VJ’s Weekly Challenge #113: How It All Started

September 21, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

The meeting was both exciting and a letdown. Exciting because it was my first attempt at a social event in over three years, having been bed bound all that time. A letdown as soon as the participants talked about early morning walks as the best way to spot birds. Mornings were still tough for me, […]

It’s Not Easy Being Green…

September 20, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

…especially when you dwell in Northern climes. Now, down south, green is all the rage: (A male mallard in a local ditch, and green jays taken along the Rio Valley in Texas. For Bird Weekly challenge.)

In the Aftermath

September 18, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

All the fading bitsdetract – I am still alivepassion asserting. (A quick check in. I am recovering well; still needing lots of rest. Thanks for all the good wishes. Image from my collection.)

Rachel Sunshine

September 13, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

“Tell me a favourite memory from your travels,” my golden-haired nurse asked me as she scoured my bruised arms for an accessible vein. I’d blown another IV and options were limited. Rachel Sunshine I called her, this wisp of a young woman who, at first hospital-glazed glance, glowed a with a yellow aura. So I […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #112: Take Care

September 7, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Make sure you have lists for us when we come, my daughter messages me. Checklists with a gong to hit every time we complete a task, my son-in-law adds. We have no shortages of lists, in fact, every day or so, we are rewriting our lists: things to do, things to buy… Nowhere in those […]

Not Everything is “Stuff”

September 6, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

An apology, dear readers, if this week’s challenge came across as glib. By “stuff“, I was referring to the incidental: a broken foot, a set of stitches, a temporary setback. In no way did I intend to imply that trauma or loss is “stuff”. Some things, with a bit of grit, can be overcome. I […]

Domesticated

September 5, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The swans in nearby Stratford, are domesticated for the purpose of creating ambiance – replicating the original Stratford on Avon. Dug into my archives for this photo of a man with his two feathered pets. (For Bird Weekly challenge: domesticated birds.)

Pink!

September 4, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Pink petuniassuspended from white porch rail –gift to passerby. (For Cee’s FOTD)

A Sweet End to August

September 2, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

A little finch seems to like the new bird café in the neighbourhood. Not sure about the new humans though. (For bushboys world last photo of the month challenge.)

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #111: stuff happens

August 31, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“Just hang in till after the move,” I kept pleading with my body. Unrealistic in hindsight. Six o’clock, the morning before the move, I wake Ric with a request to drive me to the hospital. Turns out you can’t just pack chronic illness in a box and unpack it when convenient. While they pumped fluids […]

Present Distance

I’ve lived the fog of distance –life’s highway a series of hillsdestination without promise Have learned that acceptance gains perspective,that climates change, and hope sustains,and that in the stillness dreams renew. Now I travel quieter paths, appreciatespace, have surrendered to a slower pace –certain that this too will change. (image my own)

Floral Balm

Of Trauma Born

Goodbyes tarnishfaith, like ashesscattered My heart grows dismissal,craves a balm of connectionseeks quiet harbour Remind me what it feels like to be safebreath nurturing life,love a rhythmic flow In meditationI reach for peaceimagine salvation But this wayward chaosunrestrainedcements me in doubt Tainted intentionsI lift up to the Universea tempest without hope My soul incubates malicea […]