My small writing group and spouses are coming for Christmas comida and white elephant gift exchange. Under each plate is a fortune and on each slip they draw for what their turn is to choose a gift is also a question to answer. Forgottenman made a list of fractured fortunes to distribute as well. If you want to see them, I’ll print all of them after folks have already seen them.
Born Lazy
You can have your tennis, your jogging, golf and hiking.
I’d rather spend time coasting while other souls are biking.
You’ll never find my name in the record books of Guinness,
for I don’t excel at basketball or badminton or tennis.
Somehow, nature slighted me when it came to “gameness.”
When asked to participate, I simulate my lameness.
I guess I was born lazy. I simply love my bed.
I pretend not to hear it when the cat yowls to be fed.
When duty calls, I plug my ears and happily roll over.
I find it is more comfortable here in beds of clover.
For My Vivid. Blog, the prompt word is “born.”
I just couldn’t let Santa die a final piñata death, so I removed him from his shattered shell and did a bit of reclamation work and now here he is, gracing the door of my garage. If you didn’t see Santa’s former role, the story is here: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/22/breaking-pinatas-for-cellpic-sunday-dec-22-2024/
For CFFC the prompt is colorful buildings.. Ha! right up my alley…
Finally, the guests started arriving. Santiago got here first so I gave him some rubber duckies to float in the hot tub. His folks were both near by so no danger. Isidro’s six grandchildren rushed in and surrounded me with hugs and kisses..unprompted! Even the boys. They are such sweet children. Then Yolanda and Yoli and Oscar and Isidro were close behind, lugging a big aluminum pot full of Yolanda’s traditional posada chicken salad to be eaten on tortillas as well as a huge thermos of fruit punch and another of jamaica. We did the piñata first, starting with the tiniest and going uphill to the tallest–and as it turned out, the strongest. Yoli was the heroine who whacked Santa his final blow. Luckily, I think his cute face is salvageable so I can use it on a wall or door next year.Below are all my cellpics of the event. It was sooooo enjoyable and the kids were so excited and all the young adult parents and cousins and brothers and sisters were so fun as well. The kids had as much fun playing hide and seek in my garden and all around the outside of my house..and the inside, actually…as they did whacking the piñata. Here are some pics:
The children were so active, running through the house and out four different doors of the house..in backyard and front yard and yet they were careful, damaged nothing. At one point one of Isidro’s granddaughters saw me pick up a candy bar wrapper from the grass and minutes later went over to kids and told them not to throw anything on the ground and to put the candy wrappers in their hands into the wastepaper basket. She was a very small girl and I thought this was an incredibly thoughtful act. In fact there was no trash around at all. Amazing given the hundreds of pieces of wrapped candy that were being consumed. .Yolanda and Yoli and Ellie and Marie Jose cleared the tables and all the trash, even though I did not ask or expect them to. All in all, a wonderful wonderful experience. The mother of most of Isidro’s grandkids who attended was only about 7 when I first met her. She won a “clean up the lake” poster contest I sponsored. And Alejandra, the mother of two others, attended a kids camp I helped organize and conduct when she was 12 years old. She’s now 27! It’s amazing to live through an entire generation of kids. I’ve been here 23 years. Longest I’ve ever lived anywhere. (If you are worried about Santa’s present condition, here is more of the story: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/24/santa-makes-a-comeback/
For Cellpic Sunday
This strand of freshwater pearls, knocked off the table where a beach vendor was displaying her wares to us, looked so good there,
Night Thoughts
Words strung like pearls on memory’s thread
merely repeat what has often been said.
Whispers of heartaches, sparks of regret,
prick at our senses so we’ll not forget.
Then the witching hour joins us, ringing her bell,
shaking earth from her shoes she has tracked in from Hell.
An herbed wind shifts vines to whip overhead,
sending stray sojourners straight to their bed.
Then sweeps over cobbles, whisking away
unresolved problems of the past day.
For the Sunday Whirl this week, the words are:
Welcome to “The Numbers Game #53.” Today’s number is 174. 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.
Chicken salad sandwiches, enchiladas and fruit punch for kiddies on its way. Doggies will go next door before the first arrivals at 4.
This party is just for kids from San Juan Cosala and their folks. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly..More photos later.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 