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.

As Above Not As Below: For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 544

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As Above, Not As Below

I’m plodding, I’m plodding to the sacred north.
It takes all my power as I journey forth.
Is it possible I walk on air? I must examine twice
the ground I pass over, then I see I tread on ice
frozen to translucence, so I see the world beneath—
another watery world below, protected ‘neath its sheath.

Spellbinding order reigns below with creatures slipping by,
protected from the thunder of a threatening sky.
When lightning hits behind me, I hurry helter-skelter,
searching for protection from any nearby shelter.
But alas, here up above is not as below.
So near and yet so far away is that undertow.

Caught in my world, I pass above where I would choose to stay.
It flows beneath me peacefully as I pass away.

For the Sunday Whirl Wordle 544 prompt words are: north order hits thunder search freeze journey spellbinding power sacred

When I see the disenfranchised and homeless passing through our town coming from South or Central America with nowhere to go back to and yet having no place here and no real place to go to, I wonder how they feel, observing us in our lives that must seem perfect and without problems. To see and not to be able to have must be a heartrending situation.

A Guide to Good Service in a Snotty Restaurant

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A Guide to Good Service in a Snotty Restaurant

If you thought I was obsequious, have another think.
I was merely being cordial to get another drink.
The wait staff there was surly so I thought I would be nice,
although it seemed that in this joint, being cuddly was a vice.

There was some ambiguity in regards to being served.
It seems as though they gave the service they thought we deserved.
We couldn’t get attention with our arm-waving and hooting,
but luckily, before we came, we’d done some target shooting.

I put a bullet in the chamber and aimed it at the ceiling, 
and when our waiter heard the blast, he changed his way of dealing
with the placid customer at table number five.
It seems the way to win respect was leaving him alive.

He brought my gin and tonic with nary a snide quip.
He brought my crudités and even brought an extra dip.
And he didn’t raise an eyebrow or even curl his lip
when I left the restaurant without leaving a tip!!

 

Prompts for today are: chamber, blast, cuddly, obsequious and ambiguity. Image by Lefteris Kallergis on Unsplash.

When Last We Saw Zoe. . . .

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Click on photos to read the tale.

half-and-half, off-and-on
Ten minutes later, however, she was back in her old bed.
But then,
Why not the best of both worlds?

I Bought Zoe a New Bed

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So look how she lies on it!!!!

Fallen: FOTD, May 22, 2022

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For Cee’s FOTD

Influencers

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Influencers

If we could not scan the internet for the scandal of the day,
what could we find to substitute to pass away the day?
With no tempest in a teapot stirred up for us by Kim,
the lights of inspiration in the world would surely dim.

We need these rich exemplars of the way that life should be—
these folks in their cathedrals more “with it” than you and me.
Without them, we would have to make decisions all alone
figuring out how to act and dress all on our own!

Prompts today are tempest, internet, scan, exemplar and cathedral.

Heliconia, FOTD May 21, 2022

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This is the second bloom on my new heliconia plant.

For Cee’s FOTD

CFFC Squares or Triangles #2

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Please click on photos to see entire frame.

Framed
Triangulation

Oops.. I found a few more!

 

 

For Cee’s CFFC

Heliconia, Cee’s FOTD May 20, 2022

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We just planted this new heliconia plant. The leaves were a bit tattered, but it has two lovely blooms. Prepare for more photos in the future once it accustoms itself to its new surroundings. Fingers crossed.

For Cee’s FOTD

An Apologia for Gasconade*

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An Apologia for Gasconade*

This poem, per se, is not profound, in fact it’s rather frowsy.
As poems go, I fear that it is going to be lousy.
Pretentiousness in meter, a travesty in rhyme,
I really fear that reading it will be a waste of time.
Its sheets will become linen, its walk a promenade.
The entire verse will turn, I fear, into a gasconade.*
If you see more than this in it, you’re seeing pareidolia.*
If you don’t know what this is, kindly refer to the scholia!.*

 

Prompts today are frowzy, per se, pareidolia, gasconade and linen.

*A gasconade is extravagant boasting or bragging. *A pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind perceives a specific image or pattern where it does not actually exist, such as seeing a face in the clouds.

*Sesquipedalian  describes someone or something that overuses big words, as some of the prompt sites have lately.

*Scholia are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript.

Blame the “Sesquipedalian” on me, as well as the  “scholia ,” which  was very handy as a rhyme for “pareidolia,” which I’m not responsible for.”