Day: March 2, 2023

Thursday Inspiration — Don’t Fly Away

Fandango11 Comments

For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has given us the word “fly” as our challenge. He also featured the Crosby Stills & Nash song, “Helplessly Hoping” in this post. I’ve been a long time fan of CSN (and later, CSNY), and the rather melancholy “Helplessly Hoping,” with it’s beautiful harmonies, has always been one of my favorites.

But what came to mind when I saw Jim’s prompt was another song that has delightful harmonies and is rather melancholy, but at the same time, hopeful. It’s “Hummingbird” from the duo, Seals & Crofts.

I enjoyed this song for its different tempos and, while listening to the song without really thinking too much about the meaning of the words, I naively thought it was a just simple song about someone watching a graceful hummingbird flitting around the nectar-filled flowers and not wanting it to fly away.

But according to Jim Seals, the song is actually about the lifelong persecution Baha’i founder Baha u’llah endured because of his beliefs. The refrain “Hummingbird, don’t fly away” is a plea for forgiveness. Seals explained that the song relates to “how each one of the world’s spiritual teachers is misunderstood, and the first thing we do is strike out at them, behead them, hang them on a cross or whatever. Here mankind waits thousands of years for the coming of someone to help the unity of mankind, and then when he comes, they throw him in jail for 40 years and torture him. I was more or less trying to speak for the human race — presumptuous, I know — saying we were sorry.”

I am not a particularly spiritual person and I don’t really know anything about the Baha’i faith. But after gaining this insight about the song’s meaning, I was reminded of another favorite song of mine by a different duo, Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a song that also has spiritual roots.

Oh hummingbird, mankind was waiting for you to come flying along.
Heavenly songbird, we were so wrong. We've harmed you.
Oh hummingbird, lend us your wings. Let us soar in the atmosphere of Abha.
Lift us up to the heaven of holiness, oh source of our being, oh hummingbird.

Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.
In you I've found a fragrance. I'll love you 'til I die.
I just love you, love you, love you. I don't even know the reason why.

Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.
The sweetness of your nectar has drawn me like a fly.
I just love you, love you, love you. I don't even know the reason why. Now,

Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.
Haven't you noticed the days somehow keep getting longer?
And the spirit voices whisper in us all.
Haven't you noticed the rays? The spirit sun in stronger
And a new day is dawning for us all.

Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.
Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.
The draught of understanding; wisdom, peace and love is ours.
Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away.

WDP — Doggoneit

Fandango22 Comments

Describe the last difficult “goodbye” you said.

For me, the hardest goodbye is when I have had to make that gut-wrenching, heartrending decision to euthanize a beloved pet because the quality of its life, mostly due to old age and heath issues, has deteriorated to the point that it’s suffering.

In November of 2020 we had to make that decision for our 15 year old German Shepherd/black Labrador retriever mix. And in January of 2022, we had to do the same for our 16 year old black cat.

I still get choked up when I think about these two. I swore after our cat died, that I was done with pets and that I never wanted to have to say goodbye to one ever again. But in March of last year, my wife and I rescued another dog, a 14-month old American Staffordshire terrier mix.

If we’re lucky, we’ll die before she does and we won’t have to go through another difficult goodbye.

Rory’s Dawdler — 03/02/23

Fandango5 Comments

Rory, the king of questions, also known as the Autistic Composter, has come up with a new series of questions that he calls “The Dawdler.” He poses three questions twice a week, questions he says are “inspired by life, humor, conversations and observations, town life, blog posts, writers, gardening, news stories, television, entertainment, and human curiosity, and so on.”

Here are Rory’s three Dawdler questions today.

How many strange or out of sequence/place symbols can you see in this post?

_****+

–?

#.

–/-

– £Oprah

:::

Did I miss any, Rory?

When was the last time you went out for lunch with friends and what was the occasion?

It was about six months ago. My wife and I met our daughter and her future husband, and our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandkids for a picnic lunch at a park near where my son’s family lives. My wife and I rode there on our ebikes, my daughter and her beau on their road bikes, and my son and his family arrived with their kids in their family minivan. The occasion? Nothing special other than we hadn’t gotten together — face to face — in a long while.

How do you personally deal with arrogant people?

I don’t. I have no need in my life anymore to suffer fools or deal with assholes of any stripe.

WDYS — Look Around

Fandango15 Comments

“Listen, little brother,” Debbie said, “I know things are looking pretty grim right now since Mom and Dad said that they’re getting divorced and that they want me to stay with her and you to go with Dad.”

Jamie sighed.

“And I know that Dad is moving to another state and you’ll have to make new friends there.”

Jaime sighed again.

“And that the cat is staying with me and Mom.”

Another sigh from Jamie.

“But Mom and Dad promised that we will visit you and Dad for holidays.”

Silence from Jamie.

“I will always be your big sister,” Debbie reassured her brother, putting her arm around Jamie’s shoulder, “And we’re in this together. You and me.”

Jamie looked at Debbie, then looked away.

“Look around, little brother,” Debbie said. “Look around because someday all of this will be ours.”

A serious expression came over Jamie’s face, which turned a bright red. Then he smiled as the aroma of a messy diaper made its way to Debbie’s nose.

“I wish you knew how to talk,” Debbie said. Then she grabbed his hand, pulled him up, and said, “Let’s go find Dad so he can change your dirty diaper.”

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Joshua Clay @ Unsplash.

FOWC with Fandango — Heater

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

It’s March 2, 2023. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “heater.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.