how on earth

"i think i've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it."
-charles m. schulz (american cartoonist, 1922-2000)

this is the thing:
i doubt i could make a habit of this break-taking. my concentration is cooperating, and things are getting - slowly but surely - accomplished, but it does feel rather like neglecting a beloved child.

by all means

"the great blessing of life is the existence of tomorrows."
- paul coelho (1947 - )

time ticks by, relentless, and i have projects that i desperately want - need - to complete, and too few free hours to complete them in.
i'm sure i'll be forgiven for taking a little break...especially since i'm (tsk) a lamentably infrequent poster anyhow.
wish me inpiration.

the sweep of things

this was exactly what i needed today: a friend; a walk; a wide and windy beach; the crunch of razor clams; the dance of bright kites, cords taut to the clouds; the colours of
a kindly winter.
it cleared my head of cobwebs.
at least for now.

but the race

my life has not been star-strewn; my accolades have been meager.
a birds-nest-with-eggs, modelled from clay in kindergarten, earned me a
ribbon and a handshake. i spelled my perfectionistic way to little prizes in public
school, and honed my handwriting to a symmetric loveliness that won me silver dollars two years in a row at the belleville fair. a simple idea i submitted to my last employer made me - embarrassingly - an "employee of the month".
these are few and modest trophies, but that's allright.
i dislike spotlights.
some people, bless 'em, thrive on them. the current top three in the best-of-blogs awards 2004 are all excellent, and they all deserve to win, but btezra's birthday is just a few days after the voting closes, and, as he says himself, wouldn't first prize be a wonderful gift?
not only that, but he's been taking those splendid photos, and visiting, and suggesting, and supporting, tirelessly, and everywhere, for as long as - or longer than - i've been here myself, so i'm doing all i can (well, one vote a day till the 17th) to give him an extra reason to celebrate.

every fool and every sage

there are tentative blue skies beyond these clouds, these tossing branches, this rain; but the only certainty, ever, it seems, is the randomness of curses and blessings.

round, and round again

"step out onto the planet. draw a circle a hundred feet round. inside the circle are 300 things nobody understands, and maybe nobody's ever seen. how many can you find?"
-lew welch

(a dozen bits & pieces to "round" off the old year and start the new one:
clicking enlarges.)

thank you - all - for the insights and the inspiration,
and may 2005 bring you peace and perpetual discovery.