Lance Greenfield's Blog, page 79

RIP Jody Miksch – A Genuine Guy

Today, I woke up to the enormously sad news that my friend and work colleague, Jody Miksch, has departed from this world. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, but his light will continue to burn brightly. We share some happy memories.

A mutual friend chose the perfect word to describe Jody: Genuine.

Nobody could possibly argue with the statement that “Jody was a genuine guy.”

I am very grateful for his guidance and good conversation over the years, but my fondest memories are of all the times he made me laugh.

I have chosen three songs which make suitable tributes to Jody.

RIP Jody.

Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum

Hush by Deep Purple

While my Guitar Gently Weeps by Santana (my preferred version)

The F-Challenge

The rules of this challenge are:

Thank the person who nominated you.
Write a prose of five lines, in which every line should start and end with a word that starts from ‘F’.
Keep a link of the original F- Challenge in the post, so that the creator may get a pingback.
This challenge is open to anyone who sees it, or reads a F- Challenge post from someone.
Nominate 7 other bloggers for this challenge.

So, firstly, I would like to thank Ajayi at Thrill of Bliss for the nomination.

And here is my attempt at the five line challenge prose

Fossas are fearsome beasts,

Ferocious animals who like to feast.

Food like me they like the least.

Fighting honey badgers for superiority,

Fast fossas would win, ‘cos they can climb trees.

Not brilliant, I know, but it is just a bit of fun.

Linking back to the original challenge.

And my seven lucky nominees are:

Corina

Rosie

Beth

Chloe

Krissy

Mello

Regina

Have fun!

From the Sun to Pluto

This two minute tour of our Solar System is truly beautiful and awe inspiring.

Turn on the sound!

And, if that were the main course, what better dessert to follow than this?

Just relax, watch, listen and enjoy your trip through space. Don’t forget to breathe!

Letting Go – Lance’s own take

I posted this yesterday in a comment in response to Erika Kind’s excellent and inspiring blog post, My Symbol of Letting Go. A few friends of mine saw it and encouraged me to publish it as a stand alone blog post. I hope that at least one person who reads this will gain something from it.

The Book

This is a point that I make to people about the importance of letting go. It was originally explained to me in a totally different way, but I like to explain it in my own terms.

The Ra Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl (1971)

Pick up a book.

You must have one close at hand, so you could do this right now.

How heavy is the book?

Not too heavy, really.

Stand up and hold it out in front of you at arm’s length.

One hand or two? It doesn’t matter.

This is easy, isn’t it?

Hold it there for a whole minute.

Still easy?

Hold it there for five minutes.

It’s feeling a bit heavier now isn’t it?

You may even be getting some aches in your hands, wrists and arms.

Hold it for fifteen minutes.

You may have already given up, but you are getting the idea.

The book feels a lot heavier.

The pain is spreading to your shoulders and even to your back.

If you go ahead and hold it for half a day, the book will weigh more than anything you ever carried before in your whole life, and you will be paralyzed with the pain.

Your mind will have only one item in it…. that damned book!

So, you must all be with me by now, bearing in mind the subject of this post: Letting Go.

The earlier that you let go, the less weight you have to carry and the less pain you have to bear. 

Let go and move on!

If you are recently bereaved, you may find the following two poems that I posted on my Titbits page helpful to you at this time.

Death is not the end
Gone

Review: My Dear I Wanted To Tell You

My Dear I Wanted To Tell You by Louisa Young

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Until I was almost half way through this book, I was thinking There’s not much point in reading this, as the title says it all. I could see it coming. One of the main characters would meet a violent death with so many things left unsaid. I was wrong!

This book is definitely worth reading.

It is multi-threaded, which I always love. The love stories are varied and bring out the contrasts in the way different people deal with situations and with the people closest to themselves.

There is a great deal about the effects of war and of class distinctions.

An image of the templated postcard for the use of returning injured soldiers which inspired Louisa Young to write this story appears on the back cover, suitably completed to match the characters in the book. I have posted a photo of this card with the book description.

I don’t go along with Tatler’s comment, ‘Birdsong for the new millennium.’ I admit that don’t really understand it. Apart from anything else, I really don’t think that it is fair to compare the two books. But then, I may be biased, as Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War is one of my all time favourites. Also, how can a book about WW1 be something for the new millennium?

One strong aspect of the book that I found really interesting and thought-provoking, were the descriptions of the early days of plastic surgery. Great advances in this field have always been made as a consequence of the horrific injuries inflicted on combatants in wars. Others benefit, of course, but which set of patients appreciate those benefits the most?

Quote (definition):

Dismember: to take to bits.

Remember: to put back together.

As with most books which really do get inside the stories of war, one is left with the thought Why would we ever let this happen again? But we do. We never learn.

I was only awarding My Dear three stars when I reached the half-way point, but it thoroughly deserved four or more by the time I read the final pages.

View all my reviews

My Symbol Of Letting Go

Originally posted on Author Erika Kind:

Letting go is a topic in everybody’s life at times. Yesterday I was talking to a friend and I realized that during the past weeks more and more friends are posting about letting go or about their process of letting go. There are so many different reasons or stories behind. May it be about love, about plans we made, about disappointments, being hurt. But in the end we can mostly sum it up to two points:

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CRAVING FOR MAGIC

Originally posted on Mum C writes:

Sweet sensational pangs

Hold my being and hangs

Twisting my heart and lungs

Showing their powers and fangs

My passion’s head is in their fangs as they bang

Making it forget the song that sanity sang

When it once fell into hands of cruel boiling gangs

II

I swear I want to feel like Ana Steel

Under the whip of Christian’s chill

As passion burns as insanities steal

As fear holds a quill when fulfilments thrill

But none does seem to get the feel

Let alone to make a deal

Let alone to think to heal

So I am strapped in fantasy which promises to kill

III

I need the bearer of the ray

Burning from mad Cupid’s sun’s say

To meet my acquaintance and beg to stay

To make everyday my best sun’s day

Whether there be mud or chattering hay

To help me breathe in all my lays

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Boesmansgat – Bushman’s Hole

This is re-blogged from the Facebook timeline of Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge. 

“Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of the earth. We learn to do what only the student of nature ever learns, and that is to feel beauty. We never rail at the storms, the furious winds, the biting frosts and snows.

To do so intensifies …human futility, so whatever comes we should adjust ourselves by more effort and energy if necessary, but without complaint. Bright days and dark days are both expressions of the Great Mystery, and the Indian reveled in being close the the Great Holiness.”

—Chief Luther Standing Bear, (Dec 1868 – Feb 20, 1939)

Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge with Musikana Akanaka

Legaga La Sephiri (Tswana) = Secret Cave / Boesman Gat

SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE & INTERPRETATION

Boesmans Gat / Bushmans Hole: Archaeoastronomical research by Dean Liprini :

‘This sacred site is known as the “Sacred Womb of the Earth Mother”

As one descends into the womb there is a Small Phallic Male Stone overlooking the entrance to the womb the shadow of the Male Stone, cast by the Equinox Sunset passes right into the centre of the Pool and into the sunken cave recess. Whenever entering this Sacred site one needs to approach with great humility and respect, it is a very powerful space.

It was here that it was said one of the last Bushman / san families being chased by settlers shooting at them, ran to the edge of the Sacred Womb of the Earth Mother, strapping her young child tightly to her, turned and jumped into the womb, the husband turned and shouted, you will never kill us, we will go back to our Great Mother and he too jumped in to his death or was it to his re-birth?’

Boesmansgat, also known in English as “Bushman’s Hole”, is believed to be the third-deepest submerged freshwater cave (or sinkhole) in the world, approximately 270 meters (886 feet) deep. It is located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This vertical, submerged cave is almost completely filled with fresh water, with the 100 metre diametre surface pond often covered in a green film of duckweed. The cave’s immense size was determined by sonar to be some 270 metres deep, making it one of the deepest freshwater caves in the world.

Behind the scenes filming for sequel to acclaimed educational documentary:

Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge

We need YOUR support to make the sequel a reality, kindly donate to this project here…

http://ancestralvoices.co.uk/AV2/

Copies of the original documentary can be purchased here-http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancestral-Voices-Esote…/…/B004XB8KEA

If We Were Having Coffee… On July 11

Originally posted on Study. Read. Write.:

Hello, my lovelies!

I’m glad you could make time today for a special Weekend Coffee Share!

If we were having coffee today, we’d be at my place. Right away, you’d notice my usual clutter is gone and there’s a somewhat festive air. It’s a beautiful day, so I’d ask you to please make your way to the patio to join the others. Can I offer you a drink? Next to my standard fare of coffee and tea, I have sparkling water, ginger ale , orange-lemongrass lemonade, Fass-Brause apple & herbs, and a whole pitcher of Pimm’s No. 1 cup, which I like to call “Pimm’s on the Lawn,” for those who don’t have to drive and would like something alcoholic.

By now you may wonder what is going on. Today is my birthday. Welcome to my British Summer Birthday Party! I’m glad you could make it, the more the…

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Nonsense Poetry by Consequence

If we were having coffee together in my jungle hut, we might play a little game of consequences. Have you ever played consequences? Each person writes a line of a story and folds the paper so that it is not visible to the next person. Once the paper has done the round at least once, the paper is unfolded and we read the consequences.

The game in my hut is much the same, but we are going to write a nonsensical poem with a theme or a title.

I was inspired by a line that was in my head when I woke up this morning. It is the first line of this little poem that I have imagined could be the consequence of our game in my hut. You must agree that it is complete nonsense. But it is great fun!

Dancing to the Tunes of the Water Melon Patch

On the water melons I sway.

It’s the best way to start my day.

Pip, pip, pip. Bring on the mangoes.

Turn up the heat.

Let’s Argentinian tango.

“Invite all of the fruits to our dance.

The more the juicier, Lance!”

Sing the insatiable water melons.

Plums, bananas, murpees and jorrepons,

Pears, lemons and cherries in pairs.

Pawpaws bring their guitars.

Kabosus bring their bagbipes.

Pond-apples bring their fish.

Fish? FISH!

Yes! What else from pond-apples?

So we tango, and salsa and boogaloo

In the watermelon patch with pomeloo.

To the strings of the fig’s fiddles,

We all juice around and we diddles.

There are no better hosts than melons and siddles.

#weekendcoffeeshare