Click to enlarge photos.
Explorers
Sitting up past midnight, we search our mind for facts,
parting long grasses of the past for long-forgotten pacts
of secrets kept from parents and long-forgotten games:
“New Orleans” and “Send ‘Em” *. We comb our minds for names.
Of talents left to childhood, like flips off monkey bars.
Adventures dreamed on rooftops and the back seats of cars.
Favorite childhood dresses and jokes pulled on our folks.
Afternoons in Mack’s Cafe, sipping on our Cokes.
Hot beef sandwiches at Fern’s and running up the stairs
to avoid Mom’s fly swatter aimed at our derrieres.
Childhood dramas staged in trees or in our backyard lawn.
Teenage slumber parties that stretched out into dawn.
We journey through old albums, searching photos for
any tiny detail that will open up a door.
Each time I come to visit, we remember a bit more
on these safaris of the mind that we both adore.
*These are the names of childhood games. Did anyone else play them?
For the Word of the Day challenge: Exploring
Serendipity
Seated at the movies in the last row of the balcony,
I couldn’t hear the dialogue and the man in front of me
was so tall that captions, too, were impossible to see.
But all of this, indeed, was just a part of serendipity
that played out as I exited the door they’d marked “Emergency”
that led out to the lobby where I’d decided that I had to flee.
There I found a bench and with a paperback upon my knee,
I passed five minutes during which I read with such intensity,
I didn’t even notice a man exiting to go to pee,
until he left the Men’s room, and I looked up as he passed by me.
He was a very handsome man—the very one who formerly
had blocked my view but who now sat beside me and delightfully
soon engaged my interest with his wit and his sincerity.
And that is how our “he” and “me” quickly turned into a “we,”
and also how, ultimately, you two children came to be!
The prompts today are serendipity, balcony, emergency and caption. Here are the links:
/https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/rdp-tuesday-serendipity/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/16/fowc-with-fandango-balcony/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/emergency/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/daily-addictions-2018-week-41/caption
Another of Jackie’s beautiful flowers. Orchid?
Click on photos to enlarge.
Lest I be less than discreet
and be accused of gross conceit,
I’ll go where it can be repeated
that our team was undefeated
way back then in sixty-four.
The swish of hoop, our fans’ loud roar—
nothing can erase the blast
of this fine victory of the past.
The crowds we drew. The way we toiled?
Nothing since has ever spoiled
the memory of that group endeavor.
Back when we were fresh and clever,
young, athletic, fit and tall,
we all excelled at basketball.
Fifty years later, though it’s true
we may be a decrepit crew,
our memories are still intact.
We well remember every fact
as one by one, we each relate
our memories of winning State.
If I were at home, I could publish a photo of one of our glorious small town basketball teams, but since I am not in the proximity of my old annuals, I’ll make do with photos of one of the school reunions, fifty years later.
The prompts today were blast, draw, conceit and spoil. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/15/rdp-monday-blast/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/15/fowc-with-fandango-draw/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/15/conceit/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/daily-addictions-2018-week-41/spoil
“Juguetes” (Toys) Mixed Media Assemblage by Judy Dykstra-Brown
Click on first photo below to enlarge all.
From childhood to rocking chair, we love our toys. From tricycles to souped-up cars, from dollies to drones, we need our diversions. Here are a few lovely toys for all ages.
For Cee’s prompt: -fun-foto-challenge-things-people-play-with/
To see the photos in order and read the story, click on the first photo and then on right arrows.
Although this is a color photo, the world seems reduced to black and white by this snowstorm I awoke to yesterday. This is the first time I’ve experienced snow in 15 years or so. I had forgotten how hushed the world becomes in snow. Sheridan, WY, Oct. 13, 2018. Below, a bit of color is returned to the scene.
For Becca’s Sunday Trees prompt.
The Rules of Fidelity
A wedding ring’s a shelter that protects you from the fray,
but that safety is a bullet that can ricochet some day.
The grace that’s found in your retreat from the single’s race
can vanish in a moment. Disappear without a trace.
For the oath that’s made in marriage is a double one, it’s true,
dependent on another person and not only you.
Only one need slip the knot to loosen it, enabling
“his” or “hers” to suddenly be passé in its labeling.
Loyalty and fidelity are two-way deals, it seems—
and they only work when couples work on them in teams.
The prompt words today are ring, shelter, ricochet and grace. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/rdp-sunday-ring/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/14/fowc-with-fandango-shelter/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/ricochet/
https://dailyaddictions542855004.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/daily-addictions-2018-week-41/grace
