Thursday, May 31, 2007

Update Post

We have spent the last two weekends at the new house and we are off again in the morning. I'm trying to keep up with clubs on my blog but I've not been very good at updates.



New house is feeling like home. Not one baby blue wall or carpet to be found.

No nibbles on house sale after one month on the market.

TK got his head shaved for summer... gramy's sad.

My daughter's and their families live together but are now in a huge feud...dah!

Gramy has not seen TK for 2 weeks to avoid being sucked into above feud. *chills*

Dave's retirement is so close he's going bonkers (Aug. 13th). Short timers disease. lol

Helen had a beautiful memorial service and I've kept in touch with her daughter Michelle.

Pam and I email almost daily to keep each other sane and I WILL go see her in Vermont!

New flickr toy, it's an Andy Warholizer. I love toys! (see photo)

New show alert for movie buffs, On the Lot.

Dave's new blooms coming soon :)



PRAYER REQUEST: House sells by Aug. 13th!



Have a fabulous, relaxing weekend for us!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Poetry Thursday - "River"

Driftwood

Broken by a storm, freed from my roots
I flow toward destiny where
new adventures await,
anxiously.

No longer a bystander of a rivers journey
but baptized by nature’s resilience
as I float, glide and fly,
joyfully.

My journey has shaped me uniquely
chiseled by jagged rock to beauty
whitened by the sun,
brilliantly.

Life no longer passes me by as I travel
napping in shadowed pools
dancing with the spray,
gratefully.

Where will my adventure’s end?
Does it really matter as
long as I’m still here,
naturally.


To view other poetry visit http://poetrythursday.org/

Photo from stockXpert

Monday, May 28, 2007

One Deep Breath - "Common Ground"


I remember my freedom's have come at a great cost. This is in honor of papa Jack, a Marine who survived on the Yorktown when it sank. My uncle Bobby who died at 18 in Vietnam from friendly fire and my dad Pat, who was a cook in the Navy.
May our boy's fighting come home soon.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Sunday Scribblings - "Simple"

I've learned in the last sixteen years that life is never simple. When dressing and getting food into your mouth is a chore you tend to re-evaluate the definition of simple. For me when things get tough what makes my life simpler is my five senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. They can make any situation seem less horrific. If one is taken away, the rest kick into overdrive, giving us coping mechanisms. I cling to these simple things as each hurdle arrives.

Looking at nature
colors to brighten the dark
seeing creation

Hearing emotions
laughter, sadness and anger
your heart floods my ear's

Bitter, sweet or salt
memories of taste never fade
taste buds always bloom

Scent is my compass
it gives everything a name
I inhale you

The touch of your hand
sends your love through my body
comforting the heart

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!
Photo by stockxpert

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Poetry Thursday - "Dialogue Poetry"



This week at Poetry Thursday we were challenged to write a poem that is driven by dialogue between the speaker and another who may or may not be real.

I decided to use a grandma story that happened recently with TK. This happened to his other grandparent's. My daughter was shocked he had accidentally called his grandparent's in the middle of the night and they recognized his 17 month old gibberish.


MIDNIGHT CALLER



I lay there lost in my dreams, fetal and still.


A familiar sound breaks my repose,


my body, responding unconsciously.


My husband begins to stir listlessly,


listening with a turned ear, while I


grab the phone. Then we hold our breath


as nothing good comes at midnight.




I say hello, anxiously, as silence fills the dark.


Daba, beba, mama and then a giggle flows


through the line. TK, is that you? The gibberish


continued as together we held his voice in


our hand's. We each took our turn at grandparent


chatter as our heart's swelled with love.


Twenty minutes of baby banter disconnected


by a single accidental touch.




He continued playing with daddy's cellphone,


as his parents lay sleeping beside him,


oblivious to his nighttime play. He tires,


laying back on his pillow, watching buttons


play with the dark. Eyes begin to flutter softly,


as he drifts away on clouds of baby dreams.




Monday, May 21, 2007

One Deep Breath - "Viewpoint" Tanka

Green meadow
trees lifting their skirt's
stepping back
giving way to sun
softness beckoning

Blues of spring
deceptive water
cooled by snow
blue sky hides the sun
body chilled to blue

I took a mini respite from blogging to check out the progress on my retirement home. The house is feeling like a home, but can you tell me how men can't tell white, from off white, from off off white? LOL Dave worked non stop, but on our journey home Dave captured a meadow and a lake not five minutes from the house. I'm beginning to get excited!

To see other "Viewpoints" visit http://onebreathpoetry.blogspot.com/




Tuesday, May 15, 2007

One Deep Breath - "Nurture"

A blue eyed smile
pillowed cheeks, wet kisses
nurtures heart and soul

A grandmother's
unconditional love
second chances

Grandson's smile
humming bird wings
tickle my heart.

To read other's at One Deep Breath go http://onebreathpoetry.blogspot.com/
The photo is TK, my grandson, at 17mos.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mother's Day Weekend


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

TURN SOUND OFF VIDEO FOR BEST RESULT

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had TK and my daughter's family over Friday night for pizza and a movie. TK is always dancing just like his mom. I danced with him but since I was in my sweats I saved you the horror show. My oldest was working out of town so on Mother's Day weekend Dave stepped up to celebrate me as a mom. Saturday we enjoyed an Indian Market where Dave got instructions on making flutes and gourd bowls for retirement. I also got a video of the "Tammy Strut." For popcorn movie night we rented an inspiring movie called "Freedom Writer's" with Hilary Swank. No great acting but an awesome true story of a teacher.


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

TURN SOUND OFF VIDEO FOR BEST RESULTS

Sunday I was brought breakfast in bed and then went to the theater to see "Disturbia" that was a modern re-make of "Rear Window." Some editing holes but entertaining. I jumped so high in one scene, my leg flew out straight and catapulted my sandal into the isle. For not getting out much I really got around this weekend.

This Thursday I'm going to bite the bullet and go see the improvements on our new house. I've gotten cold feet as I see people's positive reaction to my current little house. I'll take pictures and try and picture it with my cosy furniture.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Mothers and Interviews


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
INTERVIEWS BY MY FRIEND'S

My friend Judi at Talking to Myself interviewed me and she was one of my first commenter's. She has 4 grown children and a grandson. I've even spoken with her on the phone and she's a terrific gal. Her questions are:

1. Name a truth you’ve learned in adulthood, e.g., an aha! moment, but one that you might not have believed as a kid or even as a young adult. You must earn your life. You get exactly what you put out there.
2. What’s the most trouble you got into as a kid?
I was hit with a belt by my mom until I could tell time because we were late for church. I was at the age you learn to tell time and I gave her the wrong time. I was pretty much a good kid but I learned how to be sneaky out of fear of retribution.
3. Where/when (what time period) would you go if you could time travel? Who would you meet? I would go back to the time when Jesus walked the earth to ask for forgiveness and healing.
4. What astrological sign are you? Does your sign resemble your actual personality?I'm a Libra and I have most of the traits. Social, easily influenced, romantic, indecisive, charming and flirtatious. Self-indulgent on occasion.
5. I know you’re a big movie buff - who are your favorite actors/actresses and what are their best films? Also, feel free to tell whom you think is overrated (e.g., for me, Meg Ryan). I stink at names but I can see their faces. Meryl Steep, Johnny Dep, Judy Dench etc. I'm such a movie fan I'll find something to like and dislike in every movie. Not a fan of funny movies and I'll watch a movie because of an actor first, plot second. The Patriot with Mel Gibson is a movie that has all I look for in movies. Good acting, history, and moves me. Many actors are over rated, like Kevin Costner. I cringe at singers who try to act and actors who try to sing. Exceptions I can think of is Coal Minors Daughter and The Color Purple. Dejavu with Denzel Washington was very good and I love movies in beautiful places like A River Runs Through It and Memoirs of a Geisha.


Tabor at One Day at a Time is another blog friend that I really enjoy. She has been working on her retirement home and is a poet with an adorable grandson. Her questions for me were:
1. When was the last time you did a random act of kindness and what was it?
I snuck my daughter's mother-in-law a CD of our grandson TK. They have kept TK from them for 4mos over a feud. My youngest does not forgive easy and since I could be next us grandmas need to stick together.
2. What do you always or most of the time make excuses for? I always make excuses why I am not using my weights, taking my pills or eating during the day. For me it's about survival and independence, not looking good. It frustrates my family and yet I don't know why I'm not doing it routinely. I am in serious denial that I will continue my lucky streak. I'm going to have a task master in August named Dave. He is planning on bringing me back to reality.
3. When do you usually get unsolicited advice? When I bring up moving around my kids. They think I'm cutting them out of their life's, but I look at it as safe distance. (2 1/2 hr drive).
4. What is the best thing you learned in school? Socialization! I was sent to a private Catholic college prep school and I struggled. I learned my outgoing personality made up for my average grades. I left college after a year and went into salary sales. My socialization skills made a great living.
5. If you could change places with anyone, who would that be and why?
It would be a really healthy person and a hands on healer. I know they exist but I don't have a name. I think to be able to heal would be very cool for obvious reasons.
Great questions ladies! Have a fantastic weekend.

Poertry Thursday - "Randomizer" Pantoum

My "Randomizer" word is "single."
I chose to try a Pantoum

In a traditional Pantoum:
The lines are grouped into quatrains (4-line stanzas).
The final line of the Pantoum must be the same as its first line.
A Pantoum has any number of quatrains.
Lines may be of any length.
The Pantoum has a rhyme scheme of abab in each quatrain. Thus, the lines rhyme alternately.
The Pantoum says everything twice:
For all quatrains except the first, the first line of the current quatrain repeats the second line in the preceding quatrain; and the third line of the current quatrain repeats the fourth line of the preceding quatrain.
In addition, for the final quatrain, its second line repeats the (so-far unrepeated) third line in the first quatrain; and its last line repeats the (so-far unrepeated) first line of the first quatrain.
Thus the pattern of line-repetition is as follows, where the lines of the first quatrain are represented by the numbers "1 2 3 4":
Yes, it gave me a headache!
LAMENTING
In this single moment
just before the sun begins to bow.
I take time to lament
knowing I must live in the now.

Just before the sun begins to bow
the stillness dims the light.
Knowing I must live in the now
I inhale taking in the night.

The stillness dims the light
a chill covers me with grey.
I inhale taking in the night
watching the cedars sway.

A chill covers me with grey
I shiver in memories past.
Watching the cedars sway
willing time to last.

I shiver in memories past.
I take time to lament.
Willing time to last
in this single moment.

To view other poets visit Poetry Thursday at http://poetrythursday.org/

Photo is by me from my bedroom as the sun is setting.


Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Help! I've Messed up my Blog

Some bloggers were having trouble with my blog so I updated my template. My profile is on the bottom and I can't figure out where to stick my toys...be kind. lol My email is on my profile, can someone help me before I throw it out back.. This picture was our last spring storm sporting a rainbow.

Monday, May 07, 2007

One Deep Breath - "Sleep"

Sleeping love touches
breathing into each other
two dreams become one

Sleeping soldiers dream
faces turn to little boys
a moment of peace


Pictures from StockXpert

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Sunday Scribbling - "Ocean"

This poem is in memory of a friend, Helen Sattel, who lost her battle with als yesterday. She taught me how to live with harsh realities and I'm happy she is now free. Rest in peace my friend.

Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches

Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches
of other lives -
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey,
hanging
from the branches of the young locust trees, in early morning,
feel like?
Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?
Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you in!
Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!
Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over
the dark acorn of your heart!
No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint
that something is missing from your life!
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?
Well, there is time left -
fields everywhere invite you into them.
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
To put one's foot into the door of the grass, which is
the mystery, which is death as well as life, and
not be afraid!
To set one's foot in the door of death, and be overcome with amazement!
To sit down in front of the weeds, and imagine
god the ten-fingered, sailing out of his house of straw,
nodding this way and that way, to the flowers of the
present hour,
to the song falling out of the mockingbird's pink mouth,
to the tippets of the honeysuckle, that have opened
in the night
To sit down, like a weed among weeds, and rustle in the wind!
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?
While the soul, after all, is only a window,
and the opening of the window no more difficult
than the wakening from a little sleep.
Only last week I went out among the thorns and said
to the wild roses:
deny me not,
but suffer my devotion.
Then, all afternoon, I sat among them. Maybe
I even heard a curl or tow of music, damp and rouge red,
hurrying from their stubby buds, from their delicate watery bodies.
For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters,
caution and prudence?
Fall in! Fall in!
A woman standing in the weeds.
A small boat flounders in the deep waves, and what's coming next
is coming with its own heaven and grace.
Meanwhile, once in a while, I have chanced, among the quick things,
upon the immutable.
What more could one ask?
And I would touch the faces of the daises,
and I would bow down
to think about it.
That was then, which hasn't ended yet.
Now the sun begins to swing down. Under the peach-light,
I cross the fields and the dunes, I follow the ocean's edge.
I climb, I backtrack.
I float.
I ramble my way home.
Mary Oliver

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Poetry Thursday - "Fallen Warrior"

FALLEN WARRIOR

Our Father who art in heaven

save my fellow warrior

as she fights for her

precious life.



Hallowed be thy name

for she is in your hands

you hold the power

of her fate.



Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

her faith has been tested

she stood with fortitude

heart breaking.



On earth as it is in heaven

take away her suffering

her shadowed dreams

give her hope.



Give us this day, our daily bread

for she is a mother that

has nutured a family

now in shreds.



Forgive us our trespasses

for we want her to stay

our yellow rose

another day.



Amen


Poetry Thursday had no theme this week and since a fellow warrior/blogger is fighting for her life I wrote a poem/prayer. She could use many more as the doctors have given her little hope. I'm not going to give up on her! Fight sweet Helen. Yellow Rose I can't concentrate on much else for now.
I can't seem to link with beta? http://hsatt1.blogspot.com/ Helen's blog.