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.

Retired (For Daily Prompt: Clock)

Disclaimer: Naughty word implied in this poem. Do not read if easily offended.

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Retired

Mr. Clock, Mr. Clock,
though your advances I try to block,
my attempts you seem to mock
with your continuous tic tic toc,
echoed by my neighbor’s cock
crowing from his noisome flock.

No longer cheerleaders or jocks,
nor femmes fatale with flowing locks,
in Birkenstocks, flip flops or Crocs,
(worn in the winter complete with socks)
we huddle safe behind our locks,
afraid of terrorists with glocks
or neighbors’ children tossing rocks.

We hear your phone calls and your knocks,
we know you gather in your flocks,
your PTAs and your ad hocs,
while each of us sits in our box
as stubborn as a mule or ox,
busy in our painters’ smocks
or cooking spinach in our woks.

Our homes all sealed up like Ft. Knox,
we have no need of the world’s shocks,
its pestilence and chicken pox.
We have our pensions and our stocks,
our Lean Cuisines in our ice box.
We shun your CNN or Fox!!!

Our TV sets set to the past
neglect to show the latest blast
as all the world seems set to cast
Armageddon, coming fast.
So as you watch the latest drone
on your notebook or your phone,
as you predict and hate and moan,
please leave us the f— alone!

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/clock/

Pink Petunias on Main: Flower of the Day, July 24, 2016

 

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Prettying up Main Street in Sheridan, Wyoming, were these flower baskets stuffed with petunias and asparagus ferns. No extra charge for blue skies, wispy clouds and a touch of Main.

Flower of the Day – July 24, 2016 – Primroses

Macro Moments Challenge, Week 5

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For some reason, this detail of a fisherman’s net won out over other favorite closeups. It was taken with my Nikon Coolpix S33 camera shortly before it bit the dust when I mistakenly dipped the lens in sea water while trying to photograph a jellyfish.  My cameras have had a shelf life of from one to two years lately, but they live a good and busy life in the interim.

https://musinwithsusan.com/2016/07/20/macro-moments-challenge-week-5/

La Manzanilla

 

IMG_2538I’ve mentioned this place where I go every year many times. Next year I’ll be there for three months. Thought you might like to have a look: at this  video:

 https://www.facebook.com/1394785514173862/videos/vb.1394785514173862/1581355112183567/?type=2&theater

Dahliance

Today, instead of posting a photo of a flower, I chose to write a poem about Cee’s flower of the day. If you haven’t seen it already, go have a look but then come back here to see the poem.

“Dahliance”

Your round perfection, minutely curled.
Your ruby lips in rows unfurled.
The dew you cup in early morn
shows the day has been reborn.

Your face, uplifted, requires no word.
To talk to flowers is absurd.
Instead, I choose a focus and
thus pick you, though you still stand

erect and safe as I depart.
I’ve caught you in my camera’s heart
to be released for all to share,
delivered to them through the air.

You join a virtual bouquet
that I’ve assembled day-by-day
just to give away for free
so whole worlds can admire thee.

 

Punished

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Punished

There is something one can do with anger—
some sign that can be recognized
and answered—
a scab to be picked,
a mystery that leaves clues.

The only punishment
impossible to rectify
is
silence.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/punishment/

Cherry on Top: WordPress Weekly Photo Prompt

The intent of the prompt is to publish a photo of something that tops off an experience and makes it special.  It doesn’t have to specifically be a cherry.

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These little guys were definitely the icing on the cake when they arrived to visit a few days after I celebrated my birthday in Sheridan, Wyoming.  They came to visit their grandmother, one of my best and oldest friends, but because I live in Mexico and they don’t live in the town where I visit her and my sister most years, I’d never met them before. They came running in and said, “Our dad says you are his godmother.  Does that mean you are our great godmother?”  I said, “No, that makes me your ‘fairly’ godmother.”  And it went on from there. They are adorable and smart as you can probably see from this photo.  The one on the right was getting a buzz haircut from his dad when his dad decided it looked cool to leave a little ducktail in front, and I think he was right. It is adorable. At one point, the last day they were in Sheridan, we all went to the Holiday Inn for breakfast. There was a wishing pool and after the boys threw in their money, Ducktail came and reported he’d gotten his wish. He told us what it was and I said, “Well, that was my wish, too!”  He looked at me quizzically and said, “Oh, did you wish that you were younger?” Ha. Think he missed the part about our wishes being the same.

This is what the icing on my birthday cake looked like:

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The photo that is here rendered in frosting was of me blowing out the candles on my birthday cake at age three.                                                                                                jdbphoto

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And here it is three days later. Yech! Glad I have aged a bit better. The cake has fewer wrinkles but at least I haven’t turned green and broken out in boils!!                   jdbphoto

 

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/cherry-on-top/

Selfies in Seattle Challenge

I am meeting a challenge to post a selfie..and wondering if I’ll be brave enough to post one I don’t like.  Okay, off to the hunt.  Brb.

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Not a selfie and not taken in Seattle, but a zippy title, no?  This is a shot someone took of me at my all-school reunion a week ago. Why is it that it is that the lips that get thinner  with age and not the hips or arms?

Okay, now I challenge all of you to post a photo taken within the past few weeks. You can call it a selfie even if you don’t have one of those arm-extension dealies or a tripod and timed-release camera.  It is a selfie if it is of yourself only, no matter who took it–taken within the past two weeks. Please link to my page via the comments so I can see that you’ve answered the challenge.

This post was done in honor of the glittering one.  See her selfie here:

https://zipsrid.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/she-shone-in-glitter/

Goes Down Slowly

The prompt word today is “slowly.” Disclaimer: If you are offended by risque innuendos, please read no further. My Devil Muse caught me unaware this morning. Last warning. Last chance to stop.

Goes Down Slowly

When you press its end, it has a kick.
It goes down slowly but comes up quick.
Though  based on beauty you’d never pick it,
Caught in the throes, some people lick it.
When it spews out liquid from its wick,
what it produces could make you sick.
Don’t wrinkle noses and utter, “Ick!”
I’ve just described my favorite Bic!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/slowly/

Adolescent Hibiscus: Flower of the Day, July 22, 2016

 

IMG_9596https://ceenphotography.com/2016/07/21/flower-of-the-day-july-22-2016-dahlia/