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.

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.***

 

Koi for Cellpic Sunday

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I had to snap this quick photo of the koi pond as I passed over the bridge from the Chinese restaurant, Min Wah.

For Cellpic Sunday

Holding On Together, for The Sunday Whirl

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Holding On Together
Greed, despair and tragedy need not rule our lives,
so long as that calm part of us holds on and survives.
(That presence that walks with us on those hard journeys where
evil seems to stalk us from within its fiendish lair.)
For at each of its stages, Earth has held it all:
both vibrating heart strings that heed the spirit’s call
as well as those demonic fiends that seem to be in power,
issuing their edicts from whichever tower 
they’ve chosen to reign from, be they palaces of stone
or White Houses half demolished that they claim to own.
These despots or these presidents, these potentates or kings
seem to concentrate their power in edicts and in things,
whereas those below them go on living their lives
by concentrating on the kindness that survives
and which we show each other in our living day-to-day,
hoping that the nightmare will soon fade away.

This is my very favorite quote and I have paraphrased it a hundred times. Here is the actual quote:

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.” ~ Will Durant

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle  the prompt words are:
greed tragedy despair presence walk calm strings earth all spirit vibrating heart
Images created with the help of AI…the best that I could do.

Popsicles and Tuberoses for SOCS

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Unknown

Popsicles and Tuberoses

A fresh whiff of jasmine on the evening breeze
sends me off in paroxysms—sneeze on sneeze on sneeze.
Lilacs give me headaches, tuberoses make me ill.
Whenever dates wear aftershave, I have to take a pill.

Pinesol makes me nauseous. I’d rather smell the dirt!
And please do not use fabric softener on my favorite shirt.
I can’t believe so many folks enjoy a scented candle,
for they’re another stinky thing I simply cannot handle.

When friends bring friends to visit me, they eschew scented lotions
and tell their friends to do the same, ‘cause I have these strange notions.
What I like to smell is dill, and soil soaked by rain.
The kind of things I like to smell I’m hard-pressed to explain.

Who likes the scent of curry or cabbage in the hall?
But I admit, I like them! They don’t bother me at all.
I love the smell of Popsicles—my favorite is cherry.
It’s floral scents that I abhor, so weddings make me wary.

I hug the bride and kiss the groom, contribute to her trousseau.
But I must always hold my nose and hurry as I do so.
Orange blossoms are the worst, along with the carnation.
Even roses, I admit, are an abomination!

I really do like flowers, but only how they look.
My favorite kinds of odors are kinds that you can cook!
Chocolate cake or popcorn and hot dogs on the grill
are smells that inspire ecstasy—that certain little thrill.

Vanilla poured in pudding, bananas mashed for bread—
swirl around my nostrils and end up in my head.
Such romantic odors. What stories they do tell
of culinary orgasms and itchings they will quell.

So if you want to pleasure me, please, for heaven’s sake,
leave the flowers at the shop and simply bring me cake!

 

For SOCS  the prompt is pop.

The Blade of Grief for dVerse Poets Chaucerian Roundel

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 The Blade of Grief

The loss of one with whom our life was built
will come to be the loss of our life, too,
We view the rest of life without a clue.

The blade of grief thus buried to its hilt,
we hope that it will do what such blades do,
The loss of one with whom our life was built,
will come to be the loss of our life, too.

We view our hopes for death with little guilt,
for death is that new love we hope to woo.
We seek no other lover that is new.
The loss of one with whom our life was built
will come to be the loss of our life, too.
We view the rest of life without a clue.

For dVerse Poets Chaucerian Roundel

To read other roundels created for this prompt, go HERE.

Fibbing Friday

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This week’s Fibbing Friday prompts cover topics musical:

Familiar songs this week, but who do you think could do a ‘cover’…… it doesn’t have to be a singer, so use your imagination and creativity for the next chart topper………… or flop.

1. I am the One and Only. Donald Trump
2. These Boots are made for Walking. A duet by John Wayne and Puss in Boots.
3. Help Yourself. The British Empire.
4. Make me an Island. Simon & Garfunkel’s recording company. 
5. I want to know what Love is. Romeo & Juliet, another duet.
6. Penny Lane. Tom Waits (See illustration above.)
7. I Heard it Through the Grapevine. The notorious town gossip
8. I close my eyes and count to ten. Your mother, after issuing a command
9. Knock Three Times. Your hard-of-hearing mother.
10. Let me Entertain You. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s Grandma’s Apologia for Staying At Home and Watching It All On TV

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Baby, I’d love to go ice-skating with you, but even in my teens, I couldn’t manage to stand up on blades to propel myself over frozen water. Besides that, I heard a rumor that they’d be there shooting a promo for your new album, and even in my salad days, I was frightened of cameras, so imagine me facing them now!

Esther’s Challenge: Can you tell a story in 61 words, using these words? (Photo assistance from AI.)

  • BABY
  • ICE-SKATING
  • ALBUM
  • SALAD
  • FRIGHT
  • CAMERA