Comments on A wayfarer’s notes: Cherry tree

Thanks so much Jim. Your encouragement is somethin...

2008-05-13T12:32:00.000+01:00

Thanks so much Jim. Your encouragement is something so valuable to me, for it is not empty flattery. Your comments tell me you understand everything - that is the encouragement.

Vincent, I bow to your majesty, whilst I praise Bl...

2008-05-05T07:40:00.000+01:00

Vincent, I bow to your majesty, whilst I praise Blake for his righteousness!

And Artistically, magnificent work with much light woven into a dark subject, much research, much labor behind the ease and joy of its' expression of the disease, the hope for the cure.

Inspiring is all ways, even makes me want to paint what I just read!

Hope is in the speaking and writing of

Tim, thanks for what you said. I would like to thi...

2008-05-01T20:13:00.000+01:00

Tim, thanks for what you said. I would like to think of it as engineering with words - building a bridge from here to there - but it seems to need something I cannot pull out just by wanting to.

I can only add that I too am touched by this beaut...

2008-05-01T17:58:00.000+01:00

I can only add that I too am touched by this beautifully expressed post, feeling you have captured so brilliantly what so many of us feel and experience. This is your writing expressed from the beauty of the heart inside of you. Thank you for putting into words so wonderfully something that has caused me to pause this morning in my own self awareness.

Scot, I am sorry you have been over-exerting your ...

2008-05-01T11:59:00.000+01:00

Scot, I am sorry you have been over-exerting your poetic muscles to the point where you confess to having strained them a little. National Poetry Month, eh? How many poets will be suffering the same? Where do they go for the poetic equivalent of physiotherapy?

I feel sure that your inspiration will return and hope you'll stay on your site or leave a trail to wherever you go.

Kathleen, I'm delighted at your most descriptive t...

2008-05-01T11:52:00.000+01:00

Kathleen, I'm delighted at your most descriptive tale, & I know what you mean by the lack of point. But there is a point because you took trouble to write it and to me it resonates because there is a kind of similar tale I thought of telling too. I took a bus to the village of Penn and then walked on public footpaths and thought I would reach one by going down a very neat and prosperous

Beth, I could have just written about a diary entr...

2008-05-01T11:42:00.000+01:00

Beth, I could have just written about a diary entry expressing pride in my tree, as others do posting photos of their babies, but that wouldn't fulfil my or my readers' expectations. So as Michael points out in his comment, I let it build up to something with a bit more to think about!

Ghetu, I wanted to publish your whole story here in the latest edit, but still waiting for your

I'm so glad you let it build up to a full post! - ...

2008-04-29T21:05:00.000+01:00

I'm so glad you let it build up to a full post! - there's a lot to think about in it.

You shouldn't have to justify writing a post about...

2008-04-29T20:19:00.000+01:00

You shouldn't have to justify writing a post about a tree. If you want to write it ... write it! :o)

Now, to be serious, let me see if this quote will fit:

"We are an exceptional model of the human race. We no longer know how to produce food. We no longer can heal ourselves. We no longer raise our young. We have forgotten the names of the stars, fail to notice the phases of the

thanks for honouring me in this way. i am touched....

2008-04-29T19:11:00.000+01:00

thanks for honouring me in this way. i am touched.

It occurs to me that the pressures of my life, whi...

2008-04-29T17:01:00.000+01:00

It occurs to me that the pressures of my life, which have become almost overwhelming as of late, are like a powerful magnet. A magnet that pulls my attention away from those sparks of inspiration you spoke of in your previous post, the details of life you speak of in this one.

I do value such things, and in spite of these pressures I am intent on keeping them at the forefront of my

Bravo, Vincent - beautifully expressed! This anal...

2008-04-29T16:48:00.000+01:00

Bravo, Vincent - beautifully expressed! This analogy - the striving to Become under 'impossible'
circumstances - is so poignant!

And the difference between that packaged cherry tree slowly dissolving into slime and the one in your yard is YOU. A simple act, planting a tree, but a profound vote for Life.

I am reminded of the recent Nobel Peace prize winner who planted a

Vincent, in reading this... I wonder if you are in...

2008-04-29T16:30:00.000+01:00

Vincent, in reading this... I wonder if you are in a stage in your life, much like these trees or potatoes in the story. You've mentioned before that you were somewhat of an engineer of sorts, leaning toward things that can be invented, manipulated. It seems to me that you are much more an artist than an engineer in the traditional sense.

Vincent, I've been reading your blog for a while n...

2008-04-29T12:25:00.000+01:00

Vincent, I've been reading your blog for a while now, and never left a comment yet (which is not to say that I haven't had many interesting thoughts inspired by your words).

Today I feel an impulse to leave a response, driven by the coincidence of my wandering off my beaten track this morning to explore a side road often passed by. This took me up the side of a hill, through a pleasant

a wonderful analogy

2008-04-29T12:02:00.000+01:00

a wonderful analogy

I felt there was more to say. Some instinct took m...

2008-04-29T10:02:00.000+01:00

I felt there was more to say. Some instinct took me to Blake's Songs of Experience. Here is the last stanza of "The Chimney Sweeper":

'And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his priest and king,
Who make up a Heaven of our misery.'