Fall and the RBG Moon. Orion, Mars, Venus, and the Great Dog<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monday gratefuls: Ancient friends. Their journeys. Learning and education. Life. All those drops for my eyes. Peanut butter and Rigel. Carne asada, twice baked potato, and salad. Safeway pickup. That snow yesterday. Mom’s yahrzeit on the 17th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bright, sunshiny day in the high 50’s. I worked at my computer. Turned around. A gray day. Snow blizzarding down, swirling. 39 degrees. Colorado. An hour later. No snow. Blue sky. Sunny. Black Mountain absorbed it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My ancient friends keep talking about the Ground Hog day nature of their lives. Not so for me. Each day has its own challenges. Our meal times vary. Sure, there are equivalent actions at familiar times: feeding the dogs, a.m., coming up to the loft, writing this blog. Breakfast, change Kate’s bandages. Noon or so nap. Evening dog feeding, some television. In between these though I could be reading, painting, writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our life had a cloistered feel even before the pandemic. That’s intensified, for sure. We don’t have the occasional meal out. No movies. No CBE. Zooming with family, friends, synagogue classes. Yes, not the same as in person, as we all know now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both of us though are introverts. Kate even more so than I. Happiness is a book, a project, a downtime hour painting or sewing, watching a movie. Of course we love our kids, our grandkids, our friends, the folks at CBE. We would like to see them more often. But, not too much more often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mountain recluses. That’s us. Just got a novel, A Life of Li Bai. Either at retirement or upon banishment Chinese literati took up mountain living, usually as recluses. Li Bai, a Tang dynasty poet exiled in the time of the An Lushan rebellion is a mountain poet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s one of his memorized by generations of Chinese schoolchildren:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thoughts in the Silent Night<\/strong> (\u9759\u591c\u601d) And another famous poem (in China) by Han-Shan, or Cold Mountain, Poem 302:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\u51fa\u751f\u4e09\u5341\u5e74\uff0c I\u2019ve been in the world for thirty years,<\/em> The pandemic has changed our lives, but not that much. Li Bai or Han Shan could have lived here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Consolations of the Mountains. Our wild Neighbors. The dark night Sky filled with Stars and Planets and Galaxies. The Lodgepole Pine and the Aspen. The dancing, sparkling Streams. The sturdy Rock. The thinner Air. Shadow Mountain home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fall and the RBG Moon. Orion, Mars, Venus, and the Great Dog Monday gratefuls: Ancient friends. Their journeys. Learning and education. Life. All those drops for my eyes. Peanut butter and Rigel. Carne asada, twice baked potato, and salad. Safeway pickup. That snow yesterday. Mom’s yahrzeit on the 17th. A bright, sunshiny day in the … Continue reading Mountain Recluses<\/span>
\n\u5e8a\u524d\u660e\u6708\u5149\uff0c Beside my bed a pool of light\u2014
\n\u7591\u662f\u5730\u4e0a\u971c\uff0c Is it hoarfrost on the ground?
\n\u8209\u982d\u671b\u660e\u6708\uff0c I lift my eyes and see the moon,
\n\u4f4e\u982d\u601d\u6545\u9109\u3002 I lower my face and think of home.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u7576\u904a\u5343\u842c\u91cc\u3002 And I must have traveled a million miles.<\/em>
\n\u884c\u6c5f\u9752\u8349\u5408\uff0c Walked by rivers where the green grass grows thick,<\/em>
\n\u5165\u585e\u7d05\u5875\u8d77\u3002 And entered the frontier where the red dust rises.<\/em>
\n\u934a\u85e5\u7a7a\u6c42\u4ed9\uff0c Purified potions in vain search for immortality,<\/em>
\n\u8b80\u66f8\u517c\u8a60\u53f2\u3002 Read books and perused the histories.<\/em>
\n\u4eca\u65e5\u6b78\u5bd2\u5c71\uff0c Today I return to Cold Mountain,<\/em>
\n\u6795\u6d41\u517c\u6d17\u8033\u3002 Pillow myself on the creek and wash out my ears.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n