Monthly Archives: August 2017

That Tiny Niggling Little Prickle

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That Small Feeling That Something’s Wrong

My intuition sounds its gong.
I have an inkling something’s wrong.
I look  around  for what’s amiss,
but cannot tell what signals this.
My arm and neck hairs stir and rise,
as if to warn me of surprise.
This tiny hunch keeps me alert,
but insight is a fickle flirt.
When nothing happens, it goes away
and I live out my normal day.
That tiny niggling little prickle
might lead to nought, for insight’s fickle,
and sometimes things are just so small
that they aren’t there at all.

This poem, actually written last year, seemed appropriate both for the “prickle” prompt and for relaying information about the Lone Star Tick  just passed on to me by a friend. This tick seems to have supplanted the Lyme disease scare in the Eastern U.S. A friend and her boyfriend have both been bitten by it and have developed the meat allergy. More grist for the worry mill:    http://www.popsci.com/lone-star-tick-meat-allergy

The prompt today was prickle. The image was copied from the internet.

Sunday Trees, Aug 13, 2017

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https://beccagivens.wordpress.com/2017/08/13/sunday-trees-300/

Don’t Pick the Daisies

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See poem below flower collage. (All photos by jdb. Please click on first photo to enlarge all.)

Don’t Pick the Daisies

Please leave those daisies in their wrapper.
I find them just too pert and dapper.
I prefer a floral decoration
prone to promote excitation.
I’d choose something a little queer
to be used as a boutonniere.
Yes, I agree, daisies are cute
but aren’t held in good repute
for inclusion in bouquets exotic.
They aren’t sufficiently chaotic.
All their little petals are spread
in order. They are too well-bred.
I like my flowers with frisky sproutings,
curling ‘rounds and sticking-outings––
birds of paradise well hung
with orange feathers and bright blue tongue.
I admit, I am a binger
on passionflower and wild ginger,
on orchid and bromeliad.
Daisies I find a little sad––
too Doris Day and sixtyish.
A bit of odd is what I wish
for when I choose to pick a flower
for an arrangement or a bower.
Give me heliconia,
proteus or begonia.
For an occasion that is formal,
daisies, dear, are just too normal.

 

For my mother Pat who liked her food plain and her flowers exotic. XOXOXO

https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2018/02/06/tuesday-photo-challenge-exotic/

This poem and floral collage were prompted by an earlier post in answer to Cee’s Flower of the Day prompt.

Upsy Daisy: Flower of the Day, Aug 13, 2017

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For Cee’s daily Flower Prompt.

First Step

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First Step

When I’m feeling frail and iffy,
what revives me in a jiffy
is a tiny bit of sinning—
a little chocolate or ginning.

There’s nothing wrong with using them
unless one is abusing them.
And an abuser I am not.
(Except, perhaps, for chocolate!!!!)

 

The prompt today was jiffy.

Motley Crew (Distinctively Shod)

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(Click on first photo to enlarge all. All photos by jdb.)

For Paula’s “Pick a Word” Challenge.  The word I chose was “motley.”

https://bopaula.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/thursdays-special-pick-a-word-in-august-y2/

“Bleach All the Colors” Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge, Aug 12, 2017

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IMG_0107

Bleach all the colors from the flowers. Cancel out the sun.
Stay the music. Still the dance. Tell laughter it is done.
She will not walk this way again so all must cease to walk.
Her conversation’s over. The whole world must not talk.
Earth upon its axis should still its constant motion.
The cook must quiet his cooking pots, the chemist trash his potion.
The universe must end itself now that my true love’s dead,
and I lay myself beside her on our wedding bed.

For Cee’s Black and White Challenge: https://ceenphotography.com/2017/08/10/cees-black-white-photo-challenge-take-a-new-photo-or-photos-any-topic/

(Dis)organize(d)

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Life Piles Up

You know that this can happen. It’s silly asking why
the books and papers pile up from desktops towards the sky.
You do not dare to open the window that’s nearby
lest the papers blow away to flutter yon and nigh.

I wish I had a simple life with time to do it all
so I could post a picture to prove it to y’all
that my house is super organized and tidy and pristine.
My life as orderly as tasks spewed out by a machine.

Unfortunately, nothing stays in its usual space.
A new thing starts before I’ve filed the old thing in its place.
Boxes from camp still stand in rows out in my garage,
while papers from last April’s trip slide down in a barrage.

I cannot find the cord and mike that belong to my amp.
Perhaps they’re buried deep within the boxes left from camp?
Or other boxes in my car from events even older?
I think perhaps dealing with life is more than I can shoulder.

Somehow I think that WordPress may have gotten word
about my loaded desktops. I know it sounds absurd,
but if you’re keeping track of prompts then surely you have noted
that lately this one topic is one on which they’ve doted!

I told you you just four days ago–I’ve cleaned off desk and table.
I promised I would clean the rest when I was free and able;
and so today I’m sorting books and papers and detritus,
but to this prompt I’d like to say, “WordPress, kindly bite us!”

IMG_3608Okay, the desk area in my bedroom that I promised to clear off the other day is a little bit better.  To check up on that by comparing to its state just four days ago when we had  a very similar prompt, go HERE.

IMG_3606In the meantime, the desk in my sala hasn’t piled up again–much. So please, WordPress–no more nagging.  I’m as organized as I’m going to get for awhile.  Okay to check up again in six months.

The prompt today is organize. This was actually the prompt two years ago, almost to the day, so I have reprinted my post for that prompt. Things haven’t changed much. I had a party a few days ago, so the desk is cleared off, but two boxes of items to “put back” in their designated places are hidden in a corner of my bedroom.  What can I say? Life piles up.

New Kid on the Block: Hibiscus, Flower of the Day, Aug 12, 2017

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This is my last hibiscus purchased. It seems to like its spot in the planter formerly planted with cilantro. The cilantro didn’t thrive, so next occupant! This is another very large bloom:

IMG_0107 (1)

 For Cee’s Flower Prompt.

The Hardest Way: Which Way Challenge, Aug 11, 2017

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(Click first photo to enlarge them all.)

The Kitten Way (Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way!)

Ollie is now eight times the weight he was when the kittens were left beside my garage two months ago and his sisters have increased in weight four times. They now reside in the guest bedroom which has a sliding glass door to the outside that I leave open.  I’ve built plywood walls that block their progress outside to a 20 foot long outside terrace devoted completely to them.  It is shaded by napa palms whose trunks are too slippery for them to climb to gain access to the wall that seals my house off from the street.  We bought a big bag of sand to put in the planter that runs along the wall so they now have inside and outside litter places. They sleep piled on top of each other on the newest and most comfortable bed in the house and also have access to a new very large outside doghouse with raised entry so the rain can’t get in. This will hopefully be their sleeping place once they’ve had their rabies shots and/or spaying and neutering.

Kukla and Roo, however, are not content with their roaming area.  A few days ago, I was in my bathroom feeding Annie, my 15 year old cat who has decided to become an inside cat.  She refuses to stir outside of my bathroom and has commandeered the large tub/shower area for her own, complete with cushy bed and litter tray.  She will deign to leave her sanctuary only for meals and affectionate head scratchings. At any rate, I was getting ready for a party, so I left the bathroom but was back and forth doing those sortings and puttings-away that seem to mainly get done when company is coming.  I was just passing the door to my  (Annie’s) bathroom when Kukla came streaking out of the door.  How in the world?  She was supposed to be in her own room or run with all doors closed and walls constructed!  She ran into my bedroom which had sliding glass doors, two of which were open to the back yard where the dread dogs were!

I slid the sliders closed, then glanced into the bathroom just in time to see Roo spread-eagled at the window, inside the bars, about to climb through the glass slats and the screen, which evidently they’d forced open in spite of the fact that it was screwed in place!  This window was immediately over Annie’s bed. She looked surprised and stunned–too discombobulated to hiss as she usually did in their presence.  I extracted Roo, pushed the screen shut and cranked the glass louvers completely shut.

R.I.P. Annie. (No. Not departed.  Just literally resting in peace, quietly purring, happy for her restored solitude.)

Resourceful kittens will find their own way.

 

For Cee’s Which Way Challenge. (Sorry, but WordPress won’t let me establish a link.)