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.

Saying It with Flowers

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“Violets contain ionone, which short-circuits our sense of smell.  The flower continues to exude its fragrance, but we lose the ability to smell it.  Wait a minute or two, and its smell will blare again. Then it will fade again, and so on.”
                                       — Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

“Violets” jdb photo 2017


Saying It with Flowers

A lovely gesture, the violets—
but their scent  vanished
before you walked out the door.
“It will come back,” you promised.
And so it did, that sweet aroma,
radiating from the deep heart of the flowers
for brief moments before
vanishing again—
coming and going with a greater regularity
than your coming and your going.

“There is a scientific cause for this,”
you noted, ” The fragrance is still there,
but we just lose our ability to smell it.
It will come back again.”
And you were right.  
I could count upon it’s reappearance—
the mystery of its coming
and its going solved,
unlike your final exit
or why, when I requested
forget me nots,
violets are what 
you gave.

“Forget Me Nots” image from internet

The prompt today was “radiate.”

“Golden Hour” A Photo a Week Challenge

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On the west coast of Mexico, sunset is indeed a golden experience. I especially like the way the ocean tides reflect the colors of the sunsets.  You’ll need to click on the first photo to see these all in a larger size and in better detail.

For the A Photo a Week Challenge

For Dux: Cutters

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DSCF1865 - Version 3DSCF1863Much as I hate seeing my plants stripped of leaves and flowers, I also love watching the precision of the leaf cutter ants.  Some go up into the plants to cut leaves.  Others wait below to carry them away.  I’ll take more photos tomorrow.

See also:  https://judydykstrabrown.com/2014/09/21/pillage-and-warfare/

Flower of the Day: Garden Salad

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DSCN1969.jpg

A few times a year the leaf-cutter ants make a salad table out of my garden, stripping the bougainvillea, especially.  Today they were busy outside my walls but so far they’ve left the new little bougainvillea bush alone.

 

https://ceenphotography.com/2017/05/27/flower-of-the-day-may-28-2017-rhododendron/

On a Candelmas Afternoon

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On a Candelmas Afternoon

A woman with a white umbrella
strolls the empty plaza,
meeting the long-skirted bead vendor
who makes her hourly crossing from the beach,
her tray still heavy  after five hours of trudging under the sweating sun.

Palm shadows of a lazy afternoon
brush over, but do not disturb
the sleeping dog who fills the pavement
in front of “Abarrotes Gloria.”

Under its dusty awning on a bench
meant for  customers notably absent,
through one imperceptibly cracked-open eye,
the sleep-nodding senora watches for
anyone to stir the calm of this mid-afternoon.

That eye opening wider
as two young men on loud motorcycles
circle the plaza in Izod shirts
from the used clothing booth of the mercado,
leaving a tree-shaking breeze
that filters through shadows
to stir the fine hairs on her arm.

 

 

okcforgottenman pointed out that this poem reminds him of Nanci Griffith’s song “On Grafton Street.” Since it is one of my favorites, too, I’ve asked him to add a link to it here.

Caveat Emptor

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on’tMy “new” rental car, in which I will sally forth to find a replacement for my dear Honda CRV.

How timely that  Christine Goodnough sent me this comment today:

O caveat emptor (or however that old phrase goes.) Anyway, the old guy meant well. Nice pun. 🙂

Being ignorant of that phrase, I turned, as usual, to Wikipedia, which clued me in:

ca·ve·at emp·tor ˌkavēˌät ˈem(p)ˌtôr/Submit noun the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.

I laughed when I read the definition, having just spent a good 20 minutes or more walking around the car I just rented as the man who delivered it pointed out every flyspeck-sized wound on the car so he could record them on our contract.  The point is that any further damage will be attributed to me.  At least half of them I couldn’t even see.  Now I am living in terror that a piece of gravel will nick the windshield or paint on the car. But, at last I have wheels again!!! Time to go car shopping. I won’t enjoy that task.

Can you see any flaw in this door?  The Rental Agent found at least five––not to mention the other 15 he found on various parts of the car that looked perfect to me.  I think I need new glasses.

 

Why am I looking for a new car?  The explanation, if you haven’t already read it is HERE.
 

 

Five Days after the Accident

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This little fella has graced the dash of every car I’ve had in Mexico for the past 16 years. Soon he’ll have a new home.

Five Days after the Accident

I am infused with happiness—the most I’ve felt for days—
and hereby I announce that I have shed my dormant phase.
Since my poor car was murdered, I’ve been in isolation,
but now it seems I’m free again and feeling great elation.

I went five days without a car, just stayed at home to heal
while friends did all my shopping. One even brought a meal!
But now I can get groceries, take Morrie for his grooming,
rested from five days at home. Relaxed from all this wombing.
Now that I’ve got wheels again, I have no need to fret.
Simply alive and mobile is as good as you can get!!!

The prompt today was “infuse.”

No Reprieve

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The prompt today was “reprieve.” Sometimes what seems to be a reprieve doesn’t quite live up to expectations.  Here’s a poem I wrote three years ago that tells the tale of such a time.


No Reprieve

Caught short by the rainy season, I should have known better.
Though I’d left home high and dry, I knew I’d soon be wetter.
Defenseless  in the downpour, I ducked into a store.
Just to get some shelter,  I rushed in through that door.

I felt that I was lucky as this store was full of stuff,
though finding what I needed might be sort of tough.
The store clerk shuffled up to me, though he could barely stand—
an umbrella just as old as him held up in his hand.

Lucky when I chanced upon this ancient wrinkled fella,
he happened to be carrying a really big umbrella!
I opened up my pocket book and located a fiver.
Now I wouldn’t spend this day wet as a scuba diver!

But when I left that thrift store with my practical new find,
I found that I was actually in the same old bind.
For opening up my parasol, I uttered “What the heck?”
As rivulets of water ran down my head and neck.

The purchase I’d just made, I found, would be no help at all.
I hadn’t noticed that the shop was St. Vincent de Paul.
The fault was no one else’s.  I know it was mine, solely.
I should have realized sooner that my purchase would be holy!

(Please note: St. Vincent de Paul is a secondhand store run by the Catholic Church.)

Subtropical Garden

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Subtropical Garden

Since I live below the tropic of Cancer, the varieties of plants that not only survive but thrive in my garden are manifold.  Here are a few of the things that you would find in my garden if you came to visit, as well as the reasons why I love living here:

(Please click on any photo to enlarge all photos.)

For Cee’s garden prompt.

Sweet Violets: Flower of the Day, May 25, 2017

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One of the songs our dad used to serenade us with was “Sweet Violets.” It was one song I knew all the lyrics to when I was a little girl. Still do. I bet you wish you could hear me singing along as you listen to it here. I’m curious about how many people recognize this song. If you do, please tell me so in the comments section. Did you sing along? I did. Every word.


For Cee’s daily flower prompt.