Commonplace Book

  Theodor Kittelson "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." Deuteronomy 33:25     "The same God who guides the stars in their courses, who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and keeps the stars perpetually burning with their fires—the same God has promised to supply thy strength... And shall he, that created the world, grow weary? Shall he fail? Shall he break his promises for want of strength? He hangeth the world upon nothing; he fixed the pillars of heaven in silver sockets of light and thereon he hung the golden lamps, the sun and the moon, and shall he that did all this be unable to support his children? Shall he be unfaithful to his word for want of power in his arm or strength in his will? Remember again, thy God, who has promised to be thy strength, is the God who upholdeth all things by the power of his hand. Who feedeth the ravens? Who supplies the lions? Doth not he do it? And how? He openeth his hand and sup

                       John O'Brien Inman                                "Tonight, they took the road that wound around away from the house, through a copse, and then out into the clearing to where there was a dip. And in the dip, surrounded by sloping grassy banks, lay the Lake.   As they drew near to it, looking ahead, Fanny saw lights flickering, yellow and white and green and red and blue, like a rainbow in the darkness, and then the Lake lay before them, frozen, glittering, unearthly under the rising moon. And set all around it on poles in the grass were Chinese lanterns, and in other places, fires, logs set within iron hurdles, and blazing bright, and right on the edge of the ice were two great braziers, glowing like the smithy's forge, and sending showers of white sparks flying up into the night sky.   Already people were skating, in pairs and singly..."      Susan Hill, "Lanterns Across the Snow"               Barbara Whipple        "

Stefania Shukhov   "Oh, the joy of waking, and remembering at once that it was Christmas morning. It was still only half-light, but because of the white radiance of the snow there was a brightness in her room, and Fanny could see perfectly well. She scrambled from her bed, and ran to the window and looked outside, but she could see nothing for the ferns and whorls and delicate tracery of rime on the inside of the pane. She touched her finger to it and it burned with the cold, and the air was cold, too, so that she dived at once back into her bed."   Stanley Roy Badmin   "The snow crunched under their feet, and everywhere, the sun caught on a million beads and drops of hoar frost and threw off a million rainbows, intensely bright and glittering. On the gate hung a spider's web, infinitely delicate, and stiff as frozen lace, with the spider itself frozen in the heart of it. And on the hedges and trees, the fences and posts, were the seams of snow. By the lych-g

    N.C. Wyeth     "God does not create a longing or a hope without having a fulfilling reality ready for them. But our longing is our pledge, and blessed are the homesick, for they shall come home." Isak Dinesen, "Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny"   Brad Teare "You want to go home. The instinct for heaven is just that: homesickness, ancient as night, urgent as daybreak. All your longings - for the place you grew up, for the taste of raspberry tarts that your mother once pulled hot from the oven, for that bend in the river where your father took you as a child, where the water was dark and swirling and the caddis flies hovered in the deep shade - all these longings are a homesickness, a wanting in full what all these things only hint at, only prick you with. These are the things seen that conjure in our emotions the Things Unseen." Mark Buchanan, "Things Unseen"   "For the power Thou hast given me to lay hold of things uns

                     John O'Connor   "Art is possible when the imposed limitations are not so cramping as to preclude all initiative; and it actually begins only when the limitations are not only understood and accepted, but are perceived as definite and positive opportunities for free spontaneous self-expression. Walls shut out possibilities, but they no less truly create possibilities. Without walls, one is indeed free, - to spread oneself out thin. With walls, a dam or a channel is created, which permits one's energy to accumulate pressure or to concentrate in a given direction." Curt John Ducasse  fr. "Philosophy of Art"   John O’Connor     Limits have their benefits. When I think of how often I don't know where to start with something - say, Life - what to be or do or where to go?It turns out that limitations are helpful. I can't invent, but I can follow directions, I'm not good at math, but I can take a decent photograph, I don't have a

                                                                       Ade Santora  "Security?" I marvel to myself "what is that?" Something negative, undead, suspicious and suspecting; an avarice and an avoidance; a self surrendering meanness of withdrawal; a numerable complacency and an innumerable cowardice. Who would be "secure"? Every and any slave. No free spirit ever dreamed of 'security' - or, if he did, he laughed; and lived to shame his dream. No whole sinless sinful sleeping waking breathing human creature ever was (or could be) bought by, and sold for; 'security'. How monstrous and how feeble seems some unworld which would rather have its too than eat its cake!"   E.E. Cummings  from "six nonlectures"     "Who would be 'secure'? Every and any slave."   I've been chewing on this thought for months now. I hear people signing off or saying goodbye to each other with that strange phrase, "

Alain Gaymard                                                                                 moon map 2                  by the sea of tranquility i sat        & wept for the pull of the tides & the gravity of earth by the sea of tranquility i sat        bereft no sound         but the breath travelling from the mouthpiece to the tank on my back by the sea of tranquility i sit        and reflect on kaleidoscope colours so far off       so far back neb                 Quoting my past self - does that count? I've got something on my mind, something needling - no, spreading through me like dark mercury, heavy and poisonous and strangely compelling. It's come after months of lockdown and confusion - who? what? where? why? - not to mention when ? Will this ever be over? Thousands of businesses are closing. Many of us are or will have lost our living and our way of life. How many mothers and fathers wait