Clutterquake

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

Simply thankful

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 08:11:00 +0000

Thanksgiving Morning by MaryElise Tomczak

What are the small things that would make you happy?

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:57:00 +0000

DONE!

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:35:00 +0000

My blogging friend, Lisa Allender (Lisa Allender Writes), wrote a post recently titled My Gratefulness List Tonight Will Be a Long One. She was kind enough to give me permission to reprint it below. (The artwork was not a part of her original post. I found it just for you, Lisa! This is the best image I could produce of it here. If anyone wants to see/buy the print click HERE.)

click to enlarge

What she wrote turned on a light inside my head...a super new way of looking at the old "to-do list" that can be so frustrating (and that my husband abhorred so much when I used to create weekend to-dos it caused regular arguments, so I stopped making them).

Lisa is a working actress who has some exciting projects going on. I hope to make a "done" list in the future that includes: Saw the movie that Lisa Allender is in and it was thrilling and she is great!

Below is the text of Lisa's post:

Gratefulness:
Auditions upcoming, an appointment with a highly-regarded talent agent, and a short film,"Just Us", that should be completed soon!
I cannot describe how empowered I am (finally!) beginning to feel. I suppose like a lot of artist-types, I'm not much of a "planner".I tend to "visualize" a goal, but it often takes me much longer to reach it than it would someone who lives only in the "9-5" world (folks who work ONLY there, in that they are not writing novels, poems, or acting for a living), not for lack of effort or work on my part, but because I am not as organized,or as "efficient" in terms of time management(which goes back to organizational-skills).
But I am excited, because I've even conquered that.
How?
By not writing out "To-Do" lists, and instead, writing a "Done" list, once I've completed tasks.This puts the onus on me, to be fast, to be single-minded(verrrry difficult for me, because in my head it always feels like three or five--or ten things--are happening at once.), to get it done.
So,here's to completion, to getting things finished--in a more timely manner--and to uh, confidence!
Peace,kids.

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a most brilliant clutter

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 10:49:00 +0000

Today is the second blogiversary for Clutterquake. I really appreciate this space sometimes but never feel I must be here. That is what I hope it is for you, too.

In a variation of the famous quote by Ram Dass.........

Be Here Now only if you want to be here now.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons, The Milky Way with the Andromeda Galaxy visible to the upper right hand side, by "Andy"- 13 September 2009

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A perfect simple song sung simply perfectly...a Charlie Chaplin legacy

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:48:00 +0000

Original song, Smile, by Charlie Chaplin in the movie 'Modern Times' 1936

Mother and daughter sing Smile in 2009.
Oona (Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter named for his wife, Oona) & Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's daughter)

Which came first -- the artist or the artistic spark, the photographer or the camera?

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 29 May 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Egg Stand, Travessera de Gracia Market, Barcelona
When I saw this marvelous image at Barcelona Photoblog I asked Carlos Lorenzo, the photographer, for permission to post it in my sidebar. It is well suited to the bird theme that prevails here at Clutterquake. But more than that it represents the sweetest, cheeriest example of simplicity I can imagine. I can't take my eyes off of it, really. The way the merchant so carefully arranged the beautiful eggs cradled in baskets filled with straw is such a marked contrast to the stacks of plastic and/or cardboard egg containers in grocery store cold keepers where I shop.....always with one or two containers tossed aside, lids open to show cracked eggs with dried yolk glued onto the spots where they oozed. The person who assembled this display did so with artistry, care, and whimsy.....and also with respect, both for the fine product and the deserving shopper.

Carlos has one of the best photo blogs in the blogosphere. Each photo is dazzling and the explanations accompanying his shots are keen and poetic. This shot is but one example of his refined skill with the camera that, in his hands, becomes a magic instrument. Thank you, Carlos, for allowing me to share Egg Stand with all who visit this blog.

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"A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything"

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:39:00 +0000

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.*

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:08:00 +0000

One of my fine relatives posted this video at his Facebook page last week. I haven't seen him for awhile (the last time I did he was wearing a pony tail) and I still have not met his wife. So I was really surprised how dark his hair had become and that he had grown a beard. I wrote and asked if he would mind if I posted it on my blog and it was then I learned that this is not him. It is not his wife. The couple in the video are fans of his favorite band...Coldplay...and he found the video on youtube. Well, now the amazing change in his appearance is solved and he and I have had a good laugh.

When I first saw this video -- aside from admiring the people who I thought were members of my family! -- I was impressed by the purity of the film's production. The light sepia tone is so effective and pleasing to the eye. The minimalist room seems fantastic to me as I continue wrestling with clutter and stuff. I am captivated by his cleverness of running the camera on the sly and his quirky dance moves, her intensity at the laptop....and the way the music moves through it all to keep him dancing, keep him glancing her way until the perfect moment when she looks up and the even more perfect moment when he wins her to his arms. May this couple never yearn to acquire more than more magical moments like these.

*Title quote by George Bernard Shaw

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"It is a simple thing"

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 09:10:00 +0000

GrampasFarm by Sue Nosler Gray

Bobbb at Zenspace posts amazing original poems at his blog. When I read this one I asked his permission to reprint it here and he graciously approved. It is an epic work about the sweet simple things in life. As Bobbb reminds us, "Awareness is the key" to appreciating, preserving, and advocating for the Country in this country and the rest of the world.

The wave

~by Bobbb, aka Citizen of Earth

It is easy to become disconnected
Living here in this small depressed city
Schenectady
The meaning of the word has been all but forgotten
Taken from the Mohawk people, twisted by Dutch settlers
Schenectady
The place on the far side of the pines

The meaning is appropriate to me now
As I look from my windows, down upon a neighborhood
That doesn't seem to care
About itself
About each other
About the world we live in

The city seems to be
On the far side of everything

Priorities
Getting to and from work
Shopping
Small talk
People embrace their small groups of friends
While ignoring each other, looking around with disdain and mistrust

In this way
The cop and the drug dealer
The thief and the victim
The wealthy and the poor
The working and the unemployed
The educated and the ignorant
Can all occupy the same street
Hiding behind locked doors

Without conflict
Indifferent to one another
Going on and on

They seem dead to me
Like lifeless robots
Unaware of everything
But their simple everyday programs

Awareness is the key

They do not hear the rain
Only complain about the wet

They measure snow by the weight of the shovel
Rather than by the beauty of the falling white flakes
Or the subtle white shrouds on the trees and over the ground

They measure almost everything, it seems
By the level of inconvenience it brings
To their mundane daily routines
No one smiles, no one sings

But something magic happens
When I turn from this place
And head to the farm
With it's much slower pace

Schenectady is surrounded with a beauty
Most fail to see
The mighty Mohawk, winding down to the even mightier Hudson
Big water, carrying the collected raindrops of a thousand storms
The two rivers sweep their way through farmland and forest

My spirit soars, like the hawks I see
Rising on invisible thermals
Above the checkerboard of trees and fields. so free
As I pass by, moving from the dank urban misery to rural pastures
I begin to breathe differently, my heart beats with a renewed intensity.

Leaving the highway behind
I find myself on familiar old roads
Surrounded by wilderness and farms
Rising up into the hills, until...

This is farm country now
Not factory style industrial farms
Real Farms, kept running with skill and hard work

Priorities revolve around the weather
And the needs of the livestock
Cows to be milked
Chickens to be fed
Fields to be tended

This is where Food comes from
There is an unspoken importance to it all
The Farmers are aware of everything

Awareness is the key

And then the road takes me up a long, long, hill
Murphy hill, the locals call it
Leaving the Cobleskill valley
It carries you into the Catskill highlands

Life is different here
As I approach the family farm
Winter is harsher
Summer is shorter yet sweeter
The air is fresher
The water, cleaner
The terrain, more rugged

Unpaved roads are the norm
They wind their way
From Farm to Farm
Climbing over long languishing hill tops
Or skirting around them for miles.

The hills can be unforgiving
And survival is more tenuous than down below
But the people know it
And the sense of community
Spread over an area measured in square miles
Is far more inclusive and inviting
Than my lonely block back in the city.

People here don't care about your politics
So much as they care about your well being
They stick together with an unspoken understanding
An attitude of independence and interdependence
All rolled into one.

I once arrived at the Farm in a blizzard
Only to find the road freshly plowed
And as I crested the hill, and the house came into sight
I saw nine strangers on the roof
They were going from home to home
Shoveling the massive snowfall from the rooftops
Lest someone's home should collapse from the sheer weight of the snow

No one had asked them to come
It was simply understood.
They had the means, and the time to do the job
They wanted no reward
Protecting neighbors homes is simply what they do

So I offered them hot coffee, and hot chocolate
Which they graciously declined
Fearing that they might not get to every home in the area before dark

So after some small talk, and much smiling
They were off to the next home
People here work hard
But they seem to smile a lot as well

And so it is
There is a phenomenon here
Something that has always stayed with me
And given me comfort when my faith in people has been less than great

It is a simple thing
Yet I find it very reassuring
As I traverse Farmland and wilderness
On the slow unpaved roads

The people here seem truly glad to see you coming
As they work in their yards or sit out on their porches in the warmer months
They smile at you
And if you make the effort to acknowledge their presence
When you pass by

They wave to you

If you feel any sort of a connection to this place at all
You feel compelled to wave back
So you wave and say hello

And if you haven't already
You fall in love with this place, and these people

yoga, and onward

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:55:00 +0000

Yoga Natarajasana by Elena Ray

Something clicked for me when I found this blog, Yoga90, and I have a new commitment to yoga and meditation practice. After being away from both for way too long, today was my seventh straight day in the first round of "Yoga...Everyday for 90 Days." The idea is to begin another round of 90 days upon completing the first one, and on and on.

I realize that, for me, nothing is more important than yoga. There are people and things as important as yoga, but not more. If I'm not connecting to my Self in this way I stop growing and I'm really no good to anyone or any cause.

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