High above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated a little isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel’s face; and this bright face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship’s tossed deck.
“Ah, noble ship,” the angel seemed to say, “beat on, beat on, thou noble ship, and bear a hardy helm; for lo! the sun is breaking through; the clouds are rolling off – serenest azure is at hand.”
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
A descendant of the wild ass, the donkey is a domestic member of the horse family used for hauling goods since 4000 BC.
Donkeys are also related to zebras, although they’re often stockier, stronger and have much different personalities.
Female donkeys are called “jennies” or “jennets,” and a female ready to breed is known as a “broodmare.”
Ass is interchangeable with donkey, and “jackass” refers specifically to a male donkey. But a jackass is not a mule, and all burros are not jackasses.
Not darkness, for that implies an understanding of light. Not silence, for that suggests a familiarity with sound. Not loneliness, for that requires knowledge of others. But still, faintly, so tenuous that if it were any less it wouldn’t exist at all: awareness.
WWW:WAKE by Robert Sawyer
The Adventure Begins – another year of living with the questions about life & work. What can done within the confines of 365 days which enlarges the lives of more than one person? Taking a day-long nap isn’t the answer, although at 5 AM that’s the first thought that occurs to me.
It’s 36 degrees outside in Northern California (two years ago; today it’s 45). Dressed for comfort, I can watch the stars while drinking my first cup of coffee – ah, the pleasure of that first sip.
All energy moves in waves & particles, but the ocean wave is the only wave the naked human eye can see. If time is the lesson willing to be learned, the wave is time’s expression. It comes again & again. It keeps saying, “Will you know me now?”
Life’s Work: A Memoir (2022) by David Milch
The moon won’t be showing itself much, if at all this morning. (in 2024 it’s waning gibbous) It will be a New Moon tomorrow (2022) and completely hidden by Blazing Glory. I’ll look to see if there are any signs of the waning crescent while looking through binoculars before today’s sunrise, coming up at 7:22.