Bright
Why do all our memories fade out to pastels?
The dulling of the colors, the muffling of the bells?
Often we discover that a happening once dated
becomes a strain of music half-remembered, mostly faded,
and we labor to remember a life so full and vast
that fades down to a shadow relegated to the past.
Better to infuse the present with such light
that all its various colors shine out vividly and bright.
For RDP prompt: Bright
I’m posting this for a friend. This is a fabulous house in Chapala where my friend Candace lived for many years. It now belongs to another friend, Arlene!
Welcome to “The Numbers Game #52.” Today’s number is 173. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Here are my contributions to the album.
Click on photos to enlarge.
I will be exhibiting and selling my art retablos, jewelry and
books at this exhibition tomorrow, Dec. 14, 9AM-2PM
Click on photos to enlarge.
Remembering Grandma at Christmas
The years have chosen to abrade
the paper angel Grandma made
that year when Christmas cheer was thin,
because for weeks we were snowed in.
Even Santa ceased his action
for his reindeer had no traction.
Weeks of snow and sleet and fog
even kept the catalogue
from providing a Christmas doll
when Santa couldn’t come at all.
And so the holidays that year
did not reflect our usual cheer.
No tree, no lights, no heavenly choir,
our only heat a roaring fire.
We kids complained to Mom and Dad
and by Christmas Eve, they’d had
as much of kids as they could stand
and that’s when Grandma took a hand.
Her silver scissors nipped and flew
creating something that was new—
a Christmas angel feathery light
that floated that December night
above our heads in fire glow,
hung by a string, rotating slow
around the room with wafting wings
descending from above on strings.
And from the dark a heavenly song
prompted us to sing along.
My Grandma led, with timorous voice
that song that always was her choice:
“Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, and all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.”
One by one, we entered in,
our voices first halting and thin,
but when my Grandma chimed a bell,
our family choir began to swell
up to the ceiling, throughout the room,
dispelling darkness, cold and gloom.
Mom made cocoa on the coals
while Dad made popcorn, filling bowls
we strung on thread to deck our halls
from curtain rods to lamps to walls,
along with paper snowflakes that
twirled on their strings to tease the cat.
In the firelight’s magic glow,
they made things magical and so
every normal Christmas since,
we love our turkey and pies of mince,
Christmas presents to poke and squeeze,
bubble lights and towering trees,
but what’s most special is when Pop
puts Grandma’s angel on the top
of the tree covered in flakes
and popcorn strings the family makes.
And when we sing her special song,
if angels sing, she’ll sing along.
For dVerse Poets, the last prompt of the year is “Holiday.”
I wrote this poem 6 years ago. It may not be Kosher to run it by again, but then Chritstmas isn’t a very Kosher holiday at all, is it? Happy Holidays to one and all..be it Hanukkah or Xmas
For Fibbing Friday, the challenges to lie about are:
1. Who invented Elf on the Shelf? That house-organizer lady you hired to come help you sort out your Xmas decorations.
2. Have you been naughty or nice? Yes.
3. Who or what is The Beast from the East? Can’t remember his name but I’m fairly sure Trump has appointed him to some crucial position.
4. Who was Santa’s Little Helper? Mrs. Santa, before she put on all that weight from taste-testing her Xmas cookies.
5. What is a Yule log? A to-do list. First, yule do this, then this and this and this.
6. What is marzipan? What happens when you gouge a stuck cherry pie out of the pan you baked it in.
7. What is Egg Nog? The condition of your head after drinking too much holiday cheer.
8. Why is there a fairy on the top of the Christmas Tree (be polite!) You are misinformed. That winged creature is an angel, not a fairy. I am “fairyly” sure of that fact.
9. What are baubles? Tongue-tied babblings.
10. What is a tree skirt? When you cut a wide swath around the Christmas tree, fearing you’ll collide with an ornament.
Welcome to “The Numbers Game #51.” Today’s number is 172. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Here are my contributions to the album.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Johnbo, who is the creator of this “Winter” Challenge, lives in North Dakota and you can find his photos HERE. Since I grew up in South Dakota, I should have fabulous photos of snow that sometimes got so high that they dug a tunnel under it down main street with tunnels into the various stores. I remember one storm where the snowbanks around our house were so high that I could open the window of my second story bedroom and step out onto the snow! Later in my life I lived in Wyoming twice…first for 5 years and then again for 7 years, and although I have stories of snow, I don’t think I ever took any photos. What snow I experience now is when I visit Wyoming, so I”m off in search of possible snow shots there. Click on photos for captions and closer views.
The prompt for the Lens Artists Challenge is “Winter.”
Click on photos to enlarge and see details.
Welcome to “The Numbers Game #50.” Today’s number is 171. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.
This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Above are my contributions to the album.
Click on photos to enlarge and better make out the different elements.
NOTE: I saw “Five Elements” in the prompt and just naturally thought, “Air, earth, water, fire” and I saw “Metal” before I started finding photos. It wasn’t until after I posted and saw the posts of others that I realized “wood’ had been substituted for “air.” I guess 5 of the photos include wood by accident, so I’m covered. Next time I’ll read more carefully and not presume!
In most cases, fire in these photos is represented by the reflections of the sun. Air is ever-present, especially in photos of the small toy metal figures suspended in parachutes. In one case, metal is shown in the wire of the fence as well as the car made out by its headlights. In another, by the metal boat. The other larger images of cars are obvious.
For the Lens Artist Challenge: We were asked to post photos that included the 5 elements of air, earth, water, fire and metal.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 