All things bright and beautiful I wonder if this crow feels beautiful -- adorned as he is, banded in silver, white, red, blue? There is surely an added confidence in his stride, looking and bounding about. And he doesn't seem to mind my closer admiration, as I study his jewelry, ringed about the bracelets, talons, curled and glimmering, that flash: that corvid savoring. Beauty known. TSG | Pike Place Market

In Louisville, for a meeting I'd never been there. The city has an older character, this -- polished over, in a newer veneer, still belied, 100 years. The art, renews, messages resonate, details flourish. I've seen things: these. ---- Tim Girvin Louisville, KY

T H E S C Y T H E O F L O V EThe high clouds form a wattled gathering, like fallen mothwings, around a sickle stroke of light,the curve that is known as her; mooncast, she peers at me through the vapors of nightfall.Here in the early hours, a long running before the dawning, she reminds me of my lover.The curves of her lumen inhere the stroke of the lovesick, that time -- likeher magnetism for all waters, drawn tides, reflecting the love lost, minded, nowby distance. And every thing seems to...

What I've learned over the last number of months, in taking training in one-on-one fighting. Some key advice: Think about what each of these might mean in your circumstances. ------ All fighting is about grace and stamina. Don't weaken yourself. Be light on your feet, ready for blows. Expect contact. Your strength will be in being present. In response: Stand firm, on your ground. Steer clear of trouble, be ready to void blows. Just because there's a blow coming, doesn't mean you have to take...

I'm not sure why I relate, but I do. Everywhere I see this bird, I think, I reflect, I recall something. And maybe the most seminal is the connection to attention. And curiosity. Attentive curiosity. Wonders Never Cease Meditating, on 5 years ago, today. tsg | seattle

Isn't it so that the stormbrings the brightest light?And what joy, there is, insoaring, aloft, in the stormbound.This morning, rain fell and fell, andthe spattering ripplesin the water, the metal'd roof,and mist hung over the water, thelong reaches that there aredown there, the distant running.And even in these silences,there is supreme beauty,and joy -- in that finding.Some work, should allways be followed byplay. But, perhaps,never in that order.Loving you ---

G R E E N - C A L L E D R A V E N F R O M T H E  P A S T O R A L : I D Y L L . . . nemoral, a. Brit. /nm()rl/, /nm()r/, U.S. /nmr()l/,/nmr()l/ [< classical Latin nemorlis belonging to a wood or forest, frequenting woodland < nemor-, nemus wood (cognate with ancient Greek wood, Gaulish nemeton holy place (prob. orig. holy grove), Old Irish nemed holy place) + -lis -AL1. Cf. Middle French, French némoral (1564).] in the woods of Manhattan... have a great day... tsg |...

This development, this project, which had broad-based support among a very large community, nationally and internationally, as well as people who've lost their pets in this disaster (now nearly an anniversary), has now been killed by the city of New Orleans. But given your love of pets, I thought you might find it of interest. This was to be a signing badge for a wall, commemorating the loss of about 16,000 pets, their names and pictures, in the flooding and hurricanes last year. These were...

apotheosis \uh-pah-thee-OH-sis; ap-uh-THEE-uh-sis\, noun; plural apotheoses \-seez\: 1. Elevation to divine rank or stature; deification. 2. An exalted or glorified example; a model of excellence or perfection of a kind.Following martyrdom at the Alamo and apotheosis in song, tall tale, and celluloid myth, this bumpkin from west Tennessee [Davy Crockett] became better known and more revered than all but a handful of American presidents. -- Mark Royden Winchell, Cleanth Brooks and the Rise of...

:exalt Walking by Radio City Music Hall, I once again spied JayZ -- I'd met him before in Miami, for a moment -- he was my idol, enskied and sacred. Someone who has been enskied has been raised, figuratively, as high as the sky. The "en-" prefix indicates putting something or someone into or on whatever the second part of the word indicates in this case, the sky. Lots of words have been formed this way; some of them are quite familiar ("enthrone," "entrap"), whereas others are as high-flown as...