Brief Times Spent

The contemplative poet high atop Bear Lake.

A cool spring stroll
on Couchiching's shore
hesitantly welcomes you
back from Mexico's warmth.

The Heart of it All

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's not the shoes or the clothes
The color or style of your hair
Nor the size of your wallet or waist

It's not what shade you put on your face
The color or length of your nails
Nor the matching watch or fitness bracelet

The Artist's Easel — The Inspirational Art of Marylou Falstreau

One Day She Woke Up to Share Art and Poetry.

How do you quench your thirst in the desert? I guess it all depends on what you are thirsting for. Last fall in the California desert we came across the art and poetry of Marylou Falstreau. It was like coming across a canteen of water in the desert. It was welcome. It was needed. And it sustained us...temporarily.

As a person needs water, a writer needs inspiration and we followed up with Marylou to learn more about her art. Her poetry and her passion. This is what she had to say.

Library Way: John Ruskin and the Good and Bad of Books

Who was John Ruskin? The Ruskin Museum states that, "Ruskin believed in the power of art to transform the lives of people oppressed more by visual illiteracy than by poor material conditions. His passionate desire was to open people’s eyes to the free beauties surrounding them — sunsets, tender dawn light, iridescent feathers, spectacular natural crystals, green leaves against blue sky, clouds, the vitality of Gothic architecture and ornament. His creed was: ‘There is no wealth but life.’"

John Ruskin's quote on Library Way is from his book Sesame and Lilies. Published in 1865, Sesame and Lilies is comprised of two lectures that stress the important connections between society, art and nature. Ruskin also believes that the power of books — good and bad — can transform the lives of people:

Richard Eberhart's The Groundhog on this Day

There's no telling whether these "groundhogs" saw their shadow in Arroyo Seco, Mexico.

In June, amid the golden fields,
I saw a groundhog lying dead.
Dead lay he; my senses shook,
And mind outshot our naked frailty.
There lowly in the vigorous summer
His form began its senseless change,

First Lines Second Thoughts — H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man

First Lines Second Thoughts is a look at the first lines of well known literary works. On second thought, do these opening words stand alone as poetry? Today, on this winter day, we look at the opening lines of H. G. Wells' classic, The Invisible Man. The tale was initially serialized in Pearson's Weekly before publication as a novel later that same year — 1897.