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.

“Cruel Nature” for The Sunday Whirl

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Cruel Nature

Wee chirping birdies trill their whistles
while down in the cruel thistles
a baby bunny in the thicket
explores a wound and starts to lick it.
Stiff sticks as sharp as horns of deer 
are what these little creatures fear.


What a great treat it would be
to be those birds up in the tree
looking out from far above––
their feathered nest a cosy glove
that fits them well, all snug and warm
up there far from pain and harm.

This sunset must be nature blushing,
and this momentary hushing
at the end of day a type of prayer
for quaking creatures hidden where
unprotected, they await 
their potential sadder fate.

 

The Sunday Whirl Wordle #733 prompt words are: thistles horns stiff treat wee chirping fit down stick blushing out moment   I made use of AI to create the images.

“Quit Before It’s Too Late” for RDP Sunday

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Quit Before It’s Too Late

Why oh why did I not quit
before the very end of it?
Douse live coals in the fire pit
or leave that fatal fire unlit?
Withhold that kick, suppress that hit?
Hold back the urge to squeeze that zit?
Leave that final plot unknit?
Alas, this is the truth of it:
one chance is all we mortals get.

For RDP Sunday  the prompt word is; Quit

If I Were Water and You Were Air for dVerse Poets

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If I Were Water & You Were Air

I used to be restless water―
only the froth and currents
of a moving life.

Now I am still water,
sinking down to where
I can be found
by anyone willing to stand quietly
and look.

Is it true that moving water never freezes?
Is it true that still waters run deep?
Is it true that we are wed in steam?

“What if, caught by air,
it never lets me go?” I ask.
“But even water
turned to air
must fall at last,” you say.

“And what if I fall farther from you?” I say.
“Or what if I never again find banks
that open to contain me?”

I used to be swift flowing water.
Now I am a pool that sinks me deeper every year.
So deep, so deep I sink
that on its way to find me,
even air may lose its way.

Our dVerse Poets prompt today is to consider the opening line from a poem from one of my favorite poets, Edna St Vincent Millay. The Poem is “Love Is Not All,” and the line is:
“Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink nor slumber nor a roof against the rain.” As a response, I’m sharing the title poem from my newly published book of poems.

 

“Seer” for the Weekend Writing Prompt #443

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Seer

Her statement that she’d had a vision
was met by general derision.
They went west though she’d said, “Go east,”
and thus were eaten by the beast
or, overtaken by the flood.
died soaked in water or in blood.
So, the moral of this little tale
is heed your mystics or learn to bail
or run faster than the beast
lest you become his morning’s feast.

For Weekend Writing Prompt #443, the task was to write a 66 word story or poem on the subject of “Vision.”

Please be Seated for the Pull Up A Seat Challenge

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For the Pulll Up A Seat Challenge.

Fibbing Friday for November 21

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Image by Colin Horn on Unsplash

For Fibbing Friday, Nov. 21, the words to define are:

1. Imbroglio The language of “with it” guys
2. Ish Added on to any word, it means “sort of”
3. Insouciant  Unlikely to bring legal action against
4. Inanition The act of telling stupid jokes
5. Infamy  The state of babyhood
6. Impugn What the little girl walking her dog said when a passerby asked her
                    what she was doing.
7. Impecunious Description of someone who is naughty
8. Inveigle An adjective describing someone who is speaking very clearly.
9. Iconoclast What the final symbol in the world will be called.
10. Irascible  What Ira’s mother said while introducing him after his sex-change operation.

Playing(?) with AI

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When I mentioned to someone commenting on my blog what I went through to produce an AI image to go with my Scavenger Hunt post, she encouraged me to show her, so here it is. This took me much longer than the original post, I must say, and even longer to create the image with AI.

My message to AI: Can you draw me a photo of a man running dow the street with a. small bonsai in his knapsack and carrying a basket of other small assorted items.

Can you make it more realistic? An actual picture?

Can you  put buildings behind  him and a street in front of him?

Can you put the small bonsai  and knapsack back in ?

No make it more realistic like the first photo. And remove the tree from the sidewalk and put it in his knapsack.

And take out the big tree in back and put the bonsai back in his backpack.

No, Use the same photo as the one before this one with a small bonsai in his knapsack and no other bonsai.
But include the basket full of other items as well.

No, use the last photo, please but add the building, the bonsai
in the backpack and the basket full of other small items.

Good, but put the small bonsai back in his backpack.

                                                                          Thanks..This will do.

After I cropped the photo to take the large bonsai outTo see the post this was done for go 

to my “Scavenger Hunt” post. Phew!!!!!

“Synchronistic Symbolism” for Writer’s Workshop

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 I  bought this wonderful oil painting in Peru and just let my mind go in building a retablo for her.  I had no idea who she was––thought she was just another Madonna.  When I had finished, an artist friend, Eduardo Xilonzóchitl, was at my house painting and building a sculpture for me by the pool and he saw her and said, “Ah, Santa Cecilia.”  I then Googled Saint Cecilia and discovered that she is the patron saint of poets and musicians and all of the symbolism–the various musical instruments, the quill, manuscript and sheet music  did in fact tell the story of her life.  Some things just want to belong together and so it was with her portrait .

IMG_5362
16″ X 16: Santa Cecilia: Mixed Media Retablo, Wood, Metal, paper, dried flowers and leaves, Gold Leaf, Feather, Bone, Abelone, Antique Toy Rocking  Chair, Oil Painting on Canvas, Acrylic paint. 16″ X 16.

Click on picture to enlarge and see details.

For the Writer’s Workshop, the prompt is “symbol.”

“Scavenger Hunt” for Can You Tell A Story in 40 Words

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Image with help of AI

For “Can You Tell A Story In . . .” the words are: BONSAI PUDDLE KNAPSACK REJOICE and the word limit is 40 words.

Scavenger

Rejoicing, I jumped over the puddle with the purloined bonsai in my knapsack and hurtled down the street, back to the party. Would I be the first one back with the entire contents of the scavenger hunt in my possession?

 

The Numbers Game #99. Please Play Along! Nov 17, 2025

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Duets,
On the last day of 2016, some citizens will surely be taking a swing at one of these pinatas. This one is similar to the one I bought the day before the election and which I still haven’t really dealt with.
I told Little Duck smoking would stunt his growth, but he never listens to me.

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #99”. Today’s number is 221. To play along, go to your photos file folder and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title. This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Here are my contributions to the album.

***Click on  Photos to Enlarge and View as Gallery.***