Monthly Archives: December 2024

Another Sunset, for Photo Challenge 547

Another Sunset

This bald
horizon line,
teeth of far-off cliffs.

An orange that hurts, it is so bright—
the face of the sunset
makes its daily pilgrimage.

Only yesterday breathing in a sea.
Today, facing the hard stone
of an offshore outcropping.

We, the tender-hearted,
wait for you each evening.
We line our hearts up for you.

Over here, I’m the girl
In red sequins at the front,
waiting for your black velvet brother.

For Photo Challenge

Here it is Again! Fibbing Friday, Dec 27, 2024

1.  Ackamarackus:  What my father used to say every time someone began to play the shakers in Latin music.
2.  Anencephalous: What some people accuse a man with tiny feet of also having.
3.  Antediluvian: What they call a boy who has finally agreed to give up his Teddy bear.
4.  Accismus: The next holiday after a Thanksgiving.
5.  Agelast: The woman in a beauty shop whose main job is to put gel in your damp hair before blow-drying it. 
6.  Arabinose: What they call a Palesitinian man’s large proboscis
7.  Antimacassar: What they call a man who curses every time he passes a Macdonald’s Hamburger Spot.
8.  Anagrammatic: What Anna became after graduating from college with a degree in English.
9.  Aichmophobia: Someone with a dread of pain.
10. Atrabilious: Someone who develops a stomach disorder every time they hear music sung by Ol’ Blue Eyes.

 

For Fibbing Friday  Image by Alamy

Bougainvillea for FOTD Dec 25, 2024

For Cee’s FOTD

Merry Christmas, 2024!!!

My small writing group and spouses are coming for Christmas comida and white elephant gift exchange. Under each plate is a fortune and on each slip they draw for what their turn is to choose a gift is also a question to answer. Forgottenman made a list of fractured fortunes to distribute as well.  If you want to see them, I’ll print all of them after folks have already seen them.

“Born Lazy” for My Vivid Blog, Dec 24, 2024

IMG_6426

Born Lazy

You can have your tennis, your jogging, golf and hiking.
I’d rather spend time coasting while other souls are biking.

You’ll never find my name in the record books of Guinness,
for I don’t excel at basketball or badminton or tennis.

Somehow, nature slighted me when it came to “gameness.”
When asked to participate, I simulate my lameness.

I guess I was born lazy. I simply love my bed.
I pretend not to hear it when the cat yowls to be fed.

When duty calls, I plug my ears and happily roll over.
I find it is more comfortable here in beds of clover.

For My Vivid. Blog, the prompt word is “born.”

Thunbergia, for Cee’s FOTD, Dec 23, 2024

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Santa Makes a Comeback

I just couldn’t let Santa die a final piñata death, so I removed him from his shattered shell and did a bit of reclamation work and now here he is, gracing the door of my garage. If you didn’t see Santa’s former role, the story is here: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/22/breaking-pinatas-for-cellpic-sunday-dec-22-2024/

Colorful Buildings for CFFC

For CFFC the prompt is colorful buildings.. Ha! right up my alley…

Breaking Piñatas, for Cellpic Sunday, Dec 22, 2024

Finally, the guests started arriving. Santiago got here first so I gave him some rubber duckies to float in the hot tub. His folks were both near by so no danger. Isidro’s six grandchildren rushed in and surrounded me with hugs and kisses..unprompted! Even the boys. They are such sweet children. Then Yolanda and Yoli and Oscar and Isidro were close behind, lugging a big aluminum pot full of Yolanda’s traditional posada chicken salad to be eaten on tortillas as well as a huge thermos of fruit punch and another of jamaica. We did the piñata first, starting with the tiniest and going uphill to the tallest–and as it turned out, the strongest. Yoli was the heroine who whacked Santa his final blow. Luckily, I think his cute face is salvageable so I can use it on a wall or door next year.Below are all my cellpics of the event. It was sooooo enjoyable and the kids were so excited and all the young adult parents and cousins and brothers and sisters were so fun as well. The kids had as much fun playing hide and seek in my garden and all around the outside of my house..and the inside, actually…as they did whacking the piñata. Here are some pics:

The children were so active, running through the house and out four different doors of the house..in backyard and front yard and yet they were careful, damaged nothing. At one point one of Isidro’s granddaughters saw me pick up a candy bar wrapper from the grass and minutes later went over to kids and told them not to throw anything on the ground and to put the candy wrappers in their hands into the wastepaper basket. She was a very small girl and I thought this was  an incredibly  thoughtful act. In fact there was no trash around at all. Amazing given the hundreds of pieces of wrapped  candy that were being consumed. .Yolanda and Yoli and Ellie and Marie Jose cleared the tables and all the trash, even though I did not ask or expect them to. All in all, a wonderful wonderful experience.  The mother of most of Isidro’s grandkids who attended was only about 7 when I first met her. She won a “clean up the lake” poster contest I sponsored. And Alejandra, the mother of two others, attended a kids camp I helped organize and conduct when she was 12 years old. She’s now 27! It’s amazing to live through an entire generation of kids. I’ve been here 23 years. Longest I’ve ever lived anywhere. (If you are worried about Santa’s present condition, here is more of the story: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/24/santa-makes-a-comeback/

For Cellpic Sunday

 

For Sunday Whirl Wordle 686

This strand of freshwater pearls, knocked off the table where a beach vendor was displaying her wares to us, looked so good there,

Night Thoughts

Words strung like pearls on memory’s thread
merely repeat what has often been said.
Whispers of heartaches, sparks of regret,
prick at our senses so we’ll not forget.
Then the witching hour joins us, ringing her bell,
shaking earth from her shoes she has tracked  in from Hell.
An herbed wind shifts vines to whip overhead,
sending stray sojourners straight to their bed.
Then sweeps over cobbles, whisking away
unresolved problems of the past day.

 

For the Sunday Whirl  this week, the words are:

earth herbs cobbled vines thread spark heart whispers witches shifts pearls words