Magazine Posts

There I was with the light getting dim.
I could barely see the back of the rim.
The rim on a basketball hoop
was my target.
My coach instructed me in this way,
the back of the hoop is your target.
It was getting late in the day, but
I wanted to shoot more and play.
So dribble I would, with either hand
for "playing ball, what I lived for,
unfortunately at that age,
I was only 5 foot four.

A place that I worked
was a large room full
of cubicles.
I managed a Customer
Service function,
in a Manufacturing Company.
I would keep a large jar,
of plain M & M's, it had
a glass lid.
Many times when I left my cube
I would hear the glass lid rattle.
Looking back, I would see
a co-worker looking back at me.

I think of you, my young friend,
wondering if we might have been,
star crossed lovers, in another life,
or if we married and you were my wife?
You left me so sudden, saying
if you need help, just let me know.
It's been two months, plus a few days
and my mind is now in a haze.
Contact me please, I say to you
for at this time I worry about you.

A glorious day; it was in the Spring.
Grabbing my fishing pole, I then went
out to the forest, to do my thing.
Walked to the creek from my parked car,
it was close to the road, not very far.
I fished from the bank, perhaps for a mile.
It was a beautiful scene, not seen in awhile.
I climbed on a log, laying over the stream,
espied some movement, back on the shore,
when a Momma Black Bear, came into view.
She had a cub, trailing her now.
For some reason, I'm still not sure why,
I opened my mouth to say hi.
A short, woof, woof, is what I said
and Mom stood up, looking all around.
I didn't move, making nary a sound.
I decided it was best, and pretended to be
a small picture that looked like a tree.
Fortunately, I was upwind,
so no scent she would get.
The Bear and cub moved on
and then it was me,
seeing a Bear that was looking for me.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

A good place to see a ring-of-fire eclipse, it seemed, would be from a desert. In a desert, there should be relatively few obscuring clouds and trees. Therefore late last December a group of photographers traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Rub al-Khali, the largest continuous sand desert in world, to capture clear images of an unusual eclipse that would be passing over. A ring-of-fire eclipse is an annular eclipse that occurs when the Moon is far enough away on its elliptical orbit around the Earth so that it appears too small, angularly, to cover the entire Sun. At the maximum of an annular eclipse, the edges of the Sun can be seen all around the edges of the Moon, so that the Moon appears to be a dark spot that covers most -- but not all -- of the Sun. This particular eclipse, they knew, would peak soon after sunrise. After seeking out such a dry and barren place, it turned out that some of the most interesting eclipse images actually included a tree in the foreground, because, in addition to the sand dunes, the tree gave the surreal background a contrasting sense of normalcy, scale, and texture. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

Photo by Maxime Daviron

How can you pine for someone,
when a Pine is a tree?

There will be a tomorrow,
that is most certain.
In spite of all the sorrow,
there won't be a final curtain.
That curtain of black cloth,
blocking the morning Sun.
Searching the broad horizon,
looking for our life's fun.
"Is it me?", she said one day.
"I'm sure I'm not the only one,
or can I be sure and say,
my life has now begun?"

A single line of Tulips
across the hallowed ground,
lies the remains of our heroes
where they always will be found.

There lies Sgt. Smith;
a marker with his name,
who gave his life for Country
for a World he never knew.
He lies, interred, in the ground
for all, not just a few.

Pray for him and the others
at this most revered site,
for they were all our Brothers,
who died the noble fight.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. The dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way. But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light from the region's young hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The dust also obscures from view stars still in the process of formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star R Coronae Australis. Just below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region. Video: Best of APOD 2019 for the Night Sky Network

Photo by CHART32 Team