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Saturday, September 17, 2022

Step Away






Searching my brain for words 

only tangled vines and dusty windows

were behind my eyes 

so I walked and walked to clear my head, and breathed deep of autumn air ~ tangled vines stirred gently

scrolling words on dusty glass.






“Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.”

~ Samuel Johnson, the History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Friday, September 16, 2022

Play With Me!!

I was going to write an essay about 

the value of real fun playdates ~

about how after we’re schoolyard kids

and teens on trying to be grownups

and adults whose lives are scheduled

with meetings, and family, and sometimes friends

but essays have fun taken out of them

Too serious

Too boring

all that other stuff is really important

but today I sat on the floor all afternoon

 ~ except when I didn’t ~

my companion a mere three years old

we sang the Alphabet song a hundred times and made an Alphabet puzzle, ate chocolate chip waffles with apples and maple syrup

chicken strips and lots of strawberries

sang the Alphabet song two more times and played roll the rings

drew happy faces and just lines with all the marker colours

when we got bored ~ for two seconds ~ all the hats came out!

~ we tried them all on ~ then

home time came too soon but we’ll play again soon.


“Life is more fun if you play games.”

~ Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

Thursday, September 15, 2022

To Come Again


 



fine rain

  cool breezes

    overcast skies

      yellowing leaves 


seasons change

  one to the other 

    until summer 

      returns again



“I think that to one in sympathy with nature, 

each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.”

~ Mark Twain

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Chapter Two, Episode 101 - Comes the Dawn - Situationally Theirs

Comes the Dawn


Joanie Richardson saw the old blue Ford parked behind the duplex. Her mother, Martha Haverstock-Digby owned the other side of the duplex. She had married the Estate butler and moved to the other side of the Beaufort Estate. Joanie and her children, Ben and Abby, missed her greatly. Martha had rented out her half of the duplex to Dez Eliot, sister to Mrs. Beaufort-Crawford. She liked Dez, visiting with her now and then. She drove a red car. That truck seemed out of place. But Joanie had to get the three of them off to school. A teacher at Hartley Elementary School, her children were students there as well. The children’s lunches packed, she put them in their backpacks. “Ben. Abby. Come on, the bus is coming. Abby, honey, stay close to Ben until he gets you to your school room.” Ben groaned. “Mom, do I have to!? Can’t she ride with you?”


“No, Ben, I want you to take care of your sister going to school. I don’t want to have this argument again. You know I’ll be taking her home after school, but she needs to learn about riding the bus. You’re a good brother.” Joanie ruffled her son’s hair, adjusted his backpack and turned to her daughter. Adjusting her young daughter's backpack, she said “Abby, just stay close to Ben.” She saw them off to the bus and went to her own car. Glancing over at the truck in Dez’s parking space, she reminded herself to call her mother about the truck. Checking her watch, her thoughts turned back to her school day.


~~~~~


Dez woke with a start. In a deep sleep for barely three hours, she woke worried about her car. Where was it? She was in her own bed. How did she get home? Shaking her head to clear it, memory of the previous night surfaced slowly. Jeremy and Em. Driving on the highway in Jeremy’s car, top down. A restaurant? Mexican food. The night sky. Matt!? He drove me home? Sitting up slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She could hear the rattle of dishes from the kitchen. She saw Matt’s shirt. Flung on the floor. Picking it up, she put it on. It hung mid thigh. Rolling up the sleeves, she went across to the bathroom. Washed her face and raked her fingers through her hair. “You’re up.” Matt stood leaning against the bathroom door, wearing only his pants. “I was going to make coffee and breakfast but I can’t find anything in your kitchen. Fridge is pretty empty too.” He grinned his slow grin at her; her stomach fluttered. Suddenly shy, she wished she had put on more than just his shirt. Trying to be calm she returned his smile, if a bit stiffly. “I guess we stayed up pretty late. Thank you for getting me home.” She wanted to faint, feeling like a guilty teenager after breaking curfew. She want to reach out to him; thrilled about their evening and night together. Steadying herself on the bathroom vanity, she tried again. “Matt, I don’t really have much breakfast food here. Not much coffee, but enough for a couple of cups.” Reaching out her hand to him, she let herself be led to the kitchen. “We can go out for breakfast later, Dez.”


~~~~~


At around 4:30, Joanie returned home from school with 6 year old Abby in tow. The old blue Ford was still there. She couldn’t have known that Matt and Dez had gone out and returned. They had gone out to breakfast and to the grocery store. When she called her mother, all she was told was that everything was all right. “Don’t worry, dear. Dez is home and her sister will be taking care of her car.” She gave her children their supper, and when it was time, put them to bed. Pulling a sweater on, she stepped out on her back porch.  In the gathering dusk, she could see two people on the porch swing on Dez’s back porch, arms around each other. Joanie slipped quietly inside her home.


“Good neighbors always spy on you to make sure you are doing well.”

~ Pawan Mishra, Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Bear-ly There




Walking the woods today

I found a little bear

So soft and cuddly warm

I settled in a chair


Waking from my cosy bed

My head still in the woods

I found my little bear at home

In a cupboard full of toys.





“Hope is a waking dream.” 

~ Aristotle

Monday, September 12, 2022

Trail Finder


Standing still slowly finding my writer’s feet lost in the shifting sands of my life ~ not belonging in the move from there to here

patiently waiting for 

   the day, 

      the time, 

         the moment

when writing becomes my life’s focus once more ~ picking up threads from the fraying fabric 

of a writing life that strayed from the trail. 


“You’re off to great places, today is your day. 

Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” 

~ Dr. Seuss

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Seven Decades

 




Head bowed ~

Her wisdom remains in

seeds sown throughout

seven decades of service 


Rest in Peace 


Queen Elizabeth II 

21 April 1926 - 8 September 2022 





“Let us not take ourselves too seriously. 

None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.” 

~ Queen Elizabeth II (in her 1991 Christmas broadcast)