And now, for something completely different…

I'm re-reading I Wait for the Moon:  100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman.  It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West.  The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful.

These two little passages were in reference to several haiku about cherry blossoms:

Each year as the cherry blossom season nears, the Japanese media provide daily updates on the evolving state of the cherry tree buds, reporting on the estimated time and date for the full bloom to occur in each prefecture and region of Japan.

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As part of her effort to recommit to haiku, Momoku began a pilgrimage to Japan's one hundred most famous cherry trees.

I am envious.  I would love to live in a place that covered the blossoms blooming as a news story, and kept track of the 100 most wonderful cherry trees.

Wouldn't you rather hear about flowers blooming than about Donald Trump's latest tweet?

Angels

I haven't been able to track down the name of the artist.  I'm still looking.

An Unfortunate Homonym

From The Huffington Post:

Americans have an uncomfortable relationship with taking it easy: We’re overworked and burned out. We’re loath to take our vacation days. We have abysmal work-life boundaries and valorize being busy.

That’s exactly why we need a little niksen in our lives. Niksen is the Dutch term for carving out time to do absolutely nothing every so often. When you niks, you allow yourself to just be: no interrogating your thoughts, no worries about deadlines or bottom lines.

Read the rest HERE.

On the other hand…

"On the other hand, you could just relax and realize that, behind all the worry, complaint and disapproval that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky, and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth. There’s enormous richness. You could envelop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your joyfulness. You could start right now."  ~Pema Chodron, excerpted from The Wisdom of No Escape ©2017

Rather than

"If we were to become aware of our habitual thoughts, perceptions, and sensations, rather than being carried away by them, their power over us would begin to fade."  ~Mingyur Rinpoche

Let 'em in

Donald Trump thinks millions of Americans are just pretending to be poor so they can get free food (source).

I don't know.  That seems unlikely to me.  But even if it's true, I don't mind.

Let them have a sandwich.

doo--doo--doo--doo--doo--doo

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Last time I checked, this had over 3.1 billion-- that's with a "b"-- views.

From Time to Time

"We should be quite gentle in judging ourselves and remember that the habits we are fighting against come from beginningless time and are very strong. So from time to time there will be some backsliding-- though in the long run there is progress and improvement. Furthermore, remember that even having entered the gate of the Dharma, having the intention to reduce our disturbing emotions, or being concerned about disturbing emotions is amazing because most people involved in samsara never even think about this."  ~Thrangu Rinpoche

Leaf

Leaf by Yayoi Kusama

 

Temples

"Better than material gifts offered in stone-made temples, churches and mosques, God loves the gifts of love, peace, and devotion offered in the temple of one’s own heart or through the temples of the hearts of others."  ~Paramahansa Yogananda

In Me

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Just beautiful!

Via LaughingSquid

Stuck In A Moment

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A few times a week my wife Mona texts out a "question of the day" to all her friends.  The most recent one was, "What is your superpower?"

Most people demurred or responded with a joke.  My answer was, "I can do things even when I don't want to."  I've lived with depression my whole life, so that was an important skill to master.

Mona told me, though, that I actually have a different superpower:  I can recognize when people's minds are stuck in a loop, and I can pull them out of it.

I hadn't realized that about myself, but that is something I'm pretty good at.  Sometimes a slightly different perspective is all that's needed; focus on something different, then come back refreshed.

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?"  ~Cpt. Jack Sparrow

I wish I could do it for myself.

Ted Hawkins

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Songs for a Rainy Day

Songs about rain:

• I can't stand the rain by Ann Peebles (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Have you ever seen the rain? by Credence Clearwater Revival (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Raindrops keep falling on my head by B.J. Thomas (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• I wish it would rain by The Temptations (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Raining in my heart by Buddy Holly (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Rainy night in Georgia by Conway Twitty and Sam Cooke (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Rainy days and Mondays by The Carpenters (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Kentucky rain by Elvis Presley (YouTube Link)(lyrics)


• I love a rainy night by Eddie Rabbitt (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Into each life some rain must fall by The Ink Spots (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Summer Rains by The Ditty Bops (YouTube link)


• I can stand a little rain by Joe Cocker (YouTube link)(lyrics)

I didn't include the song by Prince because I don't like that one, or the one by The Who because I realized it was actually a homonym.

Sunflowers

We feed the birds, and in exchange they plant us sunflowers:

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