Serendipity?

You pick up the dictionary, a large one, to look a word up. You run your finger along the top edge of the pages, and casually flip open the tome. The word you had in mind to look up is 'paraclete'. And the page you open on the first try is page 862 - 'par' to 'paralipomena'.

And there in the middle of the page is Paraclete - n. the Holy Spirit as advocate or counsellor (John 14:16, 26, etc.)

Doesn't happen very often, does it?

Paperclips

Everything you might ever want to know about the humble paperclip.

CLICK HERE

Cloudless

And today, there isn't a single cloud to be seen.

* * * * *

Never can tell from one day to the next. You think everything's fine. You're in great (okay, reasonably good) shape. The world's your oyster. Then it comes. Out of the blue. Poof!

* * * * *

Clouds

Cloudy today, chance of rain. My video camera is set up on a tripod on the deck outside, with the lens pointing skyward at the moving clouds. You have to adjust the exposure manually, so that it remains constant, or else the dark cloud shadows might distort the image by making the camera over-compensate with its auto-exposure. You then set the camera on interval timer to take shots two seconds apart, instead of leaving it continuously running at 29.97 frames per second. Of course you need to supply AC power, as the camera battery will not handle taping for very long.

The clouds move slowly, driven by a steady wind. Moisture-laden, a tinge of violet on their underbellies, the large white puffs sail on. With the naked eye, you don't really see them change much, these objects that float across the blue sky like giant blobs of cotton candy. The camera gently whirs, clicks, and whirs again.

Ideally the landscape against which the clouds are framed should remain quiescent, as there is no noticeable wind. Ideally the resulting video should show only the clouds moving, smoothly and steadily. But in reality there will always be a little movement in the leaves and the branches, and the video reveals that with a jerky, oldtime movie look at the edges where the trees are visible.

So then we point the lens away from the framing greenery, and zoom it out so that only the sky appears in the frame. And this works, but you lose the sense of scale that the framing trees and branches provide. You can't have it both ways.

It's cold out there on the deck. It's late April, and it's cold. So, a nice strong cup of tea, with a large dollop of sweetened condensed milk. Just to warm you up a little.

Click here to see the Clouds

or here to see Take 2

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”

The sharp-eyed among visitors to this blog will notice that its name has been changed to reflect the difference between desire and reality. When I began about a year and a half ago, I had hoped to post something here every day. Hence the supremely optimistic title, The Daily Muse.

The new title will more accurately describe what I have been actually able to come up with -- words or pictures a few times a week, and then more frequently after an extended vacation trip.

Does changing the title affect our mission? Probably not. But then, what is our mssion anyhow?

Stay tuned.

The City without Fog

Street scene - Columbus at Stockton

Sunny Sunday in Washington Square

Definitely No Parking

Virginia Tech

What can we say to express our sorrow and outrage over today's massacre.

Why? Why? Why?

A Favorite Poem

This has remained one of my favorite poems since college days. It has acquired greater significance for me with each passing year. For indeed, the time, she does pass more and more quickly.

You, Andrew Marvell

And here face down beneath the sun

And here upon earth's noonward height

To feel the always coming on

The always rising of the night

To feel creep up the curving east

The earthy chill of dusk and slow

Upon those under lands the vast

And ever climbing shadow grow

And strange at Ecbatan the trees

Take leaf by leaf the evening strange

The flooding dark about their knees

The mountains over Persia change

And now at Kermanshah the gate

Dark empty and the withered grass

And through the twilight now the late

Few travelers in the westward pass

And Baghdad darken and the bridge

Across the silent river gone

And through Arabia the edge

Of evening widen and steal on

And deepen on Palmyra's street

The wheel rut in the ruined stone

And Lebanon fade out and Crete

High through the clouds and overblown

And over Sicily the air

Still flashing with the landward gulls

And loom and slowly disappear

The sails above the shadowy hulls

And Spain go under and the shore

Of Africa the gilded sand

And evening vanish and no more

The low pale light across that land

Nor now the long light on the sea

And here face downward in the sun

To feel how swift how secretly

The shadow of the night comes on . . .

______________________________________

- Archibald MacLeish -

Paper Email

So now we know. Google is offering a new service. You can have your emails printed on real paper and mailed to you. Saves you having to do it yourself, see?

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/index.html

It was announced April 1, dontcha know? What won't those clever folks at Google think of next?

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Places We've Visited

Here are more pictures taken in eastern Canada a few years ago with my Nikon 2 megapixel camera. The only adjustments to the original images are in alignment and cropping. You can enlarge the images by clicking on them.

Early morning, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Lake of the Thousand Islands, St Lawrence River

Thousand Islands

Lunenberg, Nova Scotia

Death of a good friend

In the early hours of Easter morning, a close friend of ours departed this life.

He had entered the hospital, accompanied by his wife, for tests preparatory to possible surgery. While he was there, a crisis occurred that called for emergency care. Sadly, he did not overcome the crisis, and his heart gave out.

A loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend, he will be greatly missed by all who knew him, as much for his generosity of spirit as for his affability and wry wit.

To his dear wife and children, our heartfelt sympathy on their loss.

A Dry Spell

Early morning, St John's, New Brunswick

Peterhof Palace, St Petersburg, Russia

Old paddlewheel steamer, Regensburg, Bavaria

Church interior, Tallinn, Estonia

The succession of pictures being posted to this blog can perhaps be attributed to a dry spell in the words department. There has not been much of any significance to write about, and so the words do not come as readily as in the past. We needn't call it a writer's block exactly, and even if it should turn out to be that, let's hope that it'll be a short one, and that inspiration will return in short order.

We could of course talk about the weather. Yes, the weather has been mild, even a bit chilly in the mornings, enough to make one wonder about all this talk of global warming. The trees are in bloom, and a beautiful sight they are too. It is allergy season, of course, with all the sneezing and watery eyes that come with it. The birds are making full use of our feeder, which is filled with wild bird seed in the morning, and completely empty by early afternoon.

We need to get a new hummingbird feeder, preferably one which will deny access to those darn voracious ants. It's amazing how the critters can find sources of sweetness even in the most remote and unlikely locations.

We wish everyone a very happy Easter. (Gosh, is it Easter already. Seems like we only just got over Christmas.)

More Views of The City

Ferry approaching Alcatraz Island

From Coit Tower looking south

From Coit Tower looking east

The Golden Gate Bridge from Seacliff

The City from the Palace of the Legion of Honor

Album Images

Approaching Storm

The Shining City