We are blessed to live on this beautiful planet. Yet, most people don’t show any gratitude.
Benedicto
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets’ towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you– beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” – Jean Baptiste Massieu
These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there’s only future There’s only here, there’s only now
Oh, your smiling face, your gracious presence Oh, the fires of spring are kindling bright Oh the radiant heart and the song of glory They’re crying freedom in the night
These are the days by the sparkling river His timely grace and our treasured find This is the love of the one magician Turned the water into wine
These are days of the endless dancing And the long walks onthe summer night These are the days of the true romancing When I’m holding you oh so tight
These are the days by the sparkling river And His timely grace and the treasured find This is the love of the one great magician Turned the water into wine
These are the days now that we must savor And we must enjoy as we can These are the days that will last forever You got to hold them in your heart
These are the days These are the days These are the days These are the days These are the days
Today I read about someone who keeps a “gratitude journal” and thought, “What a great idea?”
Continuing the thought, I concluded that I already keep a gratitude journal, this blog. Life is a gift. Each day is filled with blessings — just by posting daily, I’m able to express gratitude.
Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Rhythm Room, Phoenix, Arizona (October 30, 2014) — Images by kenne
I live with a women that loves to gamble, Me, I can take it, or leave it — mostly leave it.
But, life is all about give and take, my coochy coochy, coo — give and take.
There’s a night club in sun city called the Rhythm Room, home of a mean blues harp player twenty-two years out of Chicago.
Got a Rhythm Room email — Ray Wylie Hubbard, October 30th, this trick and treat time
will be only a treat.
I’m gonna give my women a deck of cards at Wild House Pass Casino and count my blessings.
Ordered our tickets and off to Phoenix — she at the helm, I listening to iTunes radio.
She gets in gambling time before driving down Indian School Road — “Look at that line at the door.”
Doors opened at seven, house packed an hour before D.L. Marble give us some Sonoran Rock ‘n Roll.
Sitting behind mama Marble, we couldn’t help but feel kinda special on another evening at Corritore’s Rhythm Room.
We were ready for some down home country blues, Lighten Hopkins style with sprinkles of Townes and Hayes.
Here we are just north of the border, our table just been cleaned, must be time to order some of that mescaline.
“I’m gonna holler and I’m gonna scream I’m gonna get me some mescaline She brings me roses and a place to lean A drunken poets dream.” *
Ray walked onto the stage to the hollering and screaming, a love fest sing along — loving the music, loving the story,
Loving the man — It don’t get no better!
— kenne
Click here to watch a great full concert video done three years ago. The Rhythm Room show was pretty much the same — “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it!”
Jeri, Mother Virginia, Joy & Jody (July 8, 2012) — Image by kenne
Less than three weeks ago, Joy was in southern California planning her mother’s 90th birthday celebration with sisters Jody and Jeri. This past Tuesday, she returned, this time to her mother’s deathbed. This afternoon Virginia passed away peacefully. She is survived by her eight children, many grand and great-grandchildren.
Somewhere between reading Rainer Maria Rilke and listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard’s latest CD, “The Grifter’s Hymnal,” the following just flowed out — as usual, no rewrite, you get what you see.
THE BODY SLOWS ME DOWN
The body slows me down, but the blood still flows, the soul hasn’t slowed fostering a deep and necessary intimacy with life.
The body slows me down, but I count my blessing without a 60-cycle hum, freed from habitual trains of thought.
The body slows me down, but the poets still, please with a taste of bittersweet chocolate, burning through the words manifested in music.
The body slows me down, but my mind leads the way to an enigmatic mystery, seeking a Rilke Maria’s moment freed by Ray Wylie’s applause.
The body slows me down, but I keep running from the ghosts that keep on coming around the bend.
The body slows me down, but its dividing outline is no longer there providing a membrane between inner and outer worlds.
The body slows me down, but I can still hum Polk Salad Sally, framing cosmic image descending from invisible heights.
The body slows me down, but I still use my imagination to inspire conscious thinking, allowing “the damn fox do what a damn fox does.”
kenne
“The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days.”
— Ray Wylie Hubbard
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN) Dan, with Kindergarten Students — Image by kenne
When given a gift, the only appropriate response is gratefulness. Life is a gift. Each day is filled with blessings — just by our presence, we are able to express our gratitude.
I’m grateful I can spend time in nature capturing its many beautiful moments. Still, for many, it is easy to miss the beauty of nature. Many do not have the opportunity to spend time out in nature. However, through the time-lapse photography of Louie Schwartzberg’s we can experience the stunning beauty of nature. (See Moving Art by Louie Schwartzberg)
Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer whose notable career spans more than three decades providing breathtaking imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.
The following video is a TEDx San Fransisco presentation, which includes his short film on Gratitude and Happiness, reminding us of the precious gift of life, and the beauty all around us.
Sunset Shadow — Image by kenne
Computer Art by kenne
Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Rhythm Room, Phoenix, Arizona (October 30, 2014) — Images by kenne
Jeri, Mother Virginia, Joy & Jody (July 8, 2012) — Image by kenne
Image by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 