Running a Race

I was in Nashville TN last Saturday -
and this was me'uns! :)
So this is where some of my energy has been going -
Thanks for all the shout outs on this my friends!

LarryG

Friends Award

Thank you Suz at Whispering Words! Your encouragement is deeply appreciated.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

If you've won it already, please just accept this as a gift! Thanks to the following for blessing us with your openness in sharing your journey:

Cori at Sacred Artist
Meg at Floundering Writer Meg
Lori at Reflections and Ramblings of a Not So Super Woman
Noelle at A Portrait of a Human Heart
Tasha at Tasha's Take
Petra at PetraMichelle
Jack at Slightly Off Center
Wendy at Too Common of a Life
Shadow at 1 door away from heaven
Mike at The Continuing Adventures of a Jedi Master
Shiny Things at Fence Postings
Bad Mom at bad mom
Jessie at Softly Spoken
Suz at Whispering Words
Amber at Mommy Mania
Danielle at Don't Touch the Cactus
----------
That's over quota, yet all deserving - yes a couple of repeats, but they are all wonderful Friends!

Love Letter No 38 - Dew Love

Dear D,

The evening dew falls, we rejoice. The morning mist arrives, inspiration speaks. Warm and wet love to surround and comfort our hearts. As the bluebird sings till fiery sky of daybreak, so the night is filled with wave after ocean's roaring wave of mind, body and soul engaging the urgent tangle of mutual release.

Come to me once again. Yearn with me, urge me to new depths; share the giving circle that sets our hearts free.

With deep and tender affection,

L

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Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

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to bless "a secret"

the sweetest wine ferments
concealed in the cool depths
of the cellar, not in torture,
no, in confidence the fruit
within can share life
and health through the passage
of transforming time

may the product of your
imagination bubble slowly
without effort, leaving
a wonderful gift, ingestible and
sweetly satisfying, to the nose,
tongue, tummy and body...

may you be blessed with
secrets of insight that make
demands for good,
that give onus to be used
for enlightenment, reassuring

may wisdom cover your
secret until the shining moment of
revelatory surprise, when the amazed
response is inspired warmth
and joyful laughter

may any secret with potential to harm
become a harvest of peace to
benefit generations through
proclamation of how the giftedness
has been received and expressed

may every nurturing moment of
life speak the secret
joyful to your inner self,
one that sparkles with immensity,
creates divine curiosity,
beckons and remains as a
significantly tantalizing smile of
warmest satisfaction.

-----------------------------

Love Letter No 37 - Breve Love

Dear N,
I could enjoy a "cup of you"
It would go a long long way.
Love,
L

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Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Write your own love letter, hand deliver it.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

----------------

PS: I will be out of pocket a couple of days, see y'all Monday Monday :)

Hill Born

Hill Born
by Henry Dalton
(from the book of the same title "Hill Born")
(Copyright 1954 THE KALEIDOGRAPH PRESS)


We are the hill born. Townfolks gawk
At us on Saturdays
And keep their distance. They smile at our talk
And look down on our country ways.

Our bodies are shaped by rocky slopes.
Our thoughts are bent to the plow.
And we are slow of speech. Our hopes
Are such as hills allow.

The taste of pine is in our wells,
Its biting green on our sky.
We are born to love hill tastes and smells.
Wild grape and crab apple are wry.

The summerness of plowing gives way
To far autumn horns of the hunter.
Sharp axes on oak and hickory
Ring out like bells all winter.

When joy is a flower or grief's a nettle
Our words pull up to a halt.
Don't smile, townfolks. If we talk too little
It's not our fault:

For hills are possessive, hills are bitter;
Hills are jealous of their young.
Folks blame it on the cat -- but I know better.
The hills got our tongue.

-----------------------
A good friend of mine trades in antiques along with a few "odds and ends". He said someone offered him a box of junk, which he claimed this book of poems by Henry Dalton out of that box. Great save for James. Thanks brother!


The poems have a sort of Gaelic connection to the land and nature. The collection has deep resonance with rural south of the mid 20th century.

Charmed Dwelling

charmed dwelling inspiring - filled, brightly magical

living on love - not too much to tackle

every good thing - part of provisions

basics of life - plan for daily intentions

pulling together - two kids, one wagon

sometimes collective - haul one another when dragging

grace and peace sewn - a patch quilt of sharing

shelter and warmth - hints exciting and daring

moreover essentials encompassed surpassed

love's passion charmed - life fully possessed

------------------------

Response poem

see Enchanted Cottage over at

Portrait of a Human Heart

Photo from Jack's Flickr -

Go there from Jack's blog

Slightly Off Center

to bless the morning

As day closes may the grip
of loose ends relax, may your heart
find release, may loosening bring
simplicity, dawn bringing stirrings,
refreshing new pledge

may spirit, body, soul
be replenished, may each day's
gift become your joy, be it
butterfly, rainbow, blossom,
or bright skyflung dawn

Express the heart's longing cry!

morningtide come! sunrise phenomenal!

Should yesterday's plan become
fodder for today's fire, may this
too inspire beginning, invigorated
with wish, blessing, dream,
for thought, word and deed.

stagger

i stammer i stutter
i stagger around
don't know what i utter
can't make a sound

you shake me you flush me
you bring out my best
just trying sweet lady
to get at the rest

Love Letter No 36 - Soft Love

Dear N,
Softness soundlessly sweeps through
surrounds and sates.

There is the softness of touch, so tender,
lips along the neck, only a breath apart.
Softness of hands that touch tenderly with desire.
When lips touch they are pliable
to form to each other in soft caress.

Softness dwells where beauty resides.
Beauty in the eye of this beholder rests on softness,
includes grace and mercy.
To behold this, great beauty must first
be in the heart of the viewer, then recognition
identifies marvelous appearance.
Softness is in the gaze
and the gazed upon.

Every exchange prepares the way
with its own empathetic light touch.
Gratitude enables the encounter to be fulfilled.
Honest in heart and tender in emotion
the approach blesses the encounter
with homespun receiving.

Softly receive this love.

With warm and tender affection,
L
------

Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Write your own love letter, hand deliver it.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

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to bless the restless one within you

Contained by the soul lurks inner wisdom hungering for liberation, inspiration desperate for exposure, biographical impulse yearning to deliver into the light of creation delicate invention of imagination.

May your restless urges be invitations to dwell in the largesse of your soul. May you grasp interaction in the physical, and know the limits placed on the munificence of the soul's manifestation.

Within personal creativity is the restless fire, may you find the fuel to burn brightly.

May tireless longings yield new space for the expression of your soul's deepest belongings,
May your restlessness be blessed .

~o'hOgain

leaving

It's gonna hurt a lot
I'll have trouble sleeping at night
I gotta whole lot of tears to cry
The strain is chopping years off my life.
What will it take for me to let it go,
Separate the heart from what i know,
When loving memories is all I've got.
You know it's gonna hurt a lot.

Love Letter No 35 - Just Love

Dearest B,

The songwriter said "It's only love, and that is all! Why should I feel the way I do?!" My brother's words speak my heart today; it's "just love."
The surge of emotion within rises to a cacophony of fresh feelings; it's "just love."
The moonlight dancing with the ocean waves; it's "just love."
The bluebird sings, the crow caws, the cardinal cha-rees and the mockingbird trills; it's "just love."

You have become the apple of my eye. Arms encircle one another, a new dance begins, we move together within and surrounded. One heart beats, created through selfless generosity; it's "just love."

And if we struggle now and then, or even fight, our hearts are never far apart; it's "just love."

With deep and tender affection,

L

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Photo "i-appropriated" from Jack's flickr
see Jack's blog at Slightly Off Center

Hear the Beatles "It's Only Love" over at youtube.

to bless the wayward

For the Parents of One

Who has Committed a Crime

~(A blessing By John O'Donohue)
from his book "To Bless the Space Between Us"
published by Doubleday 1st Edition

( © John O’Donohue. All rights reserved.)

See the web site: www.johnodonohue.com

No one else can see beauty

In his darkened life now.

His image has closed

Like a shadow.

When people look at him,

He has become the mirror

Of the damage he has done.

But he is yours;

And you have different eyes

That hold his yesterdays

In pictures no one else remembers:

Waiting for him to be born,

Not knowing who he would be,

The moments of his childhood,

First steps, first words,

Smiles and cries,

And all the big thresholds

Of his journey since...

He is yours in a way

No words could ever tell;

And you can see through

The stranger this deed has made him

And still find the countenance of your son.

Despite all the disappointment and shame,

May you find in your belonging with him

A kind place, where your spirit will find rest.

May new words come alive between you

To build small bridges of understanding.

May that serenity lead you beyond guilt and blame

To find that bright field of the heart

Where he can come to feel your love

Until it heals whatever darkness drove him

And he can see what it is he has done

And seek forgiveness and bring healing;

May this dark door open a path

That brightens constantly with new promise.

---

~(A blessing By John O'Donohue)
from his book "To Bless the Space Between Us"
published by Doubleday 1st Edition

( © John O’Donohue. All rights reserved.)

See the web site: www.johnodonohue.com

drop love

drop a love bomb,
one desperately deserves,
distraction new intensity serves

raise a love flag,
one is covering eyes,
unknowingly hopeful for surprise

stage a love raid,
unsuspecting they wait,
un-admitted need,
awaken a love debate

loving spree

go on and talk - words and walk
easy, casual free - something underneath
no need to be a liar - feel magical fire
heart trips, bursts wide - emotional and tongue-tied
wrapped up, love spree - waiting out, let it be

Love Letter No 34 - Respect Love

Dear N,
I am willing to be vulnerable to you for very good reason. R E S P E C T, I trust you. Talking to you blesses me, sharing with you encourages me, just a word from you lifts me up, speaks softly that my humanity and your humanity work. Respect reminds me that this love is worth "giving in" to every thing.

How could I hold back, your actions speak loud and clear, you've got respect going on. It's rare to find, but I've been paying attention, I see it all over your movement, and it touches me deeply when I look in your eyes. Someone said, "Respect smells like love." Love and respect are like strawberry in a milkshake, they are one part each of something inseparably tasty and delicious.

I am feasting on respect for you. Everybody wants it, and we are so lucky to have it.
And I love you more, and more.

L

------

Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Write your own and give them away.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

----------------

to bless tears -

Parent for child on road
bless these tears

Child of suffering parent
bless these tears

For loved ones passed
bless these tears

Broken hearts, broken dreams,
broken lives
bless these tears

Expecting mother lost baby
bless these tears

Chronic pain, threatening diseases
bless these tears

war, abuse, illness
bless these tears

Accidents, falls, cuts, wounds,
bless these tears

A child is born
bless these tears

firsts: kindergarten,
summer camp, college
bless these tears

Overcoming struggles
against all odds
bless these tears

Relationship, thought lost, restored
bless these tears

Becoming independent,
Graduation, Marriage
bless these tears

Tee ball home run
bless these tears

Pride, Accomplishment
bless these tears

pain or joy, sorrow or gladness
bless these tears
-------------------

when

when i am happy
i am very very happy
but when i am not
i feel like crying

Love Letter No 33 - Search Love

Dear N,
Sweet freedom to discover. Sweet freedom to find, invent, identify, share.
Emotion to go with it! We are free at last to find each other and ourselves, who we are, and what that means. Gazing out there is the blueness of an early spring evening, then to find that gaze upon you! The blueness of your eyes, wide, unblinking, wonder at the world you've found.

A starlit walk, a foggy daybreak, a sunny midday, or warm spring rain, searching it out together. Babbling brook, spring blossoms, trilling mockingbird, whispering winds, all leading the search for love.

Give me your hand, let's dig in and search new ground together. There's treasure everywhere.

With most tender love and deep abiding affection,

LarryG


-------------------------

Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

to bless via text - text "blessages"

"Text Blessages" you can send to a friend. Choose a line and text it to someone.
Text a kind word today!

May your day be filled with the wonders of life's good gifts.

May you see the mystery of healing at work, up close and personal.

May the best of luck grace your paths throughout the day.

As you search for your own pot of gold, may your love for the lovely transform you.

Be good to you! Watch, illumination will guide your way.

Eat well, get sleep, let your best come forth naturally.

Take care of you!

You are blessed to be a blessing.

Oceans a poem by Jimenez

Oceans
by Juan Ramon Jimenez

I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing.
And nothing
happens! Nothing...Silence...Waves...

--Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

---------------------------------
How do you experience your presence?

See move about the Poet here.

Love Letter No 32 - Receive Love

Dear N,
I accepted a friend's invitation to share a meal. There you were. Light and fun, the evening passed by quickly. The imagination was engaged.
We communicated and all your communication was caring and giving. How sweet that was, I only had to receive.

There were dinners, picnics, bike rides, movies, plays, walks in the park, many shared moments together. Your actions showed me the most important thing I could do is receive.

I want you to know you are accepted "as is", I receive you. I receive the many good gifts you offer.

My hope is to just receive. And my wish and my hope and my prayer is that you trust yourself to receive from me.

With deep and tender affection,

L

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Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Write your own and give them away.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature. (I am a day late this week :)

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iFire

iFire task alien, convulsive
hidden unseen skintight covering
clay tempered inward divulges
iFire blaze, chestful hovering

iFire expulses passions
heart's secret sagacious dream
iFire settle internal ashes
temper an aching stream

to bless children

may your world be animated by
unforgettable characters,

may playing the game
always be the point,

may imagination increase
each time it is exercised,

may the search for friends
to share your play time
lead you in hopefulness
to members of every
generation.

may the joy of freehearted play
light a candle of illumination
guiding you on life's journey,

release in all things

finding release in all things
is not easy, and takes kind attention
toward the heart,
to release what's close to the heart
trusting them to the care of the universe
to release worries and fears
trusting they are not the change agents
to release even my best thoughts
trusting something better is on the horizon
deep release happens a few times in life
release that transforms will renew
it happens to me, it can happen to you

Love Letter No 31 - Bailout Love

Dear N,
Chatter everywhere is "bailout." But the only "bailout" on my mind is one to share. There is enough TLC to make it happen. Bailout means this mutual "fond"(-ness) has energy to burn. Bailout means being there when the going gets tough.

Over-investing has its dangers, but a bailout will balance risk and reward. Terms for bailout? Kind words, warm touches, gentle kisses, hand holding, snuggly embrace, being held till pain passes, patient blessing, dream sharing, conjured plan, spell binding, present to desire, honor a Cinderella, bow to a princess, all these in the billions and billions.

I love a bailout, and you,

With deep and tender affection,

L

------

Write a love letter and share it with someone special in your life.

Write your own and give them away.

Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

----------------

to bless magic

~for N~

to arise at dawn dancing
on the sands of eastern shore,

to wander mountain streams,
foliage and fauna bowing in homage,

to gaze over valley
cavorting to cacophony
of cricket and frog,

to awaken in moonlight,
song of wee folks in the air

to bring home a vision

to know in your depths,
your mind's eye the witness,
your heart of hearts bursting,
internal enchanted place,
cauldron of prayers, wishes,
hopes, dreams, spells and desires
melding into fruitful healing existence

i wished it too

snuggle away the morning, drowsy smiles
lunch break together away from the files
afternoon delight, a touch, a caress
I wished it too, it seemed for the best

long conversations by email and text
sharing the stories each day collects
whispering secrets no one else knows
I wished it too, be certain it shows

candlelit meal, picnic in the park
stay up till sunrise robs us of dark
while gazing, a wink, warm to touch
I wished it too, if not more, just as much

------------------------------------------------

heard the line "I wished it too" in the movie "Practical Magic"
a reply of Officer Hallet (Aidin Quinn) to Sally (Sandra Bullock) about a certain magical spell

tight sounds - Remix #9

almost silence deep and void,
then the songbird at sunrise
a distant plane heads in for landing
the brilliance of a new sunrise
in the breeze above the silence
the sun's crackle, audible
the earth's awakening whisper
"keep alive this earth"
all that rides the speck
known to have that life force upon it,
lest tight sounds disappear,
silence and solitude reign
as in the old days
when it was spoken
"let there be..."

------------------
This remix based on tight sounds

Hope the noun

Yes, "hope" may be lost,
and is sometimes crossed,
by others completely unknowing.

The ideal hope internal,
to gain best desire eternal,
gift of hope seen gone and going.

Even so there is the other,
a hope the noun, will bother,
must stir fear upon arriving.

Why am I so deeply suspicious?
Hesitant, distrusting, superstitious
of hope's completion and conniving

For me to stop my hoping,
detachment improves my coping
hope then arrives, a new provision.

So lost hope, that is the verb,
does not essentially disturb
Hope the noun, what a jovial collision.