How bountiful

The majestic sweep of bridge and sky, 

The mountains and the sea conspire 

To remind us just how small we are, 

And how fortunate, to reap the benefits 

Of living in so bountiful an environment.

Simple things

So kind of you to leave us your chairs 

That we might pause to enjoy the view 

While out on our evening walk. 

Imagine if kindness and finding pleasure 

In simple things 

Were goals all of us bought into…

Ordinary beauty

Perhaps, as John Cowper Powys suggests, 

Life would be sweeter 

 If we could learn to appreciate — Even enjoy — 

The beauty in the ordinary, 

So that even a trip to the mailbox 

Becomes a pleasant excursion…

Fire season

It’s fire season in our fair state, 

And though our little corner has been lucky so far, 

The major road onto our peninsula was closed 

All Thursday day and night 

For a fire that was finally contained 

But still burning when we drove out Friday. 

And so we were doubly grateful

for last night’s rain…

Seeking answers

Like the squirrel who leaps into my fig tree 

To sample its wares, 

We sample the answers 

 The world has to offer 

To the questions that trouble us most: 

Why, and what if, and how did this happen, 

And what might I do 

To accept or improve circumstances?

Simple pleasures

Let us never be so carried away 

By life’s trials and tribulations 

 That we forget to be grateful 

 For the simple pleasures that can greet us, 

Even in our darkest moments.

Abstraction

Abstraction requires a tolerance for ambiguity; 

An ability to live in a world 

That cannot be reduced to black and white 

Or right and wrong; 

Where one thing merges into another 

And the underlying understanding is 

That somehow, somewhere, 

Beneath all we know to be separate, 

Everything connects in mysterious ways.