afternoon words

I'm typing this first sentence at 12:45 pm. It is officially afternoon, yet I'm still nursing my second mug of cinnamon tea. The aroma and taste hit the spot, so I've been sipping nice and slow.

To tell you the truth, this afternoon is shaping up better than this morning. I reckon today is one of reading since this week was full of the printed word. Our mail lady stuffed into our mailbox:
-The November 2007 dwell (check out this amazing space here in Houston, in my Church's neighborhood).
-The November/December 2007 GOOD.
-The October 2007 Paste with Iron and Wine on the cover. I was considering canceling my subscription, but it's only $9.95 to renew + all those free sampler CDs. I think I'll mail a check soon.
-Window Poems by Wendell Berry:







I almost apologized for those dim photographs, but I think you get the idea, and if I start apologizing for imperfection, we'll be here all day. The orange & black ink is actually more vibrant and makes for good October reading. It also matches my orange bird bookmark. The wood engravings by Wesley Bates are lovely. I read James Baker Hall's foreword - "Wendell's Window & the Wind's Eye", glimpsed a few poems, and decided to read this peaceful book cover to cover, right after leftovers cooked by my husband last night: lamb steak and grilled eggplant!

I knew Window Poems was meant to be when I read this description on Wendell Berry's site:

"First designed on a hand press, this book includes elegant wood engravings that complement the reflective and meditative nature of Wendell Berry’s poems.

Since 1979, Wendell Berry has taken a walk almost every Sunday. Often on these walks of meditation and reflection, he finds himself making notes for poems. Some years he has accomplished as many as fifteen or twenty poems from those walks, while in other years only half a dozen. The resultant work has been published in collections of Sabbath Poems, a precursor to which was Window Poems.

Window Poems was composed while Berry looked out of the multi-paned window of his writing studio, “The Long-Legged House,” which is near the renovated farmhouse where Berry and his wife raised their children and continue to live. These poems contemplate Berry’s personal life as much as they ponder the seasons he witnessed through the window.

This beautiful book was first designed, composed, and printed on a Washington hand press by Bob Baris, at the Press on Scroll Road, with wood engravings by Wesley Bates. Including an introduction by James Baker Hall, this early sequence of poems signals and celebrates the groundwork of Berry’s life.

'In the corner of the forty-paned window at the Camp, feeding from a roofed flat, the nuthatches, chickadees, sparrows, blue jays, cardinals flew in and grabbed something up and flew off, and the poems did and keep doing likewise, hunting for what to trust. All taken together they sound like what they do, not what they say: the author is throwing the dice, the stakes are high: his long writs are loose, he’s on a roll.'
—James Baker Hall, from the foreword"
[information from Shoemaker & Hoard]

If you care to listen, you can hear Wendell Berry read several poems here (scroll down).

...here is another picture [taken by Johnny] that captures the Simmons family ~ calm & collected Harley, playful Milo looking up to his big brother, plastic trash on the floor (cat toys), a Whole Foods shopping bag (me), and a Spec's shopping bag (Johnny):



And if you need something new to click today, here are my afternoon blogs:
-The Sustainable Scoop (to read Kerry's articles).
-3191.
-dooce.
-My friend Christine.
-fine little day.
-go fug yourself.
-hoping for happy accidents.
-My friend Katy.
-My husband.
-Little People.
-moleskinerie.
-SouleMama.
-PostSecret (updated on Sundays).

Heck, there are many other blogs I both do and do not link to on my blog, but that I do read regularly, even at night. Lately, I find a new great blog literally every day. However, I'm hungry and Window Poems are waiting. Care to share your favorite day & night blogs? Or what you're reading?