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.

A Curious Happening

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A Curious Happening

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This is a reprint of something that happened eight years ago, and I swear it is true.  I came in, tossed some change down on the desk and opened my computer.  After working for a few minutes, I looked down and this is what I saw.  Luckily my camera was handy just a few steps away.  What are the chances that the coin would balance itself on edge like this???? Curious, I tried at least a dozen times to balance a coint on its edge and couldn’t balance it.  Finally, I decided my friendly desk poltergeists must have had a hand in it.

Then, the next day, I’d  been at my desk for about an hour, off and on, running to the kitchen, doing little things around the house, and when I finally sat down to type, I happened to glance at my desk and this is what I saw:

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There had been no one else in the house.  I don’t know what happened to the larger ten peso piece from the day before, but I do know I was clicking the flashlight off and on last night.  I did not, however, place this smaller coin next to it or upright!.

To test out a theory, I just now lifted up the flashlight and knocked the coin over, then put the flashlight next to it, thinking perhaps one or the other had been magnetized, but the coin stayed in place flat on the desk and did not rise to the occasion. Then I tried placing the coin on edge several times, to no avail.When I sat the coin on edge propped up against the flashlight and moved the flashlight, however, the coin stayed on its edge. When I tried tossing it on the desk or dropping it, never once has it landed on its edge.  Very very strange. I know it is just a coincidence, but I’m curious about how I could have moved the coins without being aware of it and it is a huge coincidence that the small coin should wind up on edge twice in a row when in 68 years of life, I’ve never had this happen before.

Daily Prompt #18: What Are You Curious About?

Ghost Hibiscus: For FOTD, Aug 5, 2023

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This hibiscus doesn’t bloom nearly as often as the others, perhaps because Zoe eats them? At any rate, it is a real treat when it does bloom. Presently, two flowers. They’ll be gone by tomorrow so wanted to share them.

For Cee’s FOTD

Alone

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Why I Dine Alone at Burger King

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Why I Dine Alone at Burger King

I’d like a single cheeseburger with pickles on the side,
cheese but no tomato—a fruit I can’t abide.
Be sure there is no pink to see. I like my burgers brown.
You can also skip the cardboard hat. I do not need a crown.

Grilled onions on the cheeseburger and easy on the goo.
Give me a diet Coke with that. I’d like some French fries, too.
I sit down at a booth to wait, my number on the table,
but if I could, I’d supervise—that is, if I were able.

My sandwich comes. I have a bite. I see no pink or red.
I start to take a drink of Coke but have a fry instead.
It’s hot and oh so crispy. Redolent of grease.
I feel a surge of appetite. My hunger pangs increase.

I alternate the bites I take between the fries and meat.
As regular as clockwork. I do not miss a beat.
For when it comes to fast food, I do not equivocate.
My ratio of fries-to-burger I must calibrate.

I plan it down to the last fry. I don’t allow for glitches,
and woe to folks who borrow one. I do not abide snitches.
If you want a French fry, please buy some of your own.
I have plans for all of mine. I am not sharing-prone.

With one more bite of burger and only two more fries,
the ratio is one-to-two. I plan to synchronize.
I have it all planned out, my friend, so if you’re chancing by,
keep your fingers off my French fries, or somebody’s gonna die!

For: https://alwayswrite.blog/2023/08/02/wq-31-alone/
And HERE is a link to other poems and quotes on this subject.

Number 9 Blues

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Number 9 Blues

Those eyes,
that song,
A bird the color
of the moon
we met under.

The wind
a ribbon of sadness.
Cold hands,
broken heart—
all the hue
of a trumpet’s lonely staccato.

For Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Pick a Number.

Agave Blossom Studies: FOTD Aug 4, 2023

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Hummingbirds love these blooms, as do I. There is a huge aloe just outside the window where my desk is located and I love watching new ones open each day and the visits of various hummers to sample them. Do you have a favorite? I culled out about half of the shots I took but couldn’t cull farther. Nor could I pick a star of the show.

For Cee’s FOTD

Silhouettes of Trees

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Can’t stop posting photos of trees!  Someone stop me, please.

For CBWC: Silhouettes

Silk Floss Tree Bloom: FOTD Aug 3, 2023

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The cotton fibers found from Silk Floss Trees , which are called Kapok, are often used to stuff the insides of things such as pillows and a variety of other cold-weather clothing. The fibers of the Silk Floss Tree also have a hydrophobic property that allowed it to be used in the material that goes into life preservers.

The wood can be used to make canoes, as wood pulp, and to make paper. The bark has been used to make ropes. From the seeds, it is possible to obtain vegetable oil (both edible and industrially useful). The floss silk tree is cultivated mostly for ornamental purposes .

These trees can reach a potential 25 meters tall with fat and thorny bottle-shaped trunks and branches. (Information from Google.)

 

For Cee’s FOTD

“Done begins with do.”

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Click on photos to enlarge.

I did this post for Wednesday Quotes, but after compiling it, realized there is a theme of “Alone.”  Oh well, since most of my time is spent alone and what I do when I’m alone is to write or work in my art studio, I guess by some stretch of the imagination, it works.

“Done Begins with Do” was the motto chosen by my class when we graduated from high school and I’ve been following that advice my entire life. I think it applies to the other two quotes, so I’ve included it as well.

“When you’re tired, learn to rest. Don’t quit.”

I have the above line of advice taped to my desk beside my computer. On the other side of it is  the one  below from The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman. (I have since read that the line was actually written by Dashiell Hammett to help her during a period of slight writer’s block.)

“That big hour of decision, the turning point in your life, the someday you’ve counted on when you’d suddenly wipe out your past mistakes, do the work you’d never done, think the way you’d never thought, have what you’d never had––it doesn’t come suddenly. You’ve trained yourself for it while you waited, or you’ve let it all run past you and frittered yourself away.”

Vidalia Onions: Short Poem, Long Story.

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Vidalia Onion Dicer. No More Tears!

The onions fall down into the collection receptacle.

Sauerkraut and mustard, ketchup, onions, relish—
a hotdog was created merely to embellish.

The tears came later, when the bill came. Go HERE to read the story of the thirty dollar hot dog. And you’ll just have to imagine the story of my my recent forty-dollar corn dog eaten at a hotel in Billings, Montana. Pictured below, its story is too painful to relate. No onions, this time.

My thirty dollar (Canadian) hot dog.
And—-my forty dollar (U.S.) corn dog!

 Here is the link for the prompt, and here are more poems on the subject for dVerse Poets: Vidalia Onions

Underneath

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Click on Photos to Enlarge.

Because this scene from my back yard is never the same twice in a row but is always beautiful.

For the Cosmic Photo Challenge: From Underneath