June 17, 2023

                   VERMEER

 

Great paintings

from this Dutch painter –

Johannes Vermeer –

getting us to see

the people in front of us -

The Lacemaker,

Girl With a Pearl Earring,

A Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window,

Girl With a Flute,

and many more.

He had an interesting life –

had 14 or 15 kids,

became a Catholic when it wasn’t allowed.

Well, when people see

his paintings, they become silent

as if in Church.

It only proves all is sacred,

all is holy,

all remains to be seen.

 

                                                                     © Reflections, Andy Costello7, 2023

 June 17,  2023

Quote for Today

"Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God."

Elizabeth Barrett Btowning (1806-1861)

Aurora Leigh (1857) bk. 7. l. 821

June 16, 2023

 

DREAMS

 

There are too many meanings

for this word, “Dream.”

I have so many dreams:

hopes, fantasies, possibilities,

impossibilities, plans, visions.

They come to me during boring

sermons, speeches, meetings.

They come to me when I want

to be doing something else.

It’s good to have them.

I love it – when I can ask a kid –

“What’s your dream?” or when

I can ask someone in a nursing

home, “Did you do your dreams?”

“Did you do your dreams?”

I have – but I still have more

dreams waiting to wake up to.

Glad to say and think that – still.

(c) Andy Costello, Reflections

 June 16, 2023

Quote for Today

"Women deprived of the company of men pine, men deprived of company of women become stupid."

Anton Chekov (1860-1904)

Notebooks (1921)

 June 15,  2023

 

GROANING

 

“Oooooh!” and “Aaaaah!”

These are the sounds

taking place in the woods of my soul.

Add, “Uggh!” and “Aaagh!”

and I have my inner cries

and my deepest complaints.

Are these my prayers -

more real than those

on the prayer cards

or in my prayer book?

Are these the sounds

that nobody hears but me?

How about YOU, O God?

Do YOU listen in – in my soul?

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 June 15, 2023

Quote for Today

"Nothing to be done without a bribe I find, in love as well as law."

Susannah Centlivre (c. 1668-1723)

English actress and dramatist,

The Perjured Husband  (1700)  act  3, sc. 3

June 14, 2023

 

CHANGED

 

I just got transferred

from the ocean to the country,

Long Branch, New Jersey

to Ephrata, Pennsylvania,

a retreat house to assisted living.

I just walked down to the water

to say, “Good bye – I haven’t

appreciated you in the 3 years

I was stationed here.

Sorry."

Will this remind me to feel the

missing and appreciate the next?

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 June 14, 2023

Quote for Today

"If grass can grow through  cement, love can find you at every time in your life."

Cher (1946)

In The Times, May 30, 1998

June 13,  2023

 

BLAME

 

The person to blame

in the long run is oneself.

It takes time to notice this reality.

It takes time to stop blaming

parents and family and teachers.

It takes time to go figure.

It takes time to forgive,

It takes time to realize the other

has their own field to cultivate.

That means weeding, derocking,

cultivating the earth that is me.

Time, getting one’s hands dirty,

having the right tools – and

learning to work with the weather.

Adjusting ,,, adjusting ,,, adjusting –

stop the blaming, so the me I am

ends up being the me I really am.

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 June 13, 2023

Quote for Today

"I've finished that chapel I was painting. The pope is quite satisfied."

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

in a letter to his father,

October 1512 in The

Letters of Michelangelo

upon completing the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

 June 12, 2023

 

MRS.  HARRIS GOES TO PARIS

 

Mrs. Harris goes to Paris.

It rhymes: Harris / Paris.

Last night we watched a great movie:

Mrs. Harris goes to Paris.

She goes to get a Dior dress.

A loud message I got was:

“When do some women

start to feel invisible”?

It happened to her as she got older.

After watching the movie it got me to see

the women in my life.

Which ones are invisible?

And, “When does this happen

to the women I know?

Those I live and work with?

Who are the one’s I don’t see?

 

                                                                       © Reflections, Andy Costello

June 12, 2023

 Quote for Today

"Comment is free, but facts are sacred."

C. P. Scott (1845-1932)

Manchester Guardian,

May 5,  1921

 June 11, 2023

Quote for Today

"Great God!  this is an awful place."

Robert Falcon Scott  (1868- 1912)

Of the South Pole in his diary for

January 17, 1912 - in Scott's

Last Expedition (1913)

Vol 1, Chapter 18

 June 11, 2023

  

DECREES

 

He spoke in decrees – pronouncements.

It took a while for others to get this.

They would be wondering why did

this person irk them so? Pronouncements ….

It was these Moses like statements that

came down from the mountain – whenever

he came into the room. Whether it was

the weather or motives or what have you.

It was these dang pronouncements. Oops!

I just made a pronouncement – myself.

It’s catchy. Oops there’s another one.

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello