VIEW OF TOLEDO
El Greco
1541-1614
Nationality - Greek-born Spanish
-o0o-
HALFWAY DOWN
A.A. Milne 1882-1956
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!
THE HOUSEMAID IRONING
Konstantin Makovsky
1839-1915
Nationality - Russian
-o0o-
A pretty picture and some thoughts by the American actress Goldie Hawn
The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one.
But it will only grow in the mud.
In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud, the obstacles of life and its suffering. . . .
The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. . . .
Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles - sadness, loss, illness, dying and death.
If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one.
THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS
Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
-o0o-
THE POTATO EATERS
1885
Vincent Van Gogh
1853-90
Oil on Canvas
82cm x 114cm
-o0o-
The sayings of Lao-Tsu
Mastering yourself is true power.
-o0o-
"I think that I shall never see a Poem lovely as a Tree"
- Alfred Joyce Kilmer
-o0o-
Like so many others, my time in the Service began at RAF Padgate. From there, I went on to RAF Bridgenorth, Shropshire for square-bashing, and then to Halton where I trained as a dental assistant. I spent a few weeks at St.Athan in South Wales before being posted to Brize Norton where I would stay for the rest of my service.
Of all the jobs in the RAF at that time, mine surely was the cushiest. Located in Sick Quarters, the dental surgery had a personnel of just two, the dentist and myself. From the time I started at Brize Norton till the day I left for demob, I was never on parade and never had to be inspected. The reason was that, when all the other airmen were on the square at 8.20 a.m., I was with the medical orderlies in Sick Quarters attending to the dental sick parade - and very few reported dental sick!
The first dentist I worked for was Flight-Lieut. Cloutman. He was a real upper-class type who was obviously keen to make the RAF a career. When he was posted elsewhere I was quite glad, and imagine my surprise when his successor turned out to be someone I knew by sight. Flying Officer Copstick had just graduated from Glasgow Dental Hospital and this was his first posting. We worked well together.
Morning break was at ten o’clock, and you could go either to the NAAFI or to the Church Army for tea, coffee, rolls, etc. The Church Army hut was handier and I usually went there. There was always a number of us waiting outside for the door to open, and I remember that each day the radio inside the hall was playing the Housewife’s Choice signature tune.
In many ways my job was just an ordinary five-day week job - free at week ends and in the evenings. Wednesday afternoons were for all kind of sports, and you needed a really good reason to be excused. And yes, I had a good reason! Rehearsing with the concert party and with the Brize Rhythm Group.
Ray Raynor - drums, Pete Davis - string bass, Vic Hardingham - guitar, Pete Munro - vocals, Spencer Dunmore - trumpet, and myself - piano.
THE WHITE HORSE "GAZELLE"
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
1864-1901
Nationality - French
-o0o-
The New Blog
POEMS GUARANTEED NOT TO WEARIE YOU
begins on Saturday 8th June
www.poemsguaranteednottowearieyou.blogspot.com
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