Fun Caption

It's automatic... I see an image and my mind starts contriving the message in it... its 'caption.' So, I am going to begin, today, sharing some of my favorites with you. I do hope that you too will enjoy them.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL OF MY GRAND PLANS ?


Image: Katy Lowe, a contributing viewer of BBC

I Remember

Today is designated “Memorial Day” in the USA.

And, lest any of my compatriots from what we not-so-fondly remember as the “Viet Nam Era” think that the fears; the pain; the Brotherhood; the confusion, disillusionments, Camaraderie, uncertainties, or anguish of those days have been somehow forgotten.

Please know that… On this (as on many other) days… I remember ! “Semper Fi”


IMAGES: Collage of Me, USMC (1964-1970)

The Morning After

And then... there's the Morning After... when the sea of emotion spawned by the familiar face, the rediscovered greeting card, the soul-stirring song recedes back to its place of beginning... and I am left with the barren sands of... Now.

But, we ask, would I have it any other way? Would I prefer a becalmed pond of still and dormant sameness for the purpose of avoiding the swing of life's emotional pendulum? "Never!" I heartily declare. For to be denied the thrill, the zest, the flavour of that sumptuous moment of relived feeling and sensation would be a fate that robs living of its peaks, its spices, its 'rush.' And that bland existence would scarcely be worth the lifting of awakening eyelids in the morning. No, My Friend, please give me those rare and isolated instances of passionate awareness and intimacy with my deepest of recollections. For those treats and favors carry me through many a day devoid of any inspiration.

And, that you may be able to identify with, and share in the balance of life's ebb and flow with me... I give you this follow-up to yesterday's special gift. For, as I have oft promised you, we are, indeed, in this living business... together.


IMAGE through the talents and courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto.org

Not Alone

I am convinced that I am not alone. I feel some measure of certainty that you too have isolated moments of recollection brought on by the appearance of a familiar face. It seems somehow not out of the ordinary for me to experience renewed emotion when I uncover an old greeting card saved for its particular place in the annals of my life’s passage. Perhaps you have some set-aside memorabilia that you can just see or touch to unleash anew that still-fresh awareness of something worthy of cherishing.

But we… you and I… seldom speak of these things. Hence, we have no easy, comfortable, and usual vocabulary for inclusion of these aspects of ourselves in our present living. I am writing today to (in some small measure) remedy that oversight. For, My Dear Friend, I am presently living in the midst of a very real and tangible awareness of all of the sensations appreciated in a romance and passion of many years ago. I do not know Life's purpose in today's delightful gift. But, Dear Friend, I can candidly tell you that it is a wonderful experience. So, I share it with you.

It began with an image seen as a “thumb-nail” photo on the periphery of a page on an online dating site. The eyes were Her’s. The shape and proportion of features of the face were Her’s. The over-all effect of facial expression was just as familiar as yesterday, though it has been well over seventeen years since we last saw each other. This person's stated location was within a few miles of where I addressed the last letter that I posted to Her.

I was overwhelmed with emotion! At a complete loss as to how to react, I sent an absurdly obtuse message to the person on the Site… which she deleted, after reading. I find myself, still today, not knowing how to respond to the surge of powers loosened by this glimpse of an anonymous “Someone” who has awakened all of the circuitry of energies generated by the very thought of Her.

Then, as I opened the small archive of saved mementoes and correspondences, I uncovered the greeting card with the “Happy Anniversary” message (the image created by Renoir that accompanies this message is the image on that card.) And, again, the intensity of my feelings is heightened with Her words spoken on that card back in 1989. And I am further aware that, as of April 8 of 2008, it will be twenty years since we first met… And I am as much in love with her at this very moment as I was then or at any point after then.

It is a comfortable, Peaceful, Undemanding, Non-threatening, Accepting, Forgiving, Funny, Silly, Giddy, Deep, Profound, and Gentle Love. It requires nothing other than itself. It is complete in every way. It could in no way be improved upon (though Her presence would be a wonderful enhancement!) And I am abundantly grateful for this Love’s place in the totality of my Being.

All of the aforesaid ideas, thoughts, and impressions were visited upon me during the pre-dawn hours of this morning that found me making my newspaper deliveries. And… yes… I did have a moment of self-doubt as to the wisdom, maturity, prudence, and rational rightness of such thinking. And right on cue! At that very moment… Life responded with a beautiful and timely reply in the form of the playing of one of Our favorite and most poignant songs… played on the one still-functioning speaker of my van’s radio. I listened, sang, smiled, and celebrated it as it played… then turned the radio off lest the spell be broken. I share with you now (for your very own revisiting of your treasured moments and memories), the words to “Endless Love.”

Endless Love - Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

My Love… there's only you in my life…
The only thing that's right.

My First Love… you're every breath that I take…
You're every step I make.

And I… I want to share all my love with you…
No one else will do.

And your eyes… they tell me how much you care…
Oh, yes… you will always be… My Endless Love.

Two hearts… two hearts that beat as one…
Our lives have just begun.

Forever… I'll hold you close in my arms…
I can't resist your charms.

And love… I'll be a fool for you, I'm sure…
You know I don't mind.

'Cause you… you mean the world to me…
Oh, I… know I found… in you… My Endless Love.

And love… I'll be that fool for you…
I'm sure you know I don't mind.

And yes… you'll be the only one…
'Cause no one can deny…This love I have inside…
And I'll give it all to you… my love… My Endless Love.

Terry-Cloth Robe

Your intention was to compliment…
by telling me that you remembered.

Then you revealed that your recollection was
initiated by your experiencing the same with Another.

In this, I found neither compliment nor pleasure.
All that I knew was a sense of loss.

There was no joy in my knowing that what was once held
as a singular Treasure…
Is reduced, by your valuation… to meaninglessness.

For That which had been cherished as rare and precious…
Is now tossed into a jar of accumulated trinkets.

John-Michael
(24 May 2007)

The Right Light

Our beauty

is often not

to be found

in our details…










But is evident

to all who

see us in

the right light.











IMAGES: (upper) Carl Portman, (lower) Mike Thompson, BBC Viewers

Ultimate Blossom

Mine is an unyielding quest for an elusive state…
An unquenchable thirst for a nectar whose sample has been but a drop…
Yet that addictive drop provided the validation of Possibility…
The possibility of knowing life’s ultimate blossom.

It is in the center of that blossom that I must ultimately reside…
Encased in delicate petals of exquisite hue…
Permeated with a fragrance that beckons and invites…
Cradled by a touch whose presence is only a suggestion of touch.

The flower of her adoration…
The bloom of her desire…
The potential of her possibility…
All invite me to seek that next opportunity to discover her.


John-Michael
11 May 2007

Fleeting Moment

It was but for a fleeting moment…
I greeted You… You responded with an invitation “to talk.”

I reflected my delight in your invitation…
You were charmed by my delight.

I was captivated by your charm… and said so…
You were overwhelmed by my captivation… and willingness to speak it.

I made myself available…
You saw no future possibilities.

You voiced withdrawal… and deleted me…
I acquiesced… and deleted You.

The meeting virtual… the responses emotional…
The effects unnatural.

From Here to There… and back again…
All in a fleeting moment


John-Michael
09 May 2007

Loving Now

Fell asleep sitting under the oak tree... nice breeze, low 60's, fed a whole loaf of bread to a variety of birds and squirrels after pruning trees and shrubs. Had the last beer, propped up the throbbing hip and knee, and blissfully drifted off. Then awoke, and came in to write:

Loving Now

Is there any other way to love you…
Save to love you as I know you right now?

Can I enjoy you beyond the limits of this circumstance…
Is there some other dimension that we can experience one another in?

Will the confines of this aspect always be the definition of our knowledge…
Or will not each succeeding moment bring with it some fresh description?

Hence, it seems to me… Now is the time to love…
In this here and present.

Within the confines of this combination of elements,
I find myself loving you.

Without question of, interest in, or concern about…
The setting that awaits my next opportunity... to love you still.

John-Michael
(08 May 2007)



IMAGE: Grant Taylor

It's Intimacy !

“It’s intimacy!”

“What?”

“Intimacy!… that’s what you found in the chance encounter with the stranger in the office.” I offered. “You and he connected in a personal, immediate, and un-cluttered, spontaneous intimacy which, obviously, you both had a very ready yearning for.”

Then… silence… and tears… and a complete shift in the dynamic of our meeting. We were no longer sharing in the “magic” of the recounting of a mystical and wondrous happening. Now we were suddenly immersed in a reality moment.

“That is what We had… what drew Us to each other… what I have missed and wanted back, but didn’t know the name of until right now. And now, now that you have identified the element of my yearning, I want back what We had… with Him… not someone else.”

And for the first time in my own personal conscious awareness, I, My Dear Reader, was confronted (by that source known to the ages as “Muse”, or “Still Small Voice”) with the tangible character of Intimacy. Not something that is done… neither activity nor planned exercise, but a state of BEing. For, don’t you see, we can only BE intimate, intimacy is not something “done.” Intimacy is a state of being that creates its own ecosystem. There is an environment that lives… colours that vibrate… life forms that flourish in a state of intimacy that would wither and cease to exist outside of those elements that are particular to intimacy.

So, today, in this moment of your consideration, I ask that you sweep aside all of the detritus of life’s “Doing Stuff” and make a place for Being intimate. First with yourself… “Know Thyself”… honor thyself… respect thyself… be intimate and allow an awareness of your true yearnings. Then permit a barrier-free state of intimacy to happen with a trusted “Other.”


IMAGE: Courtesy of R&K4everloved, The Lens Flare

Your Song

How long has it been since your soul was so full and overflowing that you simply had to sing? Yesterday? This morning? Last year? Never!? Well, for me, it was this morning. And Why? Why, because of the touch (though from miles away) of another, of course!

And this is how it has been for me for as long as I can remember. When I am stirred, I sing. I recall my daughter declaring “You are depressed! Whenever you are depressed, you sing.” And I thought, at the time… and again, now… how very sad that she has only experienced and observed my singing in a setting that spawns depression. How unfortunate that she was not with me in the isolated moments when I was given cause to sing for joy. If only she could know the exuberance of my song when I was first presented with what has become my soul’s theme song. I recall, quite vividly, opening the envelope and finding within, the three-by-five index card with the lyrics typed as an expression of the feelings of the presenter. How I did sing that song… over and over… that day, and for many days to follow!

And, again, as I went about my work this morning, I found myself singing that very song. Freely and with complete abandon, I styled, modified, varied, and adjusted the tempo, key, even some lyrics, to my immediate taste. And, with unabashed gusto, I sang out my challenge to the early-morning chorus of birds. “Stand aside boys… you have competition this morning! And I sang.”

So, the question arises… What is, or would be (if you were so inclined) your soul’s theme song? What melody would carry your spirit in a comfortable representation of your spirit’s fondest emotion? What lyrics would translate the message of your heart into the atmosphere? And when will you be singing it next? And what are you doing… right now… to bring that to pass? All worthy considerations as you and I share in that song made famous by the New Christy Minstrels in 1964, and was given to me on that little index card that, over the course of many years, became worn to the point of disintegration. Here are the words to “Today”… as I bid you the very best of your Today.

Today
Words & Music by Randy Sparks
Recorded by New Christy Minstrels, 1964 (#17); From the movie "Advance to the Rear"

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine;

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

Ere I forget all the joy that is mine today.


I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover,

You'll know who I am by the song that I sing.

I'll feast at your table, I'll sleep in your clover,

Who cares what tomorrow may bring.


Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine;

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

Ere I forget all the joy that is mine today.



I can't be contented with yesterday's glories,

I can't live on promises winter to spring.

Today is my moment and now is my story --

I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing.


Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine;

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

Ere I forget all the joy that is mine Today.





IMAGES: (Rose Vine) Univ. of Chicago; (Strawberries) Christine's Pies; (Wine) Earth's Best E Books; (Feast) National Maritime Museum; (Clover) Roundrock Journal

Life's Ultimate Challenge

Our ultimate challenge in life is not... to establish the priority or dominance of either...

our Idealist Spiritual Self or our Rational Physical Self... over the other.

But rather... to reconcile or bring into a harmonious balance... the Two.

Conversations with Jerry

I met Jerry as he walked his early-morning exercise route, which intersected with my early-morning newspaper delivery route. All of our conversations, over the years that we became good friends, were framed by the window of my vehicle as he walked (or paused for our more-involved discussions.) But within that frame and the confines of that time, we learned much about each other.

I learned that he was a Registered Nurse in a large regional hospital that provides care for military veterans. And with that experience as his point of reference, he commented one day “You know, when we talk about the difference between the ‘DO-ing’ stuff of life and the ‘BE-ing’ participation in life, I think about all of the many patients that I have in the wards of the hospital. They are stripped of all of their roles, stations, titles, and offices of life when they are hospitalized. And virtually all of them are confronted with just ‘BE’-ing who they are, without any of their life’s previous trappings, honors, considerations, or privileges, for the first time in their lives, when I have them in my care. They are all dressed the same, fed the same, housed the same, and treated the same as everyone else there.

And, in thinking about them in that light for the first time, I am aware of the common look of overwhelming un-readiness that they all have when, for the first time, they are either reduced to or elevated to (depending on your point of view) just being the person that they are. They have nothing to hide behind. They are simply that person who is Them. And rarely do any of them have any knowledge of or experience in how to BE who they are. Life is too far gone for them to have an opportunity to discover who they are as an individual soul… much less experience being that soul. And they are all sad. And it makes me sad for them.”

Now, My Dear Reader, I readily acknowledge the necessity of getting done all of the stuff that needs to be done in our world and in all of our lives. I am the first to confess that if the world adopted the mode of living that I chosen as my own, the results would be catastrophic. And, I am grateful for and appreciative of all of the different personalities and temperament types that, in fulfilling their individual gifts, make possible a world in which I am free to be Me. Which brings me to the responsibility that is mine (in fulfilling my role as the person that I am created to be) to ring the little bell of attention gathering… and encourage all who go about me, DO-ing their life-stuff, to honor that wondrous Being who is the core soul and identity of Themselves. I beg my world to allow an awareness of their individual uniqueness and particular qualities. I entreat all who will permit my voice an audience, to embrace and nurture their personhood and respectfully incorporate that Being into the doing of their daily activities. I encourage everyone to see who they eternally are, and celebrate the wonder of those traits that are theirs alone, in the enrichening of their personal world with… Them. Yes, Dear Friend… as I refer to ‘Them’… I am, specifically addressing ’You.’

For it is You, that you will give an accounting of your life to, when you are in that quiet moment of aloneness. It is your Self that is (even in this moment of your reading) aware of a stirring, at your core, to discover, identify, embrace, elevate, honor, and exercise all of the talents, desires, and abilities that are yours and yours alone. For we all know that there has never before been nor ever after will there be another… You. So, Dear One, I encourage you to discover… introduce yourself to… introduce your loved ones to… give to your world… You.

My own experience, with finding my Self, began with my discovery of that inner design that was recognized by the attentive awareness of figures such as Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle… and currently was written about in this past weekend’s newspapers, as a central awareness, and valuable life-tool, for none other than Oprah Winfrey. That design is easily defined and understood by using what is commonly known as the ‘Myers-Briggs Personality/Temperament Style.’ Though many of us have been exposed to this device at some past time or in some other setting, I encourage a fresh look… right now. I provide two resources (just to the right of where you are reading right now [on the blog]) to serve you in learning about your own core desires, sources of happiness and fulfillment, abilities, inclinations, predispositions, and preferences. They are links labeled “Keirsey, Temperament Sorter II”, and “Personality Page”. I encourage you to invest a moment in your Self, and allow your Self to be discovered. If you find that this first step in your adventure of Self discovery generates some vexation or question for you… I invite you to Email me (using one of the ‘Email Me’ links, also provided just to the right of this article [on the blog]), and I will, enthusiastically, give you any assistance or clarity that I can.

With my gratitude to Jerry for his stimulating conversations, wonderfully caring friendship, and delightful laughter… as well as my appreciation of you, My Dear Reader, I remain, as always...

Your faithful Friend and willing Servant, John-Michael

Love's Creator

On the eighth day of this month (April 07) I completed the sixty-first year of my personal pilgrimage on this silly little globe. Yes! I do see it as silly… inasmuch as I choose (often) to see the “realities” of life in my own contrarian way. As all about me are declaring the grandeur of our place in God’s firmament… I say “Not so!” For I am convinced that all that we now see… all that we perceive and understand… is but a fraction of what is. And that, My Dear Friend, I find exciting and inspiring. That there is so very much that I have no hint of. That beyond the elements of life that I am thrilled by (and there are many, many such elements… among them, You, as you read me now)… there are realities and worlds that are being born and completing their own cycles of life… without even the slightest of awareness of them, in my perception.

But I digress (as is often my way)… from my central thought of this day. And I would not navigate, today, from what has occupied my thinking for many years now… for I now feel confident enough in my understanding (and in my chronologically established right) to state what has pulled and tugged at my being all of that while. And that is, simply, that there is the Voice of… the message of… the intent of my Creator in every element of all that is. And all I need do, to know… to hear… to have a moment with the Voice of our Creator… is… to be willing. There is a portion of scripture that speaks to the “foolishness” of preaching… and puts in a healthy perspective what we have presented to us by all-to-human voices around us. Another that advises that “if they do not tell of Me… the rocks will speak of me.”… which I always remember when science discovers some new truth about our world’s past… from rocks, with their record of history sealed in their structures. And, for years now, I have read, listened, observed, felt, heard, and enjoyed the growing understanding within my core Being, that the One who Created all that is and maintains all in a beautifully choreographed dance of sublime perfection… withholds knowledge and intimate awareness of Him (if you will allow my use of a gender-specific identification of the One who created gender as we know it)… from… no one! Our Creator is transparent in every aspect of possible consideration… if I am but willing to know. To “be still… and know.”

It is my continual joy to see and hear and discover more about this life in (literally) every day of my life. I listen to what you say when you speak to me… and I not only hear the text of your message… but (because I am listening for it… because I am willing to hear it) I hear the texture of what you communicate to me. I hear the ‘music’ accompanying your lyrics. I sense the depth and breadth of the portrait that you paint… even while you intend only to give freedom to feelings and concerns that you have been wanting to make available to a caring ear. I learn from You as I learn from every source and force influencing my life. All because I am willing to know. I have adopted a lifestyle and adapted to a set of life-circumstances that permits me the luxury of taking whatever time necessary to stop and dwell on the tiniest of details of life. Because I want to understand… I have willed myself to understanding. And what I understand is, without the slightest of hesitations, that every culture… every society… every people of every place in time and locale… has had available to them the insights and understandings to know all that they want to or are able to know about our Creator and the omnipotent Love that governs our very existence… at every level… past, present, and most certainly through whatever Eternity is.

What has served as catalyst for my stating what is my personal conviction and knowledge, is the present (though certainly not new) state of discord in our world… which exists primarily as a direct result of sectarian ‘religious’ influences. Power Centers that use as their ’justification’ some ridiculous idea that they and they alone have an exclusive franchise on access to the One who created us all… equally. Equal in our ability to hear the Voice speaking out the messages of the rocks. Equal in our abilities to exercise our will in accepting or rejecting the influences of ego, greed, avarice, pride, and hate… as well as charity, forgiveness, humility, generosity and love. Equal in our abilities to nurture and care for each other and bind the wounds inflicted by circumstances of all sorts.

The Creator of all of us has no ’brand name’… no stylish ’logo’ that is a registered stamp of authenticity. We were created before the existence of any of these nonsensical marketing organizations that sell their religious product under labels of protectionist divisiveness… be they operating from mosques, churches, temples, teepees, huts, or under trees. What they are marketing is what has been and will always be before them and after them. And their performance of the illustrative play that tells the eternal tale, is just as it was well before recorded history. A play that has its script spoken through the spirit of EVERY person who has ever been. A script that is the Voice within each breast of each willing listener. And it is the purest folly to make feeble attempts to literal-ize the play performed as a human expression of that script… that individually realized spiritual understanding… and played out in the scriptures of each particular culture and society in the costumes, in terms of the customs, in the language and dialect of the peoples to whom that truth is revealed. For even the most cursory of studies will readily reveal the absolute fact that from the earliest of cave carvings through the recordings of Mayans, Native Tribes of all the world, Far Eastern, Middle Eastern, European, and Western worlds… all have always had at their core… the very same script… the same revelations… the same myths, the same stories and legends, all the same! And the only denominator common to all of them… is their shared Creator… Who has always whispered truth into the ear of every willing soul… individually.

So, My Dear Friend… with this understanding at my core… you can see why I am distressed and saddened by all that we are inflicting upon each other in our world today. And all under some variation of a flag of religious, sectarian, legitimacy. Such a foolish waste! I prefer to “listen to the rocks.” I enjoy hearing the song of nature that awakens each day and serenades the world with reassurances that are consistently there… for all who will but be willing to listen. It is my personal choice to respect and find common ground for understanding with every soul that Life allows me to meet. I celebrate and find delight in learning new variations in the performing of my Creator’s script as presented in other belief practices. I have, indeed, put on my very own set of ’blinders’ that shut out conflict… and, instead, focus my gaze on harmonies. For, My Dear and patient Reader… I am absolutely convinced of the overriding truth of one of the very earliest of scriptures taught to me… “God is Love.”

"There's Still Romance in the Sixties"

When a poet sings the song of my heart's yearning... I can but bow in gratitude... and share its beauty with you. Hence, with thanks to John Keefe, I offer his "There's Still Romance in the Sixties".

With you beside me it is Spring for ever.

Blooming small white flowers…
velvet-soft in first warm sun;
purple and blue carpets of violets and bluebells.

No more winter with its icy winds…
its damp-cold snow and dismal rain.



With you beside me it is Spring for ever.

First warm earth-days of a new season.

An old sweater’s warmth, while sitting on the stump
of a once proud oak tree… watching the tiny birds flit into budding branches overhead.

Wood creatures bustle about refreshing their minds, after a long winter’s watch.


With you beside me it is Spring for ever.

Out of the cold life of a wintertime and into young-time.

Like the trees I feel a budding and tingle… as the life giving juices seep through my body.

I raise my arms like tree branches to the sun, and give thanks for you beside me.


With you beside me it is Spring for ever.

With you beside me it is winter no more; it is Spring, then summer and then autumn… and for the next winter I’ll have your Spring charm, your Spring warmth, Your Spring flowering, your Spring loveliness to blanket me.

With you beside me it will be Spring for ever and ever and ever.



IMAGES (Upper to Lower), Susan Mander, Tim Burgess, Gill Edwards, Elinor Teele; all are viewers of BBC News