The Cathedral Village Art Festival

Artesian Performing Arts
A not-for-profit arts organization

Kiosks offering crafts, clothes, jewellery, woodwork and art work lined both sides of 13th Avenue at the close of this annual Art Festival. I began my stroll at the Artesian Performing Art Centre drawn along by the aromas of all manner of foods offered from food trucks and tents. Music from buskers filled the air on this lovely day to stroll along with crowds of families and friends ~ complete with toddlers in strollers snacking on goodies; well behaved dogs on leashes. Before turning around and heading home, I ducked into a coffee shop for a sit-down and coffee, air-conditioning and a table to lean on. Then home while perusing the kiosks on the other side of the street. A sterling silver ring and a pottery dessert bowl were my only purchases to find their way into my backpack. I was going to stop at the ice cream store just before turning to home, but the lineup was just too long. Ice cream will have to wait to another day.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

~ William Shakespeare

Canned Salmon

I had a thought today, 

not sure when or where. Could have been when I walked under flower scented trees or when  examining the plump juicy grapefruit at the grocery store. 

At the time it was clear and precise but I let it float away when I remembered I also needed canned salmon. 

So I will let my lost thought drift like the clouds in the clear blue sky. Maybe it will speak to me again in the song of the birds because I did let it drift.

“Give thy thoughts no tongue.”

~ William Shakespeare 

Moving Forward

Horizons fascinate me. 

Raised on a prairie farm, 

horizon stretched all around ~ 

no trees or mountains to block

that beautiful distant view. 

‘what view?’ some say

But it is possibility with 

nothing standing in 

the way of moving forward. 

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. 

We are never tired so long as we can see far enough.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Moving Memories

When the rocking chair sits empty 

day after day I sense it’s loneliness. 

But then rocking chairs don’t have feelings. It is only my feelings 

that long for the days of babies 

that need rocking to sleep, 

toddlers working the rocking chair 

for the first time. Hard work!

So, I take my book and rock gently til my head rests where my dad’s head would be. 

Rocking chairs are more than furniture 

~ they are moving memories.

“There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about 

a rocking-chair that attaches to no other moving object.”

~ Wallis Simpson, socialite

(1896 - 1986)

Re-Visioning

Going down the rabbit hole 

of words and ideas 

~ related but unrelated ? 

my head is spinning and I need glasses! But I do have glasses ~ not off my face for 

decades but the visions are always the same. The same brown wall, the same red pillows; my mind is to create 

new visions of things? 

Flights of ideas into a cloud

that looks like a dragon, 

and comes out the other side ~ 

no longer the butterfly of brilliance, 

but a red toadstool with white polka dots ~

all familiar and alive ~ 

well maybe not the dragon, 

but so very re-visioned! 

“I think the hard work of writing is just how

 long a book is terrible before it’s good.”

~ Leigh Bardugo, author

Pivoting

 

Plans scattered to the wind

Momentum screeched to a halt 

New plans spun out of the air

Just for today.

“Pivot your perspective.”

~ Robin S. Baker, author

Paired

Simplicity has 

no twists and turns

mind games or 

thinking too much. 

Momentum seems

long and tiring, 

with no stops 

along the way. 

But together, 

they show me 

that they are 

on the same road. 

One step at a time, 

one word at a time, 

’til simplicity is

paired with momentum.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.”

~ Albert Einstein