas of ice blue streams on a faraway hill clad in green against a blue sky.
Soft enters the dawn into a sleeping face to rouse it from glorious dreams into the world. A face is lit seeming full of wisdom with its contours etched into smooth lines gently dappled by the radiant day. Sunshine laps the skin and warms the eyes and any face would be so beautiful should I perchance gaze on it now, but then every face is truly beautiful with the right eyes to behold it and the sun to dance across a room that beholds vistas of ice blue streams on a faraway hill clad in green against a blue sky.
If tonight should arrive hanging high on a tracery of stars shining a million whispers I should not be disturbed for it calls through the ages into a soul birthed into the present. An ancient song within me, that hums melodiously through many lifetimes. I hear it tonight and I lift up my eyes to the cosmos above with a smile on my heart for one day I’ll return home there again.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Just listening to the movie “Stardust” soundtrack…it’s a mixture of Gladiator, Babylon 5 and Lord of the Rings. Very nice and can recommend both the film and the score.
Listen softly can you hear expectant whispers
From deep in the earth channelling spring
The old man exits Avalon into the world
To stroke sunshine into the growing days
Schools up-north (but probably all artisan teaching establishments) teach their charges to be “no better than they are” and express shock and surprise that it comes to pass. Education whatever they may tell you, is the focused pursuit of money and its potential to exert dominion. It was so 40 years ago when I learnt at school that anything was possible until I grew up and ultimately fell because no one would ever ask me how high I wanted to jump. Looking back it would have been such an easy question to ask a child but now as then looking at those that exit the high school gates silence still reigns.
The middle classes educate
All their fellow subordinates
But never enough for change
To make of them a threat
To give up their wealth
They’re not quite ready yet
Listen softly can you hear expectant whispers
From deep in the earth channelling spring
The old man exits Avalon into the world
To stroke sunshine into the growing days
Schools up-north (but probably all artisan teaching establishments) teach their charges to be “no better than they are” and express shock and surprise that it comes to pass. Education whatever they may tell you, is the focused pursuit of money and its potential to exert dominion. It was so 40 years ago when I learnt at school that anything was possible until I grew up and ultimately fell because no one would ever ask me how high I wanted to jump. Looking back it would have been such an easy question to ask a child but now as then looking at those that exit the high school gates silence still reigns.
The middle classes educate
All their fellow subordinates
But never enough for change
To make of them a threat
To give up their wealth
They’re not quite ready yet
Monday, January 26, 2009
The sun sinks lowly gold through a clear January sky
Radiating warmth through the chill evening air
From this shrinking orb of fire dwindling from our sight
Radiating warmth through the chill evening air
From this shrinking orb of fire dwindling from our sight
Yet my heart flies free on wings of purest joy for the rays….
Touches my heart and makes me burn with thoughts of you…
For you alone it sears and cries …always for you and forever
For my world is perpetual sunset now, brought to life each day
Awash with tender love I praise the world for giving me you
And I shall never again fear the coming of dawn
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Famous quotes we'll be better off without - Guess who?
'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.'
'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.'
'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.'
'The future will be better tomorrow. 'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.'
'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'
'We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe . We are a part of Europe '
'Public speaking is very easy. '
A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.'
'I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them.'
'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
'For NASA, space is still a high priority.'
'Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.'
'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.'
'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.'
'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.'
'The future will be better tomorrow. 'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.'
'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'
'We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe . We are a part of Europe '
'Public speaking is very easy. '
A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.'
'I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them.'
'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
'For NASA, space is still a high priority.'
'Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.'
'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
Barack Hussein Obama had bestowed upon him the title of U.S. president as he placed his hand on the gilt-edged bible of Abraham Lincoln and took the oath of office.
For borne aloft by the moon is the sorrow of the universe. Today let us bathe in its silvered compassion and remember those lost to the world but never to our hearts. For all disparate, or lost brothers and sisters have now become one…and now here thousands of miles away we stand fast beside you in your hour of glory. America you are forever in our hearts. We do not understand how it came to pass that we countries that birthed you now look toward you to seek wisdom. Mighty have you grown and yet mightier still shall you rise and we all look now upon the world with different eyes. For much beauty and goodness lies within those shores that helped us all be at peace with the world. The night will pass but the moment will live through millennia and through its length we may rejoice in a cold January day when equality and vision came to stay.
Martin Luther King inspired the dream and the dream became real.
For borne aloft by the moon is the sorrow of the universe. Today let us bathe in its silvered compassion and remember those lost to the world but never to our hearts. For all disparate, or lost brothers and sisters have now become one…and now here thousands of miles away we stand fast beside you in your hour of glory. America you are forever in our hearts. We do not understand how it came to pass that we countries that birthed you now look toward you to seek wisdom. Mighty have you grown and yet mightier still shall you rise and we all look now upon the world with different eyes. For much beauty and goodness lies within those shores that helped us all be at peace with the world. The night will pass but the moment will live through millennia and through its length we may rejoice in a cold January day when equality and vision came to stay.
Martin Luther King inspired the dream and the dream became real.
Monday, January 19, 2009
We are all shadows of our former self. Shadows disseminating into reverberations of lost days filled with wonder and blissful chaos. Those days will never return for now having grown we understand too much. We understand time now and all its machinations and nuances are laid bare. Its sly gift of health in youth that wandered in rapture over golden summers now gutters and slowly extinguishes within the march of age. Yet there is no despair, no anger for though a lifetime slips away nothing can stop our existential path toward perfection. We have gathered vigorously and now spend and though the reaper must come one long day off when our lives are wrapped in a burnished autumn glow of joy. We are at last content.
From my friend in the US...
"Thank GOD, it is almost over. Well the day is finally here when the worst president in U S history leaves. What a collective sigh of relief can be heard across the land. Now the hard work of repair and healing begins, it will take many years."
We're there to help you and take strength in your commitment to change. Good luck and we are waiting and watching and hoping.
"Thank GOD, it is almost over. Well the day is finally here when the worst president in U S history leaves. What a collective sigh of relief can be heard across the land. Now the hard work of repair and healing begins, it will take many years."
We're there to help you and take strength in your commitment to change. Good luck and we are waiting and watching and hoping.
I am going to try and send some pictures to you that I took this morning on my walk with my friend Bruce. He got a new camera and we were experimenting with it. He put the photos on his computer then e-mailed them to me. Also one from Larry that should become our screen saver.
Thanks the pictures are magnificent....
Thanks the pictures are magnificent....
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday 18th Jan 2009
Just in the process of switching the phone line over to another supplier. Not sure how that will go but I think I will lose my email name so bye, bye short and simple email and hello new one. I’ll let you know as soon as I do. If you don’t see anything new on this blog for more than a week assume that something has gone wrong with the switchover.
Was watching a sci-fi film last night (surprise!) but was struck by (the old adage.) You may have to think about that for a second but it is so true.
Some actors
Play parts
While some parts
Are
Player by actors
Sorry for the short prose lines but my very dear friend Scott gave me a poetry book for Christmas and it features short prose lines. Nice to try something different but I shouldn’t think it will last very long. I like long lines.
Weather has been windy and damp but that may all change today as we have some snow forecast...be nice to have some new pictures for here. We’ll see how the day goes.
Just in the process of switching the phone line over to another supplier. Not sure how that will go but I think I will lose my email name so bye, bye short and simple email and hello new one. I’ll let you know as soon as I do. If you don’t see anything new on this blog for more than a week assume that something has gone wrong with the switchover.
Was watching a sci-fi film last night (surprise!) but was struck by (the old adage.) You may have to think about that for a second but it is so true.
Some actors
Play parts
While some parts
Are
Player by actors
Sorry for the short prose lines but my very dear friend Scott gave me a poetry book for Christmas and it features short prose lines. Nice to try something different but I shouldn’t think it will last very long. I like long lines.
Weather has been windy and damp but that may all change today as we have some snow forecast...be nice to have some new pictures for here. We’ll see how the day goes.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I was driving home from work listening to the radio news and it is all so depressing. It can make us feel so small and unable to alter the course of all the misery. Yet I began to wonder that maybe my essential essence once released of the world could perhaps tip the balance in some cosmic upheaval? It could be the final weight of dreams into a critical mass building over long aeons to finally catalyse a cataclysmic change. Probably not likely but why not aspire to a vision of hope. See I begin to feel a little better now. Which is good considering the rain and the dark evening but change is coming again. We can feel it in the air and see the rising light that lingers ever so longer each day. The birds are becoming almost carefree as they begin to sing under the raindrops.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
For days hold the wonder of our adventures. The night a fairytale of exploration underneath the web of stars that traces a path to map our existence together. The map is true and it leads always to truth for the greatest treasure is within us holding our loving souls forever. It can never be any other way and I am whole.
Soft down the hills sweeps air moved by the worlds sighs. Yet within this flowing crescendo of hope I hear my very own sigh and it exhales among the clamour and whispers of my love for all of you. How it whispers so…when all I want is a shout from the highest place so loud that the world would pause and hopes of my life. My most precious and special joy and how you can make me fly higher than the eagles that ride the thermals and yet sink me lower than the faults under the oceans should you ever choose. Within your arms is a peace and comfort greater than birth. My world was born again by your touch and it shall live, only within the shadow of you. For so long as I may be able to see the seasons rise and fade the last flower before my eyes shall never seem as beautiful as you do.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
See told you records are cool
Sales of the vinyl single are now back up above the million mark in the UK. The 45 rpm single is about to reach its 60th anniversary and despite repeated predictions of its demise, sales are rising once again.
Most people think of records as being made of black plastic, but it turns out that coloured vinyl is as old as the seven-inch single itself. The first 45 rpm disc, Texarkana Baby by country-and-western singer Eddy Arnold, was issued by RCA in the US on 31 March 1949. It was made of green vinyl, as part of an early attempt to colour-code singles according to the genre of music they featured. Others included red for classical music and yellow for children's songs. But such novelty features were left behind when the advent of rock and pop turned the 45 into the music industry's most prized product.
Seven-inch sales peaked in the UK in 1979, when a staggering 89 million of them were sold, but once the CD hit the market, vinyl of all kinds went into sharp decline. In 2001, annual singles sales dipped below 180,000. The Portalspace factory has experienced both the highs and the lows of the single's history. It used to be EMI's main manufacturing site, churning out million-sellers by the Beatles and Queen, among others. At its zenith, it employed 14,000 people, but EMI sold off the factory in 2000 when it decided to get out of the vinyl business. Now Portalspace has just 30 employees on much smaller premises.
Roy Matthews, who used to run the factory for EMI and is now Portalspace's general manager, says production of the seven-inch format dwindled to "almost nothing" at one point, but is now healthy again. "Although we almost pronounced its death eight or nine years ago, it's now revived itself enormously," he says.
That rebound is reflected in UK sales figures for seven-inch discs, which have now risen to more than one million a year, most of them pressed at Portalspace.
But who is actually buying all these singles? According to the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the British music business, a new generation of bands is attracting younger buyers. Vinyl singles are still being made in a variety of colours
The BPI says the "popularity of bands such as Oasis, White Stripes [and] Arctic Monkeys" is reviving sales of the seven-inch, while record companies are also credited with using "innovative" strategies to highlight the format. In 2007, the White Stripes and their label, XL Recordings, gave away a red vinyl single mounted on the cover of the NME weekly music magazine. It came in a gatefold sleeve with space to hold the band's commercial release, Icky Thump - a promotion that resulted in the highest sales for a vinyl seven-inch in more than two decades.
Jack Penate is particularly fond of the seven-inch single. "What I love about seven-inch singles is the sound quality and the warmth, and also that they're physical, and I will keep them forever and I cherish them. They're not throwaway," he says.
"I always feel that if you download music, you rarely listen to it over and over again, whereas most of my singles have been played hundreds of times."
The BPI admits that seven-inch singles may be even more popular than its figures suggest, since they are based on shops that report to the Official UK Charts Company, which compiles the weekly Top 40.
Read full article here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7750581.stm
Sales of the vinyl single are now back up above the million mark in the UK. The 45 rpm single is about to reach its 60th anniversary and despite repeated predictions of its demise, sales are rising once again.
Most people think of records as being made of black plastic, but it turns out that coloured vinyl is as old as the seven-inch single itself. The first 45 rpm disc, Texarkana Baby by country-and-western singer Eddy Arnold, was issued by RCA in the US on 31 March 1949. It was made of green vinyl, as part of an early attempt to colour-code singles according to the genre of music they featured. Others included red for classical music and yellow for children's songs. But such novelty features were left behind when the advent of rock and pop turned the 45 into the music industry's most prized product.
Seven-inch sales peaked in the UK in 1979, when a staggering 89 million of them were sold, but once the CD hit the market, vinyl of all kinds went into sharp decline. In 2001, annual singles sales dipped below 180,000. The Portalspace factory has experienced both the highs and the lows of the single's history. It used to be EMI's main manufacturing site, churning out million-sellers by the Beatles and Queen, among others. At its zenith, it employed 14,000 people, but EMI sold off the factory in 2000 when it decided to get out of the vinyl business. Now Portalspace has just 30 employees on much smaller premises.
Roy Matthews, who used to run the factory for EMI and is now Portalspace's general manager, says production of the seven-inch format dwindled to "almost nothing" at one point, but is now healthy again. "Although we almost pronounced its death eight or nine years ago, it's now revived itself enormously," he says.
That rebound is reflected in UK sales figures for seven-inch discs, which have now risen to more than one million a year, most of them pressed at Portalspace.
But who is actually buying all these singles? According to the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the British music business, a new generation of bands is attracting younger buyers. Vinyl singles are still being made in a variety of colours
The BPI says the "popularity of bands such as Oasis, White Stripes [and] Arctic Monkeys" is reviving sales of the seven-inch, while record companies are also credited with using "innovative" strategies to highlight the format. In 2007, the White Stripes and their label, XL Recordings, gave away a red vinyl single mounted on the cover of the NME weekly music magazine. It came in a gatefold sleeve with space to hold the band's commercial release, Icky Thump - a promotion that resulted in the highest sales for a vinyl seven-inch in more than two decades.
Jack Penate is particularly fond of the seven-inch single. "What I love about seven-inch singles is the sound quality and the warmth, and also that they're physical, and I will keep them forever and I cherish them. They're not throwaway," he says.
"I always feel that if you download music, you rarely listen to it over and over again, whereas most of my singles have been played hundreds of times."
The BPI admits that seven-inch singles may be even more popular than its figures suggest, since they are based on shops that report to the Official UK Charts Company, which compiles the weekly Top 40.
Read full article here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7750581.stm
Friday 09th Jan 09
Whoa! Where did the week go…? Here we are and it’s Friday again and both I and Nick have been non-smoking just over a week now. Already my feet and hands are warmer my teeth and eyes are whiter and I get up stairs with ease. Don’t get the wrong idea I was ok before quitting but I can tell a difference now. It’s just the increased blood and oxygen (and bank balance.)
Enjoy the verse i made
Cool to smoke
Cool to choke
Brother monoxide
And brother dioxide
Say sophistication
Is smoke inhalation
Carbons tell us lies
Someone always dies
Weather has become much milder with damp and foggy mornings but I think the forecast is to turn cooler again at the weekend. I started work at 7am this morning so hopefully can shoot off a little earlier this afternoon. Yes right not that early…probably around 4pm or so. Hope so. Going to Nick’s tonight so writing this in my break and posting it at lunch…
Have a good weekend
Wednesday 07th Jan 09
Set off to work this morning at 7am with an overnight light fall of snow being slowly dissolved by gentle rain. It has finally got a little milder once again. It is also getting perceptibly brighter in the evenings now even though we are only a couple of weeks past the equinox. In one month we shall have daylight in the evening when I make my way home. I can’t wait.
Slow passes frost
As January advances
Gentle rain, warmer winds
Took the winter thing
And in its place
Gave taste of spring
I have found the blog of the moment on the BBC website. It is by the business correspondent Robert Peston…a rather controversial fellow but who nevertheless seems to give accurate information. Follow the link below. I refuse to be doomy and gloomy today though so shan’t think of economics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/
Whoa! Where did the week go…? Here we are and it’s Friday again and both I and Nick have been non-smoking just over a week now. Already my feet and hands are warmer my teeth and eyes are whiter and I get up stairs with ease. Don’t get the wrong idea I was ok before quitting but I can tell a difference now. It’s just the increased blood and oxygen (and bank balance.)
Enjoy the verse i made
Cool to smoke
Cool to choke
Brother monoxide
And brother dioxide
Say sophistication
Is smoke inhalation
Carbons tell us lies
Someone always dies
Weather has become much milder with damp and foggy mornings but I think the forecast is to turn cooler again at the weekend. I started work at 7am this morning so hopefully can shoot off a little earlier this afternoon. Yes right not that early…probably around 4pm or so. Hope so. Going to Nick’s tonight so writing this in my break and posting it at lunch…
Have a good weekend
Wednesday 07th Jan 09
Set off to work this morning at 7am with an overnight light fall of snow being slowly dissolved by gentle rain. It has finally got a little milder once again. It is also getting perceptibly brighter in the evenings now even though we are only a couple of weeks past the equinox. In one month we shall have daylight in the evening when I make my way home. I can’t wait.
Slow passes frost
As January advances
Gentle rain, warmer winds
Took the winter thing
And in its place
Gave taste of spring
I have found the blog of the moment on the BBC website. It is by the business correspondent Robert Peston…a rather controversial fellow but who nevertheless seems to give accurate information. Follow the link below. I refuse to be doomy and gloomy today though so shan’t think of economics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/
Thursday, January 08, 2009
My life waxes anew on the winter moons and silvered light shines forever upon me. Walk the silvered paths into the dusk and see wonders that shall blossom by day or night through sun and rain for the rest of our lives. I do not believe it shall be so any longer for my heart knows with certainty it shall. We are bound within the world .My passion and love rises like a spring tide to engulf my world and you are the solid ground beneath my feet for always. For I asked who would come through the night to be by my side beneath the light of the moon and you answered my call and I shall be by your side always
Time a collection of seconds and minutes that gather into days and years. I have no sense of time all is fluid and ever changing like the seasons that rise and fall upon the world. So you to rise and fall into my life and make the very earth beneath my feet sigh. I have such a passion within me and until time delivers me into tomorrow I shall count every dream in every second till then.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Tuesday 6th Jan 2009
Weather is awfully cold at the minute with night time temperatures down to -9 (apparently,) although I have to say it hasn’t felt that cold. The upside is beautiful bright sunny days with a soothing blue sky and a refreshing tinge of icy air to invade lungs. The cold nights suck all the moisture out of the air leaving behind daytime crystal clear vistas for the eye. How I so want to escape from here at work and stroll through the hills with the sun on my face for just a little while. I am currently doing the month end stuff but nearly through it all and I can see the sunshine through the window like a benison.
Oh nearly forgot…10pm tomorrow is a milestone date as it has been 1 week since I quit smoking…quite pleased with that.
Weather is awfully cold at the minute with night time temperatures down to -9 (apparently,) although I have to say it hasn’t felt that cold. The upside is beautiful bright sunny days with a soothing blue sky and a refreshing tinge of icy air to invade lungs. The cold nights suck all the moisture out of the air leaving behind daytime crystal clear vistas for the eye. How I so want to escape from here at work and stroll through the hills with the sun on my face for just a little while. I am currently doing the month end stuff but nearly through it all and I can see the sunshine through the window like a benison.
Oh nearly forgot…10pm tomorrow is a milestone date as it has been 1 week since I quit smoking…quite pleased with that.
Monday, January 05, 2009
I am…I am not
Yet I think I was
In another lifetime
Across the cosmos
In another time,
Another place
And it calls to me still
I am…I am not
Yet shall become
A reasoned voice
Helping the world
Find a connection
And take joy forever
I am…I am not
Yet become
Free of guilt
Free of pain
Free of fear
And never alone
I am…I am now
For you came
Wrapped in love
Free of memory
Full of life
Wrapped in love
Yet I think I was
In another lifetime
Across the cosmos
In another time,
Another place
And it calls to me still
I am…I am not
Yet shall become
A reasoned voice
Helping the world
Find a connection
And take joy forever
I am…I am not
Yet become
Free of guilt
Free of pain
Free of fear
And never alone
I am…I am now
For you came
Wrapped in love
Free of memory
Full of life
Wrapped in love
Went to Carlisle on Saturday and then off to see (what’s left) of Hadrian’s Wall. Carlisle is a convenient base from which to explore Hadrian's Wall. Several sections of the wall still exist, and the remains of some of the Roman forts along the wall have been excavated and may be visited (the nearest one to Carlisle is Birdoswald Fort). Hadrian's Wall was a Roman frontier built in the years AD 122-30 by order of the Emperor Hadrian. It was 73 miles long and ran from Wallsend-on-Tyne in the east to Bowness on the Solway Firth in the west.
Actually it was fascinating really to think that the stones and mortar were laid out almost 2000 years ago. Weather was not too cold or gloomy either although the tea shops at the wall were closed…hope you enjoy the pictures.
The 2 down and outs resting on the wall just happened to be there at the same time. Having an unshaven moment there.
Check out these links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/hadrian_gallery.shtml
http://www.hadrians-wall.org/
http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Tours/England/Carlisle.htm#HadriansWall
Actually it was fascinating really to think that the stones and mortar were laid out almost 2000 years ago. Weather was not too cold or gloomy either although the tea shops at the wall were closed…hope you enjoy the pictures.
The 2 down and outs resting on the wall just happened to be there at the same time. Having an unshaven moment there.
Check out these links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/hadrian_gallery.shtml
http://www.hadrians-wall.org/
http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Tours/England/Carlisle.htm#HadriansWall
