Author Archives: lifelessons

Unknown's avatar

About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

Boo! JNWs Halloween Challenge, Oct. 25, 2016, Scary

 

Judy Ghost

For about a year, in every photo of my sister, she was wearing cowboy boots.  I doubt she was half so startled as this scene suggests.  I had a nylon stocking over my face and the pointed head is an illusion created by the fold of the sheet.  I think it is interesting that the Frosty the Snowman plastic “ornament” is already out on the end table.  Or perhaps it is still there from the Xmas before. At any rate, short of field mice or spiders, this is as scary as it ever got at my house.

The prompt word today is “Scary.”

Fall Colors: Flower of the Day, Oct. 25, 2016

img_7479

I have no idea what this flower is.  Its leaves are dark green and lush, the flowers, the size of a finger, shy and retiring by comparison.  It grows beside my studio.  I’m sure I planted it, but I can’t remember when.

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/10/24/flower-of-the-day-october-25-2016-chrysanthemums/

Hemingway

img_8169jdbphoto

Hemingway

Because he liked that lost sensation,
(that loss-of-memory elation
that comes from excess of libation)
he nightly staged that transformation
that ended all his perturbation,
thereby taking a  vacation
from the quest for information
to seed his novel’s inspiration.

As he imbibed in a rash ration
of this liquid excitation,
it also raised the consternation
of friends of long association
who watched the sad continuation
of his fine mind’s alteration
as he drank to satiation
and finally, to his tale’s cessation.

Ernest Hemingway on the topic of whiskey:

“Never delay kissing a pretty girl or opening a bottle of whiskey.”

The prompt word today was “Transformation.”

Gates: JNW’s Halloween Challenge, Oct 24, 2016

Gates:  Open, closed, established or makeshift.  Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish a gate from a door. Hopefully, these all qualify in one way or another. Not very Halloweeny, but nonetheless, they meet the word prompt. Thanks to forgottenman for helping me to find these photos among the 50,000 on my computer.  He’s a genius at photo retrieval.  He should make a business of it! As usual, click on the first photo to enlarge them all.

 

https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/10/24/jnws-halloween-challenge-gate/

Baby Sun Rose and Aloe: Flower of the Day, Oct 24, 2016

This is my 2500th blog posting!

 

img_7494-1

For Cee’s gorgeous dahlia, look HERE.

 

For the “Tiny” challenge, look HERE.

Too small

 

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.

 

The prompt word today is “tiny.”

Rock Climbers (Zinnia and Sun Rose): Flower of the Day, Oct. 23, 2016

img_7882img_7888-1

I love the combination of stone and plants.  So once again I’m following Cee’s lead.  To see her flower/rock combination, go HERE.

Haunted Forests: JNW’s Halloween Challenge

 

 

dsc00448

dsc00419

The Halloween prompt today is “forest/plants.”

Utilitarian Artifice

img_0918

Utilitarian Artifice

My sugar’s artificial. It’s a fact. So is my creamer.
A year ago, I had a little crackup in my Beemer,
and now I have an artificial ear and foot and femur.

Pretty soon my whole darn life will just be what it seems,
while the authentic “real” of me will be a thing of dreams.
I can’t find where I stored my leg, I left my fur coat somewhere.
I parked my car last week but can’t remember how to come there.

So if it’s really necessary—all this substitution,
I’m asking some inventor  to come up with a solution.
If artificial intelligence is the way it’s going to be,
please implant me with an artificial memory!

The prompt word today was “artificial.”

DOD Decorations: JNWs Halloween Challenge, Oct 22, 2016

Decorations are what the Day of the Dead is about.  Weeks are spent in preparation, and the display is colorful, excessive and heartfelt. These photos are of two of my own altars as well as photos I took in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, as decorations were being prepared and completed.

 

https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/09/01/jnws-halloween-challenge/