Tag Archives: observation

Oct10

hawk.

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today at school

we looked up

way up

on top

of the carved art pole

covered in languages

all saying one thing

‘peace’

   a hopeful sign

 the kinder

could not stop watching

this beautiful bird

as it flew up to the tree

and off into the sky. 

—

we may be losing the ability

to understand animals who are not pets or horses.

we have less contact with them.

we don’t (most of us) tend to know even cows or pigs,

let alone bears or wolverines or red tailed hawks. 

*-marge piercy

*Marge Piercy (1936) is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. Her work includes Woman on the Edge of Time; He, She and It, which won the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award; and Gone to Soldiers, a New York Times Best Seller, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II. Piercy’s work is rooted in her Jewish heritage, social and political activism, and her feminist ideals. She influenced the Women’s Movement through both her writing and her unconventional life.

Oct18

time sings.

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kinders watch closely as the sand slips away.

—

‘the sand in the hourglass runs from one compartment to the other,

marking the passage of moments with something constant and tangible.

if you watch the flowing sand,

you might see time itself riding the granules.

contrary to popular opinion,

time is not an old white-haired man,

but a laughing child.

and time sings.’      

-vera nazarian

Mar12

it seems the older you get, the more life comes into focus. – john c. maxwell

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(not me, but we share a similar hair color, glasses and attitude)

—

asked to be

in

a focus group

for the company

i bought

my car from

and

had to complete

a series

of  ‘tasks’

in two cars

using

two

new

prototype

technology/navigation

systems

uh-oh

my two

greatest challenges

1. technology

2. navigation

the whole operation

was run

 by two

very serious

engineer/researcher/designer types

armed with

laptops

data

video cameras

poker faces

said they wouldn’t

judge me

but i had to

complete the tasks

asked of me

all on my own

without

any of

their help

very challenging

until

finally

one snapped

and

pushed a button

to get me out of

what i couldn’t

get out of

the other

actually

laughed

out loud

in response to

one of my moves

and

i loved

that they

broke character

and

they loved

that i was

the perfect subject

to test the limits

of their systems

someone who

had no clue

in this area

but could fumble

her way through

without

doing

too much damage

and

trying everything

to solve

the problems

while laughing

all the way

whichever way that was

and

then i got lost

using my own

navigation system

while trying

to get home.

—

clarity affords focus.

– thomas leonard

Mar1

if you ice it, they will skate.

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 ‘Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, I’m going to snow.

If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes,that’s tough. I am going to snow anyway.’ – Maya Angelou

Image

 

how some of us are getting around this week in ann arbor

 Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance. – Yoko Ono

—–

image credit: susannah b.

Feb17

waiting patiently with good company

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i ran into this cheerful couple while waiting my turn in an insurance office. they seemed well-matched and quite happy. i think i overheard one of them say to the other: ‘You got a past, I do too. We’re perfect for each other.’ 

 Image

We have lasted this long close together, so we must have something going for each other.

 Linda McCartney to Paul

 

Feb7

Education is all a matter of building bridges. Ralph Ellison

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the kinders are so proud of what they have built together.  they say it is ‘the biggest thing in the world!’

Whatever good things we build end up building us. –Jim Rohn

 

Dec13

performance anxiety?

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when i was 7, i finally had a chance to meet one of my idols, spiderman, who happened to be at the montgomery wards store at our local mall, at the same time as i was. i saw this as fate, and i could not have been more excited, as he had been one of my idols for as long as i could remember.

waiting in line, anxious, worked up, hopping with joy, i finally made my way up to the front to meet him. i was shy, but i was motivated, and so, i asked him to ‘shoot his webs’ for me, one of my favorite superpowers i’d seen him do on tv many times, enabling him to fly from building to building, saving people, and meting out justice on the bad guys. 

i will never forget his reaction in response to my quiet, but earnest request. he first just looked at me for a moment, smiled, held up his wrists, the place where the webs originated from, and then – nothing happened. it was my turn to stare at him then, and i put my head down and felt bad for him, and for me, said thank you, and just walked away, back to my family, lost in the mall crowd once again. 

—

Wisdom comes by disillusionment. – George Santayana

Dec7

be the wonder

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with my class, discovering a small bit of the world, so huge and all new to them, on a beautiful fall day

—

The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder. – Albert Einstein