Blue sky and green leaves,

tulips of many colors -

       Technicolor world.

                      Or

       A Kodachrome world.

 

I can still hear Paul Simon with that last option. Either way the vibrant colors are welcome after a white winter.

 Made bread, granola,

washed lunch dishes - it's kick back

       Friday afternoon!

 

Still feeling kind of tired getting over that cold. And I don't know - "washed" - one syllable or two? Sounds like one to me.

 Coughing, runny nose,

general "achyness"  - spring cold.

     Try for tomorrow.

 

So scrambling two eggs, taking out the compost bucket, forwarding two photos, and this haiku are about it so far - and I don't anticipate a whole lot more happening today.  Maybe tomorrow.

 

 Salads, hamburgers,

veggies, fellowship, desserts -

      community meal!

Nature's first green - gold!

So said Robert Frost of old.

       Dawn, new leaves - enjoy!

 

The poem is actually

  Nature's first green is gold,

  Her hardest hue to hold.

  Her early leaf's a flower,

  But only so an hour.

  Then leaf subsides to leaf,

  So Eden sank to grief.

  So dawn goes down to day -

  Nothing gold can stay.

 

Could be kind of a depressing thought - this is as good as it's ever going to get.  Though maybe there's another dawn tomorrow, other things besides leaves come along.  For now, for this moment, I will just enjoy.

 

 

 

 We ate dinner on

five twenty-five twenty-five

at (wait for it) five twenty-five!

 

By accident actually.  I had noticed sometime during the day that it was 5/25/25 and that we should do something.  Then it turned out dinner (caramelized zucchini pasta!) was done at 5:25.  Nice.

 Wonderful, colorful God -

  with you today we rejoice in the color purple,

  and in Lydia, who fashioned purple garments

    (and in fact I'm wearing one of her creations today)

  and who opened her heart and her home to Paul and the others.

As we also rejoice day by day in all the colors of the rainbow

  may Lydia encourage us to open our hearts and our lives to those around us,

    and especially to those who are among us as strangers

    in whatever way we understand that,

as we all come to the City where the Lamb is the Light

and taste of the Tree and the River of Life,

and find ourselves at home and at peace in the City of God.

 

 Basel to Munich,

Castles, churches, old houses -

     "There's no place like home." 

Ok - if things have seemed a little disjointed, we have been on a river cruise in Germany. Nice to be home, where you don't have to pay to use the public toilets and where you can read the signs and don't have to be back at the boat at any particular time!

 Three red umbrellas -

 little roofs bobbing along

      in a sea of black.

                 or

       "It's all dry in here!"

 

Second one's fun, but I guess I like the first choice better.

Big trucks, busses, cars

all passing and being passed -

   all going somewhere.

 

Ok, kind of lame. Long day and I'm tired.

 Mother duck swims forth -

seven little balls of fluff

      following after.

 Bare ground dusty brown;

Grass, leaves not yet green; clear sky -

      I'll have water please!

 

It's been dry where we are.

 White clouds in blue sky,

sitting more in sun than shade -

    two swans drifting by.

God of all time and space, 

Mother and Father of all -

If it was only "one another" that we were to love

the life of faith would be a piece of cake.

But your Holy Spirit falls on all your creation,

  sun and moon and sparkling stars,

  lakes, rivers and streams,

  fire and ice, fruit trees and cedars,

  the fish (and other creatures!) of the sea,

    the birds of the air,

      the beasts of forest and field,

  men and women, young and old,

  and even "them" -

    "them" who are the least among us,

    "them" who among us are least like us,

    "them" who we may still see as unclean, 

      not realizing that you are seeing them and calling them clean,

    "them" who are most in need of our love, kindness, compassion and care.

As your Holy City covers us all

  it turns "them" into "us" 

  so that "we" can sing your praise all together.

Let it be so.  Yes, even in our lives (our thoughts, words, and actions), let it be so.

 Past stately old homes

 along gently flowing stream -

     old man walks with cane.

 A nice time tonight -

plan same for tomorrow or

just let it happen?

 

I mean you can't step in the same river twice, but stepping in any river can feel good, especially on a hot day! So how much to plan and how much to just let life happen?

 A silver pathway,

silent, shimmering, leads from

here to tomorrow. 

Yup - moonlight on the water.

 People around me

making small talk, telling jokes -

        river flows, wind blows.

 

I don't know - am I just being pretentious thinking that listening to nature is somehow more authentic than small talk and jokes, or is this kind of profound thinking that small talk and jokes are the natural processes that move our lives along?  I'd like to go with the second, but I don't know!

 Rooftop weathervane,

Backlit black by evening sun -

       bobs head, flies away.

 

It was actually a seagull on the roof oposite.

 It's a computer.

Why did you think it would work?

       Watch the moon instead.

 

After 3 or 4 extremely frustrating cyber hours I went for a walk to unwind and regroup. A beautiful big moon was coming up over the lake.

 Dear God,

 you are the shepherd who leads us 

   through this time of turmoil and discord and danger

   to water and stillness and safety;

 you are the host who spreads the bare table of our lives 

   with cloth and plates and cups and good things to fill them;

you are the One enthroned on the other side of the ordeal

  where there is no hunger and no thirst,

  no sunburn nor sorrow, no tears and no fears,

  and we gather round to sing praise

  with our robes washed clean in the blood of the Lamb,

  and you will wipe away 

  every tear from our eyes, every sadness from our lives -

Dear God,

  if "Tabitha" can mean "Dorcas" in Greek,

  could it also mean Charlie, or Sally, or John, or Judy....

  and could Peter, or Leo(!), come and touch even us 

  and bring us to this life.

We pray that it might be so.