Look for the Christie book and Poirot tv series episode entitled Murder on the Links. “Every dog has his day.”–George Borrow
Both Christie and the great screen-writer Anthony Horowitz (who also created and wrote most of Foyle’s War as well as the new book Moriarty) reveal their own romantic sides. Decidedly delightful.
Laurie Blakeman, Liberal MLA, AB: “I changed the world“–after PCs pass their own distracting Bill 10 as a sop or smokescreen for the budget to follow. Massive, unabashed public ego.
to make all the others fall. To cause significant change in whatever humdrum or stable life. Could be the death of a parent. Could be retirement. Could be…
Nimrud. Where Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan once did archeological digs. Killer-dopes have taken bulldozers and sledgehammers to. That place and other UNESCO heritage sites. With absolutely no qualms about mindlessly destroying centuries of mid-eastern culture and history.
Welcome to the Age of the New Barbarians! We haven’t seen anything quite like this since the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman empire. Savages, vandals running amok, unmolested, destroying civilization’s monuments. All hearkens back to the Norseman and the chaos wrought by similar feral, uncivilized, unconscionable primitive evildoers. Lobbing off heads, demolishing any physical evidence of civilization–all kind of goes together for these guys. They serve no useful purpose and have forced us back to the old mentality of kill first or be killed first.
(Northern flicker, backyard fence)
(owl ice sculpture, Strathcona festival, 2011)
-shovelling snow
-doing Christmas-lights drives, in the context of Nature
-occasionally solitary weekend-walking at U of A
-walking around Hawrelak Park on melting days, feeding chickadees, nuthatches
-squeezing in a zoo trip
-feeding the birds and squirrels in the backyard
-turning the daily/monthly bird, dog, and landscape calendar pages
-visiting with my son’s family dog
-watching the annual Westminster dog show on the tube
-daily checking out of the Frame channel’s various Nature segments
-watching nature programming on tv or DVD
-watering the many plants in each room of the house weekly
-watering the annual colorful poinsettias which last an average of three months
-buying the odd store floral bouquet
-visiting garden shops and the Wild Bird Store
-culminating with a colorful, moist-aired getaway to Vancouver or Victoria to take in the ocean, beaches, gardens, and other scenery
……………………………….
More than enough Nature to keep one’s spirits way up. No SADD here.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
–Brutus speaking, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
(above pic: the author at Prospect Point, Stanley Park, in Vancouver, 2013; again this April for the beautiful rhododendrons, camellias, Japanese cherries, and Pacific dogwood; van Duesen Gardens, Queen Elizabeth Park, the charming Ferguson Point restaurant, classy Hotel Vancouver lounge, scenic Spanish Banks, world-famous McLeod’s Books, Granville Island, and Coast hotel accommodation on Denham with high-rise view of nearby English Bay)
A week in Radium to follow in May before tourist season.
except through death or, while living, via extended time contemplating. In those rich, deep, privileged, thought-full moments, individuals learn the wisdom of letting go and accepting from meditative moments of the dissolving cherished ego. That which is likewise suppressed by the dancing Shiva, the East Indian Lord of the Dance, while one of its hands gestures “All is well in the world; everything is All Right”.
“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”–James Joyce, Ulysses
……………………………
(above: found object installation by RD)
(living limitedly and the same, one random, homogenized, ‘pig-piling’ example re. cars–identical-colored rental cars, January, 2011, parking lot of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona)
Many Westerners choose to live life in chains, often as slaves to chasing money and materialism, being cheap, and choosing similar ruts and traps. As Sartre pointed out, we often create our own hells by flattering our own egos. In the wake, there are usually regrets, unachieved dreams or goals, and a huge backlog of missing pieces. Then there are the matters of what we actually did or accomplished in our lives as well as whether our presence actually made a significant difference in the lives of others.
But I think, in the end, there are many disappointments and regrets because we did not live the lives we dreamed of or never chose for ourselves. Often we settle for less or are swept along in the drift of the moment or others. We simply do not truly know ourselves, do those things which are more/most interesting, or achieve anything resembling personal freedom, self-knowledge or honesty with self. Too often, we simply short-change ourselves and do not choose to think or explore the realms of personal consciousness. We limit ourselves to the ever-changing physical or technological, and wilfully put ourselves in perpetual binds with regards to our hearts, while ignoring deeper soul or spiritual needs.
Well, this is all too-common, and there are many instances of this in the course of a day. We do it to ourselves as much as we do it to others, using, manipulating, and egoically treating others as means rather than ends. And the mass of Westerners, by and large, focus on smaller, rather than larger, deeper, resonant values and perspectives. Personal choices, nonetheless, all the way down the line. Often not for true self-enhancement and fulfillment of personal potential. Often not for the myriad possibilities. Often just concerned with what others will think of us. Often kidding ourselves with illusions of love and belonging. In the end, more fantasy than reality or self-honesty. Often not for growth possibilities, increased personal consciousness, or the free flow of Life Force. The great cultural Doh of our time.
Thoreau was right. The truth is that the mass of Western men and women in our society simply live unfree, Twitterly shallow, and ‘small’; they choose limited lives for themselves and frequently try to limit others, too. “We do it to ourselves and others.” All this sameness, herding, and living oh-so narrowly and limitedly.
“A sacred place is any space that is set apart from the usual context of life. Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”–Joseph Campbell
-1-
Over and over
great green waves
pound and crash
on black rocks
eternally.
Improvised waterfalls
have their moments
in a magnificence of spray.
It is where the
large white explosions
take place
that I live no more.
-2-
Now the green tides
roll in, breakers
turning white to foam
addressing
the remaining crags.
This is my home
my perspective.
-3-
Even less of me
and now just waves
ascending and then
rushing in as
gulls stitch sky
above the
shining waters.
-4-
There is much
which is not of
others or even man.
Continuous tides
24/7 elsewhere in
tides of imagination.
A love temple
on the rocky cliff–
the ruins of some
nameless dream.
-5-
In the end
just a sound
of waves
on unfamiliar shores
water channeling sand,
spilling, then refilling
a ceaseless white.
(previously published December 11, 2012 here)
