Monsoon Sunset — Image by kenne
With just a few days left in July, Tucson has already received 5.71 inches of rain, making this the fourth-wettest July.
I have recorded 7 inches on our patio in the Catalina Foothills. This amount of rain will help Southern Arizona recover
from the ongoing drought, improving from a D4-exceptional drought to a D3-extreme drought (National Weather Service).
There are indications that monsoon activity will start uo again toward the end of the week.
Things To Be Desired — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The poem Desiderata has shaped the lives of many and will continue to do so for years to come.
Desiderata
GO PLACIDLY amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
By Max Ehrmann © 1927
Original text
Sunset On The Beach — Image by kenne
— kenne
Sonoran Sunset # 3931 — Photo-Artistry by kenne
kenne
March 2021 Sunset Paintings — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Cloud Ripples At Sunset — Image by kenne
— Gary Snyder
A Winter Sunset In The Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne
A Winter Sunset
The winds are blowing
across the winter sky
colors moving in this
land of the setting sun.
Lovers raise a glass of wine
hearts warmed by the colors
as they lay quietly together
embracing nature’s moment.
Other sunsets will happen
bringing passion and joy
each sharing day’s passing
with those who participate.
Sunsets are always new
generating energy called love
to be shared with someone
since the beginning of time.
— kenne
A Mesquite Sunset — Image by kenne
— Edna St. Vincent Millay
— Neil Young
Sonoran Winter Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Crossroad
On, what sorrow to have
poems off in the distance
of passion, and a brain
all stained with ink!
Oh, what sorrow not to have
the happy man’s fantastical
shirt—a tanned skin,
the sun’s carpet.
(Flocks of letters
wheel round my eyes.)
Oh, what sorrow the ancient
sorrow of poetry,
this sticky sorrow
so far from clean water!
Oh, sorrow of sorrowing
to sip at the vein of lyric!
Oh, sorrow of dried-up fountains
and mills without flour!
Oh, what sorrow to have
no sorrow, to spend life
on the colorless grass
of the hesitant lane!
Oh, the deepest sorrow:
the sorrow of joy, a plow
Cutting furrows for us
where weeping bears fruit!
(The cold moon rises
over a paper mountain.)
Oh, sorrow of truth!
Oh, sorrow of the lie!
— Federico Garcia Lorca
Christmas Eve 2020 Sunset (Tucson) — Images by kenne
Christmas for two
— kenne
Solstice Sunset — Image by kenne
So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us—Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!
— Susan Cooper
Puerto Penasco Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Earth
— Federico García Lorca
Sonoran Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— Pablo Picasso
Sun, the lord of heaven — Image by kenne
The Red Poppy
— Louise Glück
