Category Archives: Uncategorized

Edges: Weekly Photo Challenge

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Want to see the photos better?  Click on the first one to view the gallery in a larger format.

Edges on windowframes, shadows and cages.
Edges of different sizes and ages.
Edges like razors and some softly curled.
Edge of your roof and edge of the world.
Edges to rise above, fall from and go through.
Edges to walk on and fly with and row through.
The edges of water lined with fine foam,
but the very best edges are those we call home.

You may have already guessed that the prompt word today is “Edge.”

“I’m Rubber, You’re Glue.”

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Momshieb always hits the nail right on the head–giving us truth and entertainment at the same time. I had to reblog this.

momshieb's avatarNot for sissies

If you’ve been watching or reading about the American presidential election for the past year or so, you will no doubt have noticed that one candidate is acting more like a child than a world leader.

Naturally, I mean no disrespect to children, but you know know what I mean.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a name for himself by acting like every elementary school’s playground bully. He insults people, he swears in public, he threatens violence against everyone he dislikes.

He pretends to be more powerful than he really is, and expects everyone around him to grand him the same level of worship that he grants to himself.

Some of his quotes are beyond unbelievable. When asked by a journalist whether he honestly considered it proper to praise the dictator Vladimir Putin, Trump said:

“If he says great things about me, I’ll say great things about him.”

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Last Day at the Beach (Share Your World, Week 37)

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There was still more to discover at the beach on Prince Edward Island, including one big surprise.  (Different day, different beach.)  If you want to read the captions to share the plot of that day, you’ll need to click on the first photo and then follow the arrows.

I’ve heard of Italian ice cream and Gelato is delicious, but these things can be carried too far!
On one side of the inlet, everything was copacetic.
The beach refuse was slowly rusting away right according to schedule.
At first I thought this big crab was attacking the other one, but after playing the heroine and separating them, I figured out the truth.
Then far far away on the sand bar across the inlet, we noticed something going on.
The cormorants were collecting in a long strung-out line
dealing with a few pushy seagulls, but totally leaving alone another black blob a bit down the way on the sand near the water. Was it??
I “upped” the power on my zoom and sure enough, it was a bald eagle.
He was taking a little time out for quiet contemplation, as were we.

And now, to answer the questions:

Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewerly?

Yes.  I have owned tons of rocks!  We used them to make art lamps and I have always loved collecting rocks, including the ones I used to make creches the year before last. I was a jewelry maker before I moved to Mexico and so also had trays of unset gems.  You are barking up the right tree with this question, Cee!

What is your greatest strength or weakness?

Chocolate!  Guess it qualifies as a weakness.  Definitely not a strength.

What makes you feel grounded? 

Writing or creating art.

Would you rather never be able to eat warm food or never be able to eat cold food?

I actually prefer most foods cold so would choose to eat cold food over hot. Ice cream!!!

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I was so grateful for time spent with Dianne and Andy, my wonderful hosts on Price Edward Island.  now I look forward to eighteen more days spent with Forgottenman as well as other friends and family members.  Then I’ll be grateful to go home to see Morrie, Frida and Diego–and hear the tales of my house sitters Ian and Pen, for whom I am also grateful.

 

https://ceenphotography.com/2016/09/12/share-your-world-2016-week-37/

First Love and the School Reunion

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Then and Now

First Love

Zing! went our heartstrings. Zang! went our souls.
Eyes filled with wonder, hearts cupped like bowls
ready to fill  with passion and love.
Putting each other on like a glove.

First kisses miracles we’d never known.
No longer single all on our own.
Someone to cuddle, someone to spoon.
Hand holds and lip locks over too soon.

Misunderstandings, squabbles and fights.
Heartbreak and lonely Saturday nights.
Then a new glance from cars “U”ing  main.
Flirting and wooing all over again.

More hugs and kisses parked on a hill.
How to forget them? We never will.
At school reunions, we relive those lives,
husbands beside us, or boyfriends or wives.

Talking of other things: study halls, games,
but always remembering carving those names
in desktops and memory—first loves forever—
tendrils that bind us that we cannot sever.

We’ll soar ahead to the rest of our lives,
collecting new memories—bees in our hives.
But no honey finer than that we made first.
No sweeter lips and no stronger thirst.

Stored in our hearts, remembered but hidden,
hoarded like treasures sealed in a midden,
our lives are made richer by both now and then.
Past memories opening over again

spill out old secrets, then seal them away
to be unwrapped on some future day
when old schoolmates meet for two days’ reminiscing
of school pranks and ballgames and homework. And kissing.

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The prompt word today was “Zing.”

Stages of the Rose: Flower of the Day, Sept 12, 2016

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https://ceenphotography.com/2016/09/11/flower-of-the-day-september-12-2016-black-eyed-susans/

On the Stump

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On the Stump

Hobbling around on the stump of a life,
nobody’s lover and nobody’s wife,
her children and grandchildren all raised and grown,
out of her life and out on their own.

Is her life over? Is it near its ending,
or has she another life that is just pending?
Has she a talent for regeneration?
Is the first sixty years mere education?

A single shoe dropped is only one shoe.
Life isn’t over until it is through.
Perhaps she’s less active removed from the past,
but wind can still fill out a sail at half mast.

The stub of a life can still get us around.
A heart can still beat and the blood can still pound.
Go after adventure for all you are worth,
for every new day is a part of your birth.

 

The prompt word today was “stump,” and I must admit it nearly stumped me. Lately my poems have degenerated into moralistic little lesson-rhymes. I may seem to be up on the stump, but it it is not my intention to preach as it is mainly myself I’m trying to advise. If you want to listen in, you are most welcome.

 

 

 

Sixty-Nine Top Photos in the World

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My friend Gloria sent me this link which I just had to share with you.  If you can top these photos, I’d like to see what you have in your arsenal. I am constantly amazed by the creativity in our world!!! https://docs.google.com/ presentation/d/ 1IHNgzJC6n3u7WePDtD2v61e4XapYx SB4DJyEwjEIdDo/embed?hl=en_GB& size=m&slide=id.p3https://docs.google.com/ presentation/d/ 1IHNgzJC6n3u7WePDtD2v61e4XapYx SB4DJyEwjEIdDo/embed?hl=en_GB& size=m&slide=id.p3

Welcome Home Party/Sad Ending

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In spite of the fact that I got into St. Louis two hours late (after three changes of gates in Toronto, a delay to change a tire on the plane and then an entire change of planes) I still had a healthy welcome to St. Louis contingent.  First Forgottenman, then this familiar face waiting for me in the car:

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Then when we stopped to get gas on the way home, Forgottenman found this little guy clinging to the rear hatch of the car!!!

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He was well-lit-up by the overhead lights of the filling station where we were gassing up.  Hard to tell how long he’d been there, and I was tempted to bring him back to Morehouse, thinking he might have jumped up on the car before Forgottenman left to come get me, but the driver voted for me to leave him in the grass by the filling station, so I did.

To my great regret, for when we got home an hour or so later, this is what we found clinging to the porch railing:

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It made me so sad, as it was the exact same variety of frog.  He/she looks darker because of the lack of light here, but was a duplicate of the one we found clinging to the car 80 miles away, and I am quite sure it is a mate just waiting for the return of the little frog we left behind in the grass an hour and a half earlier!

Air Port

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I arrived at the Halifax airport two and a half hours before my departure time for Toronto; but as you can see below, have had no problem figuring out how to pass the time:

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Air Port

I must recharge my Apple.  I must post my blog.
Finding a place to do so was like rolling off a log,
but connecting to the wifi was by no means easy.
After five attempts I was feeling flushed and queasy.
Two hours before my flight would leave. I had the time to do it.
If only my computer had the wifi to imbue it!

The man who said he’d help threw up his hands and walked away.
“Oh, a Mac!!” was all that it seems he had to say
when two more tries and shutting off my Mac had no effect.
Yet still I do not rue the day I joined the Apple sect.
Their air ports may be iffy but they’ve other saving graces.
Somehow my mind just clicks with how they put me through my paces.

Once more I clicked “restart” and crossed my fingers and one eye.
Such rituals are Mac-like and might just serve to buy
admission to the Internet, along with one small oath
without which often my Mac Air, I must admit, is loath
to do what I direct it to. It has a stubborn bent.
But somehow sometimes it complies when I choose to vent.

Getting through security was navigated with ease.
And getting to my gate, again, was really quite a breeze.
But though I finally got online.  (I’m talking to you now.)
Please do not inquire about precisely how.
Macs are a fraternity with secrets we can’t tell;
but if you are an owner, I’m sure you know them well!!!

The prompt word today was “Recharge.”Thanks, WordPress, for once again fitting the prompt right into my life experience.

Big Beast, Little Brat!!!

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img_5383The car on the left was the one I requested.  The car on the right was the one I got!!!!

When I was still trying to make it up to the Cabot trail in Nova Scotia in the black beast pictured above, I stopped at a big red barn restaurant—the only place close to the motel where I stayed for the night.  The meal was not memorable and was accompanied by the agony of a girl child in the next booth who SCREAMED in a high shrill voice for at least half of the time to the accompaniment of a mother who occasionally ineffectively tried to shush her.  It occurred to me that I could move, but at that point she started running up and down the length of the restaurant, piping “Ring around the rosy” in her irritatingly shrill and LOUD voice. Since I hesitated to turn to fix her with my own shaming glare, I  never laid eyes on her until they finally left half way through my meal. By her behavior, I had thought she must be three or so,  but was amazed to see when they finally left that she was more like five or six.

It was an incredible relief until another man came in with what looked like the same child. They blessedly sat a few booths beyond me as she seemed to  possess the same voice and irritating behavior.  At least, however, she stayed in her own booth—a bit further from my unappreciative ear than the last child.  The meal was forgettable.  The experience wasn’t. But, when I left, I at least snapped this photo which illustrates well the difference between the car I wanted and the gas-guzzling technologically puzzling beast that Hertz actually issued me.  We parted company last night. Such a relief to hand it back to its rightful owners.