THE GRASSES

The same wind that uproots trees
makes the grasses shine.

The lordly wind loves the weakness
and the lowness of grasses.
Never brag of being strong.

The axe doesn’t worry how thick the branches are.
It cuts them to pieces. But not the leaves.
It leaves the leaves alone.

A flame doesn’t consider the size of the woodpile.
A butcher doesn’t run from a flock of sheep.

What is form in the presence of reality?
Very feeble. Reality keeps the sky turned over
like a cup above us, revolving. Who turns
the sky wheel? The universal intelligence.

And the motion of the body comes
from the spirit like a waterwheel
that’s held in a stream.

The inhaling-exhaling is from spirit,
now angry, now peaceful.
Wind destroys, and wind protects.

There is no reality but God,
says the completely surrendered sheikh,
who is an ocean for all beings.

The levels of creation are straws in that ocean.
The movement of the straws comes from an agitation
in the water. When the ocean wants the straws calm,
it sends them close to shore. When it wants them
back in the deep surge, it does with them
as the wind does with the grasses.
This never ends.

Rumi

The Last Day of Summer

Ozone hole three times size of US

from AlJazeera news online

Dramatic images of the earth reveal full extent of the problem

The huge size of the hole in the ozone layer is at a record level measuring 28 million square kilometres, according to the World Meterological Organisation.


Three times the size of the United States, the ozone hole has continued to grow over the last few weeks and is set to reach a maximum size in late September.

The consequences are likely to be serious and far-reaching.

WMO Professor Obasi warned on Wednesday that the most immediate threat to humankind relate to “increased variability in the intensity and frequency of storms … floods and droughts, heat waves in major urban areas and the impact of sea-level rise on low-lying coastal regions”.

The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty

You’re sitting here with us, but you’re also out walking
in a field at dawn. You are yourself
the animal we hunt when you come with us on the hunt.
You’re in your body like a plant is solid in the ground,
yet you’re wind. You’re the diver’s clothes
lying empty on the beach. You’re the fish.

In the ocean are many bright strands
and many dark strands like veins that are seen
when a wing is lifted up.
Your hidden self is blood in those, those veins
that are lute strings that make ocean music,
not the sad edge of surf, but the sound of no shore.

Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)

Hurricane Isabel
NASA satellites have taken some remarkable pictures of Hurricane Isabel's North American landfall.

"A billion is - - - "

"A billion is - - - ",
as presented at the web site of Lydia Mancini
_______________________

From What Matters :
The Bush junta has spent $79 billion on the devastation of Afghanistan
and Iraq, and plans to spend another $87 billion in Iraq - of which
billions will go to U.S. corporations with which Bush and Cheney have
especially good relations.

How much is a billion?
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend. An advertising agency
has done a good job of putting the figure into perspective. In a 1991
release, it stated:

"A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

"A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

"A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

"A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate
Washington spends it."

Now, 12 years on from 1991, a billion dollars may be down to less
than 5 hours at the rate the Bush junta spends it.

WHAT DO WHITE BIRDS SAY

The earth has disappeared beneath my feet,
It fled from all my ecstasy,

Now like a singing air creature
I feel the Rose
Keep opening.

My heart turned to effulgent wings.
When has love not given freedom?
When has adoration not made one free?

A woman broken in tears and sweat
Stands in a field watching the sun and me
Trade jokes.

But never would Hafiz laugh
At your blessed labor
Of finding peace.

What do the dancing white birds say
Looking down upon burnt meadows?

All that you think is rain is not.
Behind the veil Hafiz and angels sometimes weep

Because most eyes are rarely glad
And your divine beauty is still too frightened
To unfurl its thousand swaying arms.

The earth has disappeared beneath my feet,
Illusion fled from all my ecstasy.

Now like a radiant sky creature
God keeps opening,

God keeps opening
Inside of
Me.

by Hafiz(c.1320-1389)


Bird's Eye View

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

September 19 is the second annual Talk Like a Pirate Day as invented by Dave Barry last year....and my sister-in-law Michele, a 7th grade Language Arts teacher par extraordinaire is going back
in there in her Pirate Persona - Captain No-Beard -and she's making those kids walk the planK, the scurvy dogs!
Avast, Ye Matey! Arrrrrrrrrr!!!

I've been out of the loop for awhile now, mostly because I got a very
nasty virus that snuck in from somewhere and disabled my computer
completely. I think it even disabled my virus software, and it tried hard
to kill my hard-drive. It was a great big shock to me, because I have not
done the back-up I know perfectly well I should have, and therefore I was
facing the terrible possibility that everything on there, all the years of
writing and research, photographs and memories, the Soul of my computer,
or at least the Psyche, was potentially wiped out, irretrievable.

This was not easily accepted and I was forced to realize that it was only
going to hurt for a little while, I'd get over it and move on - perhaps it is
time to leave behind the old puter-self and start over with a new, fresh
Me - like, maybe on a beach where I could forget about this whole mess.

I have to thank my dear friend Gayle Kinsey, who did a heroic job of saving
and salvaging my pathetic puter. She is amazing. She cleaned off an entire
gigabyte of crap - thousands of little files - off my hard-drive and wow, it sure
does work better now!

I am going to take this as a serious warning, however - and I pass it on
to you, dear reader - BACK UP your stuff and run that live update on your
virus software - there are some miserable bugs out there that seem to be
getting worse every day. It could be we are nearing the end of this whole
movie - That beach doesn't sound bad at all to me!

MARS



Mars rises in the east-southeast shortly after the end of twilight,
shining a bright, fiery orange. It's beautifully placed in the south
before dawn. Mars is now unusually large and shows quite a bit of detail
in a good telescope when the atmosphere is steady; observe the planet
when it's highest before dawn.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARS AT ITS ALL-TIME FINEST

Never before in human history has such a golden opportunity to observe the
red planet presented itself. Make the most of it with our online Mars
observing guide for 2003.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARS IN 2003: WHICH SIDE IS VISIBLE?

To compare what you see on Mars with a map, you need to know which side
of the planet you're looking at. Our handy Mars Profiler tells you that and
more, for any date and time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARTIAN FLARE WATCH

Sharp-eyed amateurs have an opportunity to observe a rare phenomenon on
another planet and help solve a long-standing puzzle. Bright, star-like
flares from certain regions on the planet Mars likely come from sunlight
glinting off patches of frost or ice on the Martian surface. Discover when
and where to watch for these flares this year at: Sky & Telescope.com

Light's Out----oFF-tHE gRID!

There's a slew of theories being thrown out there as to the
cause of the Blackout - was it HAARP? Energy pirates?
Don't Mess With Texas -- wonder why they have their own power grid?
UFOs? A blown fuse? Accidentally or on purpose?
Here's a great photo that Norm sent me - it sure looked
strange from space...l

Island Chronicle

For those of you who haven't seen this - please go to see
Island Chronicle
immediately - The photographs are just great, and the story
is unfolding:
On June 21, 2003, Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair moved from Los Angeles to the South Pacific. Our first stop is Rarotonga, a tiny island in the South Pacific. We're bringing our two young daughters with us.
This is our story, one photograph at a time.

Shel and Sonja

I caught Shel and Sonja Hershorn relaxing
here in Corrales this summer.

Normally, I only take portraits of their goats,
geese or roosters.

You can see photographs taken at their place
in Gallina, New Mexico if you click on Archives
and go to the earliest pages of this blog,
in March 2003.

Chile Roasting Time in New Mexico

This was the first really chilly morning, and the smell of chile roasting
across the road at Wagner Farm was enticing. I went over to get a
bushel basket of Big Jim, roasted. The corn was just coming in from the
fields--the truckload of chile in burlap sacks unloaded--along with
canteloupe, watermelon, sweet red tomatoes and perfect peaches.

I had my favorite breakfast: a bagel and cream cheese with chile piled on top,
and sliced tomatoes.

Later on - the very best way to eat fresh roasted green chile: the Susie.

The "Susie" was an invention of Mante's Chow Cart in Taos - my variation down
through the years is - take a fresh whole chile, melt some cheese on it (or make it with
a chile relleno, as they did at the chow cart) - put it on a tortilla, with a spoonful
of guacamole and a spoon of sour cream, salsa,slices of tomato - Wrap it up and
eat it up - yum, it's the absolute best thing in the whole world.

***I will post some photos when I a) get them ready to upload, b) get the upload
thingy to work again, and c) wrestle some time away from the Fantasy
Footballer who has taken over my computer. I am losing the battle right now,
but I have many photos I would like to post on this blog, and well as many
links of interest, but I will have to find the time to do it.***