It is such a wonderful synchronicity that Santiago (Yolanda’s grandchild and Juan Pablo and Emilia’s baby) would be born twenty years to the day since Bob’s death. If living so closely connected to my pets and nature for the past two years since the Coronavirus sent us all home to play has taught me anything, it is to have an intense appreciation for being a part of it all as well as an awareness that nature keeps recycling us along with the rest of its creation.
In addition to photos of Santiago, I thought I’d share with you the little memorial to Bob I have installed for the day–the 20th anniversary of his death–as well as this snuggie that hopefully Santiago will fit into by the time the weather gets cold, holding the Teddy bear I couldn’t resist buying for him in the U.S. Yes, I know I just published a photo of the little jumpsuit, but the Teddy bear just looked so cute on its lap that I had to show it again.
Click on photos to enlarge.
For the past year, I have frequently looked at the clock at 1:11 or 5:55 or checked out views and found them at 444. This repetition of numbers happens countless times a day to the point where it has become eerie. But this is the first time it has gone to six digits! Here is proof:
Don’t know what it means. I also realized yesterday that today would be the 20th anniversary of my husband Bob’s death, so Bob, these lirio flowers are for you!
The lake is filling up with lirio (water hyacinth) again. They’ve had to dredge or poison it a number of times since I moved here 20 years ago as in time it inhibits the passage of fishing boats and numerous people have drowned because they got trapped underneath it. Just last year a man drowned when he went into the water to reclaim a ball his children had mistakenly kicked into the water. Sad.
Bob, too, lies in this lake as when he died, his kids all came down and one of his sons took the remainder of Bob’s ashes out in his kayak that he had hoped to use in this lake. Sadly, he died before we could move down so I brought his ashes down in the toe of his kayak lashed to the top of our van. R.I.P. Bob.
For Cee’s FOTD
Okay! Prompt words for the day are knockers, combination, festival, beseech and sentence. What in the world would you do with a combination of words like that? Think of that before you judge me for this:
Hallo-fourthof-valen-mas
This festival’s the weirdest of any that I’ve seen—
a crazy combination of Christmas and Halloween.
The hire-a-Santa in the mall wears bear paws on his feet
and when the kids climb on his lap, they mutter, “Trick or Treat!”
Below the Christmas wreaths above, door knockers are kept busy
as grandmas baking Yule logs are kept in a fine tizzy
by swarms of little carolers who can barely reach
the door knockers, who gather with arms up to beseech
the homeowners for candy after every song,
then stuff it in the Christmas stockings that they brought along.
Scores of scavengers dressed up like shepherds or like kings
as well as Virgin Marys or angels sporting wings
abandon Christmas pageants to Trick-or-Treat instead.
You might ask me by what edict the world was made to wed
Halloween and Christmas? What legislative body
chose two celebrations equally over-gaudy
and mixed them both together to try to regulate
the number of occasions on which we celebrate?
I think it was the W-H-O that thought up this solution
to try to deal with Covid and to try to curb pollution,
then issued this weird sentence and made us all comply
to celebrate all holidays on the fourth of July!
And so in combination with the skeletons and holly,
as witches and small ghosts are enjoined to act more jolly,
fireworks are exploding in the sky far up above,
and as they trick-and-treat they also express love
by handing out their valentines—kill two birds with one stone
by trading hearts for Hershey bars with a ghostly moan.
And that’s how Hallo-fourthof-valen-mas has come to be
the only time when we’re allowed a group festivity.
And since part of it’s Halloween, without being asked
every guest, no matter what their politics, comes fully masked!!!
Prompt words for the day are knockers, combination, festival, beseech and sentence.
The Perfect Man
I know from what his kind is cast.
He’s fearless as he is steadfast.
He does not vaunt his strength or looks,
excels at sports and reads good books.
Sexy and mysterious,
he’s musically serious—
motivated from within
to play a wicked violin.
He is as solid as a rock.
Nobody needs to wind his clock.
And yet I had to choose another,
for, alas, he is my brother!!!
Prompt words today are fearless, steadfast, digitally, vaunt and wind. Photo by Silas Tolles on Unsplash.
In this wonderful commentary, Karen Shiebler shares a very valuable lesson I think we would all profit from.
I don’t know about you, but I have been feeling increasingly hopeless these days. I have been struggling with the realization that I have virtually no control over what will happen in my life in the next few years.
I can’t stop the climate crisis, no matter how many “plastic free” soaps I buy. I don’t have a way to slow or stop the Covid pandemic, other than wearing my mask and getting my shot. I can’t control the flow of lies that is sweeping the country, or the twisting of reality that I see every day on social media.
I can’t stop myself from aging. I can’t control the growth of the microscopic cancer cells in my breast. I can’t control the weather or the midterm elections or the price of gas or the supply chain.
I feel as if I am in…
View original post 694 more words
Click on photos to enlarge. These charming little arrangements were placed on each of the tables in the waiting room/bar/lounge of the Bravo theater in Ajijic where we went to see a One-Woman presentation of “Shirley Valentine.” It was a wonderful show. The first time I’ve been
to any inside event in a year and a half.
For Cee’s Flower of the Day prompt.
It took me 38 years to find my soul mate—the one I wanted to work with to make our relationship last, but it was worth the wait. Then, after his death, another eight years to find a true soulmate again. This time, although we’ll never be a couple in the conventional sense of the word, I’ve found someone exactly like the 50 percent of me no one else has ever matched so completely.
Sometimes we find parts of our soul in different people, so that somehow, in our relationships with all of them, we are completed! In these times of so many sad stories, how lucky we are to find these connections that allow us to grow new parts of our souls.
For Taleweaver‘s Prompt: Soul Mates
Where?
Where are my glasses and my keys?
Can you help me find them, please?
They’re in my pocket, on my nose?
Okay. Then, do you suppose
you know where I have put my mask?
Embarrassing to have to ask,
but when I’m almost out the door,
I find that there is one thing more
to locate before I can leave,
and I really do believe
I can find it on my own.
I’ll just call my mobile phone
and listen to detect its ring.
I don’t need help with everything!
And yet, I do not hear its voice.
and so I must make a choice
to leave without it or to look
in every cranny, every nook.
I leave the house, secure in that
I’ve locked the doors and fed the cat,
My shoes both match. I’m fully dressed,
and so I think that it is best
that I make my toodle-oo
as soon as I have used the loo.
Then I must hurry out the door
ere I lose what I lost before.
Purse on shoulder and specs on nose,
keys in hand and clad in clothes,
I leave the house, smoothing my hair,
I’m off to……can you tell me where?
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 