Author Archives: lifelessons

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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.

The Thirty Dollar Hot Dog

I’m in the Montreal airport waiting for three hours for my plane to Charlottetown, PEI. When I arrive on the island, I will have traveled for seventeen hours, so you might forgive me my “who’s on third” conversation with the waiter as he tried to make change from 40 dollars and I tried to tip him. I won’t go in to what prompted the confusion, but the man at the next table was very entertained. At any rate, once the transaction was finished, a hot dog with potato chips, a rum and Coke plus tip ended up costing thirty dollars, Canadian.  We aren’t in Mexico anymore, Charlotte!

 

Coxcomb: Flower of the Day, Sept 1, 2016

IMG_0693Thanks, Christine Goodnough, for jogging my memory re/ the name of this beauty  from my friend Patty’s garden in Wyoming. I knew an animal was involved in its name, but couldn’t for the life remember what it was until you solved the mystery.

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/08/31/flower-of-the-day-august-21-2016-dahlia-2/

Shiver

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Shiver

That kiss he gave that made me shiver?
I fear he is an Indian giver.
For once he’d given me a smack,
he said I had to give it back!

 

The prompt today was “Shiver.”

Thursday Doors: Sheridan Inn, Sept 1, 2016

IMG_0532I doubt that these are the original doors to the historic Sheridan Inn, a hotel/restaurant built in 1893 and once managed by Buffalo Bill Cody who would hold auditions for his Wild West Show on the front porch.  The hotel, bar and restaurant are still in operation in Sheridan, Wyoming.


To see more Thursday Doors go HERE.

Fierce

Fierce

When first he turned up on their lawn,
he might have been the Devil’s spawn.
He hissed and sputtered––showed tooth and claw––
fierce growls emitting from his widespread maw.
They feared they might be scratched or bitten,
yet took a chance ––and tamed the kitten!

(I think you’ll want to click on the below photos to enlarge them. You’ve seen some of them before, but worth reviewing imho.)

prompt word today was “Fierce.”

 

Borrowed Feathers: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge 2016/08/30

I never know what I’m going to see when I go to the plaza in Ajijic.  This day, it was a feather display of a different order.

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/08/30/reminder-cees-fun-foto-challenge-feathers/

Western Bouquet: Flower of the Day, Aug 30, 2016

 

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Spotted this lovely arrangement in the lobby of the Sheridan Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming. Watch for more photos of this one hundred plus year old hotel still in operation on my “Thursday Doors” post on Thursday.

For more flowers, check out Cee’s blog.

Challenged Relationship: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

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Some relationships are doomed from the start. Truth is, his kisses came at too dear a price.

 

 

https://ceenphotography.com/cees-challenges/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge/

Vice Detection

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Vice Detection

Don’t you have to love the fellow
with ice cream on his diet Jell-O?

And the friend with heart of gold
who likes her painkiller freshly rolled,

or that occasional slip of tongue
that tells us how her husband’s hung?

This little “fuck,” that little “damn,”
the door that’s pulled closed with a slam––

the flaw that nearly escapes detection
that proves that no one is perfection?

The truth is, that though friends revere us,
faults are what really endear us.

Although piety is nice,
I’ll take my goodness spiced with vice!

The prompt word today is “Vice.”

Share Your World, Week 35

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Is this the whitest foot you’ve ever seen in your life?  When Edith said she’d “fit me in” for a manicure/pedicure after my haircut and hot oil treatment, I didn’t realize just how much “fitting” was going to be done.  She’d remove my old polish, then dye someone else’s hair, then do my cuticles, then cut someone else’s hair, then trim my nails, then wash out the dye, then buff my heels, then. . . . When I was finished, I looked at my watch and was amazed to note I’d been there five hours!!!  I barely made it to my Not Yet Dead Poets meeting on time. But, it ended up she had fabulous internet service.  I sat at the manicure table and wrote my blog and the time flew as usual.

List 2 things you have to be happy about? 

I am happy that I am going in two days to see good friends on Prince Edward Island as well as in Missouri, Alabama and Minnesota.  I am also happy to have found two wonderful house sitters to care for my canine and feline babies while I’m off cavorting around the world without them.

If you could take a photograph, paint a picture or write a story of any place in the world, what and where would it be?

I think the most idyllic place I’ve ever been is Bali.  I will probably never go back because I’m afraid it would cancel out my previous wonderful experiences there–first in the early 70’s when everything was unspoiled and amazing, then again in the nineties when I went with my husband Bob. I think he had an epiphany of sorts there.  I certainly did the first time I went.

Should children be seen and not heard?

Who would want to miss out on the wonderful things children say?  When I was visiting my friend Patty and her grandson came running up (after throwing a quarter in a wishing pond at the Holiday Inn where we were having brunch) he said, “Dad. Dad.  I got my wish!”  I told him I’d made a wish as well and he said, “Oh, did you wish to be younger?” Ah the refreshing truths told by the young and untactful.

List at least five of your favorite first names.

Annie, Katie, Luz, Chloe, Pru, Levi, Riley, Chet, Chad, Samantha, MacKenzie, Abagail, Abbie.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am glad to be amoeba-free at last but sad to have discovered that Frida has an enlarged heart that is making it impossible for food to pass to her stomach and which is also impeding her breathing.  I look forward to hearing next week that the IV’s have made it possible for her to get nourishment and that the meds have shrunk her heart , making her breathing less labored and enabling her to keep food down.

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/08/29/share-your-world-2016-week-36/