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September 29 is Michaelmas Day. As one who has been somewhat agnostic about angels yet open to the mysteries of the spiritual realm, I found this to be a beautiful meditation by James Ford for this Feast Day for St. Michael and all Angels. ~ CK "... All that said, and wherever they come from, the idea of spiritual beings that muck about between heaven and earth, whispering warnings, making announcements, and occasionally directly intervening, certainly has its appeals. And, I suggest, realities. And so on this festival day I find myself thinking of what those mediators between heaven and earth might be for me. I have found in my life that we live and breathe and take our being within the meeting of two worlds. The problem is the two are not actually two. Nor, are they precisely one. So, when we open our hearts to the realities we find our vision complicated, mysteries emerge, the divine erupts into the ordinary." Read more at   A Zen Priest Dreams of Angels | James Ford -

embarked on the lake soft lantern light gives   comfort shoreline lights give hope ___________________________ Image: Lake Biwa ( private collection ) Artist: Koho Shoda (1871-1946) Medium: Woodblock print -

With the season of the Chinese Moon Festival this year, I found myself feeling nostalgic about my days in Hong Kong when I was teaching English at Hong Kong Baptist College from 1981 to 1983. I decided to re-post a couple of former entries along with some added photos to create a kind of scrapbook entry for today's feature. Here I am in Hong Kong in 1982, on a walkway overlooking the harbor. (The photo was taken by Sharon Caulfield who was visiting from South Korea) A view of Hong Kong Baptist College  (now Hong Kong Baptist University) (Photo from the Hong Kong?Macau Baptist Mission) Hong Kong Memories The name "Hong Kong,"   translated  from the Cantonese, Heung Gong,  means "fragrant harbor." We expatriates who lived there found that to be a bit amusing. There were definitely many aromas,  especially  in Kowloon City  where  I lived, but that combination of automobile exhaust, yesterday's garbage, restaurant cooking, and open markets was not w...

Today is the official day for the Chinese Moon Festival . The autumn season is a time of celebration and sharing of moon cakes leading up to the festival day. Here are some musicians with the New York Chinese Cultural Center performing traditional Chinese folk music played on traditional Chinese Instruments Pipa and Dulcimer. -

over all the land the moon bestows her soft light making the heart glad ________________________ Image above: "Full moon rises above the Chinese stone lions at Beijing" (Photo by  Li Peng ) This week's haiku is in celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival . *   *   *  Full moon rises over Barkol, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur ( China Daily photo) -

View of the full moon against an ancient building in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province. (Photo from China Daily ) It's not dark yet because the Chinese Moon Festival is almost here! The Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most joyful times of the year for the Chinese, and we are in that season right now. It is always held on the 15 th day of the eighth lunar month when the full moon associated with the autumn equinox is in view.  September 24 is the actual day for the Moon Festival this year. A Long History The season is celebrated by sharing moon cakes to symbolize prosperity and family togetherness. Paper lanterns are made to carry outside at night when the day finally arrives.  The Chinese Moon festival dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046-246, B.C.).  There have been many legends associated with the Moon Festival, which may indicate how different aspects of Chinese culture have been incorporated into the holiday. One legend is that Chang E, the Chinese Godde...

"Rainy Night in Georgia," was written in by Tony Joe White (who also wrote "Polk Salad Annie") and originally released on his 1969 album,  Continued . It was Brook Benton's recording in 1970, however, that became an instant hit. -

rainy night a lighted window joyful steps   ___________________________________________ Image: Rainy Night at Maekawa, Soshu (1932) Artist: Hasui Kawase Medium: Japanese Woodblock print See Ohmi Gallery -

A friend of mine recommended the film, Paterson a while back. I noticed that it was available on DVD at one of the public library branches, so I checked it out last week. I found it to be an enjoyable film with a thoughtful pace. It does not delve deeply into the art or the impact of poetry but does create a sense of liminal space which is for me the kind of quiet space where creativity can take place. Paterson,  by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, portrays a week in the life of a bus driver named Paterson, who lives in the town of Paterson, NJ. He is a quiet fellow who goes about his day writing poetry about the things he sees, hears, and feels. He has no thought of sharing his poetry, though his wife tries to encourage him to make copies that he can show to others. A Town for Poets The fact that Paterson is also the hometown of the poet William Carlos Williams serves to further underscore the role of poetry in this ordinary town. Williams, in fact, was a p...