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Hammer me down,
like a nail through a board.
My spirit is hurting,
where are you Lord?
The anguish I see
in my wife today
will remain here,
the rest of the day.

It matters not.
Not to me,
For I recall,
a life to be.
Laughter rang
throughout the room,
no sight of impending doom
and yet, we're here today,
smothered with gloom,
no happy thought, just disarray,
as most rationale thinking,
is missing and gone away.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The world is waking up to a picturesque planet parade. Just before dawn, the eastern skies over much of planet Earth are decorated by a notable line of familiar planets. In much of Earth's northern hemisphere, this line of planets appears most nearly horizontal, but in much of Earth's southern hemisphere, the line appears more nearly vertical. Pictured over the Sydney Opera House in southern Australia, the planet line was captured nearly vertical about five days ago. From top to bottom, the morning planets are Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. As April ends, the angular distance between Venus and Jupiter will gradually pass below a degree as they switch places. Then, as May ends, Jupiter will pass near Mars as those two planets switch places. In June, the parade will briefly expand to include Mercury. Notable Submissions to APOD: Morning Planet Parade 2022

Photo by Prasun Agrawal

"Loneliness can be a shameful hunger, a shell, a dangerous landscape of shadowy figures. But it is also a gift" Read more

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just below the image center, houses several of these massive stars. The entire Carina Nebula, captured here, spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Nebula in Carina has been a veritable supernova factory.

Photo by Ignacio Javier Diaz Bobillo

Konstantinos Dimitriadis,  (1931 - 2020)  Greek poet, novelist, literary critic and scholar. Born in Thessaloniki, he was better known by his pen name Dinos Christianopoulos. His extensive work, published between 1947 and 1988 includes  "Age of Lean Cows", "Biography", Strangers' Knees", "Indefensible Yearning", "Suburbs", "Outcasts of the World", "Essays", "The Sculpture of Modern Thessaloniki", "Verse from the Army and  "With Art and Passion" He was awarded the 2011 National Grand Prix for Literature, but refused to pick it up. Photo Credit 

I have been spending considerable time
with my wife, as she transitions and adjusts
to living in a Memory Care Facility.
During this time I will join her for her
evening meal and sit with her and other
residents of the facility. The range of
those in the facility will vary over most
every situation.
One lady, lovely tells of her time as a
dance instructor and is always doing
crossword puzzles, constantly. I talk to
her and she always ask for my name and
month of birth. She is lovely and easy to
talk with. Others may have unique activities
such as an obsession to pick up every crumb
or article on the floor or on the furniture.
She also likes to dance and will often be
dancing instead of eating. She dances with grace
and seems to know all the lyrics for all the old
songs. She is pleasant and always acknowledges
my presence by stating my name.
Yes, there are some others, who want to hold a
toy doll or a stuffed animal. They are quiet,
unassuming and will talk to you. All have issues,
of varying degrees but most are very sociable.
They are not scary or someone you would believe
to have any memory issues other than they are
there as a resident.
There are a few who are vocal with their issues, to
the point of distraction but they are few in numbers.
I can say I have made friends with most of them although
I realize many won't remember. My wife is adapting.
She calls me "My Husband." She does not know my name
but she tells me she loves me many times. I do not
like seeing her losing all of our memories but do cherish
the words, I Love You heard every day.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only one. A real-web version of the famous Schrödinger's cat experiment clicking the red button in the featured astronaut image should transform that image into a picture of the same astronaut holding one of two cats -- one living, or one dead. The timing of your click, combined with the wiring of your brain and the millisecond timing of your device, will all conspire together to create a result dominated, potentially, by the randomness of quantum mechanics. Some believe that your personally-initiated quantum decision will split the universe in two, and that both the live-cat and dead-cat universes exist in separate parts of a larger multiverse. Others believe that the result of your click will collapse the two possible universes into one -- in a way that could not have been predicted beforehand. Yet others believe that the universe is classically deterministic, so that by pressing the button you did not really split the universe, but just carried out an action predestined since time began. We at APOD believe that however silly you may feel clicking the red button, and regardless of the outcome, you should have a thought-provoking day. Or two.

When I was a younger man,
I would see older people,
who walked in short,
choppy steps.
I was in Starbucks today
and walked across the street
to the local Bank.
Yep. You guessed it, short,
choppy steps. Feet further
apart as my balance sucks.
A few days ago, I tripped,
going up the front steps,
when my slipper had a
blowout and I did a nice
pirouette, with a twist
and landed on my left hip.
Fortunately, the only large
rock was there, to break
my fall. I had a big bruise,
but no broken bones. Just
a fear someone saw me
and a big embarrassment.
No harm, no foul as we
would say on the playground.

When the walls of life
begin to crumble,
when your memories
have turned to dust,
where will you be tomorrow?
Who is it you can trust?

I've written of words
and how they're used
in taking you places,
near and far.
How surprised I am,
for while in a bar,
I talked to a person,
about his new car.
I asked about the
Model and Make.
He said to me,
"Why do you ask questions,
about something so vague?
I can't afford a new car.
What I said was a mistake."