Mountain (tanka) Thoughts

June 12, 2024.Reading time 1 minute.

Ever the mountainPresence looming, commandingClimb! Climb! It beckons – My soul, magnetized, respondsPursuing new heights – compelled. When my mother lost her eyesight, I confessed that I would give up at that point, but here I am, into my second year of failing vision and still climbing. Oh, my loss is not as great as […]

Cornered

June 23, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

It was the pitch of the two dogs barking in the backyard that alerted me to trouble. That and Pippi, the female, growling. The two had cornered a young groundhog between the deck steps and a tiered planter. After I sternly sent them back inside, I went out to check on the animal’s wellbeing. “He’s […]

How quickly things change…

April 8, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Last Friday, a friend picked me up to go birding, and I thrilled at the sight of the Pied-billed grebe on our river. Saturday, we glowed in the aftermath of a successful fundraiser, supporting the displaced Ukrainians we offered to host – still having no idea who they would they were. Sunday morning we awoke […]

And so it goes…

March 28, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The generosity of friends and neighbours has truly warmed our hearts, as we prepare for our Ukrainian house guests. Inspection of our home is set for this week, and just as everything was coming together… it rained…and we discovered a crack in our foundation. Drywall has been ripped out, carpet removed, and the back garden […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: Read on…

May 17, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

I truly love the community here – so many different life experiences reaching across the internet to connect. I have cried, laughed, and generally felt the warmth of getting to know so many wonderful minds. I would love to meet you in person. So, I have this fantasy, that we all meet – money and […]

Mother

When I had a mothermy hair would cascadein curls of auburn perfectiona red velvet bow to accentuate the wave And I’d wear my bestnewly sewn frockwith lace at the neckand fishnet stockingsand patent Mary Janes And the girls giggling with delightwould skip hand-in-handto the school promand the boys shyly perchedagainst the back wall would wonderhow […]

Lull (tanka)

Self-Sufficient

Isolated and incapacitatedI am prohibited from partakingof the influx of information incessantly presented consequently cut offfrom prescribed expectationsdictating costuming and culture external expressions of acceptanceare sorely missing, suggestingan overall lack of self-worth. Interestingly inverse to such conclusionsis the sudden contentment that arisesfrom escaping the mayhem Internal relief overrides dictated performancesurrendering willingly to intrinsic motivationand renewed […]