the moon is her anchor
"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.” ― Andrew Wyeth

Dusk in late autumn is perhaps the most beautiful time of all.
The trees are cloaked in garments of leaves in the warmer months, but it is not until the garments are shed in the colder months that we are left with the bare, lonely beauty of the landscape. When the wind blows in the winter, it is not accompanied by the rustle of leaves, but rather an aching silence. The numbing, desperately lonely quiet conveys all that winter needs to say--but only the man who cares enough to listen will hear (and understand) the silent message.
At dusk in late autumn, the trees are almost bare but not quite; against inky blueness that seems an almost tangible entity, their skeleton forms are fragile but still quietly stoic; the crescent moon, framed by the colorless branches, seems all the more luminous.
I have been outside every night at sunset lately--going to and from work and delivering fundraiser popcorn with my brother and random wanderings about the neighborhood. When I walk, my eyes are glued to the heavens above me. I do not know why such a large part of humanity stares at their feet and the concrete underneath them when there is a vast expanse above to be seen. Perhaps it's because to simply fathom how infinite the sky really is seems impossible; sometimes I have to sit down in a quiet place to think about the thousands, millions, billions, trillions of galaxies and nebulae and planets that exist outside of my little world.
And thousands, millions, billions, trillions miles below, a girl stands outside, alone. The moon is her anchor.
before I die
I've always had a mental bucket list, but I've never taken the time to write it down. Over the past few days, I've formulated a concrete list of all the things I want to do before I die. A good deal of them have to do with traveling (what can I say, the world is a vast, beautiful place.) and I may or may not have completing a bucket list on my bucket list (ironic much?).

There's so much I can do with my life it makes me dizzy with wonder...


While we're on the subject of doing things, I wanted to share this quote I came across the other day, in response to youth who complain about not knowing what to do.
"Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy, and talent so that no one will be at war, in sickness, and lonely again. In other words grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!" --John Tapene

What's on your bucket list? I'd love to hear what you want to accomplish with your life!
ten on ten in november


november 10th, 2012 
Today it is windy. Russet leaves float down with every gust...then silently, silently they take their place beside the crackling remains of their fallen comrades. Their funeral was the blue November sky.
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Ten on ten, November edition. Be sure to click on and visit Rachel's post!