I Blog Poetry and Prose

Restful night,
good night's sleep
in a real bed,
and a delicious breakfast.

Inhale the fragrance
of the Outback
as you watch the show
and how the animals are trained:
working horses,
working dogs,
a beautiful experience.

Did my Great Aunt Opal ever wear an opal necklace,
an opal ring,
or an opal broach?
I don't know,
I do know
that she was
as beautiful as an opal!

Behold the beauty
of snow,
of ice,
of reflected blue light,
of penguins on the rocky shore,
and of humpback whales surfacing
in the icy water.

Coffee and chocolate--
my favorite drink and snack--
are good separately:
I prefer to add chocolate to my coffee
rather than sugar.

The soul, the "inmost reality" of every human being, is sacred. It is the mirror capable of reflecting all the attributes of God. In order for the soul to reflect the radiance of God's light, it must be detached--cleaned of the dust and dross material desires. This occurs when the individual passes a test or overcomes aver come a difficulty that has kept it from expressing or accepting the Will of God in their life.

On the last Sunday in July 2020,
I contemplate detachment--
freedom from all except God--
and ask myself,
"Am I detached from the things and situations
in my surroundings
and my life?"

My Grandmother, Mary Florence, was a wonderful cook. She baked pies for all our holiday occasions. She always took some type of salad to every potluck dinner she attended. The dish I remember fondly was her Spanish rice. She had her own recipe, and would make it usually for lunch or the noonday meal. Her Spanish rice was different from what one usually considers Spanish rice because she would make it with hamburger meat. In fact, it wasn't until I moved to Las Vegas that I found out Spanish rice was a vegetarian dish.

I appear to be coming out of whatever depression I've been dealing with. I'm not sure whether it had anything to do with COVID-19 self-isolation, social distancing, or wearing a mask. Over the past few weeks I've gotten out of the house a few times. While wearing a mask, I went to the beauty parlor, to pick up senior commodities, or to Quest Diagnostic for a blood draw. Next week I expect to pick up senior commodities for this month. On August 4 and 6 I have doctors appointments. I will be wearing a mask when I go out.

How am I staying sane with COVID-19 numbers increasing daily? The sanity of a human being is precarious at any time. It becomes even more so during a national or international crises such as a pandemic. I am staying sane through prayer, meditation, scripture reading, reading and reviewing on writing.com, and attempting to keep my mind focused on the world around me.

The business of life
is to acquire spiritual virtues
that cloth the soul
after its separation
from the physical body.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a strange experience or if it's a normal experience that happens to other people all the time. I know it happens to me quite often. In fact, it happened again this morning. It could be that it's just the residue of a dream I had before waking up. Anyway it concerns verses of scripture or lines of poetry that run through my mind. This morning, it was a scripture verse about Progressive Revelation. The verse is still running through my mind, and it will be on my mind for the rest of the day.

It's Sunday morning of the Gregorian calendar. It's the day of Beauty on the Baha'i calendar. It's a partly cloudy day here in Las Vegas, without any wind or cooling breeze. This means temperatures will get into the triple digits, so I'll be turning on the air conditioner in an hour or so. I'd prefer to have to door open all day, but this time of year that's not possible. Half a day is longest I can expect the door to be open.

A new and wondrous week begins. Last week the entries in this blog were focused on the days of the week in the Baha'i calendar. I haven't decided what the theme of this week will be. I haven't decided yet if I will make a blog entry every day. I could make an entry every-other-day instead of every day. I'll have to take it one-day-at-a-time and see how the week progresses. I haven't responded to any prompt from "Blogging Circle of Friends "  or "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  in a while, so I could respond to some of those. The only prompts I responding to, on a regular basis, are those from "Space Blog" . Those are posted in "Snow's Space Blog" .