Good morning skies
Goodness! I haven’t told you any personal stories in a whole week.
Now that we have impersonal cloud photos, perhaps it’s time to personalize the blog.
Let’s see. What can I tell you?
Lovin' the patterns in clouds
Today is Day 17 of the Gratitude Challenge on Facebook. It is so inspiring to see so many folks still posting their daily gratitude and appreciation (88 people shared the link to this blog on their Facebook profile). I loved watching this ripple outward…and watching how people say that conscious appreciation is shifting their immediate lives–and the lives of people around them.
One friend said she even noticed that grumbling and whining has been minimized after she started posting her daily gratitude.
Hurray! It’s a good way to spread light during the darkest time of year. (Although who has noticed that the daylight is increasing every day? I love watching every evening how it gets light ten minutes later every week. This week it seems to get dark somewhere around 6:45 p.m.)
Have you ever counted the different shades of blue in the sky?
What else?
Remember the Doggies on the Roof at the TKE house in Houghton? Click here if you haven’t read the blog. Barry and I had a clever moment and called the blog “Dogs on the roof–surely it’s Animal House!” We thought it sounded kinda funny.
Sometime this week–unexpectedly–some TKE member must have discovered the blog. The blog hit StumbleUpon and then Facebook–and 200-300 visitors wandered by. One guy chastised me. He thought using the term “Animal House” to describe the fine community-minded TKE members was “rude and ignorant” on the part of this blog writer. I apologized. Sorry, Charlie. I only chose the “Animal House” heading because there were animals on the roof and it was a fraternity.
However, other TKE members stopped by to say they liked the blog very much and appreciated their “fifteen minutes of fame.”. One fellow, Isaac, even invited us to stop by and meet the dogs and the brothers up close and see their newly remodeled fraternity house. We may even take him up on it. I told him to send us a phone number and maybe we’d visit.
Undulating patterns of cloud...
I’m sure you’re not interested that I filed our federal and state taxes on Tuesday night via Turbo Tax. Or that I visited my favorite 89-year old friend yesterday. We talked for two hours over coffee and cookies. Anita has a better memory than yours truly. She regales her visitors with fascinating stories.
I think everyone should take time to listen to our elders. Hear their stories. Hear what they learned during the years–what they feel were their most important life-lessons. The elders love sharing, and we can gain a lot from what their revelations.
I shall leave you with the teachings of a fine poet and elder, Mary Oliver. This comes from the book “Swan” which my son, Christopher, bought me for Christmas.
The Living Together
The spirit says:
What gorgeous clouds.
The body says: Good,
the crops need rain.
The spirit says:
Look at the lambs frolicking.
The body says:
When’s the feast?
The spirit says:
What is the lark singing about?
The body says:
Maybe it’s angry.
The spirit says:
I think shadows are trying to say something.
The body says:
I know how to make light.
The spirit says:
My heart is pounding.
The body says:
Take off your clothes.
The spirit says: Body,
how can we live together?
The body says: Bricks and mortar
and a back door.
**Please read lots of Mary Oliver poems, dear reader! They are healthy and nutritious for both body and soul…
Lake Superior Spirit 
Or . . . logs, chinking, and excellent treats.
Perfect ending, Gerry! If Mary reads this blog and comments, perhaps she’ll reconsider. lol!
oh so funny that the blog got to facebook! Cool! I definitely think you should visit. Glad you visited your friend too. I’ll be writing soon about this year’s Valentines Day Caper….you might want to organize something like that for her…
I thought it was fun, too, Dawn. I hope they send their phone number. I would like to call first. Give me a nudge when you write your Valentine’s story. Don’t want to miss it!
Love the cloud photos … we have such interesting skies up here. Just love the different hues of blue …and the different patterns changing frequently and reforming… love stark tree branches against sky!
Love the Animal House story and the possibility of a visit. I sure hope you go, and take more pictures for another blog … sounds so fun!
Glad you got your taxes done. That’s a nice feeling.
Glad about the Gratitude Project! It’s such a delight! Got an unexpected snail mail letter of gratitude today from a former student … the kind that brings you to your knees with joy and – yes – more gratitude!
And I love Mary Oliver’s work. She’s incredible. Thanks for a blog full of such wonderful good things.
Susan, you addressed almost every single one of the wildy-disparate topics in this blog. My first headline was something like “From clouds to rudeness to Mary Oliver”. tee hee…
So glad to hear about your unexpected letter. What a gift!
Thank you for the reminder. I love Mary Oliver’s poems and it has been a while since I’ve read of anything of hers.
Your clouds and skies are beautiful.
Mary Oliver is a gift. I love the simplicity and yet profundity of her observations. She is so often intertwining nature and spirit. I love her analogy of the body and spirit. What a conversation that is!
Kathy, the very same day that I read your post on the dogs on the roof, one of my Facebook friends added a photo to FB of a cow on a roof! It had ended up being there due to the floods in Queensland. The poor cow, I never did hear how they got it down! But at least it didn’t drown in the water, it just floated onto a roof top!
Thanks for introducing me to Mary Oliver’s poems. That’s what I love about visiting you here, you are a veritable well of information! 🙂
How funny, Joanne! Well, sad and funny. I shouldn’t be smiling at that cow image. I am glad to introduce you to Mary Oliver because she’s a wonderful poet who shares nature/spirit in her words. There is something simple yet profound about her writings. Glad you appreciate the wide variety of topics here!
Kathy – I’m a HUGE
Let’s see if I can do that again without hitting the submit button before I’m done…
As I was saying, I’m a HUGE Mary Oliver fan! Two years ago I got to go down to the city (Chicago) to listen to her read her own poetry in person. What a treat!!!!!
Glad to hear you’re a HUGE–that is a HUGE Mary Oliver fan! How wonderful that you got to hear her in person! That would have been fun.
Beautiful colors in “good-morning skies”, Kathy.
Lovely poem. Thanks for sharing Mary Oliver.
You just inspired me to look outside this morning, Marianne and to discover today’s skies. Gray and snowy! Thank you.
Kathy, I echo your sentiments about reading Mary Oliver poems and listening to our elders. It has been said that whenever one of our elders dies it’s like losing a whole library… And if we have a bad memory it’s good to take notes! My late grandfather used to enjoy checking my notes to see if I got the story straight. Imagine my sheepish grin when he pointed out that there was a sextant in his grandfather’s attic, NOT a sexton, as I had mistakenly written… 🙂
I love that your grandpa checked to see if you got the story straight! What a cool way to teach “the youngsters” to pay attention. (I would have written “sexton” too.)