Earth hour at the telescope at Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort

Last night we spent Earth Hour showing guests of the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort in Aventura the planets, moon and Orion Nebula through the telescope as part of their Earth Hour celebration:


"the Earth Hour celebration will culminate with an outdoor presentation from astronomer Dr. James Webb, director of the SARA Observatory at Florida International University. A telescope will be available for guests to explore the night sky."

It was a lot of fun, people of all ages stopped by between 8 and 11 pm and viewed the objects and asked Jim questions. He gave a short presentation to the ones who lingered, wanting more information. We finally had to wrap up when clouds started coming in, but the evening had been beautiful up to that point and the viewing excellent, despite being in a pool area surrounded by buildings.

Duotrope's Digest pays for itself this month! Warrior Champion finds a home.

My $2 a month contribution to Duotrope just paid for itself because I've had another poem accepted for publication, this time by The Lorelei Signal.

Duotrope's search engine helped me find the right market for my poem "The Warrior Champion" which will appear in Lorelei Signal's July 2010 online edition and their August 2010 print edition entitled Mystic Signals. They pay $2 for the poem, plus a percentage of royalties.

The Lorelei Signal,a fantasy magazine devoted to stories and poems about strong female characters, is named for the animated Star Trek movie where Lt. Uhura has to take command and rescue the crew.

Panhala and Mary Oliver's Messenger

I came across a neat poetry site, Panhala that combines a beautiful picture, a poem and some music. If you sign up for email from Panhala the music is optional.

They feature many of my favorite poets like Mary Oliver, Richard Wilbur, Wislawa Szymborska, W.S. Merwin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Antonio Machado, etc., with archives going back to 2002.

Mary Oliver's poem, "Messenger", a new favorite:

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.


~ Mary Oliver ~