3WW - A Pantoum

Picture - Reflected - Stop

The Queen of Tulips

Open to the suns command
unfurl your stately beauty
allowing your colors to expand
oh queen of tulips do your duty

Unfurl your stately beauty
your power reflected in light
oh queen of tulips do your duty
to be a picture perfect sight

Your power reflected in light
brings my heart to a stop
to be a picture perfect sight
you must fight not to drop

Brings my heart to a stop
to see your yellow heart
you must fight not to drop
you are a delicate work of art

To see your yellow heart
allowing your colors to expand
you are a delicate work of art
open to the suns command

The picture is mine. ;)

A Pantoum has four quatrains in a abab rhyme scheme.

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.

Sunday Scribbling - Compose

She laid there in that hospital bed knowing her time had finally come. As she came in and out of the morphine fog she always felt him by her side, holding her hand, willing her to stay with him. They had been together for some fifty odd years, had two children and three grandchildren, all moved away. They had not shared a bedroom in years and since his retirement they seldom did anything fun. She had such dreams for they're retirement but his heart surgery, years ago, had changed the man she once knew. Once strong, fearless and fun was now unmotivated, fearful and a homebody.


She had never been sick, except a rare cold, her whole life. It had always been about taking care of her family and once they were grown she had felt alone. He spent his time in his recliner as he bobbed in and out of sleep in front of the TV, while she sat alone in her room reading and watching her game shows. She wondered why she just sat there watching her life drift by in the fast current of her twilight years.


She could hear his soothing words that seemed to echo in the room. She felt paralyzed because she could not comfort him with her words or through her eye's. Who will take care of him? What had she done by keeping his secret? She tried to tell her family about him but all that came out was a single tear. She loved this man and cherished the memories of a shared lifetime. She never thought she would go so fast. They had no will, she paid the bills, yet his fear never allowed him to accept her cancer so he remained in denial. She had pleaded to let the family know and put their affairs in order but he refused.


She knew when it was her time but in her drug haze she could not say goodbye. Her one last gift to him was of pure love as she composed herself to wait until he had left the room. He was never the same after that day but convinced his family he would be OK. They did their best to check in but he was a proud man and grew combative. He convinced them all.


He called 911 a year later after feeling ill. The paramedics found him on the floor of his kitchen. He was living in his home, as if homeless, dying of dehydration. He was malnourished and his house was in a shambles. His dementia was finally discovered as he passed in the ER with the depth of his secret kept.

This is my first piece of fiction and even though it is a sad tale, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone. It's a baby step due to the fact it is loosely based on my grandparents.

Photo by StockXpert/ Read other SS here http://sundayscribblings.blogspot.com/

Writer's Island - Triumph

An Ordinary Day

The morning sun is so bright and calming,

as I watch tiny particles dancing in the rays

performing in rhythm before me,

a ballet, of tiny faeries

filling the room with life,

beckoning me to get up

and create a new day.

But the morning sun is only the first word

on the page of this day-

a triumphant day-

the beginning of a long journey,

that pleads to be written.

At the start of my familiure day

I will stare out the window,

listening to the sounds in my flannel pj's,

leaning into the breeze,

ideas filling my mind I begin to write,

quiet as a opening tulip,

reflective as an aging mind,

anxious to write the words

this bright, breezy day

has to show me,

here through this window to the world

with it's dirty glass panes,

and sunny inspiration.

Come to the island!

http://writersisland.wordpress.com/

Love Thursday - Bleeding Heart Haiku

Dave recently planted a bleeding heart plant and I had never seen one before. The flowers are just so darn cute I'm sharing it for Love Thursday.

Nature has a heart

bleeding hope to the landscape

remember her love

Share the love at http://shuttersisters.squarespace.com/home/category/love-thursday

3WW - Apple Blossoms

Touching - Visible - Stage

A Rothko - Three lines, three words in each, a color in each line in a tic tac toe formation.

White sets stage

Touching pink blush

Spotting visible greens

http://threewordwednesday.wordpress.com/ Photo by Dave

What Were We Thinking?

Have you ever came up with a brilliant idea that you were so excited about yet you never thought it through? I'm really good at this and my husband frustratingly agrees.

Idea: Get a workout pool (dough boy) and stick it in the garage so I can stay ahead of muscle loss and be warm. It must be 48" deep to work.

We get a 15ft, 48" deep pool for a 18ft wide garage, can you say HUGE! Nothing smaller came 48"deep. We thought we could fill it with hot water from the water heater but with a 50gal water heater 12,000gals has taken forever. Two days and it's half full! I don't even want to see the propane and water bill for April...shoot me now! We looked into a pool heater and that would be outrageously high in propane or electricity due to the fact they are mainly made for built in pools. ALS patients must have very warm water so I'm thinking of squeezing my butt into a wet suit...argh!

The last and most important obstacle is how do I get in this thing. My arms are too weak for the ladder and I'm a whopping 5' 1" but Dave found a camper shell hoist, with a crank, on the ceiling of the garage. He's thinking of making a seat with cables and hoisting me down into the water. Picture a woman in a wet suit sitting high in the air, over a pool, in a garage. My neighbors will think the circus has moved to the mountains.

Dave is so embarrassed he did it all with the main door closed. He knows it's going to keep me mobile but the neighbors don't know I'm disabled, so he thinks they will label us "the crazy people up the street." I reminded him that with candles and music we can take late night skinny dips with complete privacy like a hot tub. We both have great ideas for our new pool but I'm stressing over the how to's. It was a good idea I swear! lol

Sunday Scribbling - "Fearless"

I agonized over this prompt because some of the bravest people I know have fears. I also have seen fear rear its ugly head in anger causing pain and self destruction. Fear of differences, loss and our own mortality can make people act out or hide from the world. Just look at politics and you will find the bottom line of many choices are made out of fear. Being fearless can be looked at in two ways according to my dictionary, literally living without fear or calmly resolute in facing fear. I don't believe humans can live without fear so I'll write about what I have learned about fear on my own journey.

When I was a single, working mom I was given the "put your affairs in order" speech. As a parent how can leaving a 7 and 5 year old behind not scare the hell out of you? I was the stable parent and had a job that sustained us, I could not leave them! I went into survivor mode and had no time for self pity or anger. I became a stay at home mom that focused on preparing the girls to be independent. Growing up with the fear of me leaving them affected who they are today. Each person has a choice in how they handle fear and I can't expect my girl's to deal with fear in the same ways I do. Once they were out of the house I had time to face my fears of the disease.

I'm certainly not afraid to die but I'm terrified of suffocation, which is how this disease ends. Morphine will apparently help with that, but instead of dwelling on it I asked a dying ALS patient. He had his wife call me one week before his death just to tell me that dying of suffocation was not as bad as we had imagined in our support group. What a gift this man gave me in such precious moments. I think facing my greatest fear head on empowered me to face the smaller fears.

My latest fear in my "happily ever after life" is that my husband will stop thinking of me as a woman when I get to the intimate needs of living with ALS. I'm doing good on my own right now but I'm researching in-home care and respite care before I need it. You can give your spouse a vacation by checking into a hospice for a short stay and he can be worry free. I will only chose a ventilator if my loved ones are not overwhelmed and we can afford it. This was a fear that needed to be discussed at length in our marriage for me to move on.

Fear can be toxic to my well being and those I love so I must keep it in check with positive action. Brave? No, I'm just happy that I'm still alive and enjoy living.