These Things

I study on these things. 

These things easy to shrug off 

like the timing of 

which chore or outing to do first. 

What is most efficient. 

Today has been one of those days 

when housework and reorganizing 

has built up a pile of papers here, 

the risen sourdough needs baking there. 

There is no logic to it; 

merely what I want. 

All the pieces are in place.

It is up to me 

to muddle them around 

to create my home. 

So I carry on without 

complaint knowing 

there are no deadlines 

unless I set them.

“You’re not always going to make the right decisions, 

but you have to be guided by what you think is important.”

~ Hillary Clinton

A Hometown Sojourn

Sisters

A trip out of town

Niece, her husband 

   and grand niece

Visiting, jigsaw puzzles 

    and stories

A loop around home town 

     before return to city

Supper out with brother 

     (more stories and memory work)

Scrabble (I won)

Sisters

“When you finally go back to your old home, you find 

it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood.”

~ Sam Ewing, baseball player

What There Is

Wondering what there is at the end 

   

   of the journey of life is 

full of imaginings and worries 

until I tire of wondering 

setting my bare feet into new grass 

      to feel cool earth. 

Wondering what tomorrow will bring 

~ easy to let go of because 

I’ve known many tomorrows, 

for the imaginings and worries 

are thin and without substance.

Wondering what my purpose in this world 

could be seems empty of meaning.

So I just enjoy the surroundings of home 

and the sun setting over the roof tops.

“You see, the what if's are as boundless as the stars.”

~ Sally Gardner,  Maggot Moon

When I Stand

When I stand outside 

the life I’ve chosen to live 

I see loneliness or a life

without meaning yet 

When I step inside the life 

I’ve chosen to live 

I feel fulfilled and

meaning is all around. 

When I stand outside the life 

I’ve chosen to live, I love the busyness of community 'til

I long for the quiet of home 

When I step inside the life 

I’ve chosen to live 

I sit down with pen and paper 

to frame the meaning of my heart.

When I stand outside the life 

I’ve chosen to live, 

my life is a joy 

with friends, with family.  

When I step inside the life 

I’ve chosen to live, 

I miss them all but am surrounded 

by the gift of their presence in my life.

“Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”

~ Laozi, philosopher

(604 BC ~ 531 BC)

Sound Strange?

Today

a day off

sound strange?

no appointments, 

shopping or gatherings. 

Attending to home.

Home

where family& friends surround me

in memory, photographs and things.

Things

paintings, china, knick-knacks

ideas, gifts, and blankets

Today

a day off

sounds just right.

Home is what you take with you, not what you leave behind.”

~ N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

Applied Conversation

I know I’m not the 

only one to tell the 

timer “I’m coming!” 

while hurrying to push 

the off button. There 

must be others who 

speak sharply or kindly 

to the tea kettle’s insistent 

whistle. “I’m coming!” 

Of course there is the 

little musical chime 

from the fridge that gently 

reminds me that the door is ajar.

And I’m confident that there are 

conversations with the characters 

on the TV…can’t do that in a 

theatre where even the munching 

of popcorn disturbs some people. 

Conversations with my appliances 

amuse me. But they only reply with the

‘bells and whistles’ of our technology. 

I have yet to get Siri or Alexis 

involved in this domestic chatter 

but I’m sure that will be soon enough. 

“There is no such thing as conversations. It is an illusion. 

There are intersecting monologues, that is all.”

~ Rebecca West, author

(1892 - 1983)

Something

 

I have to think of something,
something intellectual ,

something sparkling with wit,
something with depth 

                and substance.

But all I can think of is
the slippers on my feet,

the cat curled up in his favourite chair,
the hum of the dishwasher,

the photos of family on the ledge above the fireplace
On second thought ~ they are

the brilliant somethings I was yearning for
Family and home, comfort and warmth.

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

~ Dr. Seuss

One Gorgeous Knickknack!

The pink flamingo stands 

forever frozen in porcelain 

The beautiful bird has graced 

many a shelf since coming into 

my home in 1988, not aging a day.

even though now a senior citizen  

In and out of boxes, she travelled with 

me from Texas to British Columbia, 

and finally to Saskatchewan. 

Only the lily lost a tiny chip.

Because she doesn’t get to 

any ponds or lakes to clean 

and splash, it falls to me

to keep her plumage bright.

“She is pure Alice in Wonderland, and her appearance and demeanour 

 a nicely judged mix of the Red Queen and A Flamingo.”

~ Truman Capote

Wandering

A wandering way

to far away lands 

leaves me breathless 

watching myself 

walking roads and trails.

In my imaginings, 

they are full of 

story and history, 

friends and neighbours, 

the ghosts of ancestors

to accompany this traveler 

until my eyes are opened 

to the comforts of home.

“You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as

the dreams that dance in your imagination.”

~ Roman Payne, novelist and poet