A Good, Solid Feeling

Spontaneous adventures are the best

Action figures prominently

Thought goes into the dance

Ideas pop and sprout

Surprise at the end of the day

Food and family are absolute partners

Accessibility makes life easier

Curiosity breathes inspiration

Top of the mountain

Intention favours vision and determination

Opportunity bounces and bounds

Nothing like it!

“Our labour preserves us from three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want.”

~ Voltaire, Candide

Shifted

Easily

She shifted

rigid ideas 

about guidelines

from linear lists to 

stardust and the vastness of space

Balance of time and task and temptation taking flight.

“When we shift our perception, our experience changes.”

~ Lindsay Wagner

Stretched

Stretched

Thin, strong and

Fine as a spiders web

Woven eave to branch

Fence post to spring bush

Balance challenged

By errant winds

Relaxed in the sun.

“I like to take up something that is challenging. 

I like to stretch myself.”

~ Christine Lahti

Scattered

Quickly

she scattered words

across the page like

pale spring flowers

from high branches 

set adrift 

by a late evening breeze

caught

in the balance

‘tween day and night.

“Write when you least feel like it,

Because that’s when you write best.”

~ Nema Al-Araby

"I'm Stuck!"

“I’m Stuck!” 

“I’m Stuck.” Even with all the tapping of keyboards, mail robot rolling up and down between out cubicles, phones ringing and just trying to focus on my own work I could hear the insistent whisper. The new girl was fresh out of school and had taken this job making cold calls to customers all over North Amerca. I really had been keeping an eye on her since meeting her the week before as my next door cubicle neighbour. She was very tall and very thin. If she had a bit more weight on her, she could have been considered willowy. Pale brown hair hung straight and loose past her shoulders with bangs that were crying to be trimmed. I remembered a delicate face and long lashes that her demeanor hid from the world.

“Can I help?” 

Tannis jumped as if I had fired a gun in the air. Everything on her desk jumped. The computer keyboard went sideways and the mouse clattered to the floor.

“OMG. Who are you?”

“We met last week at the staff meeting. My name is Horace Atchinson. I am in the cubicle right beside you. I heard you say you were stuck.”

Tannis spun around in her chair. 

“I am literally stuck. This chair won’t move, except to swivel. Is that how the boss keeps you at your desk? Wow, that is hilarious. Yes, you can help. Can you pull me back from this desk so I can stand up? 

Horace, always the gentleman, tugged politely on Tannis’ chair. Then he tugged a bit harder. Then he just yanked it while Tannis pushed against the edge of her desk. Horace stumbled backwards. Tannis fell forward, face on the desk, knees hit the floor. Her glasses flew off and slid across the room.

“What on earth? These chairs have never given me a problem. Oh, I see the problem now. You must have raised the chair after you rolled yourself under the desk.”

“You are amazing to figure it out so fast! I have to have my chair up high because I’m so tall. Are you always this amazing?”

Horace helped Tannis to her feet and looked up at her almost losing his balance again. She did at least have a beautiful smile. 

“Now that we’ve got you unstuck, let’s call the Maintenance department and get your desk raised so this doesn’t happen again.”

Tannis grabbed Horace’s hand in both of hers, pumping it up and down. 

“Thank you thank you thank you. I just know that you’ll be able to help me with everything. You are just amazing!”

Horace extricated his hand from Tannis’ grip and backed toward his cubicle.

“Please call on me if you need anything. Oh, but I’m busy for the rest of the day, so please just send me an email. And..and.. I leave early today as well. Oh, here’s Joe from the Maintenance department.  Must get back to work. Good-bye.”

“At times, you need to be forceful to get things that are stuck unstuck.”

~ Christine Quinn

Author's note: Edited February 05, 2024

Do I Have To?

Do I Have To?

"I just want to sleep. To sleep and sleep and sleep. Why are you waking me up? Go find someone else to make your breakfast. What? Mom left a note that said it was my turn to make breakfast?”

Sammy groaned and pulled the covers over his head. Weren’t teenagers supposed to sleep? Had his mother forgotten that teenagers balance life by sleeping. His little sister wasn’t leaving him alone.

‘Sammy. I’m hungry. And mom said. So don’t go back to sleep again.’ 

‘OK. OK. But you have to go to the kitchen and start setting the table.’  Sammy thought he’d could distract little Chelsea. Maybe she’d find some Fruit Loops and forget that Sammy even existed.

‘No.’ Chelsea pulled the blankets off him. ‘I won’t. You have to come with me. I can’t reach the plates and mom doesn’t want me to climb up to get them. You have to help me. Besides, I want scrambled eggs.’

‘All right, all right. Scrambled eggs do sound good and I do make awesome scramblers.

Sammy rolled out of bed onto the floor, chasing Chelsea door.

‘Get out of here, you little monkey, and let me get dresssed!’

Giggling wildly, Chelsea ran out of Sammy’s room.

“Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.”

~ Glen Cook, Sweet Silver Blues

On the Horizon

On the Horizon

Clouds built on the horizon. Beautiful in the setting sun, yet the billowing castles of heavy moisture were ominous. Paul stood on our porch watching the stunning display of nature, while a knot of worry tightened in side of him. I loved my husband very much and knew that he faced the great power struggle of unpredictable nature and his faithful care of the land we had lived on for 20 years. It would soon be time for autumn harvest - or for spring seeding. These marvelous weather displays had occurred at both times of year. I watched this wonderful man while he watched the land, sky and horizon. Oh, he had his faults. There were many times over the years we had disagreed, sometimes more vehemently than others. Our marriage had the same balance as the scene unfolding before us. Great beauty in our solid bond, our ability to be good parents and then there were the times when our own clouds billowed on the horizon. The only difference? The predictability of how we, as partners, faced our lives together. And so, tonight did not frighten me as it had in the early days, because I knew we would weather this storm.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass….

It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

~ Vivan Greene