Bethany's Birthday

Bethany's Birthday

Bethany decided that her life was no longer worth living. And it was only her eighth birthday. All of her friends, at least the ones that she invited, had come to her birthday party. They brought gifts of hair ribbons, art sets and even some money! There were balloons and mother’s wonderful angel food cake and ice cream. Her grandma had phoned her in the morning like she always did. The party was held outside under the clear blue August sky. Her father even sent her a sunflower bouquet from work! But then the clouds rolled in and the rain came down as only a prairie rain can. Cake and ice cream were destroyed before her mother and her aunties could save it. Her friends were crying, and mad at her as if she were at fault for the sudden weather change. She wished that she was invisible. There was no point in living any more. She couldn’t go back to school after this horrible, horrible day! “Mortifying” was what her mother called it! So Bethany just sat on her picnic chair under the pouring rain and cried. Her tears matched the rain. Then....she heard laughter and shouting. The once crying friends had gathered around her and shouted “Come on Bethany! Have some cake with us..........” She looked up just in time to catch a piece of soggy cake square in her forehead. Jumping up, she joined in the game. The cake may have been destroyed by the rain but her eight year old girl friends helped its complete destruction.

“Lost a planet Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing...”

~ Yoda

Invisible

Writer's Ink assignment for November:

First piece to be prose of 100 - 150 words 

(mine is 159)

Then shortened to one sentence

Finally shortened to a Haiku

'Invisible' in three parts

Walking in dense fog, I was cautious. Street lights showed only halos of grey white mist.  My feet quietly scuffed through thickly layered sidewalks. I knew that driving would be slow, with hope that there weren’t too many cyclists on the early morning ‘get to work’ roads. And, if there were, that all were suitably dressed and lit up so this passing motorist did not injure them. In my car, I had some control and could move at a pace dictated by fog and my practiced ability to steer my little blue vehicle.

Once at work, with many generations of staff behind the desk, I felt that the fog had not really been left behind. My words, my phrases and much that I had learned through life experience vanished in the same manner as my feet clouded in soft damp fog. My feet were very real. I could feel each step. But my feet were invisible inside their shoes.

*****

Fog, dense and mysterious, swirled through dark morning streets following me into multigenerations of colleagues; youth that couldn’t hear or see me.

*****

Swirling, dense, cold and damp             

fog trailed me into work.

Mature feet lost to younger.

“I suspect the older you get the more invisible you become.”

~ Nick Cave

Latte's and Laughter

Chatty, cheery energy dipped and dived, 

warp and weft of fine multicoloured threads

hovered ~ buoyed by latte's and laughter.

Gold edged magic carpet traveling many worlds.

“Imagination is the true magic carpet.”

~ Norman Vincent Peale

Hang On!

Learning curves hug the earth 

high rides over walls &

waves of ancient energy

“Learning now to learn is life’s most important skill.”

~ Tony Buzan

Attitudinal Shift

Pulling energy into our souls

letting minds off hooks of tasks 

suggestions from signs along the road

stop signs

yield signs

red, yellow or green lights

switching to automatic pilot 

from an automated pilot ~

a slight shift of powerful consolidation.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

~ Winston Churchill

I Wish I were A Duck......

I wish I were a duck on a bright autumn day 

with a clear pond to swim in whenever I may.

Under a fountain that keeps blue water so clean,

I’d float calmly with friends (you should see some of them preen!)

Or tuck my head neath my wing for a nap, 

conserving duck energy when the cold snaps.

But...the water is cold where the ducks take a dip!

And they don’t eat from china or use knives and forks

Never a hot cup of coffee for that bodily warmth

No warm fuzzy slippers, cosy sweaters to wear

So being myself is just fine I declare!

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

~ Joseph Campbell

An Evening with Margaret Atwood

Another literary outing with friends, this time at Alix Goolden Hall on Pandora St. and Quadra Ave. A great gathering of readers and writers filled the hall to hear Margaret Atwood, world renowned Canadian author, read from her latest book MaddAddam. This is the third in a trilogy beginning with Oryx and Crake, and followed by The Year of the Flood.

After a long week at work, listening and laughing while the very witty Ms. Atwood read with emphasis from MaddAddam, welcomed my flagging energy. Following her reading, she was interviewed on stage by the evening’s facilitator from Munro’s Books here in Victoria.  Questions were then taken from the audience before the evening concluded.

I have been humbled, and energized, this last couple of weeks in the literary gatherings I have been able to attend.

“You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer.”

~ Margaret Atwood