TAI CHI PRACTICE

SILK REELING CHEN STYLE

Did you do your morning exercises?

Tai Chi to start the day is a wonderful way to energize and relax into whatever the day

presents.

If you are a Tai Chi player and recognize flaws in my form, please forgive this humble student. I am enjoying my practice and can always use helpful insights to hone my skills.

SUNDAY STROLL - SPRINGY

I've got that bouncy, springy kind of feeling that flings me out the door and into the yard to see what winter has brought in the way of tree pruning and flower nurturing. And what to my wondering eyes has finally appeared ( I've been checking this patch of ground for weeks) but the glorious yellow of early spring ----- buttercups -----------jonquils -----------daffodils
call them what you may. They bob their heads and say "Hello Spring" I'm so ready.

The Yellow Flicker sings and I hear a call back from somewhere in the woods. Is is courting time?

The winter winds were busy pruning and lightening the tree tops of weak unsteady branches.

The burn pile is filled with the riff-raff of pruning. Most of what fell in the woods will lay where it fell to do the natural building of the forest floor and create shelter and food for all that lives and forms a forest habitat. What you see here was cleared from the front and side yards.

A little tidying is called for here.

One more shout of SPRING from the Daffodils and I'm done.

Head on over to Aisling's comfy home place for more Sunday Strolls.

PICTURE THIS

Cats enjoy their naps and companionship. Sleep well Miss GiGi.

SUNDAY STROLL- SPRING FORTH

See I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not see it?

Isaiah 43

It's the promise of a new year, a new season of abundance.
Here you see the spears of new Big Leaf Magnolia leaves seeking the sun.

The Maple has a red hue of buds announcing the the coming comfort of a shelter from the summer sun.

The eager Bradford Pears wants to fill the landscape with blossoms to thrill the winter hungry eyes with a different kind of snow white.

Here the grumpy old Red Oak tree that guards our neighborhood still clings to it's leaves of 2009 not willing to let go until late in spring when the sap fully rises and forces the old to let go and make room for the youth and vigor of the new generation of leaves.

And so goes the natural order of things

For as the rain and the snow come down from the heaven,

and return not thither but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55: 10-11

To Stroll down another lane go the Aislings place and go from there.

SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS

May your joys be as bright as the morning,

and your sorrows merely be shadows that fade in the sunlight of love.

Irish Blessing

At long last we are seeing the sun, feeling the warmth and watching the shadows move across the yard. For some reason it seems a long time in coming and just wanted to say

Thank you.

RA DE OH!

Oh, I wonder who else spent time laying on the floor in front of the floor model Radio and shared bowls of popcorn with their Dad while listening to wonderful stories of adventure or comedy or music. Do any of the following titles take you to another day and time .

MYSTERY THEATRE

THE SHADOW
THE WHISTLER
JACK BENNY
FRED ALLEN
LUM AND ABNER
BABY SNOOKS
RICHARD DIAMOND ACE OF DETECTIVES
THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE

DUFFY'S TAVERN

GUNSMOKE

AMOS AND ANDY

BREAKFAST CLUB

OUR MISS BROOKS

BERGAN & McCARTHY

THE CREAKING DOOR

FIBBER McGEE AND MOLLY

INNER SANCTUM

Making that list was so much fun. Actually I could go on for a lot more. This is just a sample. Obviously with all the westerns and mysteries my Dad must have been the official dial tuner.

Mother listened to soap operas and variety or quiz shows during the day, many of the soap operas flowed right on to the television when the time was right. I remember Stella Dallas as one of the stories Mother followed.

The CREAKING DOOR used to nearly scare me to death as the show started and the door which opened the show slow--ly opened and the featured scary storyline was announced.

I loved the variety shows like Fred Allen as he visited characters who lived or showed up on Allen's Alley. One was Senator Cleghorn ? oops I'll have to go look him up and clarify his name.

I was close, the full name was Beauregard Claghorn.

Warner Bros. cartoons used him to create the blustery rooster Foghorn Leghorn.

I think this may be the first of favorite things from my childhood I will blog about. Actually there is probably more to be said about the wonder of radio and the opportunity to use the imagination to build scenes and people. When many of these productions came to TV the scenes were created by theatre folks and the people looked the way the casting director thought they should. I can't remember if that was a disappointment for me as a child, so I guess I was able to to cope with that restriction on my imagination.

I would love to hear from my generation and know what you especially enjoyed listening to on your radio set.

WHERE I WANT TO BE

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

It seems to me I' d like to go

Where bells don't ring, nor whistles blow,

Nor clocks don't strike, nor gongs sound,

And I'd have stillness all around.

Not real stillness, but just the trees,

Low whispering, or the hum of bees,

Or brooks faint babbling over stones,

In strangely, softly tangled tones.

Or maybe a cricket or katydid,

Or the songs of birds in the hedges hid,

Or just some such sweet sound as these,

To fill a tired heart with ease.

If 'tweren't for sight and sound and smell,

I'd like the city pretty well,

But when it comes to getting rest,

I like the country lots the best.

Sometimes it seems to me I must

Just quit the city's din and dust,

And get out where the sky is blue,

And say, now, how does it seem to you?

Nixon Waterman

The Best Loved Poems

of the American People

1936