DANCING DANDELIONS

[Photo Source: My photo, my camera, my neighborhood.]


(On 6 July 2011, I took a walk down a dirt path in the wild life preserve in my neighborhood.  There was a soft breeze and as I walked along.  I watched in fascination as the dandelion flowers waved with the breeze.  I picked a flower that had turned into a white feathery sphere, and held it to my breath and to make a WISH!  Nature is full of moments of delight and inspiration! dht)

(DANDELIONS: Old French word meaning "Lion's Tooth" for the shape of the leaf)

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Yellow Dandelions border the trail, their blossoms dancing merrily to a tune only Nature plays.  Suddenly Day's Passage changes the blooms to white seeded spheres.  Be QUICK to make a WISH and use your BREATH as the feathery seeds fill the air.  Watch in wonder as the seeds take flight and drift far and wide on a summer breeze.
[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

BLESSINGS of a New Day

[PHOTO SOURCE: My camera, My backyard at dawn]


(This is a tribute I wrote on 5 July 2011 to welcome the sunrise.  Each morning I count my BLESSINGS that I am witness to a New Day. And more, I am grateful for my home and the view of the sunrise over the Sierra Redwood Trees that I planted in my backyard. dht)

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My heart is weightless, like a cloud floating in a bright blue summer sky, drifting in a warm breeze. The sounds of the (bird's) Dawn Chorus fill my hearing. The scent of flowers saturates the air with their soft fragrance. I feel BLESSED to be alive to share this morning as the SUNRISE anoints the day with Promise and Peace and Hope.
[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

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ELEVATION -- A Poem

[PHOTO Source and Credit:  Courtesy of  J.M. Hire]

(10 JUN 2011 – A special THANK  YOU to my kindred spirit "CAMV" for sharing this poem with me and for her sister "JMH" for the two beautiful photos to partner with the words of the poem.  ENJOY!!  Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011)

SOURCE LINKS

I was new to the poetry and writings of this French poet before my kindred spirit shared the poem ELEVATION.  I want to explore more of his writings. Here is some info from wikipedia  about him.

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire ]

Charles Baudelaire (April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867) was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century. Baudelaire's highly original style of prose-poetry influenced a whole generation of poets including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé among many others. He is credited with coining the term "modernity" (modernité) to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience.
Philosophy --  Many of Baudelaire's philosophical proclamations were considered scandalous and intentionally provocative in his time. He wrote on a wide range of subjects, drawing criticism and outrage from many quarters.
It is interesting to me, to note that Charles Baudelaire knew the painter Édouard Manet.

Manet and Baudelaire became constant companions from around 1855. In the early 1860s, Baudelaire accompanied Manet on daily sketching trips and often met him socially. Manet also lent Baudelaire money and looked after his affairs, particularly when Baudelaire went to Belgium. Baudelaire encouraged Manet to strike his own path and not succumb to criticism. "Manet has great talent, a talent which will stand the test of time. But he has a weak character. He seems to me crushed and stunned by shock". In his painting Music in the Tuileries, Manet includes portraits of his friends Théophile Gautier, Jacques Offenbach, and Baudelaire. While it's difficult to differentiate who influenced whom, both Manet and Baudelaire discussed and expressed some common themes through their respective arts. Baudelaire praised the modernity of Manet's subject matter: "almost all our originality comes from the stamp that 'time' imprints upon our feelings".  

When Manet's famous Olympia (1865), a portrait of a nude prostitute, provoked a scandal for its blatant realism mixed with an imitation of Renaissance motifs, Baudelaire worked privately to support his friend, though he offered no public defense (he was, however, ill at the time). When Baudelaire returned from Belgium after his stroke, Manet and his wife were frequent visitors at the nursing home and she would play passages from Wagner for Baudelaire on the piano.

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ELEVATION
(NOTE:  This poem was originally written in FRENCH, and there are may translations on the Internet.  Below is one translation.  dht-2011)

[~A Poem by Charles Baudelaire, translated by William A. Sigler]

[ http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/elevation/ ]

Above the ponds, beyond the valleys,
The woods, the mountains, the clouds, the seas,
Farther than the sun, the distant breeze,
The spheres that wilt to infinity.

My spirit, you move with agility
And, like a good swimmer who swoons in the wave
You groove the depths immensity gave,
The inexpressible and male ecstasy.

From this miasma of waste,
You will be purified in superior air
And drink a pure and divine liqueur,
A clear fire to replace the limpid space.

Behind this boredom and fatigue, this vast chagrin
Whose weight moves the mists of existence,
Happy is he who vigorously fans the senses
Toward serene and luminous fields—wincing!

The one whose thoughts are like skylarks taken wing
Across the heavens mornings in full flight
Who hovers over life, understanding without effort
The language of flowers and mute things.

SOURCES OF some interesting YOUTUBE LINKS —

Printed in french with instrumental video:

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDXd2wFIZK8&feature=related ]

 Read in French with instrumental music:

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVpJoDOxxDw&feature=related ]

 Sung in French by Patricia Guede with instrumental music by Regis Flecheau and photos:

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYzHVLnt2NE ]

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[PHOTO Source and Credit: Courtesy of  J.M. Hire]

The Dream – The Seed

[Photo Source: Google online images California wildflowers - GOD spilled his paints!]

(28 APR 2011 -- At times it is a burden to imagine so many wonderful 'things' and NEVER see them come true. The Dream - The Seed. dht-2011) 

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IF you think in terms of a year, plant a SEED;
IF in terms of ten years, plant TREES;
IF In terms of 100 years, TEACH the people."
[~ Confucius]

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SEEDS -- My maternal grandparents taught me how to tend things growing in the EARTH. This year (2011) I have planted FLOWERS (roses, sweet peas, calla lily, cannas, iris, african orchids, nasturtium, marigold, gladiola, coral bells, forget-me-nots, peter pans, daffodils) and a veggie garden (radish, green onion, green squash, yellow squash, tomato, bell pepper, cukes, jalapeno pepper).

TREES -- I have planted a tree at EVERY HOME I lived in (except for rentals). The Trees in my current home are California REDWOOD trees. (I planted 5 trees—AND there were FIVE already on the property---SO now I have 10 of these magnificent trees in my yard—LOVE'N IT!)

TEACH -- I have been a pupil and student most of my life, and LOVE to learn from others on just about everything and any topic! Anything is NEW when looked at from the different perspective, experience, and perception of others. IN ADDITION, I have been a TEACHER for all my life. I taught my parents how to take care of a new baby (I was their first child).  I taught my grandparents the joy of having a young child (age 4-6) again after raising their own six kids (my aunts and uncles). I taught my spouse what it was to have a wife, BUT NOT how to cherish and LOVE her (some things cannot be taught I found). I taught my daughter the joy of sewing her own clothes (I made almost all her clothes until she was about age 10). I taught in College as an Assistant Teacher to College Professors (Pre-Legal, Accounting, Business, English, Public Speaking, and History). I taught co-workers in the various jobs were the company offered on-the-job-training — many times my employer-company would send me to a class and then I would have to return back to work and teach the same thing to my co-workers on the job.

BUT, NONE of this amounts to a droplet-of-water-in-the-ocean!   Especially, when you compare what GOD (or whatever you want to call the FAITH LEADER) created and planted on this EARTH and the HEAVENS above and all that was made or taught to us by GOD's GRACE.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

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SHARE  your thoughts on this!  (if you care to)

Brandy Rose -- SPRING TIME in my Garden

[Photo Source: My camera, my photo, my yard, Mother Nature's Gift of a beautiful Brandy Rose – one of my favorite roses]

(Monday, February 21, 2011 -- One of the sure cures for melancholy is immersing oneself in the vast landscape of Nature – be it Nature's creatures or Mother Nature's beauty and bounty.  For me, working in my garden is an honor – I am the steward of the small portion of land where upon I live.  I wrote this after seeing SPRING begin in my backyard through my living room window.  I hope you who read it will be able to feel this wonderful moment as I use my words to share my feelings and thoughts.  dht)

I hear the remembered sounds of a spring dawn in my garden.

Bird song tempts me closer to my window -- camera at the ready.

I thrust back the draperies to reveal the restoration of my garden in full progress.

Spring has arrived!

Flower blossoms greet the welcome blessings of sunlight.

Butterflies flirt on petals.

Bees conduct honeyed business.

Hummingbirds anoint and twitter

Robins forage and primp

A WALTZ is played -- the tune, the lyrics, and the rites of SPRING!

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]