Friday, December 30, 2011

Sheep...imagine that

Wherever I go...well, you know...
 And sometimes they wear blankets...
 View of the South Fork River Valley, Lincoln County, NC...
 My people have lived here since the 1760s
 Wistful sheep...
 Sheep...playing rugby?
 This looked like a falcon!
 Mrs. Cardinal
 Mr. Cardinal
 Racketty Blue Jays
 Horses and goats aplenty...
 And little burros!
 And sheep...
 Staring at me...
 Well, not always...
 And cows...
 Woolly bully!
 We also found sheep in Wythe County, VA!
 Wish they didn't have access to farm equipment...
 Have these people never seen Shaun the Sheep?
 These have horns...
And these? Well, looks like they have a patch of heaven.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Poem 2011

Friends, dear, far and near, some of you are on our mailing list, but alack, not all. Every year we write a poem at Christmas. Sometimes it is a collaboration, and often one or the other makes editorial suggestions, some stronger than others...heh. This year I was the author. By The Bug's official tally, that makes us even at ten each. This year's poem was inspired, at least indirectly, by Tess Kincaid, author of the blog Life at Willow Manor, poet extraordinaire, and producer of Magpie Tales, which features a weekly writing prompt. Thank you so much for Magpie Tales, Tess! I responded to this prompt last December with a poem, a revised and expanded version of which follows:



Queen Mother

Mother, invested with crown,
Blood-stain red halo,
Glassy-eyed pale visage,
Lead-solder heavy burden
Cradled in your strong arms...
Master craftsmen of yore
Immortalized you this way,
And so, in turn, do we.

What happened to that
Brown-eyed, dark-haired girl,
Still young, but naïve no more?
How often did you cry “Why”
As your child grew within
While you were shunned
From without? Did you shout
“eli eli lama sabachthani” too?

We appeal to you, Mary,
In our times of trouble,
For you are the one
Who brought forth
The Son on whom
We now gaze in wonder:
“Vision of glory, this Child
Asleep on the hay.”

Pray, should we also ponder
What was asked of you,
Oh Blessed Madonna,
By Our Father in Heaven
Whose child you carried,
Raised, loved, and buried:
The One who made your belly
A swelling vessel of Presence?

Mike & Dana Rhyne
Christmas 2011


May you experience grace, peace, and love, 
in this season and always!  
Dr. L.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sunday Ramble

 It was a perfectly clear, cool afternoon
The best kind for a ramble through farm country
 There were sheep
 and more sheep
 the curious
and the not so curious
 and then there were
these dudes!
A glorious December day

A light and shadow Magpie




First Blush

Interplay of night and day
Stark…primary white light

Versus deep shadow
null, void, pitch black…

Back in the day tv hues
No confusion between

Good and bad…hats
Tell the tale every time.

But I’m addlepated as you
Rise before me, shaded

Jaded, cast in darkness,
Seeking out its mystery

I have a history, you know
I fear you do, too, sooo...

I swear I would kiss you
If I could find your mouth


This is a Magpie Tale. For more, or to participate, click here!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

A funny thing happened on the way to a magpie


I Drown
by Lemuel Crouse

I drown in your absence,
Gasping, flailing, sputtering
Like a boat motor guttering
Out on the last bit of gasoline.

I cling, fling, grasp for oars,
Bringing all down with me,
Like a man overboard
Not wanting to die alone.

Gone is reason, sense,
Any essence of my pride,
Like a tribe of sand crabs
Scattering before the gulls.

As I founder, ever deeper,
That old reaper closes in
Like the tide, sweeping
Ever higher up the beach.

A grand peach of a pit,
Stranded thus in this bind,
Like finally learning one is
Stale, fit only to be cast out.

I am but a bitter-sweet tale
Of woes compounded,
Like Crane's Open Boat, if it
Ran aground on quicksand.



This is a Magpie Tale. For more, or to participate, click here!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Winter comes

Dear deer...everywhere



Murders of crows



A young peregrine falcon!

An old Red-tailed hawk

And another, in flight!

Big skies
And glorious
glorious
sunsets!


And that old devil moon :-)

With just a hint of snow so far...