“There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.”

Jon baker “I find a lot of solace in both Christian Music and church on Sunday.” Yes, good music in church is awesome!

I’m so sorry you and your wife are dealing with Alzheimer’s, but I’m glad that you both were blessed with all those good years before that.

Now dementia/alzheimer’s has joined us. I still mean it and will until. . . .the parting. Sometimes she doesn’t know who I am But I always know who she is. Love is not obligatory nor a conscious choice, tho’ occasionally painful. She straightened me out with God’s help. I thank them both.

Wishing y’all happiness, long life, and easy leaving. I miss Gerard but Neo and
her commenters do a fine job of filling the void

A previous thread on Frost as a political thinker touched on William H. Pritchard (retired professor of English at Amherst College, where Frost taught off and on in the 1920s-1930s) and literary criticism. Some of the best early essays on Frost are in Randall Jarrell’s “Poetry and the Age” (1953). Jarrell saw past Frost’s New England Sage act to the tough-minded seriousness that lay behind it.

My sympathies on the effect of public and private travail. Faith is a consolation for many; art, nature, and good memories help me. And the knowledge that this country and the world have been through worse times.

Thanks; that’s very kind of you.

In that vein and because it’s spring here again, three Ozark Haykoos (probably a repeat of one or more):

Tiny feet patter, then stop.
Orange orbs hang in blackness.
Road-kill opossum heralds spring.

Fiery reds and oranges strike my eyes,
Pink pinwheels across a light blue morning.
Kelly’s ol’ still finally blew.

The hands spin slowly, telling time.
You cannot share that which is another’s.
Took me three to five to learn that one.

Have a good night’s sleep, neo.

But then I remembered that I’m spending 3 weeks with my 94 year old mother and all of my daughters and son-in-law and sister and her kids et al … catching up with friends I haven’t seen in years and being loved with unrestricted grace…
I’m never an optimist but always hopeful. In the end… either God’s got this or I go down swinging. So… I’m paying attention but reject bleakness. I’m sad at what our generations are forfeiting but hopeful that there are more of us than there are of them. (2 Kings 6:16-18)

Seems like a lot of older folks on this blog – I may be a young one @ 78.

I tried to make a point earlier, with a ‘handicap‘ of poor communication skills, but seems it came across differently than I had meant. No computers & smart phones during during the Wild Times of the 60s & 70s.

What were the people who were old folks back then—those who were 60-90+—thinking of the 60s & 70s? Was it sorta like we’re feeling here—during 2024?

Anyway, every year seems to get better – personally, for me – though 2020 was stressful for me. Was so sure that Trump would win, that I was shocked at his loss. Got over that, and then 2022 midterms rolled around with talk ‘n rumors of a Republican wave for the Senate & House. Ditto on being shocked again at those election results. 🙂 Politics…

Back when the Watergate scandal (1972 to 1974?) was happening, and me thinking I was a ‘Liberal‘ – packed up a dog & a wife (2nd) in 1973, and took a long trip in the new pickup to see the mountains ‘n such whilst stopping @ remote tent type of campgrounds. Don’t recall where or what I was doing on August 8/9, 1974, but I missed Nixon’s speech & resigning.

What were Republicans going thru during those years…Politics, Jeez!