Ancient Air

Ancient Air

by Li Po

I climb up high and look on the four seas,
Heaven and earth spreading out so far.
Frost blankets all the stuff of autumn,
The wind blows with the great desert's cold.
The eastward-flowing water is immense,
All the ten thousand things billow.
The white sun's passing brightness fades,
Floating clouds seem to have no end.
Swallows and sparrows nest in the wutong tree,
Yuan and luan birds perch among jujube thorns.
Now it's time to head on back again,
I flick my sword and sing Taking the Hard Road. 

Dreams

Dreams
by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Fire

Fire

by Judy Brown

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed in too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water would.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces 

in the same way

we have learned

to pile on the logs,

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel

together, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire 

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings 

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn 

can find its way.

(Leading from Within, ed. by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner)

Salonica

Here are some old photos / postcards that I found of Thessaloniki -- also known in earlier days as Salonique, Salonica, and so on.

Interesting Space Facts: Part II

Following on yesterday's post about space facts, courtesy of PlanetFacts.net:

It is estimated that within the entire Universe there are more than a trillion galaxies (the Milky Way itself contains 100 billion stars). This means that there are probably about 100 (to the 22nd power) stars in the entire cosmos.

Traveling at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, light takes 6 hours to travel from Pluto to Earth.

The Sun burns 9 million tons of gas a second. At this rate, it has been estimated, it will burn out in another 10 billion years.

If the sun were the size of a beach ball, 32 inches in diameter, and were placed atop the Empire State Building, the nearest group of stars, the Triple Centauri system, would be somewhere in Australia, more than 10,000 miles away. The next “closest” star would be so distant that it would be off the surface of the Earth.

When astronauts first shaved in space, their weightless whiskers floated up to the ceiling. A special razor had to be developed which drew the whiskers in like a vacuum cleaner.

A sun beam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would describe a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 million years.

The star known as LP 327-186, a so-called white dwarf, is smaller than the state of Texas yet so dense that if a cubic inch of it were brought to Earth it would weigh more than 1.5 million tons.

All the planets in our solar system could be placed inside the planet Jupiter.

Because of the speed at which the sun moves, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

Four million tons of hydrogen dust are destroyed on the sun every second.

When the Apollo 12 astronauts landed on the moon, the impact caused the moon's surface to vibrate for fifty-five minutes. The vibrations were picked up by laboratory instruments, leading geologists to theorize that the moon's surface is composed of many fragile layers of rocks.

If a baseball-sized piece of a supernova star (known to astronomers as a pulsar) were brought to Earth, it would weigh more than the Empire State Building.

Phobos, one of the moons of mars, is so close to its parent planet that it could not be seen by an observer standing at either of Mar's poles. Phobos makes three complete orbits around Mars every day.

Statistically, UFO sightings are at their greatest number during those times when Mars is closest to Earth.

According to Professor David Saunders of the Psychology Department of the University of Chicago, abnormally large numbers of UFO sightings occur every sixty-one months, usually at distances from 1,500 to 2,000 miles apart.

Interesting Space Facts: Part 1

Below are some interesting space facts, courtesy of PlanetFacts.net:

If one were to capture and bottle a comet's 10,000 mile vapor trail, the amount of vapor actually present in the bottle would take up less than 1 cubic inch of space.

Members of the Dogon tribe in Mali, Africa, for many centuries worshiped a star known today by astronomers as Sirius B. The Dogon people knew its precise elliptical orbit, knew how long it took to revolve around its parent star, Sirius, and were aware that it was made up of materials not found on Earth—all this centuries before modern astronomers had even discovered that Sirius B existed.
Deimos, one of the moons of mars, rises and sets twice a day.

To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky.

Saturn's rings are 500,000 miles in circumference but only about a foot thick.

Five times as many meteors can be seen after midnight as can be seen before.

The star Zeta Thauri, a supernova, was so bright when it exploded in 1054 that it could be seen during the day.

When we look at the farthest visible star we are looking 4 billion years into the past—the light from that star traveling at 186,000 miles a second, has taken that many years to reach us.

The telescope on Mount Palomar, California, can see a distance of 7,038,835,200,000,000,000,000 miles.

The sun is 3 million miles closer to the Earth during the winter than the summer.

The diameter of the star Betelgeuse is more than a quarter the size of our entire solar system.

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the Earth.

The Earth moves in its 585-million-mile orbit around the sun approximately eight times faster than a bullet travels.

If It Were Just A Cartoon, It Would Be Funny

The Road Not Taken

Sometimes it's good to reread this.

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Love the Questions

Wise words from Rilke to a young poet:

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves...Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you will not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

Objective World

Chapter five in Marvin Weisbord's Productive Workplaces opens with a quote from Edgar Schein, taken from The Professional Manager. It is worth sharing.

The essence of [McGregor's] message is that people react not to an objective world, but to a world fashioned out of their own perceptions, assumptions and theories about what the world is like....McGregor wished passionately to release all of us from this trap, by getting us to be aware of how each of our worlds is of our own making. Once we become aware we can choose - and it was the process of free choice that we believe was Doug's ultimate value.

After reading this, I purchased all three of Douglas McGregor's books on leadership. I'm sure I'll have more to share as I go through them.

If I Feel

Beautiful words and a great way to stay connected to the power we have to direct our lives -- from Og Mandino:

If I feel depressed, I will sing. 

If I feel sad, I will laugh. 

If I feel ill, I will double my labor. 

If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead. 

If I feel inferior, I will wear new garments. 

If I feel uncertain, I will raise my voice. 

If I feel poverty, I will think of wealth to come. 

If I feel incompetent, I will think of past success. 

If I feel insignificant, I will remember my goals. 

Today, I will be the master of my emotions.

Avocado Chimichurri Bruschetta

Here's a recipe from Vegetarian Times courtesy of my friend Shelly. You can go directly to recipe here. 

Avocado Chimichurri Bruschetta

Serves 6

30 minutes or fewer

Talk about a fusion of world cuisines! Cubes of avocado are folded into chimichurri—an Argentinean sauce made of chopped parsley, cilantro, garlic, vinegar, and oil—to create a Latin variation on bruschetta, a classic Italian starter.

• 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 6 ½-inch-thick slices whole-grain or ciabatta bread, toasted

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, oregano, and black pepper in small bowl. Whisk in oil, then stir in cilantro and parsley. Fold in avocado cubes. Spoon avocado mixture onto toast slices, and serve.

For Thea Filitsa

Rest In Peace, Thea

Food Quotes: Part Two

No mean woman can cook well. It calls for a generous spirit,
 a light hand, and a large heart.

-- Paul Gauguin

What does cookery mean? It means the knowledge of Medea and of Circe,
 and of Calypso, and Sheba. It means knowledge of all herbs, and fruits, and
 balms and spices... It means the economy of your great-grandmother and the
 science of modern chemistry, and French art, and Arabian hospitality. It
 means, in fine, that you are to see imperatively that everyone has something 
nice to eat.


-- John Ruskin 

In cooking, as in the arts, simplicity is a sign of perfection.


-- Curnonsky

Watch a French housewife as she makes her way slowly along the 
loaded stalls… searching for the peak of ripeness and flavor…
What you are seeing is a true artist at work, patiently assembling
 all the materials of her craft, just as the painter squeezes oil colors
 onto his palette ready to create a masterpiece.


-- Keith Floyd

 If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite
 things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them
 with ceremony.


-- Fernand Point

Food Quotes: Part One

A recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play 
each time with a variation.


-- Madame Benoit

The whole Mediterranean, the sculpture, the palms, the gold beads, the bearded heroes, the wine, the ideas, the ships, the moonlight, the
 winged gorgons, the bronze men, the philosophers - all of it seems to 
rise in the sour, pungent taste of these black olives between the teeth.
 A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water.


-- Lawrence Durrell

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking

for something to eat and drink,

for dining alone is leading the life 
of a lion or wolf.


-- Epicurus

Let the progress of the meal be slow,

for dinner is the last business of the day;

and let the guests conduct themselves 
like travelers

due to reach their destination together.

-- Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

If the soup had been as warm as the wine;

if the wine had been as old as the turkey;


and if the turkey had had a breast like the maid,


it would have been a swell dinner.


-- Duncan Hines

Five Things on a Sunday

Five things that have my attention today:

1. Great list of things to do this fall from WSJ can be found here. Images caught my eye.
2. A new site of good-for-me recipes at this location. I found it looking for a quinoa burger recipe.
3. I was thinking about Psalms this morning and did a quick search. Found this and started with 123.
4. The catch, the drive, the finish, and the recovery. Muscles used here. I'm talking about rowing.
5. Japan by Billy Collins. Lovely. Found here.

Hope it's a great day.

Be Willing to Change

From page 171 of The Magic of Conflict:

The Aiki Approach

Be Willing to Change

• The most dependable quality in the universe is that of change.
• A willingness to change eliminates the word failure from our vocabulary.
• To change our perspective in a conflict is to move from a point of view to a viewing point.
• Embracing change is consciously choosing our future.
• Flexibility allows us to stretch rather than shrink in life.

An Hour

An Hour
by Czeslaw Milosz

Leaves glowing in the sun, zealous hum of bumblebees,
From afar, from somewhere beyond the river, echoes of lingering voices
And the unhurried sounds of a hammer gave joy not only to me.
Before the five senses were opened, and earlier than any beginning
They waited, ready, for all those who would call themselves mortals,
So that they might praise, as I do, life, that is, happiness. 

Sermon to the Birds

The words of Saint Francis of Assisi:

My little sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your Creator, and always in every place ought ye to praise Him, for that He hath given you liberty to fly about everywhere, and hath also given you double and triple rainment; moreover He preserved your seed in the ark of Noah, that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye beholden to Him for the element of the air which He hath appointed for you; beyond all this, ye sow not, neither do you reap; and God feedeth you, and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink; the mountains and valleys for your refuge and the high trees whereon to make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sow, God clotheth you, you and your children; wherefore your Creator loveth you much, seeing that He hath bestowed on you so many benefits; and therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praises unto God.

Nietzche: A Parable

From Nietzche:

The end of a melody is not its goal: but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.

More Music

I stumbled upon the following block prints by Stephen Alcorn. These are just a sample of the Modern Music Masters series he produced. Take a look at the entire collection here.

Volume 5 of April 1st Comes to a Close on September 1

The final pages of volume 5:

Edit

I just discovered Edit, a design firm that has created elegantly simple posters of musical genres. You can view the entire set here, and once at the site, click on the image to move from one to the next. Love 'em.

Aristotle's Challenge

From The Nicomachean Ethics:

Anyone can become angry -- that is easy. 

But to be angry with the right person, 

to the right degree, 

at the right time, 

for the right purpose and in the right way -- 

this is not easy.

  -- Aristotle

Ceremony

From Sea Level, a book of poetry by Suzanne Matson:

Ceremony

To hear this music I have dressed with care,
have pulled the ritual pieces from their drawers--
fine stockings, old brooch, a band for my hair.
I am clean like mint. For these hours
when early night and scouring cold conspire
we will gather in a lit place, restless
until the conductor lifts the thin wire
of our attention. Another man directs us.
I love the maestro's fine hands, all the rapt
taut beauty he shapes in air, cutting loose
our small private lives so they may rise, rise, locked
together in an abstract joy like prayer.
I need a Father, need a God, and fear
the need. No matter. Though close, He is not here.

From an article in Fast Company that can be found here, I share the following. Note that the blue text includes the links from the article.

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Gain Awareness, Be Grateful

One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.

Robbins suggests setting up an “Hour of Power,” “30 Minutes to Thrive,” or at least “Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”

Robbins offers the “Hour of Power” segment of his Ultimate Edge series as a free audio stream (here’s the direct MP3 download). Blogger Mike McGrath also wrote a concise summary of the Hour of Power). You can be sure that at least some of the more driven people you’ve met in your career are working on Robbins’ plan.

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How are you going to start your day?

The Last Time

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I found this question in a document on my computer. I can't recall how it came to me or when. It made me smile, as I'm sure it did the first time I read it.

Think about it.

It makes me think of lululemon's challenge to do one thing each day that scares me. (They actually got the line from Eleanor Roosevelt.) But something scary is different than just doing something for the first time.

Regardless, it is something to keep in mind. It's a way to continue learning, to keep growing, to exercise the brain, to increase worldview.

So far this year the items that come to mind as firsts are:

• Attending the Paris and Santa Fe operas
• Trying the P90X fitness routine
• Beginning work on my thesis
• Drawing on an iPad

This is actually difficult. I've eaten at restaurants for the first time. I've travelled along different streets. I've had coffee in new shops. I've tried new mascara. I've read new books. But does this really count? I mean, when is the last time I did something that really felt like a first? 

Something to consider.

Humming Bird

Humming Bird

by DH Lawrence

I can imagine, in some otherworld

Primeval-dumb, far back

In that most awful stillness, that only gasped and hummed,

Humming-birds raced down the avenues.

Before anything had a soul,

While life was a heave of matter, half inanimate,

This little bit chipped off in brilliance

And went whizzing through the slow, vast, succulent stems.

I believe there were no flowers then,

In the world where the humming-bird flashed ahead of creation.

I believe he pierced the slow vegetable veins with his long beak.

Probably he was big

As mosses, and little lizards, they say, were once big.

Probably he was a jabbing, terrifying monster.

We look at him through the wrong end of the telescope of Time,

Luckily for us.

Within My Garden, Rides a Bird

Within My Garden, Rides a Bird

by Emily Dickinson

Within my Garden, rides a Bird

Upon a single Wheel --

Whose spokes a dizzy Music make

As 'twere a travelling Mill --

He never stops, but slackens

Above the Ripest Rose --

Partakes without alighting

And praises as he goes,

Till every spice is tasted --

And then his Fairy Gig

Reels in remoter atmospheres --

And I rejoin my Dog,

And He and I, perplex us,

If positive, 'twere we --

Or bore the Garden in the Brain

This Curiosity --

But He, the best Logician,

Refers my clumsy eye --

To just vibrating Blossoms!

An Exquisite Reply!

Like a Leaf

This is how I feel today.

Off the Shelf

Some of what I'm reading:

Ethics. Vision. Courage. Reality.

Greatness

Short teaches at Ole Miss. Love the poem about brothers.