Ascension Day Carnival

Lying in bed for the past (almost) week now has afforded me the luxury of noticing. I consider the ability to notice details in life a beautiful gift which must be cultivated. There is a distinct pleasure in noticing details and completely surrendering to the enjoyment of them that is deliciously hedonistic, but in a pure, honest fashion. For example: this week I went to the laundromat and washed a new, crisp, blue and white calico floral set of sheets for my bed. I folded the laundry as quickly I could, knowing that the sooner I got home, the sooner I could put my new sheets on the bed. It was every bit as thrilling as I had imagined. The other day I was making pea soup, and the recipe called for a cup of dried, split peas (rinsed). I dumped the dried peas from the plastic bag into my dish, a pottery dish of brilliant blue. Beautiful. I brought them to James, who was reading in the other room, to show him. He put his hand in the bowl of dried peas, and we both enjoyed the moment thoroughly.

I think if we train ourselves to notice and enjoy details more often, we won't be so surprised to find that life is filled with shards of glory. The scenes around us are remnants of the holy. Wordsworth says that we come "trailing clouds of glory." These scenes, these scraps of glory, are alive and throbbing around us: the old woman on the bus with the purple blouse and a life full of stories to tell, the sun lighting up the ice-glazed trees, the sound of a fiddle, reeling and true. Watch.

James is watching the film 'Cold Mountain' next to me; there's a scene where Inman is ploughing a field and Ada, the woman who loves him, is moving into a new house. She drives her wagon past him, playing the piano to him as he plows in the field. The sound is sweet and telling.

Here's one of James's poems; I think it's beautiful.

Ascension Day Carnival

Me. I watched as
slippery children packaged
into
steely rides tilted
suddenly skyward
as wrinkled ones
crane necks
stretching hands
somehow realizing
what a holy thing it is
to go heavenward.