Sunday Meditation #47: I Heard the Meadowlark Sing

I heard the meadowlark sing to me

From upon a roofline high

Tall grass whispered back in chorus

Breathless upon bended knee

Azure dome of heaven

Wheaten cathedral of earth

Wind an ethereal Mass

Sunrise upon my soul

Lungs fill with coolish air

I drop my small machine

Thanks escape parted teeth

I heard the meadowlark sing to me

Jaguar Draws Breath

Gold eyes, heaving flanks,
fangs bared in noonday sunlight,
Memory: her scent

Happy Friday: The Nice Files

Let's just get it out there that this week has been a stinker.  Not catastrophic, not my-house-just-fell-into-a-volcano kind of bad, but a stinker all the same.  A big, greasy wurst of Too much to do, wrapped in a charred pastry Blanket of Angst, topped off with a nasty dollop of Too Many Bills.  Oh, and I was going to be home later than usual.  So it is safe to say that I was all prepared to get home, change into my sweatpants and hide under the pillows on my bed.

Fortunately, there was an alternative waiting for me, times two.

NICE THING #1:  The tea I ordered a week ago, shipped the cheap, slooooow way, finally arrived and was perched on my doorstep.  Hooray!  I likes me some India black tea, of the Assam lineage, and now I have fresh malty/smoky/brisky to warm me up these chilly mornings.

EVEN NICER THING #2:  Earlier this month, I commented on this post by Unmitigated, and made a remark about a book in the background of the photo.  Well, to my pleasant surprise, the lurvely and thoughtful Mary replied to my comment and offered to send me the book if I would read it.  So today, in my mailbox, was the package containing the book*.  How about THAT, dear ones?  That is all kinds of nice, and that made my day.  In New Orleans, they would call that a 'lagniappe', a little something extra, which warms the heart.  If you can, drop by her place and say hello.  Thanks, Mary!

*"The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller" in case you wanted to know.  Yeah, yeah, I'm a geek. 

Sinbad and Mackenzie Phillips

Hey everyone, guess whose birthday it is? Go ahead, guess!

HA! It's MINE! Wooo-hooo, Gogumboityabirthday, Whoot thereitizz, woop!

(The sound of a needle scraping across the record)

It has been brought to my attention that I share a birthday with Sinbad and Mackenzie Phillips. As The Spouse put it so cheerily this morning at breakfast, "You share a birthday with a washed-up comedian and a drug addict! Great company!"

Gee. Thanks. No self-esteem crisis here. No sir. And I am not OLD.

It really would have looked like a brush fire. Don't let two candles fool you.

On the other hand, the Wee Lass presented me with my first present of the day while I was eating breakfast. "Happy Birthday, daddy" she said hands behind her back, "Here's your present!" It was a brand new iPod Classic, black and silver. She's a good kid.

Now I'm going to go play with my new toy. DJ Gumbo is in the house!