I have a mountain of books to read
Books are scattered everywhere in the house
I will call and ask you where to start reading
The garage is full of non-essentials
My hours need occupants
On most days I walk in the neighborhood.
Now is the time that I should go deeper in my learning
Not my usual ordinary way to please myself.
It’s sad to realize it takes a pandemic to wake me up.
Time is emptying like food on the shelves.
Today, Saturday, I walked in the afternoon. It was cool 63 degrees. I brought my camera to take photos of the birds I see during my walk to the river. I know the blue heron and the red wing blackbird but I don’t know the other birds.
Books I am reading:
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas merton
Mastering the Art of French Eating by Ann Mah
A Beautiful Question by Frank Wilczek
I’m reading Moby Dick, part of a group-read through dolcebellezza, bloggers reading together a selected book. In the month of August Moby-Dick was the choice. One can follow the link:book
I have been walking for one hour everyday for two and a half weeks now. Napa River is near our neighborhood. I follow a loop that takes me about one hour. I stop a lot to observe, take photos and talk to people I meet. Many of them are other walkers and most are walking their dogs.
The photos I posted are some of those phots taken during my walk.
Walking can be a form of calming hour. A new article sings praises for walking:walking
During the last few days I have been walking to the river early in the morning.The day is cool and I need only a light jacket. Today is one of those days.
The path to the river has newly planted bushes like the English laurel. They replaced wild palm trees that become diseased easily.
The regular fishermen have not arrived. There are two gentlemen on the riverbank who are enjoying a conversation and drinking coffee.
The front lawns of the houses along the street are well groomed and have a lot of flowers. I don’t know their names.
I stop often to look at the flowers and take photos. If the fishermen are around I usually talk to them. Very casual conversations. Nothing deep or esoteric.
My walk takes me about 60 minutes because I stop a lot. Sometimes I carry a book and sit on an empty bench to read. I write notes in my mobile phone.
I’m reading currently 3 books: Aristotle’s Way by Edith Hall, Love and St. Augustine by Hannah Arendt and Dancing on the Spider Web, a new novel by Sasha Paulsen, the feature editor of our local newspaper, the Napa Register.
When I am old and grey
Grapes allowed to remain on the vines
Pages worn but alive
Weather drawn but sweet
Ancient and not too poor in wisdom
Will you sit by me?
We can listen together
Stories of your wandering.
And are you still playing
Beethoven’s later piano sonatas?
I have been reading a lot of philosophy related books lately. I’m enjoying what I’m learning but my poetry is suffering.
My reading choices are not conducive to writing images. Even the fiction I’m reading at present relates more to philosophy and arguments.
For now I don’t have poetic ideas or poetic moments. It’s a whiteout like the weather in the East Coast.
Studies show health benefits of tea
Blessings to the heart and mind
The little cakes and finger sandwiches
Adorned the tastes and elegant hour.
The particularities heal the blemishes
Of the day. The conversations float
While minutes pass hurdles and eddying currents
There two varieties of tea. They grow well
On high elevations and warm climate
Holding a cup of tea is an acquiescence
To its fragrant flowers and seed bearing fruits
Harvested with care not to damage the leaves
Sometimes we venture beyond our boundaries,
Beyond the branches and buried roots
Like breaking away from intimacy and uttering
The first word. Shadows climb up stairways
And do not return. But ideas return, loiter around
To solve the first equation ushering more ideas.
Optimism can lead a way of learning
A sip here, a sip there and ready to fill
The cup again, hot, vibrant and healthy taste,
Green, black, yellow, rich in flavonoids
And polyphenols, sovereign with its own species
And millions of followers: honest, loyal, calm.
The rain started last night and continued today
I didn’t walk to the river this morning
Instead I went to the Wellness Center for a workout.
This afternoon I was in the Study Center
In the library helping students with their homework.
Afterwards I attended my Rotary Club meeting.
This evening I started reading Conversation With Friends,
A novel by Sally Rooney.
The little things that make life interesting.
We can measure the day by how long it rained
HOr by how happy is the student after
She understood what she was studying for days.
A green leaf started sprouting from a seed
Aboard the lunar lander at the surface of the moon.
That’s a living plant listening to Moonlight Sonata.
edgarone2