Frivolities

About Birthdays and Species-dependent Gestational

Periods in Humans and Ungulates

Do you know about gnus?

If not, here is some news:

The time it takes for a gnu,

That is one in uteroo

To become a new-born gnu

Is exactly 8.5 months. Who knew?

A human  is nearly the same, too

That is, birthdays that fall in December and January, these months two

Means that conception occurs in March, for the human and gnu,

Since gestation between them only differ by weeks, namely 2.

Which is most unlike the ewe,

That births in March after 5 months in uteroo,

Something for a human I would eschew.

There needs to be more time in the oven,

For a well-made Winter’s stew.

Dogs

What my Dogs Taught Me: A Memory Quilt of Past Observations

J. Seibyl

 2007

Gus, our Shetland sheepdog, has been a wonderful addition to our family - full of energy, gentleness, and unconditional love.  He is a creature of habit, some rather unfortunate, like sitting on John’s chest at 5:30 am each morning to lick his face in effort to rouse him to the day’s action.

  2008

On the youthful canine exuberance front, we have increased the size of our family by one with the adoption of a 1 ½ year old male Shetland sheepdog named Shay – a diminutive version of our current sable Sheltie, Gus. The “boys” are great fun together, engaging in games like dog-sheep/sheep-dog where each takes turns chasing each other in dizzying circles in the backyard.  While we may have to forgo beautiful flower beds come spring, there is something poignant and instructive in the intensity and sheer joy of their play.

May you find your own joy in the miracle of each moment, receiving these as the simple gift of time, perpetually wending forward and marking our collective journey.  Whether you go forth in dizzying circles or more linear trajectories, we wish you Health, Happiness and Peace in the New Year.

 2009

As I write this, a few snowflakes float whimsically by my window, the harbinger of our first snowstorm of the Season. They barely cover the ground, but soon will form white confluent mounds, which my dogs will curiously sniff, lick, and then romp through, having forgotten, that this happens every year. I suppose there is value in the forgetting, for keeping fresh and spontaneous, and importantly, not becoming numbed to the quiet miracles about us- like a snowstorm, or the flowers which will pop through that snow in two months time, …. or our own lives. 

The snowflakes outside dance a more frenetic dance, and in larger number, in dizzying clouds that form and dissipate within seconds, before settling on the now completely white ground. Whether you dance though this Season in dizzy freneticism or with more deliberate slogging, may you find succor in your own challenges and miracles.

 2011

 Quiet notwithstanding, our dogs haven’t missed a beat with Jenny’s departure to college, continuing in their frenetic, energetic, and optimistic canine ways. They are particularly keen on going on long walks off leash through a nearby wooded acreage, frolicking with each other and the other dogs they encounter on the trails. They are creatures of joy, we should take their cue in this regard, or at least endeavor to become some small measure of the person they think we are.

 2013

The first snowfall of the season is proceeding apace, with fluffy wet dollops falling lazily, a kind of manna from heaven for my dogs, Gus and Shay. They stand perched, alert, and ready to fling themselves with complete abandon vertically toward the heavens to capture some flakes in their mouths, returning gracefully to earth, enjoined with their quarry. It is curious they feel compelled to exert the effort to jump to meet the flakes on their own terms, rather than wait safely on the ground- their alacrity for snowflakes in particular, or life in general, cannot be contained.

Even as the snowflake-chasing exploits of my dogs serve as a metaphor for living in the moment, with alacrity and enthusiasm, we wish you too might joyfully roil against the constraints of gravity, embrace challenge, and find opportunity.

  2014

 Our dogs Gus and Shay don’t travel much, being content to engage in their shepherding lunatic behaviors closer to home, as the spirit takes them- poster dogs for living in the moment, they are pure loyalty, alacrity, and elation. We do love our boys, as ridiculous as they are, they have lessons to teach.

 2018

She also added a new family member, Arlo, the cockapoo puppy.  He is a bright, enormously entertaining bundle of uninhibited energy, who approaches the world with complete and utter optimism. This is in contrast with the staid, more cautious, skepticism of my two old shelties, and myself for that matter. These predilections notwithstanding, we are not so ossified as to miss seeing a lesson in young Arlo’s tornadic fervor and spunk.

 2019

 Jenny took a position at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, within the Yale Child Study Center at the School of Medicine. It’s been great to have her and her lovingly mischievous little dog, Arlo around and about. The latter is entrepreneurial in the creativity and passion with which he plunges into his world, a bit of the puppy still left in him perhaps, but more thoughtful and directed with his own brand of emotional intelligence, or more accurately, devotional intelligence.

 2020

 Upon Shay’s passing May 2020

 I know I should know this well by now, but I am always amazed at the power of our bonds with animals, especially dogs; how we communicate with each other, care for each, love each other, grieve for each other. I think dogs might even teach us how to be human.  Respectful of the sanctity of every moment and each other, stoic, loyal, trusting, and loving, they  plunge headlong into the day with effervescence and verve, full of alacrity and hope, optimism and joy. There is much to be learned from a dog. 

.......and to be thankful for in our sadness, the very depths of which serve testimony to the power of our connections......

Time for Valentines    

Do you have time

To hear a tale of mine

About the tiny tines

On the fork I find

Sounds most times

Like the last bit of “Valen-tines”?

Excepting the time

When there is not a “tine”

But a “time” forked onto the end of Valentines

Such that the expression of love and affection

Takes on a temporal dimension

When wishing a “Happy Valentimes”

Which may induce apprehension

In those young, or old and on a pension,

In that the precision of the expression

Becomes lost to comprehension.

Hence may this serve to remind

To take the time

To pronounce “Valen-tine”

Like the fork….  and you’ll be fine.

i'll take teak 

Make no mistake,

I’ll always take steak

At a table of teak,

If that’s what you seek.

My vision may be blurry,

My legs trembly weak,

But I would be in a hurry

To take furniture that’s teak.

So, whatever decision you make,

Whether to broil or bake,

The hake or steak,

Eat at teak, for God’s sake.

2/21/22

On Gifting

Matters Pecunious

Can be Ruinous,

Excepting when attended with Heart

Toward helping others as part

Of our shared Humanness.

7/8/2022