Just a Poem I Read This Morning

Poem: "Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond" by Mary Oliver from Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays. © Beacon Press.

Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond

As for life
I'm humbled,
I'm without words
sufficient to say

how it has been hard as flint,
and soft as a spring pond
both of these
and over and over,

and long pale afternoons besides,
and so many mysteries
beautiful as eggs in a nest,
still unhatched

though warm and watched over
by something I have never seen—
a tree angel, perhaps,
or a ghost of holiness.

Every day I walk out into the world
to be dazzled, then to be reflective.
It suffices, it is all comfort—
along with human love,

dog love, water love, little-serpent love,
sunburst love, or love for that smallest of birds
flying among the scarlet flowers.
There is hardly time to think about

stopping, and lying down at last
to the long afterlife, to the tenderness
yet to come, when
time will brim over the singular pond, and become forever,

and we will pretend to melt away into the leaves.
As for death,
I can't wait to be the hummingbird,
can you?

We have a new Graduate!!

A very tired Beardsley and I just got back from our last Puppy Training Class!! He got his diploma even though he isn't 100% by any stretch! He does fairly well when it is just the two of us but put any distractions and it is all over! He loves playing with the other dogs in the class and when we are there that is all he wants to do. He did learn a lot and I guess more to the point I learned quite a bit that I can keep working with him so he can do it even when we are out and about. I was very pleased with the class and how it was run and the instructor. I had tried to get him into another company but they weren't doing any classes for his age when we wanted them so Petsmart was a second choice but I think it worked out as good as anywhere would have. I plan on signing him up for the next class when we get back from our Utah trip.


I can't say I like the picture but it does show him with his Graduation Cap on!! He wasn't real happy to have the hat on he wanted to chew on it instead of wearing it! Linda, the instructor had little doggy cookies and the Graduation March playing.