I've always loved this house. It's a Kit Home, I believe, possibly a Sears & Roebuck, maybe Montgomery Ward, built in the 1920's. The carpenter who did the finish work had a level that was off a tad, and all the window and door mouldings run uphill ever so slightly-- but only someone with an eye as good as mine would notice, so that's a quibble. It's a very nice house: square, two storey, front and back porches, walk-out basement, walk-up attic-- hipped roof, with gable in front. The floors are all maple, except the kitchen and bath floors which were butchered at some time and replaced with evil linoleum tile. I've ripped up the bathroom floor and put down the luan base, but I haven't gotten around to laying the really nice tile I bought four years ago-- but that's another story!

This house was designed by someone who understood climate, and the seasons at this latitude. The roof overhangs just enough so that in summer the sun doesn't shine in the windows during the heat of the day, but during the winter there's plenty of warming sun streaming in. These days, with central air in every home, I guess architects don't have to think of such things; but the one who designed this house did, and, in all the years I've lived here, in summer I've counted very few uncomfortable times-- of course, the west wind helps, and I did put a ceiling fan in the front room, but I've never felt any need for an air conditioner. The only discomfort comes in the winter. In the 1920's there wasn't much in the way of insulation technology available. Someday, when I have money- and I've done all the other things that need to be done first!-- I'm going to have the house re-sided, insulated, and tyveked.

What I like most about this house is that, even though it's situated in the middle of a village, and on a main street, if I leave the back door open, I have the feeling of living in a tree house-- remember the Swiss Family Robinson? Lucky dogs! My back door opens off the kitchen, onto the back porch which overlooks my tiny back yard, which in turn overlooks the old apple orchard which is my neighbor's. There are trees all around, and birds, and squirrels. I can hear the traffic passing on the road in front of the house, even as I listen to the birds and squirrels and the tinkling of the wind chime in the back. My back porch is a pleasant place. Everyone who visits remarks on how lucky I am.

My back porch faces south. In my back yard there are two very large, very old pine trees and a venerable old maple. In the yard of my neighbor to the east there are a couple of rangy spruce trees, with branches only near the tops, and a grand old maple that turns bright yellow in the fall. In the yard of my neighbor to the west, there is a young maple growing fast. Soon, in summer, I will see nothing to the west but maple leaves!

My pine trees are very beautiful. There is nothing like watching the moon through the branches of the pine trees- it's like having a haiku living in my back yard. Knowing these trees makes it clear why the pine motif is so popular in Japanese art and poetry. There's nothing more graceful than watching the wind swaying the pine boughs. And in the fall I can gather all the perfect pine cones I need to make wreathes and Christmas decorations…

And there is nothing to compare with the colors of the maples in the fall. My neighbor's tree always turns a perfect, impossible yellow, and the light below is so rich it almost breaks your heart. My maple tree is less perfect in it's display, it's leaves less uniform in size and color, but the greens and oranges, reds and golds, are ever changing, never the same twice, and it pleases me that it is unpredictable, and that it is mine. In the fall, when I sit on the back porch in the richly colored light backed by an impossible blue sky, what could be more pleasant than to watch the maple seeds spinning down like helicopters?

But, it's summer now, and there are thunder storms to watch from my back porch. And rain. And fireflies. And stars. And clouds. And young birds learning to fly…

I think I'll go sit on the back porch for a while.

Firefly Festival
Moon Viewing
Origin of Fire
Addendum to Fireflies

Haiku for People
Haiku Editorials
Haiku on Computer Errors

15 Oct 98: Haiku's Origin

There you have it. Or do you? Omar Khayyam had something to say about The Meaning of Life , the Universe, and Everything, too:

Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.

For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show
Played in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door where in I went.

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;
And this was all the harvest that I reap'd--
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me
The Quarrel of the Universe let be:
And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,
Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.

When You and I behind the Veil are past,
Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,
Which of our Coming and Depature heeds
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-- sans End.

And fear not lest Existence closing your
Account, and mine, should know the like no more;
The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour.

Perplext no more with Human or Divine,
Tomorrow's tangle to itself resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress-slender Minster of Wine.

Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin
The Thread of present Life away to win--
What? For ourselves, who know not if we shall
Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in!

How true! Therefore:

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
Today of past Regrets and Future Fears:
Tomorrow-- why Tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years!

But, if I'm not:

Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry!"

Well, much as I detest Miss Scarlet, she was right about one thing: "Tomorrow is another day." Lets hope it's better than this one.

Now, if only I knew what to fill the damned Cup with-- what would go well with incipient psychosis? A nice Chardonnay? Thunderbird?

Rubaiyat of Omar Al Khayyam
Biography of Omar Al Khayyam

Earlier this evening I caught a little of Politically Incorrect and heard some fatheaded woman lamenting the demise of laws (like those prohibiting abortion) which kept the immoral masses (people like me) in line. I wish there was a number where I could call her. I wanted to ask her if the reason she always "does the right thing" is because there are laws in place to make her. It's obvoius that can't be the case. If laws were necessary to ensure "proper" behavior, she'd be running amok along with the rest of us! You know, if all the laws in the world were repealed today, I doubt very much that I'd behave any differently. Think about it. Yeah, it would be nice to think you could go out and shoot the all the fatheads in the world with impugnity, but, really, would you do it? I mean, real-- well, now I think about it, there is one--

No. I've got enough problems without deliberately incurring bad Karma. Therefore, Ms Fathead, let me assure you that it isn't laws-- not mundane ones, anyway-- that keep people moral or kind or just, it's enlightenment. Why don't you pass a law to make people become enlightened? (You'll be about as successful as I would tyring to pass a law to make you mind your own business!)

            Throw away holiness and wisdom,
                     and people will be a hundred times happier.
                 Throw away morality and justice,
                     and people will do the right thing.
                 Throw away industry and profit,
                     and there won't be any thieves.

                 If these things aren't enough,
                     just stay at the center of the circle
                     and let all things take their course.

                            -- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

We were off. I was prepared for the worst, and as I watched the opening, a distinct feeling of having seen all this in an old National Geographic Magazine washed over me… (Review)

FADE TO BLACK...

My fellow watchers left, but, as is my wont, I stayed to the end of the credits. Traversing the lobby once more, there was still no one to be seen. So I left.

I watched the movie for free. I didn't holler as I went through the lobby, either time. Does this make me a bad person? I didn't want to holler, and, with no one there, I didn't want to leave cash on the snack counter. It wasn't my responsibility. And yet--

CHRISTIANSEN'S FARM STAND
SLATERSVILLE, RHODE ISLAND
4:25 P.M.

My cousin Peter says my story sounds like an X File. He says I had better watch the news to find out whether something bizarre was going on in Franklin, that maybe I was an unwitting participant in some insidious Experiment--

I'm not paranoid. It isn't my responsibility. I didn't do any--

Karma. Karma is going to come bite me in the butt. I know it. I'll get a money order tomorrow.