Solitude

July 22

I am thankful for solitude. I need my occasional moments of solitude to regenerate and be ready to mingle with others. I enjoy my moments alone but I wouldn't want to be alone all the time. But having said that, my solitude time is a great time to re-energize.

This is a photo of LSU's mascot Mike the Tiger (Mike VI), a Bengal-Siberian Tiger hybrid. Information about Tigers say that they are solitary but social animals. That is why I used this picture of him to represent solitude. But there is definitely a social side to Mike VI. He interacts well with people and his handlers. Just a beautiful animal!

There is a man named Darrell Bezet, known around LSU as the Tiger Whisperer. He visits Mike nearly every day and Mike comes up to him whenever he hears his voice and jumps up on the glass that separates them. I have been witness to these amazing things in person.  Here are a couple YouTube videos of him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNMCoxYZCj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q35oGL0n53c

solitude

it can be said

that i enjoy my solitude

far away from everybody

i hope that is not so rude

at times i worry that i

may be of no great use

for sometimes i tend

to be somewhat recluse

but give me some time

and i will join the crowd

for i sometimes like company

and sometimes enjoy loud

but people are what it takes

for a life that’s sweet

so give me my loved ones

to make life complete.

© rt tulley

Dreams (Night)

July 21

I am thankful for dreams, the kind you have when you're asleep. I know they can be totally weird and often don't make a lot of sense, but they are our brain's way of putting out our tension and anxieties. I usually have trouble remembering my dreams. When I wake up I sometimes think that was a really good story but when I think about it, it didn't seem to make a lot of sense. Dreams can be fun or disturbing. But either way, they make sleep interesting.

This is a photo I took at Twin Lakes Retreat Center where my brother-in-law works. It was early in the morning and my lens was a little hazy due to condensation. The glare of the rising sun and the haziness created a blurred photo which reminds me of a dreamy state.

dreams

i’ll see you in my dreams

where heaven and earth come together

you’ll take my hand and fly

over the far ends of forever

in dreams

we can all soar

and in dreams

there’s no pain any more

so meet me tomorrow evening in my dream

sometime around the hour of one

and we’ll fly over the moon

and then ascend past the sun.

© rt tulley

Regeneration/Rebuilding

July 20

I am thankful for regeneration/rebuilding. Regeneration, akin to rebuilding, of course, implies that the previous version of whatever it was has been lost, destroyed, damaged, etc. To me it is inspirational to regenerate or rebuild. It means you've picked yourself up and are restarting from scratch from the rubble of your past. You can take this literally or figuratively.

This is a photo of the sculpture called Regeneration, which is on the southeast side of the Michigan Avenue bridge over the Chicago River in Chicago. The sculpture, completed in 1928 by Henry Hering, depicts the rebuilding of Chicago after the fire of 1871. The fire burned for three days and destroyed 4 square miles of Chicago. The legend was that the fire began when Farmer O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern in the barn, however, that story was made up by a reporter looking to embellish his story. Chicago brought in world-famous architects to redesign the city. The resultant architecture of Chicago is amazing and beautiful. The city regenerated itself into a better city than the one before.

rebuild

when times are bad

when some things get destroyed

there’s time to mourn

there’s time to be annoyed

but then it’s time

to get up off of your seat

it’s time to grab your boots

and put yourself on your feet

start afresh with a new outlook

with you it should be instilled

turn things up from down

stand up to it and rebuild.

© rt tulley