Category Archives: Our Place in the Firmament

Life and Death on the Farm

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

Take your place on the great Mandala As it moves through your brief moment of time Win or lose now, you must choose now And if you lose youre only losing your life The Great Mandala, Mary Travers, Peter Yarrow, … Continue reading →

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A Fine and Misty Spring Morning

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

A fine and misty morning has dawned.  Mist is rising from each of our fields, lingering evidence of an early tryst between earth and sky.  The very air approaches corporeality, a near  transubstantiation offered as if in thanksgiving for the bounties of the coming hours and serving as the binder in a translucent stew liberally flavored with the pastel seasonings of Spring. Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Stephen EllisSome … Continue reading →

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The Fog Bank

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. Carl Sandburg, Fog Yesterday dawned as if it would become a beautiful day – as it eventually did.  When, at … Continue reading →

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Moonlight and Snowfall

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

It is 4:00 AM.  Despite my usual practice of turning on one downstairs light to help guide my way to the stairs which lead to our library, I left it off this morning.   Accordingly, the house is completely dark except for the light I … Continue reading →

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Pete Seeger (1919 – 2014)

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

Well I got a hammer and I got a bell And I got a song to sing all over this land It’s the hammer of Justice, it’s the bell of Freedom It’s the song about Love between my brothers and … Continue reading →

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A Winter’s Sunset

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Gavin Stevens

Sunset comes early to Humptulips County this time of year.  By dinnertime, our sky has darkened and night is truly upon us.   If you’ve been distracted by some other pursuit during a late afternoon – reading or watching television, perhaps – the all too brief passage … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

Despite all of the common complaints about the commercialization of Christmas, complaints which have become the stuff of conventional wisdom; despite the flood of email inducements (during what has proven to be a greatly extended holiday season by my standards) to spend my hard-earned … Continue reading →

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A Massacre of Crows

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. Robert Frost, Dust of Snow We … Continue reading →

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Of Little Girls and Perfect Days

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

Spades take up leaves No better than spoons, And bags full of leaves Are light as balloons. Robert Frost, Gathering Leaves Violins of Autumn sobbing Deep and lone, Pierced my heart is with their throbbing Monotone. Fierce and quick the breath, … Continue reading →

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The Glory of a Rural Mailbox

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

The nights are getting cold, almost cold enough for frost to grace our mornings.  There was a proto-frost, an almost-icing, on our fields yesterday morning when I walked down to get the newspapers and mail.  The air was clean and the light exceedingly … Continue reading →

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