Clutterquake

Clutterquake 8th Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 08:17:00 +0000

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

— Albert Einstein

Hmmm. Eight years ago I started this blog because I felt a need to clear clutter from my life. I have not done so well in sorting through boxes of papers and old photos, closets, and individual drawers. And now? Time is moving along and I feel stuck and panicky with the clutter still in my life. The physical stuff that is in my way compounds to become mental clutter, which, in turn, negatively affects my mental and physical health.

I am sick of it. That's all. I will let you know what steps I take to ensure that in no way could I compose a similar post on the ninth anniversary of Clutterquake. I hope this is the important first step.
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time for emptying

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 09:46:00 +0000

Living in open hibernation
with jade-hued trees —
Water features in their lives,
and in mine.

The sky takes
notice - shows a sheen more
glowing than my heart's
golden light in this temple
of stone and glass emptying
of itself.

Soon, clouds follow and
the sacred forest listens
as my temple hums and
glistens, emptying.

~~~

I wrote this for a writing prompt at my other blog, but afterward thought how it fit here as well. I have been remiss in posting at this blog. That may change as I think I need to use it as therapy in emptying my house of yet more "things" that I do not want.

______
Above: 'villa cipea' in nanjing, china by sanaksenaho architects ltd, 2009 Image from the 'contemporary architecture in finland' exhibition at kunst merano, italy.
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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:17:00 +0000

Wabi Water 2 by Trevett Allen

New Year Resolve
-by May Sarton

The time has come

To stop allowing the clutter

To clutter my mind

Like dirty snow,

Shove it off and find

Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,

Let silence in like a cat

Who has sat at my door

Neither wild nor strange

Hoping for food from my store

And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.

She will rarely speak or mew,

She will sleep on my bed

And all I have ever been

Either false or true

Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not

As old age silts the stream,

To shove away the clutter,

To untie every knot,

To take the time to dream,

To come back to still water.

I was surprised to realize how long it had been since posting at this blog. Ironically, the reasons all have to do with clutter, of one sort or another, currently in my life. I owe thanks to Annie at
A Tidings of Magpies for posting this wonderful poem at New Years at her blog. It is telling that a month elapsed before I got around to posting it here. Might be time for me to pay attention to my reasons for creating this blog....

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flame

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:47:00 +0000

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

--Albert Schweitzer

[Note: Image by Maharik]
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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:43:00 +0000

a different meditation

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:05:00 +0000

I found this at Elephant Journal, where Kristin Luce wrote these beautiful words to accompany the video:

This video will do in five minutes what takes your meditation two hours.

What separates “boring” from “peaceful”?

Arguably it is the magic and beauty of innocence that emerges when we are truly open. Anyone who has practiced sitting meditation for more than a few minutes knows that you have to sit through a lot of “boring” (and sometimes worse) before the peace and magic begins.

This video of a baby’s first bath, on the other hand, cuts straight to the chase!

a sweet little story

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 07:10:00 +0000

My friend, Amber Lee, who is the author of deeply asleep and profoundly awake, created this charming video last week. I thought you would be as enchanted by it as I am.
This is how Amber Lee described it in her blog:

I made this last night! I was drinking wine and using a paper bag to wrap some gifts (yes, I am poor and cheap) and I started playing around with cutting out little characters. I'm in love with it :) .

reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Tue, 22 May 2012 06:35:00 +0000

image by cure via Pixdaus

If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days.

~Dorothy Canfield Fisher, social activist

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"He's a very special little man."

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:39:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:44:00 +0000

image via tumblr.

Poem and new blog by my friend, Eman

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:51:00 +0000

Sing .. Sing little bird... Let your voice be heard... Sing Sing loud and clear... drive away your fear...for God still hear watching over you... don,t ever be blue!!... Fly .. Fly to the SUN ... spread your wings don,t RUN... for there must be LOVE somewhere ... you will find SOMEONE to CARE... So, Sing sing little bird ... let your voice be heard... forget all your SORROW ... for there,s always TOMORROW......

written By: Eman El-sheikh

I have a beautiful Muslim friend, who is the author of the poem above. Eman and I became friends via Facebook and we had a strong connection right from the beginning because we both admire Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens). It was at his site that we met, as we both left comments there and "liked" what the other wrote!

When Eman posted this beautiful image and her lovely poem on her Facebook wall last month I asked if I might re-post them here. The empty birdcage/bird flying free is my icon at Clutterquake, and you will notice that I have various images all down the sidebar in keeping with that topic. I will add the image above to my sidebar and will think of Eman each time I see it there.

Eman has a brand new blog titled We are the world. I just became her first follower, and it was an honor to do so. Stop by her blog to say hello if you have an extra moment or two to make a new friend!

Thank you for your poem and for your friendship, Eman. You are a very special woman and light in the world.

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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:19:00 +0000

Go where the woods in beauty sleep . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:29:00 +0000

Deep Forest by Lutz Baar

Pleasure by Charlotte Bronte

A Short Poem or Else Not Say I

True pleasure breathes not city air,
Nor in Art's temples dwells,
In palaces and towers where
The voice of Grandeur dwells.

No! Seek it where high Nature holds
Her court 'mid stately groves,
Where she her majesty unfolds,
And in fresh beauty moves;

Where thousand birds of sweetest song,
The wildly rushing storm
And hundred streams which glide along,
Her mighty concert form!

Go where the woods in beauty sleep
Bathed in pale Luna's light,
Or where among their branches sweep
The hollow sounds of night.

Go where the warbling nightingale
In gushes rich doth sing,
Till all the lonely, quiet vale
With melody doth ring.

Go, sit upon a mountain steep,
And view the prospect round;
The hills and vales, the valley's sweep,
The far horizon bound.

Then view the wide sky overhead,
The still, deep vault of blue,
The sun which golden light doth shed,
The clouds of pearly hue.

And as you gaze on this vast scene
Your thoughts will journey far,
Though hundred years should roll between
On Time's swift-passing car.

To ages when the earth was young,
When patriarchs, grey and old,
The praises of their god oft sung,
And oft his mercies told.

You see them with their beards of snow,
Their robes of ample form,
Their lives whose peaceful, gentle flow,
Felt seldom passion's storm.

Then a calm, solemn pleasure steals
Into your inmost mind;
A quiet aura your spirit feels,
A softened stillness kind.

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:07:00 +0000

the key by Derrick Diemont

Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart.

-Anthony D'Angelo

~~extraordinary

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:04:00 +0000

--from description at youtube:

Gregory Colbert has used both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. His exhibition, Ashes and Snow, consists of over 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute film, and two 9-minute film haikus.

This excerpt is entitled Feather to Fire, and is narrated in three languages by Laurence Fishburne (English), Ken Watanabe (Japanese), and Enrique Rocha (Spanish).

More information about Gregory Colbert and Ashes and Snow is available at www.ashesandsnow.com.

Ashes and Snow® and Nomadic Museum® are registered trademarks of Gregory Colbert.

The Force has been with Clutterquake for three years

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:34:00 +0000

Today is Clutterquake's third blogiversary. I wish I had something profound to say, but I don't. I wish I could report to you that I have cleared all of my clutter during these three years, but I haven't. In a way that is a good thing because it means I still need this blog as a retreat and a place to work out my "issues" that keep me stuck in certain areas of my life. I've been working more on them lately in the space of my mind and perhaps I will work more on them in year four in the space of this blog.

While considering how I did not have anything profound to say I realized that it is, at least, an uncluttered state of mind. And from there I will simply thank you sincerely for coming 'round here and for being a silent partner in my quiet place.

I thought this three-year-old describing Star Wars was a fun way to celebrate three-year-old Clutterquake. She cuts to the chase in encapsulating the epic films in one short video. Perfect.
Yoda would add,“Younglings, younglings gather 'round.”

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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:05:00 +0000

The video I had here was removed. For the life of me, I cannot remember what the video was and could not tell from the HTML embedding language when I looked before deleting it. I would delete the post altogether but want to save it because of the kind comment from Deborah!

"eternal little tune"

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:57:00 +0000

About this production:

Song notes from the CD "Mason Williams: Music 1968 - 1971
"Sunflower" is a melody that comes from an experimental composition device I invented in which a word is used to create a melody. The intervals of the "Sunflower" melody are based on the word cantilever. I probably should have named the piece "Cantilever", especially in light of the way the unresolved last cord sort of leaves you dangling in space, but I decided to use it for a short art film I wanted to make called "Sunflower". . .

. . . The concept was to make the word's biggest sunflower by using the real sun as the blossom and having a skywriter "draw" the stem and leaves below it, thereby creating, for a brief moment, a giant sunflower on the horizon. However the sun's harsh rays blotted out the image on the film, so I ended up with only a couple of photographs and this eternal little tune.

Reading in bed

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Fri, 06 May 2011 08:48:00 +0000

Reading in Bed -by Helen H. Moore

Oh, what could be better
Than reading in bed,
Or thinking about
All the books that you've read?

With someone who loves you,
A father, a mother,
A doll, or a pet,
Or a sister or brother,

A grandma, a grandpa,
An uncle, an aunt -
(Can you think of anything better?
I can't!)

While outside the sky
Is all twinkling with light,
From stars that shine down
As we sleep through the night.

Oh, what could be better
Than sleeping in bed,
When the books that you love
Fill the dreams in your head?

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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:53:00 +0000

impermanence. everywhere. always.

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:14:00 +0000

By the roadside grew
A rose of Sharon.
My horse
Has just eaten it.

-Matsuo Basho

photo via Stargazer Perennials
(spring will come)

wisdom via Wabi Sabi-The Art of Everyday Life, by Diane Durston
(there is comfort between the covers)

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my kind of prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:31:00 +0000

In December 2010 my husband and I saw Leonard Cohen in concert with his remarkable group of musicians and three back-up singers. It was the best concert I ever attended. He introduced the Webb Sisters then as he did in this video by speaking the lyrics and then the Webb Sisters soared in song.

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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Lovers by Marina Petro

Passing Time
-by Maya Angelou

Your skin like dawn
Mine like musk

One paints the beginning
of a certain end.

The other, the end of a
sure beginning.

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noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 09:29:00 +0000

Clarity by Gary Tumilty

For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.

~Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781)

Un-shopping suggestion

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:25:00 +0000

Reading in the Green Room by Jennifer Lommers

I don't know what your childhood was like, but we didn't have much money. We'd go to a movie on a Saturday night, then on Wednesday night my parents would walk us over to the library. It was such a big deal, to go in and get my own book.

~ Robert Redford