A variety of visual options appear this month including a two-minute video of our Amtrak trip, a visit to two gorgeous gardens, and pictures taken through an Amtrak window. (The second part of a two part series. The poems for this month are 2 Short Narratives and Unknown Worth.
The Tao of Momentary Thoughts, my 8th book, is a compilation of vignettes, poems, and poignant quotes and is available on Amazon at $9.99. If you like the PJ, you will enjoy this book. It makes an excellent gift.
A Poetical Journey, my 9th book, is a compilation of my poems from the PJ and is available on Amazon at $9.99. If you enjoy the PJ, you will like this book. It makes an excellent gift.
Recent Reviews of my newest Books
. . . and more
Doug from Ohio recently submitted the following review for The Tao of Momentary Thoughts: ". . . I was not prepared for page 116 Should have been because of the extremely personal nature of the entire book. Please understand that the unusual length of time to finish your book (especially for a binge reader like me) was because it screamed to be read thoughtfully in increments. For me that was 10-15 pages every weekend, often in quiet . . .Thank you for "putting pen to paper" and sharing your soul. Those of us who have followed Poetical Journeys will recognize much of the content. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to share part of your journey really feel a part of it."
Charles from Park City recently wrote: "Hi Bob….I just picked up your The Tao of Momentary Thoughts. It’s wonderful . . I love your book."
Ed from Seattle regarding The Tao of Momentary Thoughts: "I was smiling all the way through the reading . . .I think I will reread it again during the next week. . ."
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My third novel Adelyn: An Epic Journey in the Epic Journeys Trilogy IS AVAILABLEon Amazon. (Above is a 65 second clip about the book.) It will take you on quite a journey! Though the third book of a trilogy, it is also a standalone novel.
My first two books of the trilogy, To the End of Time and Back: An Epic Journey,and the sequel, What's Next~An Epic Journey, can also be purchased through Amazon by clicking here. (Scroll to the correct title.) Your local bookstore can also order them for you. All these books are fine reads for the broad-minded and/or the non-traditional spiritual seeker. What a reading adventure you will have including many diverse ideas, a beautiful love story, adventure, and intrigue. (All three are also available in Kindle version.)
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JJG recently wrote: I've read Bob's "To the End of Time" trilogy twice, each time gaining deep and deeper insights into the human condition. The three small volumes hold their own as good stories but also provide a unique glimpse into a new religious paradigm. Would that it could come to be.
Click here to link to a YouTube radio interview about To the End of Time and Back. (Friend David Riggs produced it for me. To link to his book, click here.)
A number of individuals have sent glowing review. You can read some of them in the Forum Section below.
PJ Demographics – Subscribers in 27 states and 13 countries
PJ Online
PJ Policies
Subscription information
Welcome
I am pleased to have you as a reader. If you enjoy the PJ, please encourage others to subscribe.
If your country is not listed in the demographic section at the end, please let me know so I can update the list.
The next Poetical Journal will be out October 27, 2019.
On the Right: Last month's focus was on our Amtrak trip from L.A. to Seattle. Here is a two-minute video that tracks the trip of 1135 miles.
Opening Comments from Bob
My ninth book,A Poetical Journey (all poetry), and the eighth, The Tao of Momentary Thoughts (combination of poetry, vignettes, and quotes),are enjoyable reads. They are available for order from Amazon.
This Issue: This month our pictorial travel takes us on a variety of events including a two-minute video of our Amtrak trip and Part 2, pictures of Oregon, and a visit to two gorgeous Seattle gardens. (Since the Oregon pictures were shot through a window, there is some degradation in quality.) There are also two miscellaneous shots taken in Midway. The poems for this month are 2 Short Narratives and Unknown Worth. (Enjoy the video that accompanies the second poem.)
Subscriber Residences:PLEASE let me know if your state, providence, or country is not listed in the demographic section at the end. There currently are subscribers in 27 states, 3 provinces, and 13 countries. See complete list at the bottom.
Next Month: The next issue comes out on October 27, 2019.
My work currently appears in seven books. Four are offered for sale online. To order any of the four, click here. The newest books, Adelyn: An Epic Journey (2017), What's Next? ~ An Epic Journey (2016), and Beyond Time and Back: An Epic Journey (2015), are currently available through Amazon.
PLEASE! Supporting the efforts of the Poetical Journal is greatly appreciated! Any amount of donation is appreciated. To support, click here.
To view the product page of other unique gifts, pleaseclick here.
Enjoy a collage of pictures and one sideshow of two beautiful gardens in Seattle, The Sheila’s (Tucker) Garden and Birrell Family Garden in Seattle. What is amazing is that both gardens were done by individuals and are considered private. In short, they were done simply for their pleasure. Due to the efforts of Ellen who knows the owners, we were allowed to visit them. One observation we made about Seattle is that it could be called the "Floral City."
Two Poems this Month
2 Short Narratives
#1
Rain, storms not a friend of airlines.
Delays and moans heard at Gate B10.
Flash floods add another warning.
It is a long walk to Salt Lake City.
I guess I will wait. and write a short narrative.
#2
Sixty-eight minutes have passed at B10.
Moans have become groans.
A stroll to Salt Lake City appears more appealing.
After all, what is 1254 miles!
Wait! I think I will wait.
At hundred and two minutes, now boarding.
Comments: A bit of humor written during a frustrating time in the Denver airport, trying to get home.
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Unknown Worth
Twirling, twirling so dizzy.
My short life has passed too quickly.
What use am I spinning in the wind?
The poet watches the lone leaf dance, spin, and sway, suspended by a lone thread.
He marvels, intrigued by the beauty of Nature’s ballet.
Comments: This poem has a much deeper meaning than what appears on the surface. We never fully know whom we touch. The video on the right helps clarify..
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This gentleman recently retired and is from Quebec. I talked with him at length during our Amtrak trip. He is planning to ride across Canada, similar to a feat he did thirteen years ago.
Ed and Ellen were our hosts during our stay in Seattle. Ed was my college roommate and best man at my wedding and I at his. We had a jovial time to put it mildly.
To fully understand the meaning of the second poem, you should watch the video. I filmed it during a recent outdoor musical event.
Enjoy the beauty of pictures taken at two privately owned gardens in Seattle.
A brief sideshow of the gardens. Worth 67 seconds of your time.
The pictures below of Oregon were taken from the train. The one immediately below was taken
as we crossed the Columbia River into Washington..
No Vignette this Month, just plenty of pictures.
If you have a guest vignette you would like to submit, please do so. Not only will I enjoy reading it, but if agreeable with you and space permitting, I will print it in a future issue. The vignette should be written in paragraph form and relate a personal story or event. It should fit the overall tenor of this newsletter. Ideally, it should not exceed twenty lines. Please send to bob@poeticaljourneys.com.
Anthony's Beach Cafe, Seattle, WA: If you enjoy seafood
and eating along the water, you can't beat this restaurant.
It is always busy. You will have less wait time if you eat early, e.g. dinner at 4 P.M. This was our second visit
there. Just as good as the first time when it was listed as
a recommendation three years ago.
"You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." - Carl Jung
"I wanted a perfect ending . . . Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity . . ." - Gilda Radner
"That best portion of a good man's life,
His little nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love,” - William Wordsworth
Bit of Humor
A bit of laughter is healthy for the soul
What are you saying?
His request approved, the news photographer quickly used a cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight. He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport. Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, "Let’s go!"
The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off. Once in the air, the photographer instructed the pilot, "Fly over the valley and make low passes so I can take pictures of the fires on the hillsides."
"Why?" asked the pilot.
"Because I’m a photographer for cable news," he responded, "and I need to get some close up shots."
The pilot was strangely silent for a moment, finally he stammered, ‘So, what you’re telling me, is… you’re NOT my flight instructor?"
If you have comments, recommendations, or suggestions for the PJ, please e-mail them to bob@poeticaljourneys.com. While I often cannot print everyone's, I personally respond to all. (When editing the comments for publication, I often eliminate the paragraphing to save space.) .
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Only one comment:
"What a wonderful newsletter, thanks again for the cane exposure, I have 2 more 4-hour cane dates. Many teachers and health professionals are so excited." – Jim from Loudonville (Thanks, Jim. He was featured in the last newsletter regarding the cane form he created.)
An Ohio reader wrote regarding the novel Adelyn: An Epic Journey:
In his book, Adelyn: An Epic Journey, Bob navigates the reader through a challenging journey in the time space continuum while exposing both the weaknesses and strengths of humanity. As Adelyn is exposed to the infinite love of The Source, the reader is challenged to understand how personal beliefs and actions often have more to do with cultural rather than spiritual influences. In a time and world filled with political anger and personal indulgences reading Adelyn offers the open-minded promise. It would make a great book study.
To the End of Time and Back: An Epic Journey Review taken from Amazon
"The new novel, To the End of Time and Back is a skillful account of two lovers on an 'Epic Journey,' racing through time and history to learn life-changing truths. Their spectral mentor, Arundel, sends them through difficult travels, but their relationship endures and remains strong despite physical, and psychological stress. Powerful emotions such as fear, anger and happiness, combine with lust, pain and sexuality to help them learn. Written in verse form, the story is an epic poem, painted to portray the duality of mankind throughout dimensions of human history that is sometimes cruel and horrific. The reader will come to know and understand what is being described and will certainly enjoy the stimulating elegance of the story and the philosophy. A thoroughly enjoyable read that is certain to make you think." - David from Utah
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Other Reviews (They have been edited for length. Thank so much to each of you.)
"I finished your book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was much easier to follow by having the whole thing in front of me, and reading as much as I wanted at a time. I felt pretty weary after bouncing around in time for many hundreds of years, but I was relieved to know that at least part of the world survived 'Armageddon'. What a feat you have performed." - Jim
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"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your latest book To the End of Time and Back. When I bought the book I had no idea what to expect. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. I had fun reading it from A to Z and everything in between." - Art from Park City, UT
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"Your book touched places deep within my soul. I could read it over and over again, Bob. Job Well Done!" - Bobbie from Texas
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"Well, Bob! I am rather blown away by your book. Finished it yesterday, and it only took four days, which means I was intrigued and wanted to know how the book ends. I'm a slow, deep reader and since my profession is writing and editing, I edit continuously as I read. Can't help it! But this book was worth dropping everything for and reading to the end. I admit to cynicism about your claim that it would change me, and I don't know that it has just yet but it won't be leaving my heart and head for a long time, and change could happen. I'm impressed that the book actually lived up to your claims for it. . . . I'm intrigued by this book because it rings so true, and I am therefore tempted to believe you actually were given the gift of this dictation. But if not and this is fiction, you have written one hell of a book, masquerading amazingly as non-fiction ... which is indeed one of the goals of fiction." - Kimberly
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"WOW! WOW! WOW! I read it in one sitting and found so many things you wrote about 'true' for what I know and feel about past lives I've lived. Actually, the chapter about the Holocaust was something I couldn't bear to read–too sad and painful. (I've always felt that way about that period of history.) . . . it was very well done, Bob. Just beautifully done. I'm looking for the movie. . . I'm sure others will feel connected to this book just as I did. AMAZING. Just AMAZING. I couldn't put it down. There was so much anticipation with each chapter it hooked me from the very beginning. . ." - An Ohio Reader
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"I read your book a couple weeks ago. You are lucky we don't live close enough for me to call you to discuss it! It was interesting and easy to read. I liked the format. It reminded me of Many Masters, Many Lives by Brian L. Weiss (which was not that quick to read). Have you read that? . . . Anyway, kudos on the book -- on all your books. . ." - A Reader from Arizona
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"Your newest release takes the reader to places deep within. It makes one ponder all things about life itself. Many authors have written about reincarnation, but yours goes deeper. Through an eternal relationship between two souls, you describe all the human emotions one can feel. The book takes you to historical times and places around the globe, making you feel as if you are part of the beautiful relationship of A~ and Z~. After reading, they will become a part of you." - A Reader
Reader Demographics
States - AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, NC, ND, NY, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV, and WI
Canadian Provinces - BC, ON, and QC;
Countries - Albania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Turkey, UK, U.S., and Venezuela.
........Changes in this section will be updated each month.
If your state, province, or country is not mentioned, please let me know.
