We.

We humans have so much in common, but these three things I know to be true.

~ We all start out as babies.
~ Somehow or another, we all need love.
~ If we keep love in our hearts, there isn’t as much room for other things.  Other things, which aren’t as good and true… as is love.

“Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.” – David Wilkerson

…. and at the end of the day… when it is all said and done.

When you are heading home after long hours filled with all the “stuff” that your day may be filled with.  The comings, and goings, the appointments, and meetings, duties, responsibilities, tasks and functions….

I think it might be a good thing…  to stop and see the horses.  At sunset.  Yes.  Stop.   Take a deep breath, and take it all in.

Look at  ’em….  but don’t smell ’em… for crying out loud.  They aren’t roses.

…and check your shoes before you get back in the car.

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

Larry had spent his entire life inside the canister with the rest of the Wet Wipes. What a miserable existence.  It was cramped, dark, damp, and smelled of Mr. Clean’s Lemon Tree.

But then the day came.  Salvation Day.

Larry looked up and saw the light.

Suddenly he felt a swirl of motion…. and out he popped.  Through the top of the plastic X.

And now…. NOW… he was on the outside.

Things were absolutely chaotic…. completely frantic outside.  It was calamity, tribulation, hysteria, and frenzy.  Yes… it looked as if someone had spilled their milk.

But now it was HIS TURN.  Larry got right to it… and saved the day.  Yes.  He came to the rescue… swooping down and cleaning up the whole, big, blessed mess.

Hoorrrrrray for Larry.  Hip. Hip.   Hooray.

“When I was born I was so surprised I didn’t talk for a year and a half.” – Gracie Allen

“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” – Satchel Paige

Tonight, I could write about the year 1941.  OR… I could write about a new toxic-lethal-fast-spreading bacteria which scientists have just discovered in Taiwan.

I’ll go with 1941.

I’m not sure why… but this year is coming around to me today.  I picked up a Wheat Penny from 1941 today.

And….. .   I have this “Easter-Bunny”, “Tooth Fairy”, “Leprechaun” belief… that the Universe is a connected network of energy.  Yes… it is a big working of energy, and light, and flowing.. from here to there and back again.  It looks a lot like your central nervous system, times a billion.  Energy.  Flow.  And it is all connected.  I also think that if we are intuitive enough, and open, and perceptive, we can “see” these connections from time to time.

So. Every once in a while… because of these random events….  I like explore the criss-cross-phenomena when they happen to me.  Today… it is 1941.

As years go, it seems much like many others of its time. WWII was on the brink of going into full-blown mode.  The war in Europe continued to dominate world affairs. A new threat was growing which would soon involve America.  Yep, the U.S. would officially declare war on Japan this year.

On a brighter note in America, our old buddy Gutzon Borglum completed the massive sculpture of Mt. Rushmore.  Smile Teddy. Smile.

And, a bill in U.S. Legislature created the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.  Welllll….  It had to be some time.  Heaven only knows when those little black-patent-leather-shoes with the big shiny buckles… REALLY set foot on Plymouth Rock.

Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane debuted.  As did Dumbo.

Glen Miller produced the song… The Chattanooga Choo Choo.    Uhhhhh…. Pardon me boys.

It cost 12 cents for a gallon of gasoline.  You could get a pair of flannel trousers for $1.16.  And you were likely to pay about $32 per month in rent.

Both Simon and Garfunkel were born this year.  So was Martha Stewart.  She wore striped PJs in the nursery.

And pictured in this photo  …. this guy, Alfred William Goodell, made this round thing… in Rockford, Illinois.
I have no idea what it is… but I bought it on ebay… because it intrigued me.

I happen upon these coincidences every once in a while.  I wonder what their meanings are… or even IF they HAVE meanings.  They bump into me though…. and I notice.

But. Most of the time it is a blank.

That’s all I know about 1941.  I wish I had more.  But I don’t.   So there you have it.  Another mystery of the universe… or nothing at all.

But it beat the heck out of the story from Taiwan.

“Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?” – Charles de Lint

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” – Albert Einstein

“It is completely unimportant. That is why it is so interesting!” – Agatha Christie

I have never met…. a …

Matador.
Honeydew Farmer.
Namer of Cars.
Snake Charmer.
Test Pilot.
Soap Maker.
Astronomer.

There are a lot of professional this and thats, I’ve never met.

When people meet, they often say… “Oh, what do you do?”
And the other person answers… “I work at a Nail Factory.”  or such and such.

It seems that people put a lot of weight in this.  I’ve heard other folks say… “Now that guy there.  He’s important.  He is the Divisional Manager of Blahhh, Blahhhh, Blahhh, Inc.”

I’m not sure why this is.

I think a person’s importance is more about WHO they are… rather than what they get paid for.  Like helping your kids with their homework.  Delivering meals to the home bound.   Or finding a person who is down on their luck… a bed to sleep in at night.

Yep.   I say we start a movement to tell people what we really do… when we are asked.

Hello.  I am Polly, seeker of truth, pursuer of humor, believer in peace.  Friend to the Sock Monkey.

Not necessarily in that order.

“It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.” – Herman Hesse

No secret.  I love photography.

And I have said it before, but I’ll say it again.  When I look at a photograph, especially one from a long time ago, it is like finding a hidden treasure.

It is like cracking opening a Piñata, even.

When I see it, and explore the treasure inside… I have the opportunity to go somewhere I have never gone before.  My mind fills with the stories that might be possible about that image.  I can see the scene unfolding.

It is a little like reading a book, or see in a movie… but better.

This photograph here… well….   this is my grandma.  She is second from the right…. looking down at the kitten.

This is a much different grandma from the one I knew.  I love to look back at the early part of her life.  She seemed happy then, and sweet, and filled with wonder.  She loved kittens for crying out loud.  She seemed affectionate with her siblings, and her mother.  She looked joyous.

Later in life, she didn’t seem this way to me at all.  She rarely spoke, and appeared to be sad, or down-trodden all the time.  I wonder what happened.  The “why” of it.

I doubt that I will ever know.

Yet.  I love to see the side of her that I never knew as a child.  I like to see the woman my grandpa fell in love with, and the mother of my mother…. beautiful and sweet. As it turns out, I am in the photo too.  Yep.  I’m’ in one of the eggs, in one of her eggs.  Really.

All in a photograph.

And.

That picture.  As they say…. is worth a thousand words.

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Albert Einstein
“Just do what you do best.” – Red Auerbach

@Fred_the_Bird:  “I’m going to eat my seeds now.”

@Bert_the_Bird:  “Ha.  I just pooped my seeds.”

EARLY TWEETS.

I don’t know why the whole Twitter thing irks me, but it does.  When the newscaster says…” the officer tweeted the information to his fellow officer… blah, blah, blah…. ”  OR they say… “There was inaccurate reporting of the incident on Twitter.”

Huh.  Ya’ think?

Welllllll…… I’m not sure why, but it is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

I for one, think we should leave the Tweeting for the Birds.

Yep.  Tweeting is definitely for the Birds.

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” – Lou Holtz

What could possible be better that one lip?  Tulips.

We have a friend named Cindy.  We give her gifts.  When we do, we say they are Forsythia. 

A Blackbird lies all the time.  What is that bird doing?  Crocus.

Here is the deal… you see.    I don’t know Jack in the Pulpit, when it comes to flowers and plants and trees and such.

I have this very same conversation every year about this time, with some of my closest friends.

I am not sure if I would know a Daffodil from a Tulip.  Or a Cherry Tree from a Crab Apple, for that matter.

But.  I do know this much.  Each one of those flowers, or plants, or little lives… hold an incredible, individual and uniquely implicit beauty.  Each one has their own little mystery built right in.  Every one, in their own right, is a living miracle.

Most people like to look at those flowers from their front sides.

But every now and again, I think we should walk behind, and take a good look at their beauty from the other side.  The side we don’t often see.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness” – John Keats

You know, living out in the country, you get to see a lot of things that people in the big city don’t.

I wonder when the last time someone in New York City saw a horse like this!  I mean, I grew up in a city.  But never you mind that.

I have been out here in Timbuktu so long that I know how “country” works  like the back of my hand.  Shoot.

Make know mistake of it either.  That old phrase, you can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.  Psssshhhhaaaawwww.  I would say that I am “country” to the core.

Okay, back to this here horse.  When do you think the last time some city slicker from NYC laid their eyes on a horse with horns?  Ha.  I bet not for a month of Sundays.  (That is a catchy country phrase, by the way.)

Now I for one, think this type of horse would be great at places like the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, and such.  Those horns would take out the competitors down to the ground…..  right out of the gate.

If the thing could get out of the gate.

Yep.  That might be a problem.

But this here is a nice looking horse…. no matter how you look at it.

And as it turns out… as I was looking at her, she was looking back at me.

But I knew better than to look her in the mouth.
Because that single moment… was indeed…. a gift.  Country Style.

“Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” – W. C . Fields

“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.” – Brian Tracy

This is Clara and Will’s Wedding.  Clara was my Grandpa Ed’s Sister.  It was taken on May 6, 1924.  Look how dang happy everyone is.  Well.  That was a long time ago.

Time.  Time.  Time.

It is funny how some people wish the time away.  I guess the time isn’t being so good to them, as far as I can figure.  They do all sorts of things to make it whip on by.

You see, they have time on their hands.  They will get a knife out and whittle the time away.  Or a gun…. killing time.  Some people even get flatulence.  They’ll pass the time.  They’ll watch the clock and so much more.

These days, it seems like I am trying to gather time.  I save it… or try to.    Keeping time.   Holding on to it.  In all sorts of different ways.

Like the classic song goes… “Give me just a little more time.”

But the truth of the matter is, we can’t speed it up, or slow it down.  We can’t wish it away, or hang on to it with all we are worth.

Time passes.  Just as it does.

Here is this minute though.  This very moment.  We have that.  No more. No less.  It will be here, and then it will be gone.  It will come and be just what it is… no matter how much we anticipate it, or worry about it.

This passing of every single second….. will happen.  And then it will never, ever, be here again.

Constantly.  Unexpectedly.  Consistently.  Erratically.    All at once.  One second at a time.
Yes.  We all know just how time comes… and how it goes.

Or do we?

“There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself.” – Anthony Rapp