Warren Bluhm's Blog, page 32

The morning news

In the last 24 hours …

Thousands of couples around the world celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with family and friends.

Millions of business transactions occurred smoothly, with buyer and seller both satisfied. Millions of charitable acts also took place.

Billions of people shared a laugh — or at least a chuckle — or maybe a gentle smile — with a friend or loved one.

Hundreds of thousands of flights landed safely. A few dozen Democrats and Republicans even managed to say ...

What’s out there

I am smitten by, and have quoted before, author Christopher Morley’s last message to his friends when he died in 1957.

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”

Something is always out there, waiting to be found.

Go find it!

Two characters in search of a story

Randy Rabbit sniffed at the ground.

“Yum, bird seed,” he said. “My favorite.”

“It’s a trap!” Saffron Starling called from above. “Why would there be a pile of seed in one place?”

Randy considered this. “A trick of the wind?”

“No! People! Humans!”

From some distance away, a dog barked.

Randy ate a few kernels of seed.

“It’s tasty,” he said.

“So are you, they reckon.”

“You think?”

Somewhere closer, a dog barked twice.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Randy said, ...

Prognostico the Great predicts the future, circa 1969

In the year 2021 people will be able to go into a phone booth and make a telecall where you can see the other person on video. No — even better — phones will be so portable that you can make a video call from wherever you are — anyone can, not just Dick Tracy.

You’ll be able to pop some food into the over, press a few buttons, and have your hot meal ready in just a few seconds.

Cars will have autopilots so you can park or cruise down the highway without thinking about it. Books will be...

Your mission, should you decide to accept

© Francesco Alessi – Dreamstime.com

Give yourself permission.

Sing a song. Play a musical instrument.

Write a poem. Paint a painting. Create a pot.

Draw what you see, either in front of your nose or in your head.

Move your hands. Move your body.

Make something that didn’t exist until your hands started playing.

Create. Make. Build. You are human. That’s what humans do.

It all begins when you

Give yourself permission.

a sky is full of reasons

I think a sky is full of reasons to look up.

I think there is no end to up and stars go on forever.

I think a world of possibilities is a lifetime.

I think the more I think the less I see.

I think looking up shows all the reasons to hope.

I think hope shows all the reasons to be glad.

I think glad tidings open up our heart to smile.

I think smiles in our heart can heal the world.

I think a sky is full of reasons to look up.

I think the universe wants me to see how ...

Like Harvesting

We check back to see if anybody “Liked” our words and/or pictures – we peek at the sales figures – seeking signs of validation and approval, some little marker that we made a connection.

That’s OK. That’s one reason to write – to reach minds, sometimes to change other minds, and sometimes to say things minds may not like, or Like.

Harvest the Likes and enjoy the attention, but don’t be afraid or discouraged when the Likers are silent. Maybe you struck a nerve or maybe, as the songwriter sa...

Promises to imaginary people

There they were again, the characters whose stories I’ve left in limbo while life gives me other tasks. “I’m coming, friends, I’m coming,” I wrote, “I —”

I almost wrote “I promise,” but my promises can mean nothing. To paraphrase the Jedi master, “Do, or do not; there is no promise.”

A promise is a placeholder: I will do this thing, perhaps not here and now (unless the promise is to love you forever, and then of course it’s here and now and always). A promise to do something is an IOU, and...

Gladness is Infectious

Gladness is infectious

But so can be despair

So seek out reasons

to be glad

mon frère

(This little ditty does not appear in the book, but it describes the theme.)

How terrible are these creatures

© Anderson5ca – Dreamstime.com

Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, 8:10 a.m.

Instead of writing first thing, it is two hours since I woke. I’ve done the morning crossword, lathered up some outrage — Biden bombed the Middle East, meet the new boss same as the old boss what a surprise can you hear my sarcasm — fed the dogs and cat and hedgehog, shut off the TV with its yammering about nothing, and now I sit with the wind chimes singing away, even though the trees show no sign of a breeze — oh wait, if I ...