Thursday, May 31, 2007

Once in a blue moon


Once in a blue moon
There's a thing called happiness
It happens when you're in
A state of natural grace

-- Van Morrison
Tonight is a blue moon, the second full moon in a sinlge month. There are lots of songs and poetry that call upon the blue moon, but I like the lyrics to this one from Van Morrison because it seems more hopeful than some others. To be happy, find your natural state of grace. I like that. It implies I have a choice in the matter, which I firmly believe I do.

So what brings on a natural state of grace for you? Maybe watching your children or pets (or both) play, or seeing a garden of flowers and vegetables sprout from tiny seeds you placed in the ground, or a myriad of other things.

My state of grace is constant, but not constantly noticed. I get glimpses of it when I see a great blue heron standing majestically in a field while traffic rushes past nearby. Sometimes it's when I realized that several hours have passed in what seemed like a minute while I knitted a pair of socks or some other item. Or when my cat suddenly leaps up from a sound sleep and runs like a madwoman up and down the stairs, seemingly chasing nothing.

Tonight, it's just sitting here thinking about the community of people I've come to "know" via this blog and other forums I participate in on the Web. I may never meet any of you in person, but know that all of you are part of my state of grace, my happiness, my blue moon.

Thanks for that.

Oh, in case you're wondering, that picture was taken from my driveway tonight with my Panasonic DMC-FZ10 digital camera, using the 12x optical zoom set at ISO400. Personally, I think this camera rocks it -- hard.

Digital camera: $400 a few years back
Memory card: Two 512K cards for $5.99 from Woot.com
Software to crop the pic: Included with the $150 HP Officejet 6210 printer/fax/copier/scanner
State of grace brought on from the ability to capture a pic like this, literally once in a blue moon, right from your front doorstep: Priceless

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The picture is beautiful!

State of grace...hmmm, I have to say it is when I see my kids peacefully asleep in my bed :) and my hubby is cuddling them with one arm each.

amanda j said...

What a beautiful picture and a thoughtful post. My state of grace . . . eating dinner with my family talking about our day; seeing a student come out of their shell or make a friend; spending the evening with my husband discussing life, the universe, everything.

I too am grateful for the 'friends' I have made and am constantly making in this wonderful, generous and positive community. It has made my life a more pleasant place to be.