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No Mind, No Matter

  • Not There, a poem

    The wisdom I often need
    is not found in books.
    I still make that mistake
    despite repeated disappointments.

    Books have very much to recommend them.
    You can usually carry them with you.
    Some can even set you straight,
    but you cannot lean on them.

    Scriptures are no substitute [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:38am EST
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Corey Road, a Poem

    I took a walk last night
    to avoid another clear awakening borne of loneliness and too much reading.
    The still, crooked silhouettes of trees
    were made shadows by a waning moon.

    I was haunted
    by diamond facet monsters of perfection
    who followed close upon me
    somewhere between my left [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 7:49pm EST
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Fall Photos


    So many sunny days, so many leaves still falling.


    This year's foddershock and pumpkins, straight out of the garden.


    My favorite wool gloves, repaired and ready for cooler temperatures.


    Max on [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:20am EST
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Decisions

    It's finally beginning to feel like autumn to me.  Perhaps because I spent several years in New England, I kept expecting that the forests and hills would become ablaze with color in the middle of September, but I had to wait a few weeks, and it wasn't quite as brilliant. ' [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:42pm EST
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Paying the Piper

    Max was just at my feet, looking up at me as I petted him, and I could see both intelligence and affection in his deep, dark eyes.  Perhaps his is not a human-like intelligence, all logic and reason and mechanical cause-and-effect thinking, but something more fundamental, based on recognition and [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 7:39pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Color of Transient Leaves

    This afternoon, I was driving back from Morehead through Bluestone, where there is an out-of-the-way country road that snakes alongside the North Fork of Triplett Creek and moves through a small valley and back up to the main road, allowing the interested driver to avoid heavy traffic.  The fall colors are [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 4:52pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • A Question for All

    I have an interesting question for my friends, readers, and any curious parties out there.  You might think of this as a game.  I feel like I have reached a crossroads in my life, and I am asking for some advice.  Based on what you know about me through this blog and life outside [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2009, 9:47pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • About Twenty Years Ago - a Memory

    This gray, cloudy, cool day reminds of a long walk I took on New Year's Eve, 1989.  It was a Sunday, and I had nothing else that I wanted to do that afternoon.  I donned my army field jacket and combat boots (I wore Vietnam-era jungle boots with heavy socks), a backpack and [...]
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    Posted: October 10, 2009, 7:59pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Outsider, a Poem


    When he was young
    he could see
    their bodies betray what they had to say

    The puzzle pieces of the world
    never fit together the same way
    for him

    Always outside
    looking in
    and friends never understood

    He put away childish things
    hoping for [...]
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    Posted: October 01, 2009, 7:58pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Gathering


    Another gray, humid day, but it has finally turned to rain.  What an odd way to begin the Fall, with low pressure fronts in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Midwest pumped Gulf air into the South and into Ohio and Indiana.  It began raining around 5 this evening, [...]
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    Posted: September 24, 2009, 8:01pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Clearing

    Another day of hard work outdoors.  I expected rain but got lots of sunshine instead.  The air remained humid and at times oppressive, but I kept drinking lots of water and worked in the shade when I could.  Yesterday, after coming home from work, I headed to the garden where I cut [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 8:43pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Rain

    Rain.  Haven't seen much of the stuff in the last few weeks.  It's been intermittent for most of the day.  I could sit and listen to it all day.  I took a nap after lunch; it was raining when I dozed off, and it was raining when I slid back to' [...]
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    Posted: September 20, 2009, 4:33pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Heading Where?

    The shape of an individual's life rarely makes much sense.  Only when you get to the natural end of it might there be some inkling of a path, a destiny.  For the time being, we see only through the proverbial dark glass.  I was thinking about that yesterday as I [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 6:32pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Grounding

    I haven't been writing much lately because I've been busy.  There's been gardening, including digging the last of the potatoes and gathering more okra and beans.  I've helped dad install another window in the house, this time in my bedroom.  I've also found work doing some landscaping and painting a fence.  Last night, I lifted weights [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 5:37pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • In a Dark Time, a poem by Theodore Roethke, and commentary

    In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
    I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
    I hear my echo in the echoing wood -
    A lord of nature weeping to a tree.
    I live between the heron and the wren,
    Beasts of the hill and serpents of the [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 8:36pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Gathering Thoughts

    For the last week or so, I've been working non-stop.  First it was cutting wood, then pulling weeds and landscaping, now mowing and painting a fence.  I don't think I've done this much physical labor in . . . ever.  It's certainly no reason to complain; I'm getting paid, and [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 8:47pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Fierce

    I was heading out the door a few days ago when I noticed this tiny praying mantis on the arm of a lawn chair - what a fierce little creature, for something barely the size of my thumbnail.  It never took its eyes off of me for a second and seemed perpetually [...]
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    Posted: August 30, 2009, 9:33am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Returning to Earth

    This has been a weekend for much reflection.  To that end, I took a long walk this past Sunday in the mountains and hills around Cave Run Lake.  Throughout the entire day, I didn't encounter a single person on the nondescript forest service road that ran around ridge after ridge. ' [...]
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    Posted: August 25, 2009, 5:33pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Day-to-Day and the Mysteries of Dating

    Dad and I worked outside this afternoon, putting a new window in the back of the house.  Water damage over the years and termites had taken a toll on the window frame.  We also have a window for my room, to be installed at a later date.  Tomorrow, we are [...]
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    Posted: August 21, 2009, 7:45pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • An Untitled Poem, by Paul Celan

    So many constellations that
    are held out to us.  I was,
    when I looked at you - when? -
    outside by
    the other worlds.

    O these gentle ways, galactic,
    O this hour, that weighed
    nights over us far into
    the burden of our names.  It is,
    [...]
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    Posted: August 20, 2009, 9:18am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Humidity Defines the Day


    Not much going on in Moore's Ferry this morning.  Max and I got back from our walk about 45 minutes ago, and we were both hot.  Although the temperature is only around 72 degrees, the humidity stands steady at 85%, and through the haze, the sunlight feels harsh.   Max [...]
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    Posted: August 20, 2009, 9:12am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Garden


    It's mid-August, and the garden is beginning to wind down.  This has been a tough year for gardening, because of all the rain we had (and continue to have).  A fungous affected most people's gardens in this region, although it didn't stop all of the vegetables from growing.  As' [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2009, 8:42pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Tomorrow

    Sometime tomorrow, I'm going to post some pictures of the garden in its present state; I ran out of light this evening as I was mowing the yard. 
    ' [...]
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    Posted: August 17, 2009, 9:12pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Video from Yesterday



    20 seconds of video from the summit of Pilot Knob, just to give you a sense of what it was like. [...]
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    Posted: August 15, 2009, 2:02pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Afternoon Hike


    This afternoon, after returning home from getting the oil changed in my car, I got a call from my friend Tom, asking if I'd like to go hiking.  Sure, I said; where are we heading?   Oh, someplace you've never been before, he said.  Sounds cool - let's go.  So [...]
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    Posted: August 14, 2009, 8:55pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Night Walk

    After the humidity of the last several days, yesterday evening was such a joy.  I took out Max for his last walk of the evening around 10 PM.  The sky was finally clear, no clouds, no haze, and without the moon, the evening was quite dark, with only a bare [...]
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    Posted: August 13, 2009, 2:57pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Sense of Failure


    One of the things I've been struggling with upon returning to my geographical roots has been the feeling that I have somehow failed.  I came of age during a very different time, the 1980s, when expectations about career and life in general were very high.  Making money suddenly became' [...]
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    Posted: August 12, 2009, 10:23am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Letting Go


    Another muggy day in Moore's Ferry.  Walking early this morning and getting back just now from Max's second walk, I was again covered in sweat when I walked through the door.  Humidity is hanging around 70% all the time, day and night.  The haze has created some beautiful filtering [...]
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    Posted: August 09, 2009, 8:06pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • What to Write About?


    I sit here, not really knowing what to write about today.  I'm tired; I've been helping dad move some dirt from under the house (we have no basement) so that we can better work on the plumbing.  I just got out of the shower, changed into some clean clothes, [...]
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    Posted: August 07, 2009, 3:17pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • A Haiku, of sorts

    as twilight settles
    I cannot distinguish
    between hummingbird and dragonfly
    [...]
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    Posted: August 07, 2009, 3:03pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Walking and Ruminating


    After spending a nice afternoon reading and writing at the Fuzzy Duck, I decided to take a walk around Morehead.  When I attended school there, that was one of my favorite pastimes - wandering the streets, exploring all the nooks and crannies, wearing out one pair of shoes after another.  I [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2009, 6:02pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Mysteries of Attraction - a Rant


    It sucks being a nice guy.  Throughout my adolescence and adulthood, from middle school until the present day, I've come to feel that, as a male of the species, I've been ignored by most females.  Now, I realize that this is hardly a unique problem for most men; I'm' [...]
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    Posted: August 02, 2009, 7:32pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Finally, Some Photos . . .


    This was an unusual trip for me in that I didn't take that many pictures.  I've been to the areas before, and I was busy being the driver and tour guide for my friend Tom.  But, in the midst of that, I still snapped a few shots. 

    [...]
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    Posted: August 01, 2009, 10:31am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Down in the Bones


    I can't believe how long it's taken me to recover from this trip.  I still feel dog-tired down deep in my bones, even after several good nights of rock solid sleep.  Today was the first day that I didn't work in the "stuff," and it feels like I have gone [...]
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    Posted: July 30, 2009, 6:10pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Return

    Whoever knew I had so much "stuff"?  Now that I'm back in Moore's Ferry, I am still reeling from the enormous load of things that I had accumulated in a former life, as a married man.  I thought I had pared down all of those things over the years, but I hadn't even scratched [...]
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    Posted: July 27, 2009, 6:12pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Essence of Exhaustion

    Watching the sun rise .... and the sun set in the same day.

    Sitting in a moving truck on a busy interstate highway for hours on end. 

    Making jokes and cracking wise with your best friend over the same material for four or five days straight.

    [...]
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    Posted: July 24, 2009, 11:20pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Time to Work.


    This is going to be a day of work and busy-ness.  I'm going to pick up the moving truck in nearby Northampton, and Tom and I are going to get the storage unit emptied out.  I'm going to try and visit with some friends later today, and later, have [...]
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    Posted: July 23, 2009, 10:06am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Tasting Beantown

    We have returned from Boston.  It was a very successful day, though we didn't manage to keep up with our ambitious travel agenda.  Tom enjoyed riding the T, the public transportation system in Boston, though we realized that it's not the most comfortable way to get around.  However, we hoofed' [...]
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    Posted: July 23, 2009, 12:13am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Shuffling Off to Boston


    This morning finds us enjoying a breakfast at Rao's and contemplating our trip to Boston in a little while.  I've never visited many larger cities in my life (practically none, when I think about it), but Boston would be my ideal of what a city should be.  I imagine' [...]
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    Posted: July 22, 2009, 10:07am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Late in the Day Update


    It has rained the entire day in Amherst, but that hasn't stopped Tom and I from tooling around the Pioneer Valley in our rental car, a Saturn Vue.  I got to visit my favorite bookstore, Raven Used Books, and Tom got to vist many role-playing game establishments as well as' [...]
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    Posted: July 21, 2009, 10:32pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Trip and Arrival

    We have arrived in Amherst.  I think we drove around 1200 miles on the way here.  There have been a lot of side trips and detours on the way.  We made it to Absecon, New Jersey, on Sunday evening, and my friend Tom got to see the Boardwalk and visit [...]
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    Posted: July 21, 2009, 12:14pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • a prose poem


    Upon realizing that the world was still there in the morning and that existence hadn't slowly slid into oblivion in the night, he arose and and sat on the edge of the bed.  The floor was cold, as was the morning air through the open window.  Sunlight crept over' [...]
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    Posted: July 18, 2009, 9:10am EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • What I Need to Say Today - a sort of prose poem

    The time has come to step into bigger shoes, your feet have outgrown the old wooden cleats of yesterdays news.  Fear is a sullen master, never content to turn your hair white or make your eyeballs melt in a flash of nuclear fury in the middle of the night.  Save [...]
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    Posted: July 16, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Garden, as of July 14


    An overview



    We're on our way to having billions (I need Carl Sagan to say that) of tomatoes


    Our pride and joy - potatoes


    The cucumber apparatus

    [...]
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    Posted: July 16, 2009, 2:07pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • For Rebecca






    [...]
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    Posted: July 16, 2009, 1:42pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • A Few of My Favorite Things - Photos



    Books, pens, and paper - lots of paper


    Recently refurbished Tasco refractor telescope - and more books


    All things necessary for the outdoors (why can't I ever meet a woman who appreciates the
    outdoors as' [...]
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    Posted: July 16, 2009, 1:34pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • In a Glimpse - A Poem

    I take
    a moment's pause
    before the sweep
    of fate's broad brush. 

    I too
    am but a stroke
    a brief stroke
    on an eternal canvass

    and I see
    other colors coming
    from the palette
    and placed by my side.

    If I gaze
    steadily around me
    I [...]
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    Posted: July 16, 2009, 12:55pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • Nearing Ready to Go


    Another typical sultry summer afternoon in Moore's Ferry.  Although the thermometer reads only 81 degrees, the humdity is almost 70%.  Yes, you could probably swim through the air if it were any thicker.  It's been raining late in the afternoons, usually clearing out the air for a while, but [...]
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    Posted: July 12, 2009, 2:10pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • A Couple of Photos



    Madame Scarecrow is on the job.


    Booger and Twitty - flat as pancakes and beating the heat. [...]
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    Posted: July 12, 2009, 1:54pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson

  • The Mid-Week Report

    Finally, the rain has let up on us, and the garden can get to growing without fear of blight.  Or at least not as a big a fear of blight.   It's rained once in the past week, and it's a welcomed relief.  The only thing that's not growing are two' [...]
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    Posted: July 08, 2009, 1:24pm EDT
    by Cecil Lawson
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