Tag Archives: Children

Foggybaby Dreams for dVerse Poets

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Foggybaby Dreams Clarified

(For My Nephews––now Six Feet Tall.)

You flinched from my touch,
hated the red cowboy hats
I bought for you,
preferred the hundred
tiny grass frogs
to the cows we tried
to introduce
into your city lives,
had eyes only for the trucks
carrying salt for the cows
to gather after.

Early mornings,
you leaned against
my sleep.
And oh,
your sleep-wicked
hair
and your
sweet sour milkbreath
and the
slight fart smell
of your warm bunny p.j.’s,
your impeccable smiles.
Daylight
had barely
bedeviled
you yet.

Five minutes until
you melted
back into your
foggy baby dreams,
and I became
your
nostalgia.

My foggyybaby nephews, Craig and Jeff, many years later.

For dVerse Poets, we were to write a poem inspired
by Carl Sandburg;s most famous poem about fog. 

Portraits, for Cellpic Sunday

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The last one was unplanned. Couldn’t resist including it. It was taken by mistake as I stood in front of a sculpture bearing antlers at my friend’s house in Wyoming. The rest were all taken this week.

For Cellpic Sunday

Favorite Photos of 2024 for Lens Artists Challenge #330

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Mexico
Yolanda, do you know where my driving glasses are?
Bad haircut
Houston Airport
Moon-shaped rock and frog made out of sap from a rubber tree.

Click on photos to enlarge.

For the Lens Artists Challenge #330

Jumping for Joy for Last on the Card

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For Last on the Card, Nov. 2024

When the adults took a break from the dance floor, the kids took over for a song…running and leaping. love this shot!!!

Children’s Ukulele Concert, Ajijic, July 12, 2024, for Cellpic Sunday

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Tug-of-War

Click on photos to enlarge.

For Cellpic Sunday, July 14. Thanks, Jonbo!!!

Down in the Grass

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Summer in the meadows under shelter of tall grass—
in our youth we never dreamed that it could pass.
We had it firmly tethered so it could not slip away.
It curled in loosened coils around us as we lay.
Oh, tomorrow, wrapped up in today.
We never know the dreams we’ll lose along the way

For the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Down in the Grass

I know, once again my number of photos is excessive. Just take into account that they have been culled from 14,290 photos labeled “grass” in my photos file..Excuses, excuses. The poem is an excerpt from a poem I published years ago named “Desire.”

Final Easter Egg Hunt, 2024

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Click on photos to enlarge.

The egg hunters this time were Isidro’s six grandchildren. For first-time Easter Egg hunters, they did a fine job of it, finding all but one egg which is still hiding somewhere in my friend Rita’s yard. She provided the beautifully decorated cookies. Please enlarge at least that photo so you can see the amazing butterfly carved into its icing. That’s Isidro (the friend who illustrates my books) next to the cookie, and next to him, all his grandkids and their moms, one of whom (Paloma) was a very small girl when I moved here 23 years ago. She was the winner in a “Clean up the Lake” poster contest I had for kids way back then. I guess that dates me.  The last two photos are of friends Rita and Jere. Rita provided the cookies and the beautiful garden to use for the event. Jere helped me hide the eggs and provided juice boxes for the kids.  I was the Easter Bunny, providing the filled eggs. My neighbor David made all the darling signs scattered around the yard. This may become a yearly event. (P.S. The kids all decorated their own egg cartons to use in collecting the eggs.)

 

Numbers Game #8, Feb 12, 2024

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #8”  Today’s number is 129. 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 under that number and include 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.

Sorry that it is a day late today! Zoned out yesterday working on my new book….

Captured Interest

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This is my friend Agustin’s granddaughter Leah. Obviously, her entire attention has been captured by  by whatever is on her phone. I’m thinking of asking her to give me lessons on how to use mine!  (Yes, I had her grandpa’s permission to post this video. Adorable.)

Gems from the Past

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My mailbox is totally full, so I’ve been deleting old emails from the past 22 years. I had deleted about 2,000  without reading them,  when I chanced to read a couple  and realized that there are some real gems there, so I’m going to share a few with you. (2,000 down, 37,000 to go! No exaggeration.).  Here is one from 2010: 

A 1stgrade school teacher had twenty-six students in her class.  She presented each child in her classroom the 1st half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb.  It’s hard to believe these were actually done by first graders.  Their insight may surprise you.   While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders,  6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic! 

1. Don’t change horses until they stop running.
2. Strike while the bug is close.
3. It’s always darkest before Daylight Saving Time.
4. Never underestimate the power of termites.
5. You can lead a horse to water but How?
6. Don’t bite the hand that looks dirty.
7. No news is impossible
8. A miss is as good as a Mr.
9. You can’t teach an old dog new Math
10. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll stink in the morning.
11. Love all, trust Me.
12. The pen is mightier than the pigs.
13. An idle mind is the best way to relax.
14. Where there’s smoke there’s pollution.
15. Happy the bride who gets all the presents.
16. A penny saved is not much.
17. Two’s company, three’s the Musketeers.
18. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you put on to go to bed.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and You have to blow your nose.
20. There are none so blind as Stevie Wonder.
21. Children should be seen and not spanked or grounded..
22. If at first you don’t succeed get new batteries.
23. You get out of something only what you See in the picture on the box
24. When the blind lead the blind get out of the way
25. A bird in the hand is going to poop on you.

And the WINNER and last one!

26 Better late than Pregnant

Should children witness childbirth? Good question. 

Here’s your answer.

Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very dark so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-yr old girl to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby…
Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Heidi pushed And pushed and after a little while, Connor was born.

The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry.
The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-yr old what she thought about what she had just witnessed..
Kathleen quickly responded, ‘He shouldn’t have crawled in there in the first place…..smack his butt again!’

If you don’t laugh at this one, there’s no hope for you.