(click to enlarge)
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Memorial Day
...and what are you doing today wherever you are? How many of you have Vets in your family. Care to share anything about them?
My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. When a buddy was dying, he asked my great- grandfather to deliver a letter to his sister after the war. W.B. did so, on foot, as many ex-soldiers traveled after that war. They courted and married. Only later did he discover that the letter was indeed a 'letter of recommendation' that his sister marry W.B. if she could...that he was a good man. And so he was.
W.B. and Anne seated, to your left. Mother is the towhead. Taken by a roving photographer.
My cousin 20 years older fought in World War II. His ship was hit and schrapnel hit his head. My mother and aunt said he was never the same after. Hard to tell how much was that and how much was war. He was killed by a drunk driver when he was 26. The irony.
Dolph
My first husband was a junior officer on a supply ship off of Vietnam. They went up the river once and were shelled. Two men were killed and the ship badly battered. He came home safely and we married in Hawaii where I was already living and working. After two months he became restless, saying he didn't want to share his personal space with anyone but he'd made a vow and would keep it. Our marriage limped on for over five more years, but its death started that day. He meant what he said and never let me in emotionally again. The irony here is that I feel sure that deep inside he loved me for a long time, even after I finally left.
After the wedding in Hawaii
My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. When a buddy was dying, he asked my great- grandfather to deliver a letter to his sister after the war. W.B. did so, on foot, as many ex-soldiers traveled after that war. They courted and married. Only later did he discover that the letter was indeed a 'letter of recommendation' that his sister marry W.B. if she could...that he was a good man. And so he was.
W.B. and Anne seated, to your left. Mother is the towhead. Taken by a roving photographer.
My cousin 20 years older fought in World War II. His ship was hit and schrapnel hit his head. My mother and aunt said he was never the same after. Hard to tell how much was that and how much was war. He was killed by a drunk driver when he was 26. The irony.
Dolph
My first husband was a junior officer on a supply ship off of Vietnam. They went up the river once and were shelled. Two men were killed and the ship badly battered. He came home safely and we married in Hawaii where I was already living and working. After two months he became restless, saying he didn't want to share his personal space with anyone but he'd made a vow and would keep it. Our marriage limped on for over five more years, but its death started that day. He meant what he said and never let me in emotionally again. The irony here is that I feel sure that deep inside he loved me for a long time, even after I finally left.
After the wedding in Hawaii
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Obama dances!
Youtube is filled with political speeches, videos ..you name it. In this one Obama dances. Hey, he's pretty good.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Want to learn more about haiku?....haiga, tanka...
Robert Wilson interviews Jane Reichhold about haiku in Simply Haiku, just out.
Follows is an excerpt from that interview, found here. The entire issue is excellent!
RW: Some people in the English language haiku community espouse the belief that metaphors are an anathema to be avoided at all costs when writing haiku. Do you agree?
JR: Haiku is poetry and as poetry it uses poetical devices. Metaphor is one of the oldest techniques and the Japanese use, and used, it in their poetry in haiku form also. The huge and vital difference is the way the Japanese express their metaphors. It sometimes takes a while to understand how when two images are set side by side they are forming a metaphor or simile. Quoting from the Introduction:
Instead of saying "autumn dusk settles around us like a crow landing on a bare branch" Bashô would write:
a crow lands
on a bare branch
autumn dusk
The simplicity and economy of those words demand that the reader goes into his or her mind and experiences to explore the darkness of bird and night, autumn and bareness, and even how a branch could move as the dark weight of a crow presses it down. With a map of the reader's past he or she is writing the rest of the verse and making it poetry.
By following this example of simply juxtaposing the parts of the metaphor, English poetry has made great advances for which the Japanese never get the credit they deserve.
Follows is an excerpt from that interview, found here. The entire issue is excellent!
RW: Some people in the English language haiku community espouse the belief that metaphors are an anathema to be avoided at all costs when writing haiku. Do you agree?
JR: Haiku is poetry and as poetry it uses poetical devices. Metaphor is one of the oldest techniques and the Japanese use, and used, it in their poetry in haiku form also. The huge and vital difference is the way the Japanese express their metaphors. It sometimes takes a while to understand how when two images are set side by side they are forming a metaphor or simile. Quoting from the Introduction:
Instead of saying "autumn dusk settles around us like a crow landing on a bare branch" Bashô would write:
a crow lands
on a bare branch
autumn dusk
The simplicity and economy of those words demand that the reader goes into his or her mind and experiences to explore the darkness of bird and night, autumn and bareness, and even how a branch could move as the dark weight of a crow presses it down. With a map of the reader's past he or she is writing the rest of the verse and making it poetry.
By following this example of simply juxtaposing the parts of the metaphor, English poetry has made great advances for which the Japanese never get the credit they deserve.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A beautiful gesture for CFIDS Awareness Day--May 12
I received the below email yesterday (printed in part below). The song is beautiful, as is the rest of her music. I highly recommend a visit to the link in the note below. Thank you again, Susan.
Today is CFIDS Awareness Day. Listen to her song. Google CFIDS. Visit my about me pageon my website to learn more.
Both my link and hers open in a new window.
Susan's note:
I've put up a song on my band's Myspace page related to living with undiagnosed CFIDS:
http://myspace.com/cinderbridge (If it doesn't start playing immediately, click the "Everybody Knows
About Me" link.)
My aim in writing "Everybody Knows About Me" was twofold. First, I wanted people with CFIDS or similar invisible illnesses to feel they weren't alone -- that not everyone believes it's just hypochondria or laziness. Second, I wanted to make nonsufferers understand why it's silly to believe that CFIDS/other invisible illnesses are just hypochondria or laziness.
If you like the song, please give the link to your readers. The most important thing that can happen for people with CFIDS is a cure, or at least more effective treatment. But since I'm not a doctor or a medical researcher, the best I can do is try to help create an environment where voters think it's a good idea to fund CFIDS research at a higher level than hay fever.
Thanks for listening. I hope you like the song.
Yours,
Susan Wenger
Today is CFIDS Awareness Day. Listen to her song. Google CFIDS. Visit my about me pageon my website to learn more.
Both my link and hers open in a new window.
Susan's note:
I've put up a song on my band's Myspace page related to living with undiagnosed CFIDS:
http://myspace.com/cinderbridge (If it doesn't start playing immediately, click the "Everybody Knows
About Me" link.)
My aim in writing "Everybody Knows About Me" was twofold. First, I wanted people with CFIDS or similar invisible illnesses to feel they weren't alone -- that not everyone believes it's just hypochondria or laziness. Second, I wanted to make nonsufferers understand why it's silly to believe that CFIDS/other invisible illnesses are just hypochondria or laziness.
If you like the song, please give the link to your readers. The most important thing that can happen for people with CFIDS is a cure, or at least more effective treatment. But since I'm not a doctor or a medical researcher, the best I can do is try to help create an environment where voters think it's a good idea to fund CFIDS research at a higher level than hay fever.
Thanks for listening. I hope you like the song.
Yours,
Susan Wenger
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Cheek to Cheek (haiga)
Taken in the eighties of the then little girl next door. Click to see in larger size.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Sharing a wonderful photographer.
Geoff Sanderson, an online friend of mine from Yorkshire, England, a wonderful photographer and haijun, just shared his daughter's slide site on Flickr. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. These are more than just photographs, in my opinion. They're art forms. She has an incredible feel for texture and color in her shooting. Take the time to look at even a few. You won't regret it.(Her user name is with the photos)
Click Here!
Click Here!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Chesapeake Bay: we continue to deplete our natural resources.
(photo taken in the Chesapeake is from THIS SITE. Click to enlarge. It's gorgeous)
THE MOMENT that Chesapeake Bay watermen had been dreading arrived Tuesday. Faced with a dire drop in the blue crab harvest, the governors of Maryland and Virginia announced sharp new limits on the volume of sooks (as female crabs, the ones generally used to make crab cakes, are known) that can be taken from the bay's waters. The new rules mean that inevitably, and through little fault of their own, some watermen will be driven out of business and out of the only way of life they have known.
Read the rest of the article from The Washington Post HERE
Personl Note: I spent a month in the Chesapeake Bay on my sailboat trip in the late seventies. The Bay hadn't yet been polluted by population overgrowth and unaffordable condos all along the once gorgeous shores and harbors. The upper bay was in trouble with water pollution but steps were being taken already to clean things. Anyone in a small boat could crab and we did just that while anchored at St Michaels. What confuses me is that NO female crabs could be kept. You faced a stiff fine if found with one on your boat, whether private or commercial. The law made good sense. The females were responsible for keeping the Bay populated and crabs were plentiful then.
It seems that somewhere along the line the laws changed...or perhaps more lenient laws were in effect with a commercial liscense that the general public wasn't told about. Females have a distinctive red marking on their bellies, however, and I never saw any in restaurants or stores that sold crab. Sometimes we think the planet will provide for us forever. I think not.
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