Good Morning!

Listen to the salutation to the dawn,

Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of our

existence.

The bliss of growth, the splendour of beauty,

For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision,

But today well spent makes every yesterday a dream 

of happiness

and every tomorrow a vision of hope

Look well therefore to this day

Such is the salutation to the dawn.

~Sanskrit Salutation To The Dawn

Random Things

It's Random 5 Friday.

This and That time!

Can I hear a big YEEHAW?!!!

Looks like Spring has finally sprung.

More tulips for you.

This is a postcard of tulips at Tulip Town, Mount Vernon, Washington.

The photo for this postcard was taken by Jon Gnass and was published in

Tulips of the Northwest: A Postcard Book.

Many thanks to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday.

**

Several of you have asked about the EARTH PRAYERS book that has

been showing up in my photos.

I've had this little gem for over 20 years (copyright date of 1991 and its first printing).

It was edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon.

It contains 365 prayers, poems, and invocations for honoring the earth from authors like:

Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Margaret Atwood, Robert Frost, Annie Besant, May Sarton,

Dylan Thomas, Starhawk, D.H. Lawrence, Thich Nhat Hanh, Black Elk --

you get the idea!

It is divided into sections: Ecology, a Sacred Place, Passion of the Earth, Healing the Whole,

The Elements, Blessing and Invocations, Praise and Thanksgiving, Benediction for the Animals,

Cycles of Life, The Daily Round, Meditations. 

There is a calendar at the back of the book with suggested readings.

Did you know that today is the birthday of John James Audubon?

"It is neither spring nor summer: it is Always,

With towhees, finches, chickadees, California

quail, wood doves.

With wrens, sparrows, juncos, cedar waxwings, 

flickers,

With Baltimore orioles, Michigan bobolinks,

And those birds forever dead,

The Passenger pigeon, the great auk, the

Carolina paraquet,

All birds remembered, O never forgotten!

All in my yard, of a perpetual Sunday,

All morning! All morning!"

~Theodore Roethke

***

Speaking of books -- do you like cookbooks?

Do you have a favorite?

I've been going through all my cookbooks.

Making a stack of those that I love and can't part with -- yet -- and all the others.

The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Classic Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing

by Grace Young is one of my favorites.

Lovely photos, great recipes and wonderful family stories.

I also have

Stir-Frying to The Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide To Mastery, With Authentic Recipes and Stories

by Grace Young.

Another winner!

****

Looks like our nice cool spring is over.

It is heating up and the humidity is rising. 

It can't be perfect all the time!

*****

Horticulture tour at the zoo tomorrow!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!