For the Love of Dirt

Sunday, April 21, 2024

WERE IT NOT FOR HOPE.....

"Hope is the only good that is common to all.....those who have nothing else possess hope still.." -Thales (624-545 B.V.)

"If it were not for hope, the heart would break...." Thomas Fuller ( 1608-1661)

"I am a part of all I have met..." _ Tennyson

"There never was night that had no morn...." -Dinah Mulock Craik

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness..." -Peter Ustinov

"Hope ever urges us on......."- Tibullus (5-19 B.C.)

"Whatever God's dream about us may be; it seems certain it cannot come true unless man co-operates..." -Stella Terrill Mann

"Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this universe is but a faint shadow.." -Blake

"God alone will stay. Patience obtains all things. .." -St. Teresa of Avila

"Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it.."-E.F. Schumacher

"Once you plant deep the longing for peace, confusion leaves of itself..." -Seng ts'an

"Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life......" -Dr. Seus

"How can the world know peace when we have lost the gift of stillness?" -Maya V. Pastel

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness: nothing so gentle as real strength..." - St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

"You can't have everything. where would you put it?" - Ann Landers

"Quieten your mind and close your eyes. Be Still...." -Pam Brown

"Have the courage to be alone...wait, listen, endure..." -K .Rahner

"In solitude, where we are Least alone..." - Lord Byron

Photographs 2024

Sunday, April 14, 2024

LABYRINTH

"Faith is taking the first step, even if you can't see." - Martin Luther King

I’t’s been a maze. Lost somewhere. Last summer I could stand, maybe shuffle. But now. Now I can walk. Not with a stumble and a lurch, but with the somewhat hesitant moments of something familiar.

Something I had forgotten. Something I am re-learning. In my world of the labyrinth, that has been my place.

This time last year I was crippled beyond my understanding

It became apparent when I stood at the bottom of an escalator not able to get my feet to move onto the moving stairs. I was frozen. People behind me. Waiting. Some impatiently. Some wondering what I was going to do. I wondered myself back then.

Now I walk. Not perfectly. Not as fast as I would like. But some day. Somehow, I will be fast as the wind. Nevertheless. I can walk

In my mind, I can run….. I have two Hinge prosthetics holding me together in both legs. Like Viking swords. Like Klingon Bat’leths.

I think I’m finally ready for that Star Trek convention……

I was like a thousand piece puzzle put back together with super glue. I can walk. I marvel. At last. You have no idea.

I can play piano again, climb stairs, and our hill to see mountain sunsets. Simple things, I know. Not earth shattering. But exciting for me. Like I’ve never walked before. Things you take for granted till you can’t do them at all.

My world had become so small. I was trapped in this labyrinth, this maze I didn’t not ask to be held in Now I’m free again.

Today I challenged myself. Maybe not a great one to you, but to me a huge one.

I planted five pots of sweet peas. Count them. Five.

Something I have not done for years. In the past, I had to get others to do all the planting.

Today I poked my fingers in the dirt and pulled out worms. They wriggled and jiggled. I was just a little wobbly. Like the worms. But not much. I stood my ground. I love the dirt and the worms and Seeds.

In the cold of early morning, I did it myself. I’m thinking of another challenge… planting pumpkin and cucumber seeds on the hill. I hadn’t gone up to the hill for at least three years. Till now.

Yes, I know, NOT exciting. But there will be worms. I like worms.

First I could stand. Now I can walk. Wonders will never cease. And it’s all about wonder. Watch me. I found the way out of my Labyrinth. What’s out there?