Category Archives: time

This busy trifling and frivolous hurry.

quotes, time, women, , , ,

“I know that I am treading on tender ground; but I cannot help thinking that the restless pains we take to cram up every little vacuity of life, by crowding one new thing upon another, rather creates a thirst for novelty than knowledge; and is but a well-disguised contrivance to keep us in after-life more effectually from conversing with ourselves.

“The care taken to prevent ennui is but a creditable plan for promoting self-ignorance. We run from one occupation to another (I speak of those arts to which little intellect is applied) with a view to lighten the pressure of time; above all to save us from our own thoughts; whereas, were we thrown a little more on our own hands, we might at last be driven, by way of something to do, to try to get acquainted with our own hearts; and though our being less absorbed by this busy trifling and frivolous hurry, might render us somewhat more sensible of the taedium of life, might not this very sensation tend to quicken our pursuit of a better?”

— Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, 1799

Images of 2023

calendar, history, time, ,

I’ve enjoyed the very customized compilations on other blogs, of images and stories from the year just behind us. In attempting my own collection, I found it hard to choose just one picture from each month, of those already in my blog files. But as the year went…

In January, this fellow exercised himself very impressively to get at my suet feeder:


In February, I received a Valentine cookie gift from Colorado grandchildren. ❤


In March, my potted tarragon sprang up:

In April, a hike to the beach with family:

In May, our book group drank goat milk and ate goat cheese (yes, and pizza) while discussing Heidi:


In June, my garden bathed in the sunshine:


In July, I watched the rain from the porch of Kate’s Washington, D.C. home:


In August, I continued my (seeded) sourdough experiments:


In September, I played with my great-granddaughter at her uncle’s wedding:


In October, I went exploring in the woods with Pippin’s family:


In November, the zinnias kept blooming and blooming…


And in the last month of the year, my soul was filled by the Christ Child:

Happy New Year to you all!

Stars with a Now from long ago.

poetry, time, winter, , ,

WHAT NOW IS LIKE

Let’s go see what Now
is like outside.
Let’s open the door
look up at the sky
feel the cold night air
on our noses.
Let’s look at our breath
as we walk out
to the street.
Let’s look at how Now
holds the moon
in black branches,
how stars shine down
with a Now from long
long ago, how
they stare down
on our Now which
has coaxed them
to wink at us.
Let’s listen
to the night sounds
that rove the dark Now
beneath the traffic.
Let’s stop, look back
into the Now at the end
of the street; there
is something there
but I know it is behind us
in a place called Then
where our footprints
have forgotten
we ever made them.

-Tamara Madison

Everything dances with its strict negation.

poetry, time, , ,

EVENING

Another word I love is evening
for the balance it implies, balance
being something I struggle with.
I suppose I would like to be more
a planet, turning in & out of light.
It comes down again to polarities,
equilibrium. Evening. The moths
take the place of the butterflies,
owls the place of hawks, coyotes
for dogs, stillness for business,
& the great sorrow of brightness
makes way for its own sorrow.
Everything dances with its strict
negation, & I like that. I have no
choice but to like that. Systems
are evening out all around us—
even now, as we kneel before
a new & ruthless circumstance.
Where would I like to be in five
years, someone asks—& what
can I tell them? Surrendering
with grace to the evening, with
as much grace as I can muster
to the circumstance of darkness,
which is only something else
that does not stay.

-Jeremy Radin

Lake Tahoe, California