Why Dorothy Parker Remains a Good Sport in the Heat
Dorothy Parker at the beach,
a dry martini within reach.
Lots hotter than the Algonquin.
Heat dissipates when served with gin!
Why Picasso is Not a Beach Person
Picasso simply can’t abide
that fish with both eyes on one side.
If from the norm he wants to vary,
he’ll have to paint it ordinary!
Okay, here is a poem I read at my writers’ group today and they say I should post it. There was much controversy about how to pronounce Cuba Libres, but they’ve been my drink of choice for 40 years, so believe me, I know how they are pronounced outside of Spanish-speaking countries, and everywhere else (including Africa) Cuba Libre rhymes with zebra!
The Spinster and the White Hunter on Safari
After giraffes and elephants and zebras,
and one-too-many Cuba Libres,
love under white mosquito-netting
was not so much a matter of her letting
as it was of giving back what she was getting.
And then, the full picture of the detail I published for the “Yellow” photo challenge here. No, it isn’t crème brûlée. What it is is a detail of this detail:
Detail of a dead fish on the beach. Are those really eyelashes?
I really didn’t mean to fool you!
The Prompt: The holiday season: can’t get enough of it, or can’t wait for it all to be over already? Has your attitude toward the end-of-year holidays changed over the years?
I can’t get enough of any holiday, no matter how much it is commercialized. The world evolves. Whether we agree with the way it does so or not, the only thing we do have control over is our attitude, so I simply celebrate every holiday the way I want to celebrate it. This year, I’m at the beach for Christmas. For the past month, I’ve been collecting wonderful finds on the beach and putting together an altar that is comprised of a palm fruiting stem, flowers I’ve made out of egg cartons and all of the heart-shaped rocks that seem to have cropped up more frequently than ever before. I now have 60 or more of them that decorate both the fruiting stem “tree” and the altar around it. Then, I started seeing rocks in the shape of characters from a nativity Creche and constructed 15 creches which may be seen on my facebook page. You can connect with it here.
Contrary to what you might think from these pictures, I am not religious. I do hope that something exists outside of our physical realm, but I don’t comprehend exactly what it is. We all find the beliefs that get us through our lives, and I love the Christmas story (be it fact or myth), the Xmas memories, communion with family and friends, the decorations and celebrations.
It started with a palm fruiting stem washed ashore. I added flowers I made of cutouts from egg cartons, painted and glued together, then added pelican feathers and various heart-shaped shells and small stones found on beach walks.
Detail from tree.
I then covered a flowerpot with shell finds and cemented the “tree” into it.
Although I wanted the tree to be all natural, I quickly decided an Xmas tree without lights was not going to be enough! The mural behind the tree came with the rental house!
Details from the altar.
I’ve started sleeping on the futon in the living room to enjoy the tree by light strings and candlelight.
The Prompt: Hindsight is 20-20—What if you had the power to rewrite history? You do.
One of 15 creches I’ve made using material I’ve found on the beach
would have married the girl and had children
and been less overt with his teachings
of peace and love too radical
for a world immersed in their opposite.
He would then not have changed the world, perhaps,
but only lived in contrast
to that power popular among those who needed it
and effective in keeping those adverse to it quiet.
If he had married the girl, the world would probably have ended up
pretty much how it has anyway, but he might have had a different ending.
Grown old, had his cronies over to talk about the good old days,
converted water into wine and served them loaves and fishes.
Mary Magdalene would have danced for them in their memories,
and all of his grandchildren would have listened in awe
to hear the tales of how he walked on the water,
bade Lazarus to rise from the grave.
He would shush his cronies as they started in
with tales of how he smashed the souvenir stands
and threw the money changers out of the temple.
Not stories for young ears not quite ready to learn revolution.
And all of the ill done in his name might have happened anyway,
but at least he would have had a good life. Would have suffered less.
And some other savior might have found a way to save the world
that would have worked.
Note: It has been so long since I’ve been able to pingback that I’m posting this even though I wrote to the weekly prompt today instead of this one!
For a more remarkable poem that might have been the prequel to this one, but was actually written first, go here.
Oh no. After a month at the beach, how to choose? Eenie, meenie, mynie mo—
I can never get enough of this view of the La Manzanilla beach. And, it is always different. (If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the sandpiper on the beach very clearly.)
This time at the beach, I’ve spent hundreds of hours watching pelicans, usually in the water myself. Even out of the water, it is hard to capture them because they move so swiftly, but with such grace. They are so much a part of the seascape that I think this shot belongs in this series.
My camera (or my skills) can never capture the real colors of the sunsets here. The reddest sun becomes white when photographed and I can only approach the real colors of the sky through a bit of color editing. Anyone who has been to La Manzanilla at any time of the year can say these outstanding sunsets are real and continuous.
One of the aforementioned suns. In reality, it was brilliant red, but it came out as white in the photo. Does anyone know why?
For Cee’s own wonderful photos and other seascapes and landscapes, go here: http://ceenphotography.com/2014/12/16/cees-fun-foto-challenge-landscapes-or-seascapes/
wordpress.com/2014/12/11/a-photo-a-week-challenge-profile/
for more profile pictures, go here: http://nadiamerrillphotography.
That is just sand caught by sunlight twinkling around this perfectly-heart-shaped stone in the wet morning sand.
Xmas lights furnish the twinkle in this detail from the palm fruiting stem I used as a Xmas tree this year, covering it with shells and stones in the shapes of hearts, other sea findings and handmade flowers I fashioned out of egg cartons and paint.
A shot from a firework display held, coincidently, on my birthday—part of the celebration for the 100th anniversary of the town I grew up in.
Castillo fireworks in jocotepec, Mexico.
last night was the final procession for the 12 day celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
My Christmas Tree/Altar. Very twinkly.
This is the tree in daylight.
this is the challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/twinkle/
This is one of 15 creches I’ve constructed of unaltered natural items I’ve found on the beach. For some reason, I am captivated by the gentle side of Mexico best symbolized by her obsession with the Virgin of Guadalupe. I’ve seen motorcycle leathers with an image of Guadalupe on the back! I’ll publish pictures of the others soon. I know. A seeming contradiction to the words I’ve posted below, but perhaps one or the other view is just a sweet little lie!
The Prompt: Sweet Little Lies—As kids, we’re told, time and again, that lying is wrong. Do you believe that’s always true? In your book, are there any exceptions?
I think the sweetest little lie we tell ourselves and our children is that of a beneficent and caring God. This belief and the religion that stems from it is our way of comforting ourselves. It is totally aside from reason. How else could we look at a baby turtle struggling to swim for the first time plucked up and swallowed by a hungry pelican, or a baby suffering with cancer or a horribly deformed child and think, “This is the product of a caring Father?” We all must conclude, if we make use of our senses at all, that nature is impartial and serves only its own cycle. There is no kindness in nature, other than her beauties and comforts; but even they all serve a purpose: to survive against all odds, and to kill or at the very least to depend upon the death of other organisms in order to do so.
I do acknowledge that Religion is probably necessary for many who do not think far enough to recognize the sweet lie. For those who use it to create more compassion for others, I applaud the end. But right now it seems as though religion is being used more as a weapon and political ploy than for the “good” side of its coin.
I don’t know how I align my agnosticism with my belief that there is some sort of incredible synchronicity going on in the world. This is a topic for another day, I guess.
For other posts on this topic, go here: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/sweet-little-lies/
I don’t know why, but of all the pictures I’ve taken of my dog Frida, this has remained my favorite. There is just such attitude to her walking out of the fame just as I snapped the picture!
i’ve watched this little dog every day at the beach. He runs back and forth, barking at pelicans, but never catches one!
And this, of course, is why!
I took a half dozen shots of this early-morning fisherman with his two well-behaved dogs, but this one, taken from a half mile down the beach, remains my favorite. The fact that you can barely make them out in the scene but that they remained the center focus for the fifteen minutes or so it took me to reach them is all in mind when I look at this photograph..
This streamlined little guy prances by several times a day, following his master, who seems to somehow be associated with the fishing boats and frequently goes to consult with the fishermen. Love his tongue!
I love it in this photo that not one foot is on the ground! (Not just a crop job. Different photo, but same tongue, same attitude!)
Okay, okay…I know you are wondering why I never showed a closer-up of that long shot. Here it is—the faithful companions.
This elderly man has been visiting the beach every time I have. He sits all day in the palapa restaurant next to my house. Once we played dice. He said he’d only play for money! Ha. Another time he told me his job was artificially inseminating horses. Later, Lora Loca, the proprietor of the cafe, told me this was a lie. I guess the aged have to get their thrills somehow! Someday I’ll probably be doing the same.
This is Bobino, a beach cat I adopted 4 years ago, the first time I rented this beach cottage. He refused to come home with me when I left so Daniel, who has the place next door, adopted him. He is kept well-fed by fishermen. Here he is scoping out his next meal through the deck posts of my porch. A second later, he was streaking off and yes, the fisherman did give him a little fish. One day as I walked under a tree next to my porch, a fish fell out of the sky and landed at my feet. Whether it was fishes from heaven, the grackles up in the tree or Bobino who presented me with this prize, I’ll never know. But, for the future: I don’t eat fish!
This adorable stranger waited so patiently for the remains of my breakfast at Guacamole’s, one of my favorite beachside eating establishments, that I hope I gave them to him!!
Okay, I know I’ve published this photo before, but I miss my dogs and it took so long to train them to be this polite while waiting for their meals and there is a sort of “waiting to be fed” theme going here, so here they are again: Frida and Diego. Not at the beach, but in my mind as they vacation on the two-acre lot of a friend who has two other dogs and a big field filled with sheep to bark at next door.
For more pets, go here: http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-pets-and-its-our-5th-anniversary/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 