Build Me a Place To Call Home

August 19, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

(For Cee’s Fun Foto challenge: all about buildings.)

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #109: What a Sight!

August 17, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Needing a break from moving house, I took my camera and drove along the river road looking for birds. Always hoping for that one shot to brag about later. The river seldom disappoints. A family of wild turkeys crossing the road welcomed me. Ripples in the calm water revealed a female merganser – a thrill […]

Not My Taste

August 16, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Relax. I’m not into beef or grass. Keep chewing. **Our weekly focus was taste. I’m ashamed to say we’ve been eating terribly all week – convenience over taste. One of the downsides of packing for moving. Fortunately, the rest of you have been as creative and inspiring as always. Thanks to all who participated: Trippin’, […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #108: taste

August 10, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Cornish pasties, the ones my father used to make when I was a child, were the one thing I craved while carrying my first child. Something in the taste of ground beef, sliced potato, and onion, wrapped in a flaky crust and seasoned just right, called to me. Except my father had long since misplaced […]

Best Listener

August 9, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

The art of listening, best taught by the family pooch –ears attuned to nuances, carefully weed throughhuman gibberish for words that resonate:treat, dinner, walk, cuddles… Those eyes challenge, invite compassionconvey a depth beyond understandingand when tone turns impatient,little paws retreat, as if words are blows. If only I could learn to listen,hear the workings of […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #107: listen

August 3, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Birdwatching for me is a meditative practice. It involves immersing myself in nature and finding a quiet place from which I can observe. I begin with a prayer of acknowledgment and gratitude. I ready my camera and then I listen. Each bird has its own song and variations. It helps me determine where I want […]

To Touch or Not to Touch

August 2, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

She was quite eccentric, and visibly older than most of the students attending our program. I’d had five years between first and second year, so I guess she was drawn to my maturity. We both wanted to be teachers. After graduation, she went on to her Bachelor of Education, and I gave birth to my […]

Appreciation

July 31, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Flowers greet the rainface up appreciation –nourishment’s glow. (For Cee’s Flower of the Day.)

Of Winter

July 29, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Where does the river gowhen snow, blindingclaims the flow? Houses nestled in wooded grovesshudder at the exposure of leafless daysbrace against the chills of early eves. How quickly we rejoice at first thaw, eager to embracechange – emotion often premature. (For Lens-artists Photo Challenge: Winter)

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #106: touch

July 27, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

“Dear Grandma, We love you with all our hearts. We miss you and wish we couldtouch you and have sleepovers all the time. You are the best girlin the world and I love you so much and hate the coronavirus.” The note came in a homemade card, created and dictated by my four-year-old granddaughter. Touching […]

Dear Child

I know a little girl,whose hair in ringletsfalls, unkempt from lackof brushing; who standswhen she should be sitting;who laughs with defiance whenchallenged, her dark eyes gleamingwith mischief; who holds her chin uphigh and stamps her feet, arms foldedin protest when she does not get her way. I see that little girl,have watched her play,with a […]

Re-de-fine-d

Ask me how I’m doingand I’ll say “fine”, notbecause I’m actually fine,but because “fine” is the onlysocially acceptable response. If I said that I have been lyinghere, for three hours now,willing my body to move,that would elicit unsolicitedadvice and tarnish my “fine”. I’d berate myself for breakingmy promise not to moan,knowing that complainingprovokes a compulsive […]