worth thousands of words...

our driveway

the years shall run like rabbits

joshua and i awoke together to the beauty of this, one of my very favorite poems, being read on the radio this morning:

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

-As I Walked Out One Evening
by W. H. Auden

happy leap day, everyone!

of influenza & eclipses

well, i managed to catch it...the respiratory flu from hell. i've had it for almost a full week now. i know, i know, you're asking, "em, why on earth would you want to catch that?" funny you should ask. maybe because i was beginning to take the simple things like, say, breathing for granted. maybe because i wanted to test my new husband's mad nursing skills. maybe because i thought it was my chance to win the local snoring competition with what josh has dubbed my sickie "death rattle". whatever the case, i'm beginning to think i might actually survive it... if i don't accidentally hack up my lungs, that is.

in the haze of an otherwise fever-filled week, there was a full lunar eclipse last night. we had a perfect view of it from our deck. while watching "tommy boy" together for the first time, josh and i ran outside every ten minutes or so to check the progress, and were able to watch the moon disappear. what must people have thought before there was a scientific explanation for what we witnessed?

i really love the moon. my first published poem, written when i was about 4, was about the moon. i've often thought that if i weren't a christian, i'd be a moon worshipper. it's even cooler though to think that the same god who created the moon created me too.

that blurry amoeba of light in the sky (no, not josh) is the almost fully eclipsed moon.

sharing germs

the first shall be last

...and so it is in the world of blogs. someday, lord willing, there will be many posts preceeding this one. for now, here are a few favorite photos of the events which inspired the creation of this blog. i'll begin with honeymoon photos, until i can figure out how to link the wedding ones. the last shall be first!

sit back, relax, have a cup of barry's tea and some biccies, and enjoy some photos of the most beautiful place on earth...in my not-so-humble opinion.

(pssst...please bear with me, i'm new at this whole blogging thing.)

josh & em's first morning as husband & wifey

"we are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams...." -arthur o'shaughnessy

hiking to port, county donegal

"how wondrous are your thoughts, o lord!"


yummy lunch at avoca cafe

the lovebirds kissyfacing--hey, it was our honeymoon!