"Dare to care for things that are no longer there."

INDIANA, ONTARIO

Spectral streets up grassy knolls,

A graveyard overgrown with brush,

Living houses gone to stones,

Experiences gone to dust.

Dare to care

For things that are no longer there.

Read my poems in your voice,

Excite my senses with your tongue,

Think the thoughts as I did once,

Feel the weight that for me hung.

I pray I may

Live again with you some way.

~ Lawrence Miller

Indiana, Haldimand County, The Grand River

"Indiana, Ontario", Tower Poetry 53, no. 2 (Winter 2004 - 05)

~ Used with permission from Lawrence Miller. Author of Avro Arrow  A Picture History, Lorimer Publishing, 2011.

"It's a haunting place. . .So many people and so much going on there not very long ago, and now, nothing much;  just quiet, and that graveyard on the hill. . ."

"It was the year before they cleared the overgrowth from the cemetery;  one of the few times I was actually so moved by something that I_tried_to write down how it made me think.

"I even got thinking about what happens to_things_that people make, when both the people and the things are gone.  Hence, for the dozen or so people left on earth who may care about such stuff, the playing about with the "bob and wheel" rhyme format in the last two lines of both stanzas.  That's a technique that was hot stuff in the late medieval period and it, like the poems that used it, and the people who made them, is now pretty much forgotten." ~ L. Miller

For more on Indiana, please click on Label:  Heritage River.  Tomorrow:  Photos of the cemetery on the hill.

Cayuga & Ottawa Street

Ottawa Street  ~ April 25, 2012

Nature Seems to be Saying, STOP and look. . .

(For Larger Image, please click on Photo.)

Only In England ~  The world's last surviving tea clipper, The Cutty Sark, was officially re-opened this morning ~ the Queen of England presiding.  The importance of the ship Cutty Sark?  It was considered the fastest tall ship to carry tea from China to London in the 19th Century.

Severely Damaged in a Fire, 2007.  London, England.  The Cutty Sark has been completely restored.

The Cutty Sark was severely damaged in a fire in 2007.  It has been completely restored for the handsome sum of 50 million pounds.  London, England.


Photo:  Wikipedia

"A combination of fine tea, enchanting objects and soothing surroundings exerts a therapeutic effect by washing away the corrosive strains and stress of modern life. . . [it] induces a mood that is spiritually refreshing. . . [and produces] a genial state of mind."      ~John Blofeld

"The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy.  I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured coziness."  ~ P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
~ Henry James

"There is always a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The tea party is a spa for the soul.  You leave your cares and work behind. Busy people forget their business. Your stress melts away, your senses awaken. . ."
~ Alexandra Stoddard

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
~ C. S. Lewis

~ The Art of Tea and Friendship, Savoring the Fragrance of Time Together, Sandy Lynam Clough, Harvest House Publishers, 2003

On Writing Poetry ~

". . .but I am not a poet.  I can't necessarily create the thing that I study, any more than a lepidopterist can create a butterfly.
Well, OK, it's not quite that extreme.  Because poetry is made up of words, and we all use words, and I've learned something about how words work to make poetry, I can put words together in ways that I know will be effective; but that's almost a mechanical thing.

To take a risky analogy, a poem by me is to poetry as an illustration by Norman Rockwell is to art.  It's technically competent and might be interesting, or tell a story, or even more the person thinking about it - but it isn't quite art.  It's craftsmanship.

And anyway. . ., a poet is supposed to be a gentle soul and fascinating.  I fail on both counts."
~  Laurie Miller

"The figure a poem makes.  It begins in delight and ends in wisdom.  The figure is the same as for love."
~ Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) American Poet. Collected Poems (1939) "The Figure a Poem Makes"

Debra McBride

Debbie McBride ~ Working With Clay on Earth Day

There may be something to that tiny angel sitting atop the finished plate.  Every new potter in Debbie's class produces a work of art worthy of display.  "I am not embarrassed to show it off," said one beginner about her first effort.  Plates, platters, mugs ~ even orbs! ~ are options for learners.  Take your pick.  Prefer a Christmas ornament, a pendant or a tiny clay figure to keep your brown sugar soft?  You may choose to start small.

Rolling pins and fancy tools of all descriptions appear while Debbie skillfully demonstrates various techniques.  Rolling, cutting, crimping, applying texture, patching (that may come in handy), all amazingly possible for the novice with Debbie's guidance.

Kimberly Wiens Jeffrey, owner of Grindstone Creek Gallery, works quietly on a commissioned piece ~ a fascinating bowl with foliage-like detail on which sits a single frog.  It becomes obvious to the observer that this is a circle of dedicated artists.

Classes available. Everyone welcome.  All in a perfect setting ~ Grindstone Creek Gallery on King Street.  Look for the historic, red-brick gallery opposite the gazebo in the Village Green, downtown Cayuga-on-the-Grand.

Visit http://www.grindstonecreekgallery.com/ for a virtual tour and more information.