Monthly Archives: June 2019

Over-automation

IMG_2815

Over-automation

The multifarious uses of all of her devices
led to manifold laziness and other slothful vices.
She never had to scramble to remember anything.
She only pushed a button and her troubles all took wing.
She had no special training. She eschewed an education,
for Alexa solved all problems with her handy automation—
turning on the TV set and opening the doors,
setting off the cleaning robots, expelling the boors,
reminding of vacations and birthdays and appointments,
disciplining naughty kids for lapses in deportments.
Alexa went to work for her and mapped out all her spreadsheets,
polished all her silverware and ironed out her bedsheets.
There was literally nothing that Alexa couldn’t do.
She cooked her children’s breakfasts and took them to the zoo.
Yet still she was suffused by fatigue and wan and thin.
No one could imagine the stress that she was in.
More and more she wound up with her stomach in a knot.
remembering the uses for devices that she’d got!

Prompt words today are knot, scramble, vacation and multifarious.

Healing Gloria (and How to Easily Core a Strawberry)

The doctor says Gloria has to have 5 little meals a day, but naughty Gloria didn’t want to eat even three.  The solution? Culinary seduction. (Click on first photo to enlarge and see captions.)

Gerbera Dasies: FOTD June 28, 2019

IMG_2763

From my garden. Glorious Gerberas!!

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Assignment #2: Gloria’s Photos

 

Here are some of Gloria’s photos taken for her Day #2 assignment. As usual, click on photos to enlarge.

Looking out at the Cat Looking in: Thursday Doors June 27, 2019

IMG_3017

For Thursday Doors prompt.

The Tyranny of Order

The Tyranny of Order

We must take charge of all our lives lest they take charge of us.
Too easy to be eaten up by schedules and fuss.
We tick off items on our lists forgetting to just see—
too often caught up raking leaves, not noticing the tree.

Life could be more melodious if we just stopped to listen.
Overlooked its rust a bit to take note of its glisten.
It takes no ingenuity to concentrate on things
that bring a savor to our life. The world around us sings!

Let your life spill over the proverbial apple cart.
The best things of your life cannot be confined to a chart.
Take time to note the details. Fragrances and sounds.
The morning sounds of hummingbirds as they make their rounds.

How the cat lies curled in sleep. How leaf bunches unfurl.
How dust on the window settles in a soft whirl.
How the clouds form continents we travel from afar.
How our life cuts through its sea, fleet and sure and yar.

The ticking of a clock reminds that time is short and sweet.
We do not have the time to make everything so neat.
As I realign these items to perfection on the shelf,
I am mainly giving this advice to myself.

Prompt words are ingenuity, chart, melodious and charge.

Blanched: FOTD, June 27, 2019″

IMG_2600

 

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Bougainvillea by Gloria

This is a photo Gloria took today. Gorgeous.

thumbnail_IMG_4988

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Assignment # 1

My friend Gloria is staying with me while she recovers from surgery. To get her up and walking, which the doctor ordered but which she seems loath to do, I gave her an assignment to walk around and take 10 photos a day. So far she hasn’t walked far, but here are some of the photos, more to follow:

 

 

Full Makeup

Full Makeup

As each wispy object she attaches to her face,
these extraneous objects seem somewhat out of place.
They flutter  from her eyelids like moths before the flame—
just the opening number in her makeup game.

As she smooths on her concealer, then powders over all,
she does not see me watching her out here in the hall.
Never does she hesitate. Brushes grow ever finer
as she patiently applies shadow and eye liner.

She does it all so expertly with such consistent flair,
then carefully begins to work to rearrange her hair.
A little mousse to set the curls, a little spray of mist
and she’s prepared a face that is ready to be kissed.

When she comes home, the hair is mussed, one eyelash is askew.
One eyelid seems to be of a slightly lighter hue.
Although her hairdo’s fallen, still her mood seems somewhat lighter.
Her lipstick gone, and yet somehow her color seems much brighter.

One little word transforms a girl to another realm.
Makes an unsure teenager the captain at the helm.
Just change “make up” to “make out” and her heart takes wing.
And woe to any parent who notices a thing!

Prompt words today were flair, hesitate, spray and extraneous.