26 March 2012

Irish blessing

found in Rekindling the Flame by Rita Minehan

May the blessing of light
be on you, light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight
shine upon you and warm your heart till it glows
like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may
come and warm herself at it, and also a friend.
And may the light shine out of the eyes of you,
like a candle set in the windows of a house,
bidding the wanderer to come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain
be on you--the soft sweet rain,
May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers 
may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool where the blue
of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth
be on you--the great round earth;
may you ever have a kindly greeeting
from them you pass as you're going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when
you rest out upon it, tired at the end of a day, 
and may it rest easy over you when,
at the last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that
your soul may be off from under it so quickly,
and up and off, and on its way to God.
and now may the Lord
Bless you and bless you kindly.

the walk to the wells

By Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB


Look!
I beg you.
Don't ever stop looking
because what makes the world so lovely
is that somewhere
it hides a well,
a well that hasn't been found yet.
And if you don't find it,
maybe
nobody will!

25 March 2012

BABY HORSES

Here are some pictures of baby horses for my mother. (I have more, but these are the best.)

The pictures were taken on a lovely spring day at the National Stud in Kildare, Ireland.
 

[picture depicting a light-brown foal nursing from her dark-brown mother]

[ picture depicting a gangly grey foal chomping on some grass while his mother keeps a close eye on him nearby]


[closeup of the knobby-kneed light brown foal focused on something out of frame on the left, ears perked up in attention while her mother feeds in the background]


pax.

22 March 2012

arrrrrgh

I think that my internet addiction is killing my ability to write. I spend too much time checking facebook, google reader, and various forums for updates. I find myself losing interest halfway thru articles I'm reading or anything particularly long. My attention span is shrinking. Most of the stuff on Google Reader is from people posting on tumblr.

I need to start writing again. I've had several adventures I meant to post about ages ago but, well, never did.

I'm losing interest in this blog post and am about to delete it and start over. HELP I HAVE THE ATTENTION SPAN OF A DRAGONFLY

16 March 2012

photography




I'm not a very good photographer. My pictures are often blurry, taken at awkward angles, or generally snapped at inopportune moments. I haven't gotten the hang of proper focus or zoom, and my equipment is pretty basic.


But I really like taking pictures like this:



[picture showing an old outdoor toilet, overgrown with ivy and thickets and obviously unused for decades, with a cute green door decorated with three little hearts]



...don't ask me why.


pax.

02 March 2012

somnium

Had a cool dream last night. I was in some kind of weird race, where everyone was in a motor vehicle, except I was on a bike. I then proceeded to bike to the top of a mountain, which was covered in snow on the far side for some reason--then change to skis, and I skied down the mountain. There was a lake at the bottom. My skis turned out to also be water skis somehow, and I water skied to the finish line and beat everybody by being made of win.

Apparently I'd planned the snowski/waterski trick as a complete surprise to everyone!!!1! and perfectly timed my descent so that I could grab the handles of my cohort's motor boat as he passed by on the lake ('cause you need a boat to water ski, like).

I was also apparently in water up to my neck when I crossed the finish line. BUT NOTHING CAN STOP MY AWESOME.

yeah, those of you following this blog because you enjoy my wit and insight... um. peace.

--

another random picture for you to enjoy

[picture from Glendalough, showing a 100+ year old cemetery and a round monastic tower in the background; it is very sunny and rife with green plant life and tall grass, with autumn colours on the hill in the background]