Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Red Flag Warning

6 Kalimat 164 BE – July 18, 2007

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the area. This type of warning refers to fire danger. It windy out, this is monsoon season and we’ve had fires in the mountains started by dry lightning. The humidity is up, but I doubt that it rains. While I can tell that there is humidity, it doesn’t feel or smile like rain.

We get red flag warnings a lot this time of year. We’re in a drought so monsoon season hasn’t been wet for the past several years. Not that I’m going to the Mountains. I haven’t been to Mount Charleston in a long time, I’d like to go, but I think I’d like to wait until winter when I can take a sleigh ride at the inn.

My yard is fairly clean, I had the backyard done before the 4th so it isn’t overgrown yet. I probably need the front yard done again, but I’ll have to wait until next month. I think I’ll get out there during the cool of the day and sweep up the stuff that falls from the stone pine trees. The stone pines look all right, but the olive tree and the elm tree don’t look real good. We might be able to do something for the olive tree, but I think we’ve may lose the elm. Unless I’m mistake it has Dutch Elm Disease, of course I could be wrong about that. I don’t know what the symptoms of Dutch Elm Disease is and I’m not a gardener. The truth is I’m just happy if I can keep a plant alive.

It seems hot in the house, but I’ve drank coffee all morning. OK, I was without coffee for several days. I still wouldn’t have coffee if I didn’t get a Star Bucks Card through the mail. I’ve got $0.05 left on the card. It’s a good thing it’s refillable. I’m going to put some money on it and use it as an emergency coffee fund. I’m sixty years old and there are certain things in life I’d rather not do at this time of my life. One of them is drink hot tea when I’d rather have coffee. Another is use a sponge mop or scrub the floor on my hands and knees.

Actually, if I have a choice between using a sponge mop and scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees, I’ll take the hands and knees. I don’t like sponge mops (I think I’ve written this before in this blog). It doesn’t matter how well you sweep a floor, a sponge mop just gets the floor dirty again. OK, I think have did the sponge mop rant enough for now.

I’m in a good mood this morning, which I have Baha’u’llah to thank for. I’m always in a good mood when I recite one of his revealed prayers. In fact, reciting or even reading any prayer Baha’u’llah has revealed changes my mood and outlook on life. Daily prayer is one of the laws of God, but I never know that reciting a revealed prayer could change my mood until I became a Baha’i. It’s just amazing.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Memories of My Grandparents and Moving Furniture

5 Kalimat 164 B.E. – Tuesday, July 17, 2007

It’s been an interesting few days. I’ve written a poem and a flash fiction piece everyday. I moved the furniture, this was for two reasons; first, to clean out from under the couches, second, to find change. Thinking back to the way my Grandmother did her housework. She moved the couch and chairs about once a month to clean under them. Actually, she had my Grandfather move them. I’m not as fortune to have a man around the house to do that stuff, so I do it myself; which explains why I don’t move the furniture once a month. I did discover that the couch makes into a bed, I didn’t know this before. I still have to move the couch in the breakfast room back against the wall, but I’ll do that probably Saturday. It’s not like its in anybody’s way. I just don’t want to move it back before mopping behind it.

I have to get down on my hands and knees to mop the floor. I have a sponge mop, but all it does is move the dirt around. I can sweep, then use a dust mop on the floor, then sponge mop and all I get from the sponge mop is streaked tiles and dirt in a different place. I can’t stand sponge mops. OK, now that I’ve got the “sponge mop rant” out of my system, at least temporarily, I can get on to other business. I’ve did the “sponge mop rant” in all my blogs lately and to one of the journaling groups. Come to think of it, “The Sponge Mop Rant” sounds like a good name for a poem, essay or story. I’ll have to try the theme in a piece of fiction.

As I said before, it’s been an interesting three days all though thinking back I might want to put an interesting three weeks or month. Anyway, I was writing about moving furniture, I found exactly $0.32 as results of moving two couches and a love seat. It’s a good thing they’re not heavy. The truth is, I found moving them quite invigorating. OK, maybe I’m becoming domestic in my old age, I never found moving furniture fun or invigorating before the age of 60, now it’s both.

Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha are probably both either frowning or smiling at me right now. Especially when it comes to moving the furniture bit. I’ve never been one to move furniture. Normally if the furniture works where it is, I don’t move it even to clean under it. The method of cleaning under the furniture I used to use was to take a broom and sweep under as far as I could go, but I think I’m going to be moving it more often now. Go to the once a month routine. I’ll have to think about the once a month thing for a couple of days or so before I decide one way or the other. My back doesn’t feel worse, in fact it feels better than it did before. My knee feels better than it did before, but I’m not sure that has anything to do with moving furniture.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Feast of Words

1 Kalimat 164 B.E. – Friday, July 13, 2007

I went to feast at the Baha’i Center in Las Vegas last night. The Feast was marvels, wonderful, spiritual. There aren’t enough words in any language to express how the feast feels. Feast is divided into three portions (1) the spiritual portion, (2) the business portion, and (3) the social portion. During the social portion, one of the items served was Osh (I think that’s how you spell the soup).

I got an idea for a poem called the Feast of Words. I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to approach this poem yet. I do have an idea for a line or rather a part of a line.

Phrase by phrase we consume …

This poem will use food words and phrases to describe the nineteen-day feast, but that’s all I’m sure of right now. I’m going to have to pray and meditate on the writings about feast. For me partaking of feast is like partaking of the Lords Supper. I want to get this feeling into the poem.

Writing poems isn’t easy. It’s not like you can just transcribe the poem and then forget about it. Writing a good poem require rewrites and rewrites. Writing a good poem requires planning, sometimes planning isn’t a conscious process on the part of the poet, but the planning is there nonetheless. This poem is going to require conscious planning and a lot of rewriting before it emerges complete.

Monday, July 09, 2007

God’s Love

16 Rahmat 164 BE – Monday, July 9, 2007

God show love to humanity in many ways. One of those ways is to send prophets, manifestations (reflecting divine attributes), or messengers to humanity to let us know the Divine Will. One of those messengers was the Bab, which means the Gate. Today is July 9; it is the commemoration of the Bab’s martyrdom. At about noon on July 9, 1850 the Bab died before a firing squad in a market square. He gave his life for humanity; he gave his life because of the love of God for the human race.

We talk about the love of God for humanity, but often times we don’t consider what that love means. Each of God’s prophets have sacrificed for the human race. Some of them give up their homes and were prisoners in exile for decades, while other gave their lives. Everyone one of them is proof of God’s love for us. We have to live our lives in such a way that we reflect that love to humanity. When the messenger ascends into the next world, not matter the method of ascent, then the individual must find a way to reflect the love that messenger had for God and humanity.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Lucky Day

14 Rahmat 164 BE - Saturday, July 07, 2007

Today (07/07/07) is supposed to be a lucky day. According to the news on the internet, bunches of people are getting married today because it is lucky. Although, I’m not sure what luck has to do with marriage. I’m single and never been married, so perhaps I don’t know what I’m writing about, but I always thought marriage was something couples worked at and it had nothing to do with luck.

I live in Las Vegas; many people here consider luck to be a part of everyday life. Today aught to be a busy day on the Strip and downtown, which means I’m going to take extra precautions today not to go near those places. Las Vegas Blvd. south (the Las Vegas Strip area) will be crowded and slow. The day will be hot; we’ve had excessive heat warning for the past few days. The Strip area is going to be a place one wants to avoid. Actually, I avoid getting out at all if I didn’t have to, but I’ve go to drive across town and pay my internet provider for another month.

I don’t gamble, I do write however and luck sounds like it would be a good theme for a short story or flash fiction. Getting married on 07/07/07 sounds like it would be a good subject for a story; I don’t write romance, I write science fiction and fantasy stories. Maybe I should put a little romance in some of my stories; it might make a nice change of venue. I also write mystic poems, but I’m not sure that luck has a lot to do with mystic poem themes or subject.

The luckiest thing that every happened to me was learning about Baha’u’llah. I’m not sure that had a lot to do with luck however. It had more to do with being open to hearing about religious and spiritual subjects. I also had two dreams when I was younger and lived in Blackwell, Oklahoma, that may have had a lot to do with hearing about Baha’u’llah or my receptiveness to the message.

Friday, July 06, 2007

This Moment

13 Rahmat 164 BE – Friday, July 06, 2007

I haven’t been focusing on “this moment” lately. What the proof do I have of this? I’ve been worrying and when I worry I don’t focus on the moment. I think of all sorts of things that could go wrong, etc. Another indication is silly spelling errors or typos. I’m not talking about the big words, I’m talking about easy words that I should know how to spell. Thank God for spell checkers, they catch the small stuff most of the time. The other stuff requires editing and focusing on the moment. True I’m under a bit of stress, but that is my own fault. I think the main problem was a lack of proof reading and being in a hurry.

I do have a bit of a problem with proof reading, my excuse (which isn’t really an excuse) is that I don’t have ink for my printer and can’t print off a hard copy of my work. I’m going to have to get some ink, probably tomorrow or next week, but soon. In the mean time I’m just going to have to be a bit more careful. I also think I need to clean my computer screen and my glasses.

The glasses are the main problem, I clean them and five seconds or minutes later they’re dirty again. It gets irritating sometimes. Then too I have two pairs of glasses. One pair is for reading and one for everything else. Sometimes when I type the entries to my blog or write a poem or story, I don’t change glasses. Not changing to my reading glasses has an effect on the way I edit (this isn’t an excuse either).

I need to focus on the moment, on what I’m doing now rather than stressing or worrying. It doesn’t help. It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t solve a problem. I’ve worried about things all my life, but since I turned 60 it seems I find more things to worry about. The more I worry about, the more I have to worry about.

This worrying problem is solvable. Actually, it’s quite easy to solve. I just need to put the situation in Baha’u’llah’s hands. Once I do that and focus on what I’m doing then the solution to a situation arrives on the wings of prayer. Indeed, the wings of prayer sounds like a good title for a poem or a blog entry. I’m going to close this now, I just drink the last sip of my coffee and want more before the coffee pot turns itself off (modern technology is wonderful).

Thursday, July 05, 2007

More Prayer

12 Rahmat 164 BE – Thursday, July 05, 2007
“The less you pray, the worse it goes.”
Dom John Chapman – Quoted in Prayer: A Baha’I Approach by William & Madeline Hellaby, p. 8
Humanity needs more prayer. It needs not only prayer in places of worship, but everywhere. Silent prayers, prayers spoken aloud, prayers signed, etc. We need to pray constantly. It doesn’t matter which one of God’s Names a person prays to or ask “In the Name of …” Pray even if one isn’t sure who she or he is prayer to, I know this sounds odd, but if one prays with a sincere heart and an open mind the reason and the proof come.

Pray for Peace!
Pray for Humanity!
Pray for whatever you feel like prayer for!

Because humanity and the planet need more prayer.