Monday

Rich red and orange flames
Perfect form, surging, undulating
Burning hot with a purpose
The fair-haired flax
Wrapping, engulfing, purging
Freeing invisible denying bonds
Rolling up mounds and spires
Across the prominent knolls
Down through the dell and gorge
Burning and healing
Filtering, cleaning
Distilling the sully
Against a smoky blue sky

Friday Music - The xx

I'm eating too much, feeling sorry for myself, wanting to say hello...

A Moral Dilemma

I want to know what you would do.

This afternoon, my sons baseball team's opponent had a player with a medical condition which limited his ability to focus. I'm not sure of his exact condition (we were informed by another family in the stands). He played right field, most of the time not paying attention to the game, his focus instead being directed to something over the right field fence, his back facing the action. The only time a ball was hit to him, he didn't seem to realize the ball was near him until after it had rolled past him.

This is not about whether or not he should have been playing baseball. I think his inclusion is commendable, a life lesson for us all.

My son's team didn't try to hit to right field, and his coaches didn't tell them to do so either.

You are playing in a competitive league, where wins and loses matter, and the teams on the field are the teams on the field. If you were the coach for a team playing against his, would you tell your players to try to hit to right field?  Would you look down on a coach who told his players to do so?  Is it fair to the kids on your team to tell them to avoid hitting it to right field?  What if you said nothing and your team just naturally started to hit it out to right?  When you know some people would be extremely critical of you, implying your team is intentionally trying to hit it to him, what would you tell to your team to do then?

Friday Music - Ana Tijoux

I see you getting smaller in my side mirror...

Creepy, but Cool

I found this abandon playground in the middle of a thick woods, in the wealthy suburbs.  I stumbled upon it when I was looking at a map for a park for one of my kids sporting events and it showed tennis courts behind the tree line behind my kids field.  There were no formal trails, so I went to explore and found hidden gold.  Creepy but cool.

The Yard

It's been a busy year
And with all of the fluster of life,
I noticed I still needed to do some work.
In my yard.

When I bought my house,
My backyard was a mess.
The previous owner had numerous dogs,
Which had destroyed the verdant display.

My reclamation project was tedious,
But successful.
What was once a grainy dirt,
Bloomed a vibrant patch, my patch
of emerald grass.

Over the years I've tended to it,
Maintained and fixed,
Weeded and treated,
Mowed and watered.
There were times where grass,
Would die off.
I would grab the seed and rake.

Now my yard features beautiful scars.
Muddy dirt tracks created by my children,
Playing with each other on warm days.
The kickball home plate,
The bullpen my son uses to practice,
Loving blemishes I dare not fix.

This year, the winter snow
Left some dead spots on the grass
Abutting the driveway.
There was also the never ending problem
Of the grass on my yard's other side
By the neighbors.
They accidentally spilled fuel one year,
Child debris from the day care kids she watches,
And when he comes back at all hours,
He usually will miss the driveway with his tires
Leaving a sad mess.

I have the time this year.
I made it a late summer priority.
With rake and seed in hand,
I took on the troubled areas,
Sowing and watering until,
The kelly turf started to sprout.

The yard, with it's new imperfections, blossoms.

More Cool Art

The owl video is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Friday Music - Ryn Weaver

The more I understand you, the bigger the mystery.

Thecla's Butterflies