The bird is on the wing (in more ways than one)...

 

Caught you! (On the Stealth Camera)

Yesterday was one of those days made for exploring, so that's what Millie and I did.  It was, indeed, a day well spent for we know these beautiful days of fall won't last long.

The heavy rains of last week did worlds of good for the pond, so that it actually looked quite lovely in yesterday's sun.  The spring-fed stream of water that feeds the pond seemed lively and quick as it tumbled over rock and root toward its destination.  Millie and I decided to follow the stream backward and search for its source, which we did find after much tearing through briar and bramble.  

  I was reminded of the 1970s mini-series, "In Search for the Source of the Nile," which told of the obsession of European explorers' quest for the headwaters of the famed African River.  

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My obsession right now is to finish this little sketching journal before New Year's Day, at which time I plan to go into semi-hibernation mode that I am so looking forward to.

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131)

A Persian polymath, scholar, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential thinkers of the Middle Ages.

Omaar Khayyam was born of Khorasani Persian ancestry, in Nishapur in 1048.  Although open to doubt, it has often been assumed that his forebears followed the trade of tent-making, since Khayyam means tentmaker in Arabic. 

As a mathematician, he is most notable for his work on the classification and solution of cubic equations, where he provided geometric solutions by the intersection of conics.  Khayyam also contributed to the understanding of the parallel axiom.  

As an astronomer, he calculated the duration of the solar year. 

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I made this sketch from a picture of a marble statue created in his image.  I wasn't sure how he should be dressed, nor in what colors would be appropriate for the time in which he lived, but I thought surely there would have been indigo for dying cloth. I love having him and some of his poetry here in this little book. 

To all of us the thought of heaven is dear-

Why not be sure of it and make it here?

No doubt there is heaven yonder too

But 'tis so far away-

And you are here.

~Omar

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Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet.

~Omar

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To wisely live your life, you don't need to know much.

Just remember two main rules for the beginning:

You better starve than eat whatever

And better be alone, than with whoever.

~Omar

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Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring your winter

garment of repentance fling:

the bird of time has but a little way to flutter ~ 

and the bird is on the wing.

~Omar

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