23 Monday Mar 2015
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A new rain-sluiced poem by pensive poet Thome. Enjoy!
when the rain comes,
will you be ready?
silent night thoughts
unravel,
make their way
to the surface
of conscious waters
like a floating rock
in the sea
cigar smoke,
the sound of crickets,
the day is done,
accomplish, unaccomplished
and the impending rain
catches us all unaware
10/30/14
18 Thursday Dec 2014
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I was visiting one of my favourite photography blogs, Roundtable, and I came across these phenomenal abstract portraits and could not resist sharing. Such exquisite, emotive art…
30 Sunday Nov 2014
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A wee tale about two doves and two humans, by Sir Felion
Sitting in the car after the October storm tears the sky, beads adorning the roof.
A tiny oak tree thrashing overhead, shedding leaves onto the roof.
Tiny scrabbly feet burst from above.
We slowly slide open the moon-roof cover.
Two ring-necked doves were jubilantly
Skating amongst the dewy drops.
They stared down into the darkened chamber below with deep orange eyes,
Like staring at caged apes at the Zoo.
After a few more pirouettes and twirls they fluted off and were gone.
Leaving the earth-bound humans behind.
16 Tuesday Sep 2014
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Here is a poem written by Thome, my rain-loving walking-chum
i
sometimes i itch
for caffeine near midnight,
is it near midnight already?
again?
The artist’s choice of drug
alteration of perception,
stamina and energy!
alteration of mind
it’s late
and I don’t want
to spew out some old
tired cliche
like
“addiction
is a double edged sword”
we’re waiting for the rain
to come and cleanse
our sins –
the tv said there’d be rain
(damn weather man!)
like a sundial in the closet,
we all find ourselves
misplaced
(only, we put ourselves here)
“keep the coffee comin’, babe!”
addiction is self-administered
poison
(psyche)
and rain doesn’t cleanse anything
that piss doesn’t cleanse
mossy rock, waterfall, desert sands
and cacti,
visions of old sages
addiction, knowledge, psyche, words,
meditation, prayer,
chantings
my mind wanders back
to the sundial in the closet
gathering dust
ii
experiencing early childhood
in the 1990’s,
the birth of hip-hop,
disco is dead
long live…
View original post 67 more words
26 Tuesday Aug 2014
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Tags
ALS, Black and White, Cancer, Commentary, Death, Disease, Event, Florida, Hope, Ice Bucket Challenge, Inspirational, Life, Loss, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Motivational, Nature, Ocean, Pete Frates, Photography, Sea, Stephen Hawking, Steve Gleason, Story, Sunrise, Video
In general, I live a life fairly indifferent to social media. Indeed it has many lovely advantages, but I just end up spending a lot more time in Nature…being bullied by mobs of roguish manatees attempting to overturn my craggy old kayak as it wheezes through the silky water; or swamping about through black plumes of swooping bats and amorous mosquitoes, with logs of alligators leering up at me through the glorious green murk with smiling eyes the colour of tea; or being pinched by wee crabbies in the ocean and dragged along in the frothy white wake of a rambunctious torrent of sharks and tarpon.
Bully crab…
Sometimes, too, I just snail along a pale, sandy trail that snivels through the verdant sylvan shadows, looking for the perfect place to nest and paw through an old dog-eared book for a little while.
A mosquito hunter
Through all this, me dear ol’ camera abides with me as my constant companion. Matters of social media rarely invade this photo-snatching wilderness-lifestyle (with occasional bouts of city-noir-grit).
I am not completely, immune, however. The Ice-Bucket Challenge somehow managed to creep into my hushed little tent of a life. And somehow, I found myself capitulating, as my friend, Kayla, of the northern end of the county, splashed me with details.
She had messaged me, and then suddenly a video was shimmering before me, and there was my chum, blathering away at the camera. She challenged two people, her sister and someone other victim, and then, after a pause, she suddenly blurted out, “and BABS!”
“Who on earth is Babs?” muttered the filmmaker, her mum, just before the roar of a gelid waterfall cascaded onto Kayla’s head, rendering her a corpse; and a snickering man quickly bolted from the scene of the crime.
“Er…I am that ‘Babs’ I fear,” I said to the video bleeping on the screen.
“You have 24 hours!” Kayla then bassooned at me, unfurling like a resurrection fern, as she began to recover from the glacial onslaught.
Oh dear.
A prospect more daunting than these logs here
Usually, the fads that scurry across the net are resisted by me. I shun them. If I happen to hear about them. I was going to happily shun this one, too. But then I probed, like a long-billed ibis probing the soft earth for grubs on a soggy morn, and I discovered what was behind it all.
“I have lived over two-thirds of my life with the threat of death hanging over me. Because every new day could be my last, I have developed a desire to make the most of each and every minute.”
– Dr. Stephen Hawking (from the documentary “Hawking”)
This was different. To me, this was an event revealing the best in human beings- their sense of love, compassion and community, and their endless capacity for Hope and Triumph.
“Concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit, as well as physically.”
-Dr. Stephen Hawking
I haven’t known anyone personally, in my life, who was diagnosed with ALS, but I am not unfamiliar to prematurely losing someone close via a vicious disease.
How could I not participate? I decided to accept the challenge.
Naturally, this act of frigid, muscle-paralyzing sluicing had to take place at the Sea. An old brine-faced block of barnacled driftwood like me could have it no other way.
So, this past Sunday, only having known about this challenge for less than a day, I dragged some camera equipment, a bucket with some ice, Sir and another poor victim, Thome, to the beach at dawn.
Poor, poor Sir…
Time to be sluiced in some icy brine.
Sprinkled with quotes from some amazing individuals having been diagnosed with ALS, here is the video I shot at the beach, documenting the cold and salty event.
Other related links:
– To learn more about ALS or to donate- http://www.alsa.org/
– More about Peter Frates, creator of the “Ice Bucket Challenge”- http://petefrates.com/
– More about Steve Gleason, of Team Gleason- http://teamgleason.org/
– Short ALS “Health Matters” educational video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X4Af…
– Beautiful documentary “Hawking” 2013 (also on PBS in HD)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbs13XM3k0
– Doleful short film, “Broken: ALS and How it Hits Home”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8inVFUAqe1c
Thanks for sluicing by.
Cheers,
Autumn Jade
14 Thursday Aug 2014
Posted in Uncategorized
A lovely conveyance of the beautiful burst of summer monsoon storm, here, in Florida- By SirFelion. Thanks for reading, cheers!
Rumble goes the airy Sky. So quickly shifting from dazzle to darkness.
Multicolored hued clouds, some angry some light.
Jagged forks of brilliant light snake around the boiling puffs.
Curtains of raindrops shimmer in the distance, slowly dropping,
Like a bizarre mighty waterfall. Soon upon me with instant drenching power.
Then light bursts out; the clouds scudding away.
All dewy and dripping and cheerily clean.
18 Sunday May 2014
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A sylvan evening spent with a rambunctious family of Eastern screech owls
A great Evening a few days ago, golden rays.
Four little baby owls all in a row,
Cuter than cute.
Dancing and gyrating,
With Mom and Dad right nearby,
Watching over their nearly grown children.
11 Sunday May 2014
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Sad account by Sir, conveying an accident on the road involving a family of raccoons. Cheers.
Night Descending
Dusk, a simple cruise back home,
Busy road o’r a Friday night.
Swiftly took a hideous turn.
A raccoon Mother, shockingly so close to Mother’s Day,
Made a most tragic maternal mistake with her so very young offspring-
As all poured forth, just ahead of my four whirling wheels, I nowhere to turn.
A quick stop, but most painfully aware of I and my daughter’s safety,
And of those roaring machines lurking just in back and astride, still oblivious-
My horrendous braking choice made in an instant for all involved.
Those behind halted in time.
Those within came out fine.
But in front–sadness and grief.
The vibration and sound,
Told it all.
A little raccoon kit was no more.
Much sadness and grief
I have had in making this rough decision.
Who can be saved, but who may then be lost.
A taste of what,
Doctors and soldiers…
View original post 17 more words
20 Sunday Apr 2014
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Another new poem from To Sire, With Love- evoking the noir-soul of another sonorous and balmy night in Florida. Cheers!
The lyrical child within,
Ambling along a quiet lane,
Unveils a somber scene-
Sax ending at closing.
The club empty,
Clientele all departed,
Tunes drift quietly to silence.
Instrument drops, amp still glowing-
Another gig, consummated,
silence now reigns supreme.
I can imagine,
Him gently packing
away his trademark tool.
And shimmering out the back,
to melt into the late night
Darkness.
28 Saturday Dec 2013
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Another lovely post by Sir Felion- relaying a groovy event, Surfin’ Santa, which we attended this past Christmas Eve, up in Cocoa Beach. There were over 200 surfing Santies in attendance. It was a charity event to raise money for those needing to travel out of the state, here, for cancer treatment. T-shirts were all sold out by the end of the event, and the donations were brimming. It was exquisite.
Slashing through the sand,
On a Beach so damp and viscous-
Whirling chilling winds buffeting them about,
A bevy of 200 rosy S. Clauses clutch their spindly glassine fiber boards
And plunge into the cold tempestuous tossing spume!
Hordes-
Of young and old landlubbers roar and click their shiny phones-
And big giant bulbous-lensed cameras on spiderly legs
Clatter away to capture,
The ludicrous, quaintly humorous and stunning event.
A grand cause for all the scarlet pageantry,
Apparel was sold out to help fund
The arduous costly sojourns of those
Jousting the Big C with their far away healers.
–In memory of my wife Jodi, March 2007.
