Monthly Archives: November 2015

When I Grow Up

 When I Grow Up

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It stretches forever in front of me.
There, no future happens until I create it.
And that is the power of words
that rub like pieces of gravel in my shoe.
I become less of a child in bearing them,
grow to adolescence as I pry them from my shoe.
In storing them on the page, I become my own creator—
writing a new world with each decision of word.
On the page, I can, if I so choose,
grow up again and again.
Each page filled or every edit of the last
becomes another part of me
that tells the same story:
that growing enough to fill the space inside of me
never happens.

Yes, one or two of you have seen it before, but since I had totally forgotten this poem, it’s clear that one advantage of growing up is that you get to enjoy the same things over again with very little memory of them!  This applies to books, movies and even first spouses remarried!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/ballerina-fireman-astronaut-movie-star/

Obelisco: Flower of the Day

                                                                        Obelisco

Did you know that red hibiscus (obelisco) leaves make a delicious drink called Jamaica that is very popular in Mexico?

IMG_8866Go HERE for more great flowers

I have a theory

This is the best suggestion of Mr. Trumps campaign strategy that I have read. You won’t regret reading it! Hilarious but also just might be correct!

Not for sissies

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Here’s my highly informed, incredibly insightful theory about what is motivating the irascible bloviator who leads the polls for the Republican party.  You ready?

The Donald has NO desire to become President of the United States.  None. I’m not kidding.

Have you seen the President’s salary? A measly $400,000 a year.  Donald probably spends more than that on hair care products!

If he were to become President, Trump would have to get up early every day and actually work.  He would have to be on call 24/7, and would be expected to take phone calls in the middle of the night.

Not only that, if he became President, Trump would be put into the difficult position of having to compromise with other leaders in order to keep the country running.  All evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, this is not a stupid man. He knows that Presidential power is limited.  He…

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Internet Infraction: Bogged Down in Blog

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Internet Infraction: Bogged Down in Blog

The only way I’d ever stop
is flagged down by a cyber cop
who says my blogging cannot last
if I continue to go so fast.
He’d give a lecture and a ticket
and then he’d actually stick it
across my screen with strict instruction
to cease this method of destruction.

If life had meant us to go on line
hour after hour––eight or nine
hours or more day after day,
with always one more thing to say,
why would it give us legs to go
and feet to walk on, heel to toe?

Day after day, it’s grown obscene––
my eyes plastered upon my screen,
my fingers stiff with my attention
over what I might next mention––
fingers drumming, tapping, bending
all the while sending sending––
typing out, first fast then slow
my life as a reality show.

Until I wonder if I log
its details daily on my blog
because I want to recall life––
its joys and sorrows, pleasures, strife––
or do I only move about
to give me something to write about???

My friends all say this can’t go on.
I’m growing flaccid, weak and wan.
I need some exercise and sun––
some movies, dancing or other fun
aside from snapping pictures of
each bougainvillea or mourning dove.

Life’s meant to live, not to record.
It should be shouted, screamed or roared––
not typed out softly on the keys
of a laptop spread out on my knees!
The truth of this I’ve clearly seen
now that this sticker obscures my screen.
“Do not remove” it clearly reads,
“Go live your life! Go do some deeds!”

I’ll put on sneakers and do some laps.
I’ll exercise ‘til I collapse,
then do more laps around the pool
‘til I’m an exercising fool.
I’ll call twelve friends up on the phone.
I’ll never ever be alone.
I’ll live my life until its end
without a single blogging friend!

My dedication will never lapse;
and yet, how temptingly it gaps–
that sticker, unstuck at its edge
so easy now to pick and wedge
my fingernail beneath and tug,
to drop its shreds upon the rug
and free my screen of its obstruction––
this taboo not of my construction.

To push the button, light up the screen––
to see its colors from red to green.
Black words on white, Cee’s daily flower––
no longer do I pine and cower.
I peck the keys, upload some pics––
once more getting my daily fix.
The truth of modern life leaks in.
To blog is not a major sin!
I’ll give up blogging, become a rover
precisely when Hell freezes over!!!

 

The Prompt––Bloggers, Unplugged: Sometimes, we all need a break from these little glowing boxes. How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Diagonal Lines

                                                                       Diagonal Lines

Okay, I’m going to invite you over for a playdate. After everyone left on Thanksgiving evening, as I was cleaning up/clearing up, I got to looking on the diagonal, thanks to Cee.  I snapped a few pictures of what was available and then later started nudging and seeing what happened.  Want to come along to see what I discovered?

IMG_8774I quickly found out that almost everything is more interesting and artistic if there is a diagonal slant to it.  Intuitively, I think this is usually how I set up my shots.

IMG_8775 (1)In shots where there wasn’t a distinctive enough diagonal element, I started just spinning the picture a bit, but I quickly spotted a problem.
Version 2Version 3As I did this, any vertical elements started to look as though they were about to topple over!  Version 4A solution was to just crop to get rid of that vertical element.

I then decided to try to set up some vertical shots.  I lined up the liquor bottles I’d brought in from the bar set up on the terrace, but you can see how poorly that turned out in this shot:IMG_8795Yech!  Just too terrible.  Too contrived.  Makes my teeth itch!!!!IMG_8800And this one is even worse!!!  Cancel this image in your mind!!!!

Version 2The original was better.  The table edge accounted for the diagonal and there were some natural if somewhat haphazard other diagonal lines, but about that ugly pile of used napkins, not to mention the fuzzy ghostlike area over the desk to the back right.  I think it was caused by smoke from the candle.

IMG_8755Sharpening and brightening and boosting the color still didn’t help that unsightly item to the front of the picture, so––
IMG_8754I cropped a bit more.  Better, but still no cigar.

Version 2Then I started to get silly, using my very limited cloning tool to cover up the lump of napkins and give the illusion of a bigger  crowd or at the very least a thirstier one.  An interesting effect, but waaay too much going on in the picture!
Version 2 So, once again, cropping to the rescue.
Version 2This wonderful sculptural vase made by my friend Julie Mackie seems to be getting a good deal of pleasure out of all my nudging and clicking.  Julie was my sidekick when I set up shows at the art center in CA, so I can imagine her getting a kick out of my late night adventures in placement.  IMG_8769I think we need another angle on Julie’s wonderful piece as well.  But, as you can see, nudgin’ ain’t gettin’ the dishes done!!! Better angle on the picture though, don’t you think?IMG_8775And look at how nice and straight that bottle is.  And a diagonal to boot!  IMG_8762And–more Julie guy, slightly out of focus. He looks a bit drunk, or sleepy, as I am.  I also need a swim before I sleep so I guess the photo shoot is over!  If you didn’t learn anything, I hope at least you were amused.  If not amused, then what are you still doing here?  I’m off to the night pool–crickets and frogs call.  Happy Diagonal!!!

http://ceenphotography.com/2015/11/25/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-8-diagonal-lines/

Fifteen Things for When the World is Shitty and Terrifying.

PLEASE read this blog.  It is probably the best of the thousands I’ve read over the past three years. If you are wondering about what to do in the face of Isis, school killings, police brutality, unbelievable political choices, pollution, global warming, Monsanto, big business, plague, drone missiles, atomic bombs, weather changes, a falling aquifer and the state of your own waistline, read this.  Guaranteed to make you feel better and give you SOMETHING to do about it!!!  Go here now:  Fifteen Things for When the World is Shitty and Terrifying.

Humble is Sweeter Served Between Two Crusts!

Humble is Sweeter Served Between Two Crusts!
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The Indigestibles

No room for mushrooms, can’t live with liver.
The thought of brains just makes me shiver.
Though I like pizza, my other law
is I don’t eat tomatoes raw!

Drinking milk’s against my wishes.
Fish is simply for the fishes.
I eat no veal or other baby,
and steak for me is simply “maybe.”

So if it’s your plan to invest
in things that I like to ingest,
I won’t make it any harder
for you to come and stock my larder.

All else you want to bring to feed me—
what edibles you wish to cede me:
Injera, curries, Thai, Chinese—
all are sure to tempt and please.

Except for one thing I just thought of
that in the past I’ve had a lot of.
There’s one more mouthful I won’t try.
I have no taste for humble pie!

(Yes, ’tis true.  You’ve seen this before.  Not enough hours in the day lately, and if the prompt fits, reblog it, I say!!!!)

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/humble-pie/

Flor or Faux??? Flower of the Day 11-28-15

Flor or Faux?

Some of these lovely blooms are flowers and some aren’t.  Can you tell the difference?
IMG_8859Flor
Version 2Faux
Version 3Flor and Faux (How can it be both at once?)IMG_8868Just the white center blooms are flores.  The orange “petals” are actually leaves,

IMG_8864

FauxIMG_8872  Faux
IMG_8875 (1)Flor IMG_8855Faux
IMG_8853Flor. (Just these central “berries” are the flower of the poinsettia.  As with bougainvilleas, the red “petals” are actually leaves.)

IMG_8780Faux. (I made this camellia out of an egg carton.) The boy is also faux. The fire is real.IMG_8873Faux  IMG_8863Faux

Version 3FauxIMG_8857Flor. (You weren’t caught this time by the duplicitous bougainvillea, were you?)

For more flowers, go HERE!!!

 

Lucky???

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Lucky Duck riding the wild turkey off to a new adventure!

Lucky???

The first person I talked to today was myself, awakening from a dream and answering aloud whatever question the person in the dream had asked.  So, I’m going to reblog a poem of my own that I wrote three months ago.  When I look back at even something I wrote last week, I barely remember it; so perhaps this will feel fresh to you as well, even if you read it before:

“You’re So Lucky!”

 Too often those described as lucky
are actually only plucky.
It’s the decisions that they make
that make their lives a piece of cake.

If they have a cushy job,
far above the teeming mob,
it is because they chose to go
to college, so they made it so.

Or if they traveled after school,
when others said they were a fool,
and tell of their adventures young,
some people tend to come unstrung

and say they wish they’d had the chance
to participate in life’s wild dance
when they had the energy,
but, you know, traveling’s not free.

The truth is that most anybody
can go to college if they study
or travel anywhere they wish.
Life’s feast is a communal dish.

There is work that you can do
from Broken Hill to Timbuktu
if you are willing to do the tasks–
whatever the situation asks.

It’s true that there are places where
life is not equitable or fair–
places where a woman’s lot
keeps her chained to stove and cot,

or places where sheer poverty
limits all that you can be.
Yet  many who bemoan their fate
simply needed to leave their gate

and take the chance to see the world–
allow their lives to be unfurled.
But, lacking courage, they remained
in the place that fate ordained

was their lot in life and so
just maintained the status quo.
Many are happy where they are
and have no wish to roam afar,

but for those who moan and fuss,
saying all the luck’s with us
who have chosen to live in paradise
(and say it more than once or twice,)

I just want to say once more,
“Here is your suitcase, there’s the door.”
Luck is more often made than won,
and is, I fear, too quickly done.

So even if you’re old and gray,
do what you want to do today.
If you feel caught in the muck,
break free from it and make your luck!

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/the-luckiest-people/

Midnight Magnolia: Flower of the Day 11-27-15

Midnight Magnolia

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http://ceenphotography.com/2015/11/27/flower-of-the-day-november-20-2015-how-does-your-garden-grow/