Scientific Method

In the age of COVID-19, scientists have been much in the news. Let's think for a minute or two about how they do what they do.

I believe in the scientific method. It is the nearest thing I have to a religious belief. But the scientific method is not really a faith because there are countless examples of its success. Faith requires the capacity to believe in something for which there is no evidence.

Sand

One of my earliest memories is playing in a sandbox with my brother. It had a striped awning, green and white.

The sand feels so cool, and has an unusually pleasant sensation. It’s similar to putting your hand into a bin of dried corn kernels, or sunflower seeds, or birdseed.

It feels like it is alive in some way, this easy ability to reshape as you move your hands or your feet through it. And it pours, like water.

Roses

Every year we like to visit the rose gardens at Boothe Park in Stratford, Connecticut. Even from several feet away, one can smell the beautiful and pungent scent of the various types of roses. Once inside the garden, one can see all the different sizes, shapes, and types of roses - more than seem possible.

It is like a Wonderland of Flowers. Some are red, some are pink, some are yellow, some white, some purple, some orange, and some are even multicolored. Inevitably, some are buds, while others are partly bloomed, and still others are in full bloom.

Right Livelihood

Thank you for allowing me meaningful work.

Work I believe in, work I am interested in.

Work that is like play for me.

I appreciate my current job, my current situation.

Let me see it in a different way.

Please bless my frustration. Show me how to relax.

I know you hear my longing for better work,

More suited to my temperament, my gifts, my interests.

I feel good about this, knowing you are arranging my right livelihood.

Beyond my awareness, people and events are happening,

Retired People Need A Project

Retired people need to do a number of things to stay healthy. We need to exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, and stay involved. The last one of these is my topic today. We need to have one or more projects to be passionate about. Mine include serving on a committee for my condo association, volunteering for a local arts organization, and working on Heart Speak. Between these three activities and a few others that I do, I am as busy now as when I was working full-time to make a living.

Rescue

Rescued hmm
I just gone done watching the animal rescue show
Where they were given awards to people who adopted pets
that had been rescued in different situations
Thinking who rescued who
Did the new owner rescue the dog
Or did the dog rescue the new owner
It was amazing to see
The kinds and sizes and the different categories of animals
From the cutest wiggle
To the nicest smile
To an overbite
To disabilities
To the shortest legs
I mean the categories were just adorable
As were the pets the dogs
And the owners as well

Rain Drops

I like to see the rain drops after the rain.

Find just the right tree, and they hang there like glistening jewels.

Sometimes it’s the way they decorate a bush like tiny ornaments.

Or on a window pane how they line up all in a row.

And of course, it’s a real find to see a single drop poised on the turning edge of a leaf.

I like to see how they gather together on broad cabbage leaves that are dusty, blue green.

Or how they bead up on the hood of a car.