The Bucket

 

S/HE walked to the car with a bucket in hand.
Fill your bucket full.  It was never made for sand.
She put it on the floor behind the driver's side
and tucked her briefcase near it to stabilize its ride.
The traffic flow was heavy, so she turned the music loud, 
maneuvering with skill, she raced through the crowd.
Her mind never stilled as she traveled down the lane
turning left then right, her worries the refrain:
The lawn is brown; the heat is holding.
The market dropped and chipped the molding.
The spot on her arm had surely grown.
That caused alarm; she dialed her phone.
S/He pulled into the driveway and opened up the door
then bent and reached behind her for the bucket on the floor.
She carried it with deftness and set it down with pain
Some days it seemed so heavy; she wished that it would rain.
Then she sat down to dinner, her worries the refrain:
The lawn is brown; the heat is holding.
The market dropped and chipped the molding.
The spot on her arm had surely grown.
That caused alarm; she dialed her phone.
She had long stopped checking the content in
 her pail, but she knew it was full, so she must have done well.
So daily she did carry a bucket full of gold and soft flowing rain
and  the cure for feeling old, and she sat it on the floor,
 and she placed it on a shelf
never growing never knowing that her bucket was herself.

Dividing Lines

The August sky is not like other skies. It separates itself. Summer burns hot and brittle or wet and green. The August sky doesn't seem to care. The mix of clouds appears to happen at the flip of a calendar page. Tall, billowy, rising white and gray cumulus clouds mix at the perimeters of the west and the east. They darken and strengthen and push toward unseen dividing lines. Suddenly, they merge in the middle and crash into a symphony of light, wind, and rain, and then sneak off to another place, a place ready and thirsty for their waters or drenched and frightened of their output. Divided in opinions. Separate in locations.

The August sky is not like other skies. It brings to the forefront the first sitings of cold, wispy ice crystals and blue fields of grazing, white sheep. Not quite ready for the fruition of any kind of event from those soon-to-be fall and winter clouds, this 8th-month show of clouds teases us with what ifs and what is to come. Something we are beginning to be most ready for if the summer lags hot and sizzling, but a foreshadowing we dread if summer seems short on endless swimming days by the pool or sea and long on gray days packed with rain and mediocrity. Divided in opinions. Separate in locations.

This August's sky is not like other skies. It separates itself. It covers earth now driven by a maiden named La Nina. She is tough and sassy and has tossed humans about in flood waters and burned their homes to the ground.  She moves the currents in ways that bring sorrow to some and distributes sustenance that gives others joy and fills both hearts and bellies.  She confuses us with her repeating visits and makes us forget that each time she moves across our earth, its conditions creep toward harsher patterns. Patterns that somehow mirror our human hearts this August. Divided in opinions. Separate in locations.

Offered with prayers for unity and peace, Love Linda

Picture the Future

So, this is a picture of Bella, my granddaughter, in her first car.

Her little Wilma Flintstone feet carried her on the sidewalk from our house to theirs, which at that time was not far away in the neighborhood.

So, this is a picture of Bella, my granddaughter, in what she probably thinks is her first car. She got it last year on her birthday. She drives it from her home in College Park, several miles away, to our house more times than most teenagers would, so we are always happy and grateful to see her!

She no longer controls the speed with her feet. 

Big deal.

Her first car got a lot better gas mileage!

😊

As we picture the future; we create it.

Peace.

Love, Linda

Spring Greens

 Somebody spilled the paints last night, 

full palettes of greens.

Could be the winds from the midnight storm

that roared across the heavens with sounds of fury

knocked over an entire pallet of palettes,

and it flowed across the trees, the grasses

and the fields, skipping some places as

it spread

the way spilled paint does.

My new favorite colors now.

SPRING GREENS,

not the ones you eat,

but the ones you gaze at with 

admiration through your favorite

sunglasses.

It starts here in the south and flows northward,

so HOPES UP northerners. 

It's coming your way.

Start looking for empty paint cans on your lawn.

  

Wishing you a day of "green" peace. Don't miss it. It is one of life's most remarkable gifts.

Peace. Love, Linda 

Ready, Set...Go!

     February is burning at warp speed, and that means March is just  

around the corner. Florida March. It's my birthday month, and I always 

look for the shifting of the big dipper, so just on my birthday, it sits right 

behind the back of the house, a smidge above the oak trees in the lot 

behind us. It never lets me down. The natural world is so dependable in 

spite our efforts to break it. The oak trees sitting semi-bare, but only 

 

for a short time, are frantically replacing their leaves even as more of 

them blow away in the almost-spring wind. The other trees that actually 

lose their leaves in the winter, yes, we do have them in Florida, are 

standing stark against a deep, blue sky, limbs outstretched to the 

heavens, waiting for the words. What words?

READY, SET, GO! 

I wait with them.

Peace. Love, Linda

Settling in on What Does Balance the Scales Really Mean

 Proverbs 11:1

A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,

But a just weight is His delight.

     When I ran Midtown Cycles, I used to deal with customers from an Old Testament model of balanced scales. If I am fair to you but not to me, I am out of balance. If I am fair to me but not to you, I am out of balance. I can't count the times I relied on that measure when dealing with a big job or a complaint with a customer. I never believed the "customer was always right."  The customers were not the experts. My technician, Jason, and I were the experts and had earned that title through years of hard work and many trials and errors. We had both reached the top level of competency in running that small business. That is why we had such wonderful customers that returned over and over. Now, I am not saying that we were perfect, but we really tried to do our best every day. That "best" was guided by the principle of the balanced scale.

     We live in a litigious society. Is balancing a scale really a thing anymore? Not so much. Lawsuits are so prevalent, and the courts are so packed, that lawyers and judges are guided by a principle of "settling" cases. I am no longer naive. I have learned that anyone can start a lawsuit against someone whether "real" or not and get the court and lawyers on their side, especially in probate cases that operate in a lot of darkness, and charge a defendant with just about anything. They ratchet up fear tactics and harassment to such a level that millions of people who have the means, choose to settle. They are buying peace even though they may have done nothing at all wrong. They are buying back their lives from an ugly entanglement, and they are buying peace. So, that said, is that balancing the scales? I am not so sure. That may be "fair to you", but is that "fair to me"? 

     The problem is a defendant can be totally innocent and lose cases today even with proof that judges and lawyers may have lied often, and a naive elderly woman's Civil Rights may have been removed without following the guidelines of the laws set forth by the state. Documents may prove that. Unfortunately, our system is not perfect, and that doesn't appear to always matter. However, if the state chooses to file a judgment against someone who is innocent, and that happens more times than we can imagine, the "universal" onus of that imbalance is on the courts and all of those who participated in that. The "universal" "delight" will still follow the ones who work diligently to balance the scales. Is that sound logic?

Ironically, I just wrote this and suddenly remembered the symbol for our justice system. Wow! We gotta work on that.

I, also, remembered something New Testament that says very practically, 

Modern King James version

Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him; that the opponent not deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

Good advice, but that only works if the courts are not already involved. They can become a part of a persons life in one quick ambush. Then, the system already has control. That is a practical application from the New Testament that appears to say settling differences is OK; However, the same Bible tells me to, "ask anything in my name..." and "Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen." This clearly says to me asking for a miracle of balanced scales is totally appropriate and winning can be expected and settling does not have to be an option. Although this line of reasoning does appear to be poo-pood even by some of my closest Christian friends and family. Faith is hard for humans. That brings me to my conclusion.

"Where two or more or gathered" also Biblical, holds much power. I am an idealistic optimist, and I believe justice will prevail. I am sure you can tell who this is about. If you read this, would you take a moment to believe that with me? Justice will prevail.  I could use some shared peace on this matter.

Peace. Love, Linda