There is a certain thrill unlocking the message from a poem written in another language other than one’s own.

The Rag Tree

I cut my translator’s teeth in High School reading French novels with fairly sophisticated vocabulary (actually, the one I recall was science fiction). Leaving Paris after graduation, I had little time to continue my education in French literature–learning America was challenge enough. But recently I bought a book of 19th Century French verse with the original French texts in the back. So in the last couple of weeks Stephane Mallarme’s work has caught my attention.

Mallarme’s work is about as different from Gilgamesh as you can get. Whereas Gilgamesh tends to be precise and economical, wedded to the concrete, Mallarme was a poet of the emotions dedicated to the concept of pure poetry. His work is deliberately ambiguous and so challenges the translator to read more closely and consider unusual approaches to bringing a poem over into his own language. In particular, Mallarme’s minimal grammar and complex, multilayered images are both…

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Marcel Breuer and Friends…

Name dropping…marcel breuer, poul kjaerholm , jean prouvé, jesus and mary! Oh my…but if you can’t get the real thing, going to treasure marts and second hand shops, if you will, you might be able to put this together ‘snap’! I love this room a lot. This is a fun way to put together an apartment.

Source: owi.bz

Great thoughts on what a ‘Buddhist aesthetic’ would look like in relation to the eightfold path. Thoughts for the day.
-j. quigley

Zen Mind, Material World

Lindisfarne Guest House, Green Gulch Farm (Photo: Travis Stansel)

“In entering the eightfold path, self-centeredness is the first thing to fall away, which brings us into wisdom, which brings us into a greater empathetic relationship with others, and also, I think, opens up a new aesthetic…. the world ceases to be flat, opaque and not terribly interesting; boring. And that begins to wear away once we begin to realize how rare and how temporary our life on this earth is. It opens up the world, and begins to give us a whole new perspective on life, one that is not driven by satisfying our selfish and egocentric concerns but one that is concerned with responding to life at a much greater depth.”

Stephen Batchelor at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Nov. 1, 2009

What exactly would a Buddhist aesthetic look like? As Batchelor says above, it would be driven by…

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Time

“…we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.”

Philip Larkin from “The Mower”

Angel

宮原夢画「Angel」

                     GELATIN SILVER SESSION

A True Friend

“A true friend is the one who holds your hand and touches your heart.”

—Gabriel García Márquez

This is such a useful feature, and an easy way to share rich  information with all of your followers. This is my first REBLOG…checkin’ it out to see how it works. I think I am going to love it.

WordPress.com News

As we mentioned last week, you can like and reblog posts directly from your reader, which displays a stream of all the updates published on all the blogs you follow from your WordPress.com account.

We’ve also brought the reblog button back to the toolbar that appears at the top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Note that you’ll only see the like and reblog options while you’re looking at individual posts.

For example, you’ll see this on the left side of your toolbar while viewing https://wordpress.com/blog/2012/01/20/read-blogs:

And your toolbar will look like this while you’re browsing the home page of en.blog.wordpress.com:

How does reblogging work?

Reblogging is a quick way to share posts published by other WordPress.com users on your own blog. People have been reblogging others’ posts since blogging started, but our new reblogging system enables authors to retain greater control over their content.

When…

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This Autumn Evening

by  Ohara Koson

           No one travels

           Along this way but I,

           This Autumn evening.

                                             -Basho

All Hallow’s Eve

Edward S. Curtis

ALL HALLOW’S EVE  is the time to be in touch

with the space between heaven and earth…

the mysterious,

the masked dark side,

what lies behind the door,

it is the moment that lingers between light and dark,

seeking to be understood and sought after by many,

a time when the world withers and begins again.

– j. quigley

Why is the Number 8 Considered Lucky in China?

Gifted with the birthday August 8, I was drawn to do a bit of investigating in regard to this number. I can go on with my birthday today, knowing I must be a lucky person. The main reason has to do with the pronunciation of the word for the number 8 in China. It is pronounced “ba” and sounds like the word for prosperity which is pronounced “fa”. Another reason why the number 8 could be considered lucky is because it is a perfect symmetrical shape. You can cut the number 8 in half vertically or horizontally, and both halves mirror themselves perfectly. Perfect symmetry lends itself to perfect balance. In Chinese Astrology, perfect balance is considered the ideal.  Now, off to lunch!