Well, I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the Midwest
Ten years ago I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

Well, you burst on the scene, already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes, the girl on the half-shell
Could keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing with brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me you're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
'Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly

For all those who did not know, my home got hit by Hurricane Ike. The
eye of the storm went directly over my house. Some of my neighbors
stayed and went out during the eye, where they could see the sky above
and there was no wind at all. The first half of the storm was not so
bad. But then, after the eye, the last half hit like a motherfucking
monster.

My neighbor Jeff said he saw a 10 foot wall of water
surging toward the house and then thought, "DAMN! I should not have
stayed."
The wall of water struck the shore with 25 foot waves on
top, and just kept on coming -- my back yard is the size of a football
field, and water just kept on lunging forward until it hit the 50 yard
line, where it pounded the turf and shot 25 foot waves skyward.
The
wind ripped a 200 year old tree in half and laid it squarely between my
house and the shed. By all rights, it should have gon e through my roof
into my bedroom -- but God and angels were active that night and saved
our home.

We have no electricity but our home is still standing
and other than needing a new roof due to loss of shingles, we are in
really good shape.

We are running the refrigerator on a generator and I have a gas stove so we can cook.

Thankfully, the weather has not been too hot. Of course, we have no air conditioning.

I
have not been able to go on DA since the storm hit. Frankly, I have not
even thought about DA because there has been so much to do cleaning up
after the storm.

It was hard to get gas for the cars at first --
there were only 3 gas stations open in about a 15 mile radius and they
had long lines.

Fortunately a grocery store reopened the day we
were able to fly back into Houston, so we did not have to drivd 25
miles for groceries (problematic when you have to wait in line for gas
and then drive the 50 mile round trip to and from the store for food).

Houston is getting back on its feet now, and we are doing fine.

I'm
sitting in my car in front of a rental property of ours where our
renter is letting us use his business wifi for internet access.

Life is good. Hurricane season always brings us so many surprises!

much love

DJ

And I've just returned from Asia again, August 28th at midnight.

My photos are still on on my laptop.

Chung Hwa and I went to the 900th Special Grace workshop at Cheong Pyeong, and then spent 12 more days sightseeing in Seoul.

We had an incredible time, which you can read about on Chung Hwa's facebook.  I did not most much, and may not post much.  Not sure if I will. I'm still jetlagged out, I have photography and ceramics classes to do work for, and have a limited amount of interest to do anything with Xanga, since no one uses it or reads it much any more.

if you want to see what I'm doing, go to my deviantart account:
http://corazondedios.deviantart.com/gallery/

I just returned from two weeks in Asia -- Taiwan and Korea

I took all these photos at the huge Buddhist temple near Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan
The temple cost $150 million dollars.  It is uberawesome to look at

KISSY KISS

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

(macro shot of snail I found on my front porch this morning)

Girls from the Patty Hearst Symbionese Liberation Army Finishing School

(ok I have a sick, dated sense of humor. I was raised reading Mad Magazine from the 50s.  It has permanent damaging effects)

'In this phial is caught the light of Eärendil's star,
set amid the
waters of my fountain.
It will shine still brighter when night is about
you.
May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go
out.'

we got a puppy

and a kitty.

the puppy loves the kitty and the kitty thinks the puppy is gross.