Over the past week, I’ve watched the tree in the backyard go from small little green buds to full-sized leaves.  This, for me, is a sign that Winter has now passed on and Spring has started to stretch forward.  I didn’t need an observance set about from a lunar calendar, solar calendar or Roman-based calendar to provide me with that understanding.  I only needed to pay attention to the world around me to see it taking place.

Maybe I’m a little different than most Pagan folk — I don’t adhere to the solar/lunar/Julian observances.  I watch the cycles that take place in the world around me to determine what part of the year I’m in.  I’m not always the most observant person in the world though.  Like many other folks, I can get wrapped in the day-to-day aspect of Life, where my observable cycle is from sunrise to sunset.  Nothing wrong with that though.  Its just a smaller focus of the cycle of Life, in my opinion.  Sometimes, a smaller focus is necessary – sometimes its a hinderance.  Just depends on the moment and the situation.  The key, from my perspective, is knowing when to switch from the smaller focus to the larger – and vice versa.

—-

Though I’ve stated my own personal aversion to politics, I still get a query or two one my positioning.  I’ve really now passion or desire for politics of any sort.  All the discussion over Presidential, Congressional, and other “races” for political office just hold no interest for me.  I have a singular individual in mind for who I would vote for – but he has not been nominated for his potential party just yet — so at this point, I have no candidate to vote for.  Two years ago, I made up my mind that I was going to vote *for* a candidate – and if there wasn’t a candidate I could vote *for* – I was not going to vote.  At this point, I have no candidate to vote *for* – and hold no interest in any of the other candidates.

—-

Earlier this week, I joined the “smart” phone users of the world.  My newest tech gadget is an iPhone 4S. So far, I’ve not figured out how to do more than dial a number and send a text message.  Beyond that, I haven’t really messed around with it.  Perhaps this weekend, I’ll take a break from grading papers and exams and play a little with the phone to see what I’m capable of figuring out.  Maybe.

In the meantime….back to getting my grading done.