back to work (#659-669 of 1000 gifts)

"The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration" - Ernest Newman (from Onwards and Upwards, a collection of quotes edited by Julian Ross p. 68).

The quote above, from the British music critic Ernest Newman seems perfect for Labor Day, this last hurrah of the summer holidays. A Happy Labor Day to you!

...and the list of gifts continues:


659. Whoever landscaped the grounds of our townhouse complex did a lovely job of filling the beds with beauties. In this season we are greeted by these hardy sedum...

and drifts of coneflowers.

660. My poetry benches, where I park for a while during my afternoon leg-stretch, and let my thoughts settle in my notebook.

661. And then nibble on a few blackberries before heading back home. 

662. Have you discovered Tim Challies' monthly wallpapers? I downloaded five of September's onto the laptop and have set them to change every 30 minutes. It's such an inspiration to open my computer to a decorative rendering of Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 23:5, or Romans 8:26.

663. Every day on our morning walk we pass an exotic-looking castor bean plant. The other day I noticed some action in its upper regions.

664. On Saturday we went to buy more blueberries at Krause Berry Farms. Of course we let ourselves be lured by the fresh pastries in the restaurant, treating ourselves to peach-blackberry pie, ice-cream and coffee. Yum! (Does this bring back memories, Chris & Jane?)

665. I am making steady progress on my fall assignment.


666.  When the news is mostly bad, God's word has reassurance

667. I'm thankful for a book I'm reading that's educating me on who's who in the "sinister" world of Christian right-wing political activists in Canada, delivered in the voice of a conspiracy theorist. (To M. McDonald Christians are scary...very scary!!)


668. The long weekend weather has been stellar so far. Yesterday we took a walk at Derby's Reach park (here we're looking at Maple Ridge across the Fraser River).

669. This bunny either had a love for the camera or thought he was invisible under all the dapple. He let me get incredibly close before slipping into the grasses and blackberry canes.

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