Monday Morning Musings:
We wrap our hearts in fleecy blankets,
Valentine red, while the cold Snow Moon
sings her song, in silver notes falling,
falling, falling—
we don’t feel the movement
only the argent pull—magnetic attraction,
the flow of tides and blood
creating life, rising, and falling, falling
in revolutions around the sun,
in tilted rotations, come
the ebb and flow of existence
from star explosion, falling, falling, falling
and gravity caught and kept,
swept aside, buried to thrive,
the fruits of our earth consumed and reborn,
as falling, falling, falling
species die, yet birds survive.
Now the crows are calling
from trees deep-rooted,
but falling, falling, falling
leaves and seeds fly
as squirrels scamper and scold,
waving their tails, yet never
falling, falling, falling
only climbing higher to see
the deep ancient course
of water as it finds its way
the sea, rising, and falling, falling,
now rain and snow on
withered gardens that grow sun-bright–
and bee breath threaded gold
with pollen, falling, falling, falling
on flowers as they dance–
but even our simple eyes
can see the ghosts around us
falling, falling, falling
all around–
their memories
held in mind and heart, released
to join the stars, rising, falling, rising.
February was birthday month for us—children earlier in the month, and my husband and his mother’s this past week. We splurged and did a virtual Valentine wine and cheese tasting with wine and cheese we picked up at Tria in Philadelphia. It was so much fun—all French wine and cheese, except for one Vermont cheese. We saved the crémant to have with Indian food on my husband’s birthday.
This week we finished watching Inventing Anna (Netflix)—which I mentioned last week, and which definitely held our interest—and watched the first two episodes of the new season of Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime).
We wait to see if there will be war abroad and if our democracy will be toppled by right-wing authoritarians. But still, the moon shines, the days are getting longer, birds are beginning to sing, and spring is coming.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 
I like the form and repetition in your poem, Merril, and you know this is a favourite theme of mine! Happy Birthday to those special people in your life this month! 🎂
Thank you so much, Ingrid!
I’ll pass along your good wishes. 💙
😊
Wow. Photos and words blended beautifully. Exhibition of poetry in true sense
Thank you very much!
Welcome
Lovely musings and photos today, Merril. You all sure know how to celebrate!
Thank you, Jill!
That wine and cheese tasting was so much fun! 😊
Love the rhythm of this, Merril! The rhythm of life, the world, and of the calendar!
Thank you so much, Luanne.
After I wrote it, I thought perhaps I had The Highwayman in the back of my mind from Derrick Knight’s blog.
Oh interesting! Hmm
😊
I think you’re right about “The Highway Man” cadence, Merril. I love call-and-response between blogs. I’m doing one tomorrow, in fact.
Oh, interesting, Liz! I will look for it.
In this case, it wasn’t deliberate. I only thought of it afterwards.
I’d chalk it up to the “earworm” phenomenon.
You’re probably right, Liz.
I agree with Jill… y’all know how to celebrate every event! Our family has slowly stopped doing such and I feel I have to try harder to get them to want to do anything.
Loved your poem with the last repeating line.
So, tell me, what did you think of the first two episodes of Mrs. Maisel… It’s feeling forced and a tad over the top for me. I am not thrilled with it so far. I’m hoping they get their groove back. (Was just talking about it with Rochelle this morning. The feeling is mutual).
Thank you about both poem and celebration.
We’re not really doing family celebrations so much–finally exchanged birthday/Christmas presents with daughter last week! But this seemed like a fun Valentine-birthday splurge.
I liked the first two episodes. It was fun to be back in her world, but I can also see that the next episodes need to do some new things. I know there are supposed to be some new characters (also from The Gilmore Girls), so maybe that will shake things up a bit.
You still manage, whether on Zoom or in person and it’s great!
I loved the first episode. Her stand-up was hilarious! It’s the moving in of the parents that I felt was a tad off the mark.. But oy! could Joel’s mother be more annoying? 😉
Thank you!
Yes, I agree. Joel’s parents are annoying, and it did seem a bit much to have her parents move again–though it does kind of make sense to her character, I suppose? And if she’s performing, they’ll be there to babysit.
Just getting them away from the Maisels is a good thing. And having them move in with her is super practical. Could they give her a harder time about it? 😉
🤣
😉
I love your poem, Merril, but these lines also speak to my heart: “We wait to see if there will be war abroad and if our democracy will be toppled by right-wing authoritarians. But still, the moon shines, the days are getting longer, birds are beginning to sing, and spring is coming.”
Thanks so much, Marie.
I read what’s going on, and it’s so scary. . .but then I see the moon and the birds beginning to sing, and I think at least there’s that. (And of course, I know I’m fortunate to have a home, food, medical insurance, etc.)
Yes, we are fortunate but, still, these are scary times. At least, during my morning walks, I can find comfort in nature 🙂
Yes, exactly, Marie. Sigh.
This might cheer you up: I mentioned to Dale a little bit ago that this morning, I did see a pair of hawks mate! One flew in front of me and landed on the other hawk. Seriously, he didn’t even take a moment to land on the power line and then gently get on his lady’s back. Nope, he just swooped down on top of her. Their tails swished back and forth for all of three seconds (maybe less) and then he hopped off. The female rearranged her feathers and flew off in one direction. Her mate went off in the other direction a few seconds later. I am assuming they are a pair, but you never know! Could have just been an opportunistic fling 😉
Oh wow! That’s definitely a quickie! 😅 Red-tailed hawks are monogamous, I believe.
A long time ago, we were at the Philadelphia zoo with friends of ours, and the giant tortoises were going at it. You could hear them all over the zoo–more than 3 seconds. Maybe tortoises do everything slowly. 😏
lmao!
🤣
Those were the lines that spoke to me as well, Marie.
My not exactly on the soapbox but wanting to rant. 🤣
Very effectively done.
😀
Love this line above all: “argent pull—magnetic attraction,” which works for the moon and for couples, perhaps grieving distance apart.
I too am watching Ukraine with high interest. We have a beloved friend who runs a charity fund for children and families there. She’s had to press pause and retreat to a city west of Kiev, hoping for a strong pushback against Russian aggression.
May February be the start of a good year for all the birthday people in your family, Merril! ;-D
Thank you, Marian. That’s exactly what I meant with that line, the double meaning.
I remember you had been to Ukraine. I hope your friend is OK. I imagine Kyiv is a scary place to be right now. I hope they all stay safe.
Thank you for the good wishes for my gang!
I agree, you know how to celebrate! Great t-shirt too.
The birds and the moon keep us anchored. (K)
Thank you so much, Kerfe.
My husband has a collection of math-related t-shirts and sweatshirts. I thought he needed a new sweatshirt. 😀
Yes, they do. I heard bird song this morning before sunrise!!
I’m very behind. Had children staying and they’ve just left.
This reads like a Kerfe poem written by Merril. All the themes (the essential ones) are there, but I’d always recognise a Merril poem 🙂
Such an interesting thought–a Kerfe poem written by me. I’ll have to ponder that one a bit. 😀
That’s lovely that you had some of your children there. We just saw our younger one, even though she doesn’t live far away, we haven’t seen her in a while because we were being cautious.
There are some themes that crop up often for all three of us, like moons, birds, circles and cycles. Some combinations though I associate more with Kerfe than anyone else (especially crows).
The youngest was here for half term and two of the others came to spend a bit of time with her.
It’s hard to ignore the crows right now–they’re so active. 😀
That’s lovely that you got to see three of your fledglings. 💙
Funnily enough, I haven’t seen any crows here for a while. They must all be over your way 🙂
It was good to see them, but it’s always so short. They’ll get to see their eldest sister and the baby today and brother sometime soon. He’s moved away, not too far as the crow flies but it’s a ridiculously long train journey, six and a half hours from here.
They must be! I think the crows are here all the time, but the last few days they’ve been very active–large groups of them.
That’s nice your kids will get to see each other. 😊
There are crows here, but only one or two couples and they’ve been very quiet. We have far more magpies and jays than crows.
It’s a shame they don’t get to see everyone at the same time. We need a family house again!
I don’t think we have magpies. We have lots of bluejays. I have an app that identifies bird sound, and our crows are both American crows and Fish crows.😀
My sisters and I always talk about a family compound–not that it will ever happen, but it would be nice to just walk over to one of their houses.
The tradition of having a family ‘home’ with room for everyone in an extended family is quite common here. I’d like to do it. We did have a house big enough for everyone but not in the right place. One day maybe we’ll get one.
I guess it will have to be very big if you want to include spouse/significant others, grandchildren, etc. It would be lovely though to have my children and sisters closer.
We have a place in mind, a real warren, and very quirky. Not to most tastes. On the list of projects 🙂
Good luck!😀
No, seems as though you don’t have magpies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_magpie
They’re quite spectacular, like Chinese kites in flight.
They are very pretty! I like all the crow-related birds. Our blue jays are striking, but they’re very noisy. I guess that’s true of all of them, too, but they’re all smart birds.
They are clever. I must admit, I have been known to chase magpies away from the house during nesting season. They know where the nests are and I hate seeing baby birds stolen.
I suppose there are a lot of birds that do that.
There are. When a bird of prey gets one, we say it has to eat, but when a magpie sneaks up on a blackbird’s nest when it knows the mother’s taking a lunch break, we say—cruel! Illogical, I know 🙂
Yes, humans are not very logical. 😊 On the other side of things though, we do hear about animals that raise offspring not their own. When I was looking up Fish Crows, I read there was a couple who raised a blue jay.
In a ‘normal’ sort of world, one without us interfering, I imagine the crows etc pick off the weaker and more common birds and there are plenty of healthy, smart birds left. We force them to eat things that they wouldn’t chose to, simply because that’s all we’ve left them.
I suppose so–all of the earth has changed because of humans.
We’re doing a great job…
😅
Gorgeous!
Thank you very much!
Just lovely Merril thank you! And the photos of course. The food – to die for. Yes, we’re watching what’s going on with the US and Russia. I just hope that humans don’t become part of the falling, falling …
Thank you very much, Susan. We’re definitely in a very scary time, and I hope not.