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.

Beach Bamboo Barrier: Thursday Doors, Feb. 25, 2016

                                                                 Beach Bamboo Barrier

The bamboo and wood security screen/door on my beachside entrance for the house I’m staying in for two months at the beach finally was reinstalled after being damaged and removed by Hurricane Patricia. The barriers are usually open and flat agains the wall, but when closed, they give me a bit of privacy as my porch is right on the beach. They also add extra security at night so I can keep my sliders open and catch some beach breezes.  I love the view of Pierre and Fred as they trade a few riffs on my porch.

(Click on first picture to enlarge and  view gallery.)

To view more Thursday doors, go HERE. 

Color Your World Mango Tango, Feb. 25, 2016

Color Your World Mango Tango

(Click on first photo to enlarge and see gallery.)

 

http://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/02/25/color-your-world-mango-tango/

Chillin’

(Click on first photo to enlarge and arrows to view all images.)

Chillin’

If I were the queen of time, in charge of all its flow,
I’d speed it at the dentist, while dessert would progress slow.
Each bite of pie, with me in charge, would take at least a minute.
An ice cream cone would last an hour while I enjoyed what’s in it.

If I controlled the seconds, the hours and days and weeks,
a hummingbird’s flight would slow way down to afford us peeks.
A fine ballet would then commence whenever they flew by––
each move so delicate and slow––detectable by the eye.

House work would vanish quickly as the clicking of a finger,
while footrubs, hugs and kisses would be the things that linger.
The time between waking and sleep would flow as swift as water
If I were grandmother of hours–time passing’s favorite daughter.

If I could slice time thick or thin and serve it out in portions,
I’d speed up each painful death as well as birth’s contortions.
I’d slow down bullets leaving guns and thus destroy their power.
I’d slow how fast the ice cube melts, the lifetime of each flower.

Sunsets would last for hours and time with friends for days,
so we’d enjoy together each evening’s parting rays.
Plane rides with their narrow seats and no room for our knees
would pass as fast as possible–as quickly as you’d please.

Time before a party would go slow to afford time
for the cleaning of the house, the cutting of each lime.
And once each flower is put in place, the buffet table done,
time’s pace would be restored again and revelry begun.

When we need more or less of it, time would be there for us.
Our favorite songs would be strung out. Braggarts would never bore us.
There’d be more time for writing, for eating and the arts.
Headaches would pass in seconds. So would  anger, angst and farts!

If I controlled the hours,  the world would be run smoother.
Instead of causing us much angst, time would be our soother.
If I could dole out time so it was spread on thin or thickly,
perhaps I could have managed for this poem to end more quickly!

The Prompt: Pace Oddity––If you could slow down an action that usually zooms by, or speed up an event that normally drags on, which would you choose, and why?https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pace-oddity/

After Fifteen Years

DSCN0916


(If you are viewing this in the Reader, poem will not be formatted correctly.  Please click on the blog title above the photo to view this post from my blog where it will be in the correct shape.)

After 15 Years

Your memory                                                   cuts so sharply
through my dream’s beginning that I wake,
gasping like a fish on the sand
left by some fisherman
too intent upon his next catch
to end it cleanly.

In its tight skin,
I gasp for air,
rise as it cannot rise
and like you cannot rise
out to that night sea air
which is the only coolness
in a month of burned days.

My memory, curving round,
pulls in the memory of you
like gills seeking to understand
the waterless air.

Landed by some bigger fisherman
whose bait you couldn’t resist,
“Oh,” you said, just “Oh,”
before you took the hook,
slipping from my grasp
as I held on, held on,
let go.

Color Your World: Manatee Gray

Manatee Gray

(Click on first image to enlarge and view gallery.)

After working with these photographs, I went to bed and was jerked from a dream more quickly than these fish were probably jerked from the water. Although it was 3:30 in the morning, I had to get up and go outside to catch my breath.  While there, I wrote a poem which you can see HERE if you wish.

To view the prompt and other manatee gray photos by other photographers, go here: http://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/02/24/color-your-world-manatee/

Yellow Bear’s Garden: Bougainvillea––Flower of the Day Feb. 25, 2016

In Yellow Bear’s Garden: Bougainvillea

(Click on first flower to enlarge and view gallery.)

To view more flowers, go here: http://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/24/flower-of-the-day-february-25-2016-daffodils/

Sculptor in the Sand

                                                                     Sculptor in the Sand

Mario Gagnon is retired from his life as a hospital maintenance engineer in Quebec, but when we retire from our profession, we do not retire from our interests, and his lifetime fondness for what he calls “decorating” comes with him when he comes to the beach.  Like most of those camping beachside, he has made the palapa living area of his campsite “homely” in only one usage of the word.  From hammocks to wall sconces fashioned from fruiting bundles of palm trees, his environs are beautiful in addition to comfortable.

I revisited him yesterday, partially because I’d forgotten to take a picture of him when I met him on the second day I visited, but I was also there because of my curiosity over whether he altered his sculpture each day.  I did find him fussing with the tail of the iguana, but that was perhaps just staging for the bypasser who was currently taking his picture.  When the “interloper” (kidding) departed, it was my turn.

This time it was a female neighbor who translated for us and she explained to me something that I had not cottoned on to the first time we’d met.  “He can’t understand you because he is deaf and he can’t read your lips because he doesn’t speak English!  Formerly, I had thought his friend was interpreting only because of the language barrier, and when I spoke Spanish, thinking it was closer to French, it hadn’t helped much either. Trying to imagine what the beach would be like without its sounds to accompany it,  I asked him if he could feel the pounding of the surf. “Yes, he told me, “because I am deaf, my other senses are stronger.  When I smell a fire, I can tell how long ago it was lit, what is burning and what was used to start the fire.”

This dapper, handsome man was generous in sharing his art, his home away from home and his time.  Here are some of the pictures I took of his world:

(Please click on first photo to enlarge and view gallery.)

If you didn’t see the first segment I did on Mario’s wonderful beach sculpture of the iguana, to see it, go HERE.

Proud Flesh

Proud Flesh

If pride cometh before a fall,
it’s best if we aren’t proud at all.
Without pride, we’ll scale the heights––
take all the medals, win all the fights.

Hubris seems to be passé–
a quality that ruins our day.
So lest you wish your luck to crumble,
best practice how to be more humble!

 

Proud flesh is an excessive growth of granulation tissue that has the appearance of cauliflower. It usually develops over an open wound, and most often occurs in areas of excessive tension and motion. The swollen flesh surrounding a healing wound.http://www.doctorramey.com/proud-flesh/

The Prompt: Pat on the Back–Tell someone you’re proud of just how proud you are.

Color Your World Mahogany

Color Your World Mahogany

(Click on first picture to enlarge to full size and to view gallery.)

Bobino the cat always enjoys a good cigar after his nap.

http://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/02/23/color-your-world-mahogany/

Rough Life––Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Rough Life

People associate the sea with smooth sailing, but it has its roughs as well:  wood,  coral, tiny crabs, spined iguanas and even the ocean tides themselves.  Rough life.

 

(Click on first photo to enlarge and see gallery.)

Go HERE to see rough images by Cee and others.)