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.

KALANCHOE: FOTD JAN 27, 2023


 

FOR CEE’S FOTD

Self-Improvement

Self-Improvement

I can magnify with optics or reduce with diet pills,
but there is no solution to another of my ills.
When I’m feeling challenged by a flurry of activity,
overwhelmed and harried due to my proclivity
to stave off any tedium by means of overbooking,
with one too many bubbling pots on my stovetop cooking,
there is one solution that is valid and concrete.
I need to find a method to turn down the heat!

Prompt words today are magnify, optics, flurry, tedium, concrete and when.

Water Lily: FOTD Jan 26, 2023

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Lovely Is As Lovely Does

I was not alone in falling in love with these one-of-a-kind huggable monsters made by Jean Mullenaux and had a hard time choosing, but by the end of the day at last weekend’s Ajijic Society of Artists show, nearly all of her loveable creatures had found a home, as is evidenced by these photos of just a few of their new Moms.

At the rate of two per day, she gives birth to each, then sells them and gives all of the proceeds to Operation Feed, a local charity that supports 600 needy citizens of the town I live in—San Juan Cosala, Jalisco, Mexico.

Jean is the last person pictured and the picture before hers is the picture of the huggable creature that went home with me, seen decorating one of my tables at the Ajijic Society of Artists show last weekend.  Bless you, Jean, a truly remarkable artist with a more remarkable heart!!! 

For Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge, Week 4

Pull Up A Seat, Week 3, 2023

Seated in Reflection!!!

For Pull Up a Seat

Wayward Duck

Wayward Duck

A wayward duck up on a hill.
He don’t come down and never will.
He invents reasons to stay up.
Comes down to buy his food to sup.
Recharges rum, then up he goes
to computerize and then to doze.
Seeks neither censure nor promotion.
Tries to fend off gross emotion.
Keeps himself up on a shelf.
Communes with no one but himself
except online where he comports
with on-air folks of different sorts.
For though he might seem misbegotten,
here on air he’s not forgotten.

Prompt words today are recharge, promote, wayward, invent, duck and hill.

So Much Depends Upon. . . .FOTD Jan 25, 2023

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Vitiligo

Vitiligo*

Mighty sol’s ubiquitous in regions that are tropical,
but when it comes to sunlight, I have news that is more topical.
I’m evidence empirical that all folks aren’t created
to lie out in the sun’s rays until their lust is sated
for skin transposed to honey brown from a whitish hue.
For folks like me, such practices simply will not do.

Unlike my lucky college chums, my best friends and my sister,
when I’m exposed to sunlight, I am more prone to blister.
I see them put their swimsuits on and take turns rubbing oil on,
anxious to go greet the sun to get their bake and boil on,
but once they’re spread out on their towels with all adjustments made,
I’ll be covered up instead, sitting in the shade.

 

*Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigment – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white color. People with vitiligo have no natural protection from the sun.

 

Prompt words today are empirical, topical, ubiquitous, mighty, cover and sol,  Image by Hanan Boubahri on Unsplash.

Water Lilies at Quinta San Carlos: FOTD Flower of the Day

 

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Drove to Quinta San Carlos for the afternoon with friends Xill and Bethany. Beautiful setting. Couldn’t show the water lilies without their surroundings.

For Cee’s FOTD

Finicky Lovers

Finicky Lovers

Finicky lovers inspect water glasses,
ask if you’re vaxed before they make passes.
Chuckle at jokes, but only the funny ones,
eat hard-boiled eggs, but balk at the runny ones.

They run the gamut of each picky habit.
See every spot and are certain to dab it.
Do not buy on clearance, for things are picked over.
Will lie in the grass, but only in clover.

They sweep off your driveway before they can park,
but first cover their tires so they’ll leave no mark.
If you think this is odd, when they remove their pants,
they must make a crisp fold before they advance!

Prompt words today are chuckle, sweep, finicky, gamut, clearance and advance. Image by  Jonathan Cosens on Unsplash.