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.

Spring Cleaning

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Spring Cleaning

It’s that time of the year when I want to come clean
and turn into a virtual sorting machine.
I’m emptying closets and clearing out shelves.
Disposing of all of my former used selves.
Keeping the best of me. Tossing the worn.
Keeping the new me that’s daily reborn
and discarding the jaded, the bored and forlorn.

I’m renouncing old habits and starting anew.
I’m not limping along in my regular queue
of things to accomplish and deeds I must do,
and I’m making a list of things I’ll eschew—
things that inevitably make me blue—
politics, violence, things all askew
that have turned our whole planet into a zoo.

I’m making an outline to use as a guide
with all the things that I’ve certified
will make my life better and straighten it out.
They’ll make me happier, without a doubt.
Troublesome people I’m going to avoid.
Life is too short to spend it annoyed.
What is life for if not to be enjoyed?

I’ll go on a diet and I’ll become svelt.
Shorten my hemlines and tighten my belt.
I’ll take all the tactics I’ve learned in this life
as daughter and student and girlfriend and wife
and put them together into a rich stew
of what I have vowed that I’m going to do.
Then tackle my life with this new retinue.

Or else I’ll stay home and not worry about
having a gorgeous body to flout.
I’ll cook puddings and pastries and share them with friends,
put on a few pounds without making amends.
Taking more time to stare at the birds.
I’ll do fewer shoulds and do more absurds—
cavort with my art and play with my words.

Consort with the dogs and cuddle the cats.
Issue fewer “No’s!” and give way more pats.
Since this is my life and I am the boss of it,
I’ll make a vow to get rid of the dross of it.
Clean out the dreads and stock up on the wants.
hang out at all of my favorite haunts,
believe what praise comes and ignore all the taunts.

Word prompts today are limp, outline, new, renounce and politics.

Corona Diary

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At the beginning of our Shelter in Place experience, I issued a challenge to artist friends to create an art piece that chronicled their time at home. We each contributed material that the others could elect to use in their pieces. Although I didn’t use all of the material, I did use some material contributed by each artist. The box for this collage is an empty cardboard coke carton contributed by Candace.The material scraps were donated by Jeannie and Candace, as was the beer cap. The joker card contributed by someone was too large so I found a smaller version, then had Trump’s head superimposed by my Photoshop-canny friend Sharon.

The leaf holding a depiction of the yellow butterflies that fluttered around the tabachine bush near the hammock where Morrie and I spent many happy hours was contributed by Brad, the magazine that contributed the “Endless” by Jeannie..Most of the objects I either fabricated or found in my studio. The computer has a screen depicting our president’s announcement suggesting we inject various elements into our bodies.Diego is depicted with one of the two and a half dozen freshly-baked peanut butter cookies he consumed when we were all busy dealing with plumbing and internet problems.

The book I was formatting is shown miniaturized, but somehow ended up being copied as a mirror image. The pencils and paintbrush I fabricated, the scissors are tiny miniatures from my charm drawer. Since the first month and a half were filled with the sounds of rainbirds (Mexican name for cicadas) I had to include a cicada…and my infestation by bees is recorded as well. Lots of food and drink fills out the rest of the box.. and music and books. All-in-all, a busy time makes for a stuffed box. When I finally am able to leave and go about business, I intend to have a clear plexiglass box made to hold the box in better shape. Until then, it remains in its own tweaked shape. Pictures will enlarge if you click on them.

Diego with a peanut butter cooke. He devoured 2 1/2 dozen.
The pleated piece behind the Corona Music beer cap is a used coffee filter donated by someone.
That’s Kukla on top of the Corona Virus “Cure.”
Endless time–the Endless cut out of a magazine contributed by Jeannie or Candace. The honeybees are another story as Carlos the bee man and I have been dealing with trying to remove thousands of the creatures from a stone wall. They have infested my property!
Books and pizza.–equally necessary.
I painted the little plastic computer and added the topical news to its screen.These items all fabricated except for the scissors.
Tequila and Coke with lime. Medicine.
Polka dots and beads.
The Tabachine bush I could see from the hammock was full of these little yellow butterflies. No, not a real one. I also loved watching the birds and tried many schemes to construct a bird feeder and bird bath they would use. It never worked. Diego uses the present one as a watering dish.
Painting projects. Nice to get back into the studio.
These are miniaturized pages from the “I Really Want A Puppy” book that Isidro is finishing up on the illustrations for. For some reason, they printed out as mirror images. Perfect metaphor for these crazy times.

Moss Rose: FOTD, May 7, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD

Enforced Reflection

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Enforced Reflection

I’m keeping my composure and compensating for
the fact that they won’t let me venture out my door.
Given lemons, I make margaritas—take the opportunity
now that I can’t wander about in the wide community,
to revel in the riches that abound right here at home,
watching Jesus painting murals all around my dome.

I’m baking lots of cookies, although their fate is sad.
After painters ate just one or two, Diego was so bad
that he raced into the kitchen and made off with all the rest.
One friend suggested delicately it might have been best.
Would I have eaten any that remained? Yes, it’s true, I might.
I must admit my waistbands are getting sort of tight.

Perhaps it’s lack of exercise. Perhaps it’s medication.
Since I so rarely don street clothes, I have no indication.
I avoid the scales because, you know, they are so changeable.
Up one day but rarely down. (Wish they were more arrangeable.)
With nature as our trainer, perhaps we will be changed
in other crazy pastimes in which we’ve become deranged.

Fracking and polluting, casting all our trash
out there in the ocean, making a god of cash.
Nature has to teach us to change our foolish ways
by sending us all to our rooms to pass our “time out” days.
And perhaps now I’m sequestered and set upon the shelf,
Diego’s her reminder to take care of myself.

The image of Diego with a cookie in his mouth is from a retablo/art collage I’m making that is recording my time spent in Mother Nature’s Time-Out period. Why don’t you join me? Mine was finished but then I have to keep adding to it. At least a story a day. Diego was that day’s.

Prompts for the day are composure, compensate, opportunity, revel and trainer.
And, for dVerse Poets Pub prompt: Solitude.

Mexican Petunias: FOTD May 6, 2020

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For at least 15 years, I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of this flower which grows like a weed all around the edges of my garden. This morning, I came the closest to doing so so far. The flowers are from 1 to 1.5 inches (~2.5 to 4 cm) across and come with a warning. They are so invasive that it is illegal to plant them in some states in the U.S. Wish I’d known this before planting them. Thanks to Forgottenman for finally identifying them for me.


For Cee’s FOTD, May 6, 2020

Bee Diaries

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A week later, and we are still trying to deal with the bees that have so infested the spare lot next to my house that we can’t clear out the brush. Carlos the bee guy visited again yesterday to check on the hive box he put out hoping to attract the bees into it. Some did move in and he removed them yesterday, but this morning the humming of the remaining bees was so loud I could hear it from the pool. Carlos told us to stay inside and for me to move dogs to the front yard, as bees are attracted to black, but we had no problems when Morrie and I took a nap in the hammock late this afternoon. Above is a photo of Carlos with his dreads exposed. Interesting gentleman.

The Voice of Music

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The Voice of Music

Click on photos to increase size.

Someone just commented that there should be sound on this post, so  here is Christina Anfossie’s musical rendition of my poem “Naughty little Pleasures.” https://judydykstrabrown.com/2018/04/03/set-to-music-naughty-little-pleasures/

For Cee’s Fun Foto: The Sense of Hearing.

Diego’s Enjoying Helping Jesus Paint Murals on the House

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Fist

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Fist

It was that night, as they lay choking in the stench of jasmine,
that he unmasked his rage. Their whole life, it seemed,
was a cipher that obscured his former truths.
Now he seemed socked in by this sudden swirling fog of memories
that suddenly parted, giving him access to his rage.
It was his mother, not her, he said later, that he had struck out at,
but in trying to confront his past,
he had obliterated any hope for their future.

Prompts for the day are unmask, rage, jasmine, cypher and sock.

Hibiscus: FOTD May 5, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD