String Theory Revisited


My reality is
Not the same as yours.
Yours is
Not the same as his.

And her reality is so far out there,
Nary a one of us
Stands in a comparable realm.  

What I might see is not
What you might understand.
What you may hear is not
What I can feel.

Your breath does not usher in
My memories.  
Touching is beyond capacity.
Comprehension, a dimension
Away.

But what, in fact, does it matter?  
Really.


Susan Patterson
04-2014

Not much to say here.  Who knows what is really real?  Who knows what is our imagination?  We all see things a little bit differently from one another.  We band together with those who are most like us.  We often fight with those who are not like us.  Boy, if we could only ignore the differences.  skp

I don't often recommend blogs.  There are so many from which to choose that I would spend way too much time reviewing the options.  However a dear friend told me about http://ydrill.tumblr.com/ 

I am passing the link on to you because the content is fun and uplifting.  If you want to feel good, browse this site.  It is a wonderful opportunity to see all types of animals enjoying themselves, with and with out people around.  Go back in the archives and take a look at the delight our animal cousins can be.   I laughed and laughed.  I hope that you will as well.  skp

Happy hot summer days to you.  skp

Je Suis Désolé

My mind is full of noise.
My eyes, clouded by visions.
My shoulders, laden with empty weight.  

There is so much to do,
And although I am not
The only one who can,
I am the only one
There is to do.  
I run along.  Then trot a bit.
Then stop, so as not to fall.  
Still, there is no rest for sure.

I cannot move forward.
I cannot find fault.    
I have too much that keeps me here.
I can only wait
Till others catch up;
Or until I fall behind;
Or until I stop long enough
To discover that some
Were here with me all along.  
Even so, my mind is full of noise.  


Susan Patterson
8-2010

Generally speaking the interpretation of 'je suis désolé' is 'I'm sorry or I'm desolate.'  What a title to a poem!  What a tone to set!  Yet, most of us feel that way at some point or another in our lives.  Sometimes we are alone in our feelings, other times, we have company.  The trick is not to stay there.  Feelings come and go, like the clouds in the sky.  Clouds can bring refreshing rain, or shelter from the burning sun.  Effects change.   How we feel can change as well.  skp

I'm not a big fan of television, especially today's options.  Much of what is on television these days, children or reasonable and discriminating adults, should not watch.  There is either too much violence, sex, violent sex, or sexual violence.  Then there are just simply poor quality productions with sub-standard writing and acting expressing trite topics. 

Having said all of that, my husband and I do sit down almost every evening and watch some television entertainment for and hour or two.  So what do we watch?  Let me tell you.  We've had to do a bit of searching.  We use Netflix, of course.  We stream and we get the discs in the mail.  We've looked back into the archives of Masterpiece Theater, and also the listings on Acorn TV.  And we also ask friends what they watch. 

Here are some of my personal favorite television productions.  Some of these programs are series, some movies.  They are all high quality productions.  I could go on, but then that would take all the fun out or your own personal search.  

Downtown Abbey                  Masterpiece series,  can't go wrong here
Last Tango in Halifax            short series,   a little soap opera-ish, but very good
Bertie and Elizabeth              movie, about King George and his wife, lovely
Enchanted April                      movie about new beginnings
Me and Mrs. Jones                  contemporary short series
As Good As it Gets                  movie, some of Jack Nicholson's best work
The King's Speech                  movie, Coin Firth, excellent, just excellent
Foyle's War                               mysteries set in WWII, top notch stories and acting.
Lark Rise to Candleford      series, a must for those who want to feel good
Temple Grandin                      movie, true story 
Father Brown                          series, mystery, look for the second series, not the original 1930's
Doc Martin                                series, drama/comedy, a must see
Bertie and Jeeves                   series about a rich young man and his butler,  very funny
The House of Eliot                  series about two sisters who build a business in the 1900's
Upstairs Downstairs             very long series but worth it, look for the original series, the best
Cranford                                    short period series, another must
Return to Cranford                short series sequel and another must
Longmire                                   contemporary western mystery, good looking men
Call the Mid-Wife                   series set in lower London in the 1950's
Mr. Selfridge                             current series on Masterpiece Theater, very good

Alright, that is enough to get you started.  Call or email if you need more ideas.  Let me know what you like.  Happy viewing!  skp

Cheery-bye!  skp

For Those Whose Middle is Messy

Our bookends are the best.  
Those parts of our lives that
Hold up the middle muck.  

It is the bookends,
Childhood and old age
That give us true support and
That tidy up our lives.  

The middle is messy with
Jobs and gobs and kids and gluck.
The middle is doing and digging;
It is climbing and clinging.  

But ah, the bookends—
Where we haven’t yet learned
Or no longer want to care.

The bookends that keep us tight
And help us stand up straight,  
Two end pieces that
Put our souls in structure.  

Oh, those strong and sturdy panels,
Those weighted, solid walls,
Sometimes pretty, sometimes plain
Always
Holding us together
Just the same.  


Susan Patterson
Copyright 2-2011 

Most of us have messy lives at one point or another.  But isn't it nice to have a time when we just don't care about all the messy details of life's challenges and opportunities?  My retirement from the working world took awhile.  Since I write and sell books, I may not be totally out of the rat race yet.  But, golly, isn't it nice to take a nap in the afternoon, to hold hands with someone while crossing the street, to have someone stronger do the heavy lifting?   I appreciate my bookends.   skp

A woman on her way to spread her sister's ashes.  After a day's drive, she went into the high forest, up the deserted logging road, past the old hunting camp, across the meadow, to the edge of the tree line where her brother's ashes were laid fourteen years earlier.  There, under the firs, she spread her sister's ashes.  It was a good day.     skp

▶Summer is best for reveling in Earth's comfort.   Earlene Grey

Happy glorious summer days!  skp

Grown in a Secluded Garden of Life


I didn’t visit her before she died,
This friend of my mother who
Knew more of her than I.
Florence was her name.

I didn’t take time for the truth.
I didn’t take time to find out that
Which I would want to know later.

Then, I was young and too busy
Making my own truth,
Doing things that were the
Genesis of my own secrets.

Secrets that people have
Are like fruit on the vine,
Some intoxicating and addictive,
Others, sweet and safe.  

Whether Mother’s secrets were
Poison or sustaining,
They were personal.  
And they belonged to her,
Not me.  

The fruits of her spirit and
The fruits of her labor
Are what I know
And for us here,
That’s enough.  


Susan Patterson
7-2013

Throughout our lives we all do things that are, let us say at the least, questionable or embarrassing.  To add to that discomfort, it is now common in our society to publicly share that which is personal and private about ourselves or others. 

We discuss and debate on television, over dinner and in the classroom.  We read about others' pain and humiliation  in books and in newspapers.  It is, I think, a cultural addiction.  Not that most of us have heinous secrets, we do not.  But there are times when personal privacy is called for, and most likely, that is most of the time.  skp

▶Summer is you, me and brandied tea at twilight.    Earlene Grey

See you later alligator!  skp

It’s Not Hello For Now,
It’s Not Good-bye Forever


There’s a gang that I hang out with,
Eon after eon.
Generally I know that I know
One or more of the crew,
Sometimes I have to grow
Into the memory of knowing.
 
In one life, I might be a mother,
The next time a wife.  
Or, I could be a forbidden lover,
A haunting one-time friend,
Or maybe even a clergyman.

We fuss and fight.
Pet and love.
Learn and forget,
Then try to learn again.

Revolving around each other,
Evolving because of each other,
We’re our very own cosmos
Whirling through a space of mortality,
Our gravity pulling each other along.  

See ya’ later alligator,
After a while crocodile.


Susan Patterson
6-2014

Well, I just don't know.  Do we come around again?  Is this life a one time shot?  Regardless, it is an interesting thought that we work with the same group of people again and again. 

Whether we are teaching or learning the lesson, it might be comforting to think that we are among old friends. skp

▶  If you become the company that you keep, then be sure to keep interesting company.  Earlene Grey

My very best wishes for you and yours, especially if you are celebrating the United States holiday, Independence Day.  Also, here is to waiting and planning for the day when all of humanity can be healthy, educated, fed, independent and free.

Cheery-bye!  skp