Love And Kindness...

Hearts for valentines...

The weather has been grey and a tad gloomy, but inside I'm humming and feeling cheery...  It will soon be Valentines day - possibly my most favorite of all holidays, that makes the most sense, and makes my heart sing... How about you? Does Valentines Day make you smile, or sing, or hum?

When I was younger "love" had to look a certain way, but as I get older, I see the value of "Love" in all its guises.

Love is worthy of celebrating,  I will be writing and sharing over the next few days... I hope you'll join me.

Love,

Neinah

KINDNESS

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in the white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and

purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking or,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

~o~o~o~

Walking The Beach In The Rain...

Having been camped up the house for a day and a half, we decided a walk on the nearby beach would be good, regardless of the winter rain...

Walking along the beached logs...

some look like giant whale vertebrae.

In a driftwood house...

we found sanctuary from the rain.

I loved these sweet little sea birds, as they joyfully played in the chilly

water.  Swimming and diving like synchronized swimmers with dear little

swim caps on their heads... (any idea's on what they might be?)

Who was watching who..???  I'm not sure, but these NorthWest Crows

have certainly got their act together, feeding on all manner of shellfish, washed-up

half eaten carrion, and of course goodies that unsuspecting picnic-ers who turn there 

back for a second and don't know how wily these corvid characters can be... 

I love going to the beach at any time of year,,, its ever changing, inspiring and beautiful.

Here's a Mary Oliver poem I'd like to share...

Winter

And the waves

gush pearls

from their snowy throats

as they come 

leaping 

over the moss-green,

black-green,

glass-green roughage--

as they crumble

on the incline

scattering

whatever they carry

in their invisible

and motherly

hands:

stones,

seaweed,

mussels,

icy and plump

with waled shells,

waiting

for the gatherers

who come flying

on their long white wings--

who comes walking,

who comes muttering:

thank you,

old dainties,

dark wreckage,

coins of the sea

in my pockets

and plenty for the gulls

and wind still pounding

and the sea still streaming in like a mother wild with gifts--

in this world i am as rich

as I need to be.