Old Norse Saga

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A Norwegian Fjord pony, pausing after a ride beside the Mad River.

A few days ago I had a lift (ride) up the coast from the Bay Area with a person doing his PhD at UC Berkeley, in Old Norse. We had hardly crossed into Marin County before my transportation benefactor was regaling me with stories. Old Norse Sagas. His enthusiasm was infectious, I was quickly spell bound. I began to see how these stories, depicted in such monuments as the Gosforth Cross in Cumbria, England and others in the Isle of Man are ways of making sense of the world. Rather graphic ways which I can connect to.
And the pony?:

The Fjord Pony’s ancestors were used by the Vikings as their primary mount. Therefore, it may be assumed that it affected the breeds indigenous to other countries, notably the “mountain and moorland” ponies of Great Britain, and the Icelandic Horse.
From Cowboy Frank’s site.

This is for my traveling benefactor of four days ago. Thank you.

A Case of Invented Identity

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Down on the Mad River

In the water.
A Sea turtle?
Perhaps a Sea Monster?
It had a tail.
A white one…

It. She? Moved
against the incoming
tide. Are those barnacles
on its back?
is that the mouth – opening?

I try to make
sense, but none comes.
Then my friends
on my return say
Did you see that dead body?

No way! And yet….
I could have been
wrong. Did I see a
sea monster or a hunk
of dead Whale waiting for the vultures?

As on the Mad River
so just about
everywhere else.
Imaginings can turn life
into death, night into day.

Mistaken?
or invented?

A Place To Walk

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Beach walking near Arcata with friends Jim ‘n Nancy, Muji and Annie

Mid morning. The sun broke through the fog, sandals were strapped on and off we went. More photographs tomorrow.

Found on the wall of the room I’m staying in….

The place in which we truly sit
Is within our own body and mind.
Since body and mind embrace the Universe,
Nowhere can this place be found.

Gosh, that sounds familiar! Wait a moment. I wrote that! It comes at the beginning of an article titled, A Place To Sit written in….1991, or there abouts.

Classic Cat

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Molly – right here, right now and on the altar!

If you can disappear when all about you
Are madly searching for you everywhere,
And then just when they start to leave without you
Turn up as if you always were right there…
After Rudyard Kipling

Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse, Henry Beard.

Thanks now to Molly and all at the Berkeley Buddhist Priory including all those who I’ve seen and spent time with during the past ten days. I was so glad to catch the Molly cat peacefully perched on an altar – waiting.

How Words Are Made

This word – instantagiousness – just has to be lifted out of the comment section and elevated to a post all of its own. So here we have it. As the inventor of this wonderful term says, It’s happening all the time! So tempting start thinking of the possible meanings isn’t? And if the meaning is true…or not. But life is short – let us simply enjoy. Here below is a quote from a site I visit from time to time. The title of the piece is Is This A Word. As far as I am concerned, instantagiousness is a word. Thanks to its maker, it is great to see you in the comment section.

Blending. Taking the end of one word and sticking it on the beginning of another is an extremely common process that accounts for a large proportion of all new words this century: digiverse (the online world, from digital + universe); videorazzi (celebrity-chasing photographers with video cameras, from video + paparazzi); spintronics (using the weird quantum properties of electron spin to construct new types of computer chips, from spin + electronics), opticute (cells fried by laser probes, from optical + electrocute, the latter itself a much older blend).
From World Wide Words Is This A Word?