Category Archives: Uncategorized

April Showers

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April Showers

Every April I find that the process of taxation
inhibits my ability to practice relaxation.
Detrimental to my leisure, it plagues my meditation.
The only way I get to sleep is helped by medication.

As scraps of paper flutter down from where they’re stacked in piles,
my friends all note I’m lacking in my usual jokes and smiles.
I’m sorting, adding, searching, piling, muttering and raving,
trying to discover all the receipts I’ve been saving.

It is my c.p.a. who has the easiest task of all
fitting figures into slots, and then he has the gall
to charge at least two hundred bucks for plugging in my numbers,
adding one more bill to disrupt my former slumbers.

It’s true that April floods the world with gentle springtime showers
that mark the end of winter and enable our May flowers.
Thus, others wax poetic dreaming of the April rain,
while I find it too quickly comes around again.

 

I was ill last night and went to bed early, thus I’m up about 5 hours early as well and the only two prompt words posted are “detrimental” and “relaxation.” Don’t know why this poem floated to the surface four months early, but it was the poem that wanted to be written between the hours of 3:30 and 4:20 a.m.  And so, back to sleep, I hope.

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/27/fowc-with-fandango-detrimental/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/your-daily-word-prompt-relaxation-December-27-2018/

Furled Gazania: Flower of the Day, Dec 27, 2018

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For FOTD

Bicycles, Tricycle and Wagons: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Dec 25, 2018

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A greening tricycle,
a bicycle and an old chamber pot,
an almost red wagon,
a shopping cart and kin.

For: https://ceenphotography.com/2018/12/25/cees-fun-foto-challenge-bicycles-tricycles-motorcycles-wagons/

The Leech

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proclaimed to be fine,

The Leech

They’ve plugged up their ears to muffle his mutterings.
They’re tired of his self-serving utterings.

He’s an indulgence they’d like to be shed of,
expunge from their sofa and free their spare bed of.

He thinks it’s tradition that they should take care of him,
yet they’d prefer that their house just be bare of him.

He’s a caricature of self-indulgence,
wallowing in familial abundance.

They need to be boxing his ears or possessions
and signing up for codependency sessions.

They’ve supported him well and sent him to college,
imbued him with clothes, with playthings and knowledge.

Now he needs to be kicked out to find his own life—
to be taught by experience, seasoned by strife.

Lest they make a mongrel of a fine pup,
it’s time they encourage their boy to grow up!

 

 

The prompt words today are tradition, caricature, indulgence and boxing.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/rdp-wednesday-tradition/

FOWC with Fandango — Caricature


https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/your-daily-word-prompt-indulgence-December-26-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/boxing/

Christmas Eve Dinner at Viva Mexico

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I had one of the best meals of my life at Viva Mexico last night and the best company one could ask for.  Fred and Christina from Gabriola Island in Canada, Lach and Becky who were friends in Boulder Creek who came to visit and ended up moving here and my long-time good friend Gloria. Here are photos.  looks like I concentrated on the food. Both of these dishes were the culinary masterpieces thought up in the mind of Agustin.

 

Becky’s chicken salad.
Me, barely reflected in the Xmas tree bulb in the courtyard.
Antonia, Agustin’s wife and head Chef.
Most of the rest of us had this succulent pork special.

 

Holiday Visitors

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Holiday Visitors

I’m playing host this holiday. Prospects are in the air.
Christine is at the table and Fred is up the stair.
She’s making lovely art and he’s sawing rhythmic dreams.
Everybody’s active on this Christmas morn, it seems.

The dogs are pacing jauntily. The air is crisp and still.
They’re hoping I’ll give them a treat. There’s a good chance I will.
The carcass of a chicken and the scraps from last night’s feast
would make a lovely picnic for a canine beast.

I’m putting words together when I should be giving pats.
They knock against the doorframe. They fidget on their mats.
I can hear the scraping of Fred’s key in the door.
It’s a human intervention. He’s advancing ‘cross the floor.

The dogs are his companions. They’re demanding my attention.
Christine joins in with their demands. I give in to the tension.
I’m going to have to socialize with people I can touch,
and I admit it’s company I enjoy very much,

But still I had to come here to spend some time with you
bloggers and Facebookers and you Tweeters, too,
for daily keeping company and keeping me on track.
I’m going to the real world now. Tomorrow? I’ll be back.

IMG_6684Fred woke up and is writing his poem, Christine got her picture colored. 

IMG_6694Diego got his treat and Morrie got his ball thrown.  All is right with the world.

Merry Xmas!!! Happy Hanukkah!  Joyful Kwanzaa.
xoxooxooxox

 

 

The prompts on this Christmas day are host, discovery, love and holiday.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/rdp-tuesday-host/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/25/fowc-with-fandango-discovery/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/your-daily-word-prompt-love-December-25-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/holiday/

Flower of the Day, Xmas Eve, 2018

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IMG_6664I took this photo of these flowers yesterday.  They are actually tiny kalanchoe blooms in a pot on my wall ledge.  This is Christmas in Mexico!

For Cee’s FOTD.

99 New: Small Can Be Beautiful

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This poem by Jan Wilberg says it all.

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

Every time I take the path from the bluff down to the shore of Lake Michigan at our beloved Doctors Park, I see the picnic table where, nearly forty years ago, I sat with my young daughter on Christmas Day as she pulled out the blades of her new Swiss Army Knife one by one.


It was just the two of us.


It was uncommonly warm for Christmas in Wisconsin, spring-like, the air carrying the honey of renewal and possibility, the sun shining and the water of Lake Michigan glittering like it does sometimes when you expect to feel lonely and alone, the water deciding somehow to erase your gloom and make you grateful to be alive at that moment.


What I’m saying is this.


Love what you have
Put your yearning in the drawer
Behind the sweaters you don’t wear
And the scarves your mother sent you

View original post 55 more words

Tropical Christmas Agenda

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Tropical Christmas Agenda

I’m tired of snowy and of cold.
I prefer weather less bold.
Forget the frost. Forget the ice.
Some trade winds would be rather nice.
Sand and surf would hit the spot
in a place where snow is not.
More intrigue near the steaming beach.
Romance is somehow more in reach,
perhaps because sans scarf and mitten
the chance for one to be more smitten
over vast amounts of skin
creates a greater chance of sin.

And so, so much for Nordic pleasures.
I prefer the island treasures
of a fresh pina colada
over the yada yada yada
of another Christmas season
so devoid of charm and reason.
Keep your presents and your nog,
your carols and your Yule log.
I choose a hammock and a book
and swimsuit for my Christmas look.

The prompt words are intrigue, snowy and frost.  Here are the links:
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/23/fowc-with-fandango-intrigue/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/your-daily-word-prompt-snowy-December-23-2018/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/frost/

Suffering for Their Art

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Click on first photo to enlarge all.  jdbphotos

The crowd at the bi-monthly reading on the Nueva Posada terrace was about 1/3 the usual number of readers and listeners.  The wind off the lake didn’t help to mitigate the already cold weather, and as the reading progressed, there were fewer and fewer listeners and less and less to see of the ones who remained.  I was the last to read, and although the comments were positive, they were few and far between. What was first and foremost on everyone’s mind was to go into the restaurant for a warm meal. And you thought Mexico was always warm???