WHOA!!!

Follow this one right through certain doom, folks...



I'll see yall tomorrow!

Slainte!

Cygnus

Mother Ocean

I skimmed my eyes along her surface. Checking out lines and moods.
I walked a while beside her, looking deeper, reading what I could of the currents beneath her surface. Together they could aide in telling me what line to choose-- and cross-- when I at long last breach her...

I found it... picked checkpoints along the way... set out between the two rocks I knew were the portal...

In slow at first, shallow. Feeling the sensation of her temperature change begin to envelop me the deeper I go...
At last, time... under the surface, under that wave, for I want, I need, further out...
And under another, and up breathing, and stroking, and reaching... and another wave, and I am just beyond the breaking point--
And can turn direction, slow and steady the strokes... look for those checkpoints.

Skimming along her surface...the warm-cool sensation of being in her, riding her waves... a bit of surge needed every now and then to get back out of the break where I'd riden her wave for a moment, letting it draw me in, being with and not against...

But this wasn't my time to get out... I have further to go.
Stroking longer now, and longer between drawing in quick breaths that continue to climb audibly with each intake...
And at last, lungs burning, change to a slower stroke, head not under so much, and ride this outer-break and move slowly, inexorably, towards that destination, that shore.

I've let her waves, sometimes cutting across them, sometime paralleling, often riding and seldom working against, but always let her waves wash away what tensions I have.
Tasting her salt, now slowly stroking her surface, I near shallow and more shallowing waters... sand beneath my feet... her body, for I have at last ridden her wave all the way in...

Warm and wet, then a little farther up hot and dry, the sands beneath my feet.
Shore-- that magickal spot that is neither Ocean nor Land, but Both, and a transitional time-place like Dawn, or Dusk...

It was nice, this... contact, this wetting and riding and stroking releasing and grounding ...

Very nice.

I took the drum to the park, played, got lost in rhythm and tone.. lost in the voices the skin makes with varying amounts of hand pressure on her back...

Nice night.

The crescent waxing maiden above, standing by my garden later night listening to the call I have heard for it seems aeons-- that Voice...

I hear it...
I hear the ocean of waves and tides...
I hear it...the rhythm of her pulsing skin...
I hear...Frogs, and Crickets, and that poor mis-timed mocking bird, surely gonna give hisself in song away to that nightowl...

And I hear the background noise... the cars, and the stars, and the sun even now firing some equal portion of her skin, even as I am soon to slumber...

And I KNOW I have been given a Good Day, and Night...

Good day and night, my friends.


Slainte!

Cygnus

NOBODY IS...

I would have sung this to you myself, on video, had my camera been working right {HEY!!! Who said "Thank god for small favors!" I HEARD THAT!!!},and not just for the sheer buffoonery of doing so, but given the song's bent it would have been too fun not to...

Well, that and, country western god that Willie be, I feel pretty sure I could carry the tune at least as well-tuned in as Willie did!! ha!

Alas, here's the song been on my mind all afternoon:



It's a musical weekend, and I am going to head down one of the two coming days to swim in the Salt Water gulf... a kind of Physical and Spiritual therapy in the Sunshine.

Enjoy your own, folks... and I'll see ya tomorrow.

Slainte!

Cygnus

Light-Hearted Thor's Day

We've had a nice summer thunderstorm roll through the nation's fourth largest city today, wreaking a little havoc with the computer. Just enough rain, really, to raise the humidity enough to match the triple digit temperature...

Speaking of computer havoc-- what in the world happened with last nite's blog here?!? Some were able to read it, others were not...
Clues are still coming in, but I apologize to those who had to read the thing hieroglyphic-style, like a meant-for-your-eyes-only espousal. I reposted it in "humanspeak", but left the original because it was too darned curious (and funny! Mad as I was, I couldn't be kept from laughing!), and because I had a comment or three before I even began to have a clue what in the sam hell MAYBERRY was talking about! ha!

[ON A SERIOUS ASIDE... THOSE OF YOU WHO LIKE YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT 'RIGHT' NEED TO VISIT MAYBERRY'S SITE, AND WRETHA'S AS WELL...]

Anyhow, tonight I thought I'd pass on this bit of insight from my friend Spotted Wolf...

-The Silent generation, people born before 1946.
- The Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1965
- Generation X, people born between 1965 and 1979.
- Generation Y, people born between 1980 and 2009


Why do we call the last one generation Y? I did not know, but a cartoonist explains it eloquently below... Learned something new today!



Thanks, Dennis!

And thank you all for the patience with last nite's fiasco! lol!

Have a great evening, folks!

Slainte!

Cygnus

Why These Things Remind Me Of You

[This was originally done on video, with all pertinent imagery of the garden and the sky and some silly bird being his occasional poetic self. The video BITES-- damned chinese CRAP CAMERA!!! But... I still have words... So, they are here, for you...]

I want you to look at this garden. A seed has been planted. It grows, slow, steady. Strong in good weather, withstanding the bad... and ever continuously producing beautiful fruits...
This is why these things remind me of you; this is why they bespeak of my love for you.

Look now to the blue sky above...
It is vast, expansive... Even more so than the blue tint of our Earth's atmosphere, for it reaches outward past the moon, and the blazing inferno of the sun, and beyond the stars and on unto the very edges of our ever-expanding Universe...
And THIS is why these things remind me of you; THIS is why they aide to project my love for you.

Now, when we describe these things-- gardens, trees, wind, sky-- with words, no matter our adeptness at word-smithery, no matter how much descriptive detail we project-- the essence of the things' beauty, it's depth and fullness of meaning, will NEVER be conveyed as fully as we Experience them in our mind and heart and eyes...

And thus will these three words-- I LOVE YOU-- never approach description of the depth, the beauty, the intensity , of THIS that I feel for you...




Slainte.

Cygnus

Why These Things Remind Me Of You...

[This was originally done on video, with all pertinent imagery of the garden and the sky and some silly bird being his occasional poetic self. The video BITES-- damned chinese CRAP CAMERA!!! But... I still have words... So, they are here, for you...]

I want you to look at this garden. A seed has been planted. It grows, slow, steady. Strong in good weather, withstanding the bad... and ever continuously producing beautiful fruits...
This is why these things remind me of you; this is why they bespeak of my love for you.

Look now to the blue sky above...
It is vast, expansive... Even more so than the blue tint of our Earth's atmosphere, for it reaches outward past the moon, and the blazing inferno of the sun, and beyond the stars and on unto the very edges of our ever-expanding Universe...
And THIS is why these things remind me of you; THIS is why they aide to project my love for you.

Now, when we describe these things-- gardens, trees, wind, sky-- with words, no matter our adeptness at word-smithery, no matter how much descriptive detail we project-- the essence of the things' beauty, it's depth and fullness of meaning, will NEVER be conveyed as fully as we Experience them in our mind and heart and eyes...

And thus will these three words-- I LOVE YOU-- never approach description of the depth, the beauty, the intensity , of THIS that I feel for you...




Slainte.

Cygnus

Carlin on Religion

I should probably swap posts tonight and have this clip on the "other" site and that question here-- but it isn't the way I thought it today, so shant I do it this eve!

I'm going to be away from the computer for the better part of the evening, addressing what I hope are the last vestiges of my poor MollyMaroon's malfeasance-- and if that works out I'll test-drive her to a family/ friend's house to return some borrowed video games.

I'll be back tomorrow, but feel free to stay a while and enjoy one of the best comedic commentators ever-- George Carlin!!!

The clip is a bit long, but give it at least a two-minute look-see.



I'll see y'all soon!

Slainte!

Cygnus

Summer Solstice 2009

Summer Arriveth In Earnest, and Officially...

Welcome to the longest day/shortest night of the year. The moon is new-- not visible for a few days. And it's Father's Day-- Happy parenthood to all you dads out there!

Well, all these signs add up to a propitious time to do some serious "yardwork"-- and the kind I like best is that which feeds me.
All that, and my first round of plantings had run their life cycle... so, time to cull and replace.

Here's what the beginning of yesterday looked like from the West end of the garden:

And at the end of the day?

(Summer Solstice Sunflowers!)

(East end-- where the lettuce bolted from! ha!)

Kinda looks empty, but in a happier, more spacious way. The deadening squash (low left)

and the bolting lettuce

were the largest green-materials contributors to the compost pile:

The new-made space was promptly filled with seed-- many more okra seeds, more yellow crookneck and some winter buttercup squash, and two varieties of cucumbers (having had sad luck with them in the container-- just too darned hot, and shallow dirt).

I haven't had much luck this year with my Brandywine heirloom tomatoes from seed, but we'll keep trying. Instead of direct-seeding them in the garden, I've started the seeds in small clay pots. More manageable to water and control the amount of sun-bake the pots get. I'll transplant them when the seedlings are ready.

And, of course, not everything had to go.The existing tomato plants are definite keepers-- the hopeful seedlings will be ready just about the time these here

give way to the Great Sleep.

Some things, too, were started later than the green beans and squash, due to their more hot-weathered needs. This Crimson Sweet heirloom, for example

has yet to be tasted-- but soon, my friends, very soon!!!

And while we're on the melons (what a good Father's day image that be...) I'll be letting you know this evening about the taste of this hybrid cantaloupe that sprung from compost scraps:

The thing has run amuck, fruiting like wild now (semi-tame though it be). I pulled one off the vine a few days ago-- too small, really, but it weren't growing anymore, and seems now ripe enough to give taste.

Not much else to add, folks. Just the waiting for the new seeds to sprout, and to continue the harvesting of what's offered. Next year's garden promises to be much larger, and with a bit of good luck there will be an orchard being established in them thar hills as well...
Ahh-- but that's all fodder for another post, my friends.;D

I'll close with two things:
One, again Happy Father's day to all you dads-- current and expecting ones! Hope your wife doesn't overdo the sirloin on the grill (assuming you let her near the thing! ha!).

And the second? I should say this one is directed only to the gentler sex, but who am I to deny any who care to peek?--- wanna see my banana pepper?!?

HA!!!

Slainte, folks...

Cygnus

Lookin' For A Loonatic???

Well, you done come to the right place, my friend! It's friday night, and I'm about to crash your pasta salad dinner party!

But-- you wouldn't expect anything less from this ol' bird! Nor would you care to have me any other way... I mean, swan with pasta-- how can ye go wrong?!?

Okay, I accept... I'm Crazy...
[Cyg then breaks out in bird-song:]



Thanks, Friend! Now... tell me some dirty jokes...

Slainte!

Cygnus

When I Don't Force It

I'm adrift on the Ocean. Comfortable. Relaxed.
A deep breath, and under, and down... and down and down...
Not a 'drowning' down'; a floating. A calming.
Refreshing.

Breathing is no problem, for this is the Great Mara, the Primordial...

And just as these waters broke to signal our time to enter in to this physical realm, so now do I emerge from the surface under the surface... and in the near distance, spot The Isle.
I am drawn unto it.

I step out of the waters and take it's golden-white sands beneath my bare feet. Cool water streams down my naked body.

Two towering monoliths stand in the distance, and I glide towards them...

I kneel before them, a silent blessing coursing my gray matter. I do not breach their boundary, but sit just outside that threshold.

Behold-- above, and center-- is the moon...
I 'sit' and bask in Her reflective sunlight. I breathe easy and deeply. I do not 'ask', nor 'search', nor really even think. I just... AM. I just BE. [A human BE-ing, not a human do-ing.]

***

When "ready", when time brings me just conscious of that deep reverie of peace, and I know to return, I bow my thanks, leaving some small pebble or flower that is THERE in my hand. I stand, and turn, and trace the path back across the Sands (of time? Hmmm...), and again enter the refreshing waters. And again out and down and down and...
And up again, HERE.

*****

This is a powerful meditative place, this Isle. I have been there numerous times-- too many to count.
Likely my most powerful meditative experience ever was here, the ONE TIME I was asked--Permissioned? Beckoned?-- Through the Stone's Threshold. Neither the Guide nor the Experience on the 'other side' would I ever describe even though I could, for this is mine alone, lest I lose all His-- and IT'S-- magic, it's blessing...

Slainte, Folks...

Cygnus

Another Hiatus...

If you know me, have followed this blog for any length of time (say three months or so) you'll be saying to yourself "whaddya mean, ANOTHER? HE BEEN ON ONE FOR A WHILE NOW"...

And you're right; you be accurate.

A lot of shit has been going on in my life since... of the last two months. Some of it a few know; most of it, it is not yet time to reveal.

I LOATH not writing, and writing WELL, daily on My Song... the only thing I loath more is "forced verbiage"-- bleating platitudes to fill space. I do some of said with videos... I do some videos from the heart...

But I digress...

I am still having car troubles... but tonight I got to the core-- no pun intended, mechanically inclined followship-- of the issue. However, due to recent financial strains, the corrective measure will needs wait until the next GREENBACK DISTRIBUTION DAY-- several down the road.

The plus is, that there is light at the end of the tunnel-- both monetary and personal.
The negatives, I refuse to whine about herein (I've not the right cheese to proffer in accompaniment... har!). The positives... in their due time to reveal.

Those few of you I am in daily contact with-- email, chat, phone, FaceBook-- need not worry; we shall, at your okay, continue thus.

As for blogger... I'll never go away-- what fun would letting YOU be , BE?!? Ha!
But I do needs take time to sort out a lot of hairy schitt in the cycle of life we all travel.

Just forgive me whilst I dicker with a vid here, a poem there, a Carlin-speaks-for yonder...
Summer be upon us, in earnest, if not now in your neck of the woods, then next week or so latest officially...

Things, they are a-changin', my Folk...
As life is wont...
It travels the Spiral Rhythm of the Sun, the Moon, the Earth...

And as long as I feel caught up enough in the spin-cycle to ride it out and not force my writ on you's all, I shall, and shall not...

So, Slainte! And when ol' Cyggie has a boner-fide original post to post, he'll post.

Until then... thanks for standing by...YET AGAIN...lol!

Slainte!

Cygnus...

Beautifully Tired...

That tired that comes from too much sun and too much fun...

Sun yesterday at the annual company picnic, where a misunderstanding of finagled rules led to me and my partner in the horseshoe tourney getting eliminated first-round; all good because the free food (always the best--FREE!!! lol) was excellent, and the socializing was... well, socializing! And for what it was, it was good...

The fun took over after the picnic-- my son's band was in H-Town to do a gig, and I went to see them, and him. It had been a good year since we'd visited, and we stood around for a good while after their set and talked... No better way in the world to invest time, I'll wager...

So, I'm going to take Busted Knuckle's advice, and kick back and let it all steep in-- the sun and the fun-- and gear up mentally for work on the morrow...

Enjoy the bit of music here-- an upbeat melody combining two of me favorite sounds: Irish Folk and Bluegrass Legends...


On the morrow, my friends!

Slainte!

Cygnus

The Down Side Of Prepping

Is When It Becomes Necessary To Go About Using ...

The Buick's trunk-- it's a day short of the "week" 'till she be properly name-called!-- holds the following items:

• BOB (no, not my girlfriend's husband's body, silly-- my Bug-Out-Bag...)
• large tarp
• collapsible lawn chair
• tool box(es)
• cast-iron cookware
• jumper cables, heavy-duty
• spare water-- both potable AND emergency/vehicle use
• replacement oil (~4 qts.)
  
• antifreeze/engine coolant (2 gal.)
• windshield cleaner fluid

Probably a few other odds and ends--technical [rock-] climbing harness, aviaton headphones, windshield sun visor...
OH! And let's not forget the spare tire, jack, lug wrench etc...

In fact, it is the latter triage that caused the former ensemble to become grief today, for the spare is neatly ensconced in one of those 'hide-under-the-trunk-carpet' cubby-holes.
BURIED, in essence. It is also today, alas, that said spare and affiliates were needed...

Which meant hauling out the mountain of prep/emergency items atop said grave...

Fortunately, I was at the house, and not on the side of some Houston, Tx. highway, when in need of unpacking (and eventually re-packing) the sundry items...
A mere 15 minutes later I was on my way to work.

A small price to pay, that quarter-hour it took to remove things one never hopes be needed. I mean, SHEESH!!! what a pain, all this "stuff" impeding my getting to sell-my-time place a few minutes outside norm. The larger comfort is, knowing and SEEING that were it ever some roadside one were flattened or otherwise stranded on, well... almost ANY (mechanical necessity) eventuality was ready to be met...

As a bonus, the out-hauling and replacing of said items was fair opportunity for... we'll label it an 'involuntaty inventory'! lol! **Cyg. makes mental note of things to add in the near future: 4-way lug wrench; small hydraulic jack; replacement cans of fix-a-flat; 12-v compressor; full-sized wheel and tire to replace 'donut'; 1st aide kit... SIGH!!!**
Never-ending, eh?

Prep on, folks!
[p.s.-- Mayberry-- jeeps are looking better and better, what with the spare readily mounted on her rear...];P

Slainte, Friends!

Cygnus

THANK YOU, A. M. ...

Going to take the night to explore a link or three my VERY BEST, most dearest friend traced for me while I was @ work today. I'll shoot over there before I post this-- one of the links, I mean; NOT my friend's! ha! [Ah, would that it were...], and see if I can find some linkage, or a video or... what have you/we...

[later in the eve...]

Well, i found the site, but being as how I'm technically inept, I'm only able to provide you with the link; PLEASE give THIS ONE a visit-- as a personal favor to Cyggie here...
Um.. you KNOW I reward personal favors with...
Well...

WHADDYA WANT??? LOL!


I'll tyr to fare better before my beddie-by, but in the interim...

Take good care tonight, Folks!

Slainte!
[And THANK YOU for supporting my son's band efforts...]

Cygnus

Sorry For Smacking In Your Ear...

[With the Tomato, I Mean... (Sorry-- No Strawberries Available-- TONIGHT!! Har!)]

And I Ain't Bragging Here, Folks...

Just doin' me rounds...



Two notes on the following squash casserole recipe:

1. Don't add any salt until tasting on your plate!!! The stuffing mix and soup contain a-plenty.
2. It was suggested that maybe a 1/4-- 1/2 tbsp. of sugar added herein would draw out the fresh veggie flavor all the more...

Ingredients:

• several small, fresh squash.
• 1 med. chopped onion
• [optional] 1 cup grated carrots [OH NO! FOLKS! DON'T DO IT!!! THEY'LL CAUSE YOU GO BLIND!!! I SWEAR!!!]
  
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 pkg* stove-top seasoned stuffing mix
• 1 cup margarine

COOK ONION AND SQUASH, AND DRAIN. ADD CARROTS [YOU KNOW MY BENT HERE...], SOUR CREAM, STUFFING MIX, AND MARGARINE. (SAVE SOME STUFFING AND MIX WITH MARGARINE TO TOP CASSEROLE...)

BAKE IN GREASED PAN FOR ~30 MINUTES...

DEVOUR!!!

Personally, too, I would try and go non-box stuffing mix [just the 'homegrown' in me...], and might throw in a bit o' garlic... hell, I'd, as always, suggest a dash or three of my stand-by, Fiesta Fajita Seasoning!!! But do as you will.
In fact, there were TWO recipes in the family books for this casserole-- one avec queso, one sans...
The one here is W/O.. and as much a cheese-lover as I am, I even asked did this one contain said.
NO. The sour cream and butter sure made it taste thus, though... so, like the salt, if you feel the need for additional, add it AFTER the fact...

Enjoy... and Slainte, Folks!!!

Cygnus

Not to Worry...

I'm not so much sad... just a bit. A wee bit happy, too.

Just wanting to share these.. share... something.


A Universal Word

Love is
a meteor
solid
moving fast
through the void until
it finds
the proper atmosphere
which will fuel it's conflagratory phase
that will consume it before
it reaches solid ground
leaving behind a trail
of microscopic matter
that makes up the universe



[untitled]

I lie on sheets
As white as snow
And just as cold

The moonlight bleeds
Down, in, and shows
No hand to hold

Thus in between
The heart and soul
A shadow grows...

jMc aka Cygnus




Slainte, folks!

Cygnus

I Feel Like An Alien here...

So long have I been away...

BUT!!!

The Buick-- whom I refuse to call by her name until I get at least one week's worth of act-right-- is BAA-AACK! And part of the reason for my absence here is that I've been driving her to the ground, trying to make whatever the next failure gonna be, BE, and be NOW, so's I can hit under warranty...

That, and I'm having trouble finding downloaded pictures... seems I can put them ON the drive, but they go to the other user's (gramdma's) Picassa album-- and for some reason, I canna find them to move to blog, from blog... whatever...
I'll get it hashed out, but until then...

In the interim, I tried to do a garden video. No avail-- the chinacamera is SUNK... I mean, I could post the majority of the shoot, but how to explain where the rest is, and why the bizarre slo-motion effect therein (hey! how can I do that on DEMAND? lol!)...

Well, let's see what I CAN find...



[Well... wrong video-- but I'll leave it... Shall we try again?!?]

HMPH... Seems I can find naught but TROUBLE... Which may make for juicy reading, but shall remain fodder for another posting...lol!


{1.5 hrs LATER in the eve...} Lookie here-- this goddamned shit is ROBBING ME of life-- ain'y gonna be no more videos or what have you until Cyggie gets a new camera-- so, I say, tune back in long abouts 2011 or so... [the YEAR, folks--NOT the hour...]

Sorry, Folk...

I tried. Never seems good enough, the effort, mais rien ne foutre... I KNOW...
All other understanding is blessing...

More Soon, Kindred...

Slainte!

Cygnus

Thanks to ALL..

For the love, prayers, energy-- any and every good thought that undoubtedly helped my Grandma come home safe and sound!

I'm off to blogroll around the sphere, then go mess with that facebook thingie, mayhap... just a-Thursday night (why not Thursnight?) chill...

Slainte, my friends!

Cygnus

Evedry Single [And Married! lol!] One Of You...

I was talking with a friend last night about how when a song finagles it's way into our psyche and stays for a day or three, there be some significance-- magical, mystical, physical or even"mundane" [ha! as if music-- one of the Keys to the Universe-- could ever be defined thus!].
Well, music be on the Swan's brain of late, as evidenced by the week's posts (and not a one of them "filler", folk! ha! GOOD to be BACK...), and this song found me today.
HMPH!
As if I were ever 'Lost'...

I love you, folks. I honestly...



Slainte.

Cygnus

P.S.-- Thanks to all for the energy and prayers for me grandma-- she will likely be back in her home-- her nest-- tomorrow!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart... and, you ever need this ol' bird's love and energy-- TURN AROUND. We're there without your need to ask...

THANKS.

Good Lovin'...

"It's All I Really Need..."

I've had this song in my mind all day; enjoy this "Oldie but Goodie" whilst I take some time to see to family matters and catch up on blogroll reading...



Send prayers and energy for my Grandma, in the hospital for minor health matters, PLEASE!!!

Thanks, and Slainte!

Cygnus

"A Picture Is Worth ..."

Did you finish this well-known phrase with the standard "A THOUSAND WORDS"?

Oh, Really?

Take the following sentence:
The dog sits.

[I said SITS, folks; not...]
Write a 1,000 word essay describing the image this calls to your mind's eye. I'll do so, too, and we'll compare our finished product.
How alike do you think our imagery will be? How alike our descriptions? How similar our writing styles?

Looking at a still-photo of the haunch-heeled canine, we see it all right there-- we see the same mutt. We needs not expend the verbiage to describe what we see; the image, forever a moment frozen in timeframe, 'says' it all. But... I'd wager a small third-world country's GDP worth of green frogskins that the words going through our grey matter as we view the snapshot would be only vaguely similar-- if at all.

Perhaps it's more accurate to say that a picture "saves" a thousand words.

Another example, just to drive home the point: Let's say that I have a little "sex kitten", and I am wont to express my love to her. Do I show her a picture of that love? [!] Do I take it a step further and stream together a thousand photos of that love-- kind of a "sex kitty o' video"? NO!! That would just be animalistic...
No; I commence to thumbing the thesaurus and waxing from the cob-Webster's of my mind, trying to find a rhyme for that ineffably sublime emotional Prime we cull down and cram into that lone word, 'LOVE'.

Words are powerful things, indeed. A thousand words can paint a mental picture and instill it with life and animation no still-photo would ever be able to convey.

That said, I done saids enough, so I'll close for now-- i gotta go write my Sex Kitten... erm, I mean, an essay about a dog sitting...

Slainte, Folks!!!

Cygnus