the gifts of darkness and light

5.1.2025 May Day

It makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.

Rumi

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Photo by Jeremy Hynes on Unsplash

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Out at dawn with my doggo

when an owl hoots

and a woodpecker ratatats at the same time

so I ask old doggo

have you ever heard them like that before

at the same time

but doggo doesn't answer

just keeps listening

and watching the pine trees

jobe

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Before you speak, stop, breathe, and consider if what you are about to say will improve upon the silence.

Allan Lokos

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with hope there is life

with life there is hope

live — keep the faith

jobe

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In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

Dogen Zenji

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I have made a map to your heart and your sacred treasure. I drew the rivers in red and the trees in blue. I gave the highways names, not numbers. Frank. George. Like that. Nothing on this map has a beginning or an end, just the beautiful kindness of life in the middle. I scaled your kiss to the size of the page, and carefully listed the weight of those years that I have loved only you. In the corner of this map is the key, and there I listed the dreams we built together across the shadow of time. We are blessed by the gifts of darkness and light in the world where we live. Tomorrow, when the sunrise pushes away the night, I will roll the map up small and tight, place it in an empty bottle, cork it, and toss it into the roiling sea. This is romance.

jobe

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The only entity in the universe that knows what you are is you. And no one can tell you. No one can tell you.

Brad Warner

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looking up —by chance— at just the right moment

to see the red tail hawk disappear

behind the stand of valley oaks

love comes from love

life comes from life

jobe

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There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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silent in sorrow

he seldom mentions his dead younger brother

nights go by like years and vice-versa

and I wonder how he remembers

the little boy who ran down the hall

hoping his big brother would play with him

under his door I often see the light

of his computer screen

in the very late and very early hours

he is alone and I am alone

and somewhere else in this house

the mother is also alone

jobe

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Be melting snow. Wash yourself of yourself.

Rumi

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Respect the earth, respect the beings that live here. Make your strongest effort to do what’s right in this life, be a positive force to everything around you. No past, no future; just what you can do, the choices you can make right now. And that is a life.

jobe

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It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.

Francis of Assisi

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Hi, Campers. I’ve been posting on my Substack twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. That feels somewhat off to me. Post, skip two days, post, skip 3 days, post, and start over. Those 3 days seem like forever to me. I do post some notes on the off-days, but it feels unbalanced to me.

The real problem here is that there is an odd number of days in a week. There’s no way I can change that. If it could be possible, I would have us on a 8 day week. You Campers with jobs (ugh) could work 5 days and be off 3. The math to that over 365 days just doesn’t work. I’ve tried.

My plan, and I do have one, is to post, skip 2 days, and post again. Just ignore what day of the week it happens to be.

Any Lord Of The Rings fans around? Hobbits had a nice system to setting up the year. 13 months of exactly 4 weeks. That’s 52 weeks and it leaves a few days left over. Those were just extra days. No working, just feasting and having fun. J.R.R. Tolkien really was a genius. It’s a most unique way to do things.

I’m 69 on my next birthday, retired, going deaf. You could say that all of my days are extra days.

The paywall is just below, paid subscribers can continue on, but don’t think that I don’t appreciate the free subscribers; I do, and I’m very glad you’re here.

All good things,

jobe