Close Up

July 15, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

For Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Closeups or Macros

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #104: Next Chapter

July 13, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Sold! Next! Picture me surrounded by packing materials and boxes – I’ll be busy the next few weeks preparing for the move. Preparing for the next chapter. Some of life changes are abrupt, unexpected, and some, like our upcoming house move, are planned out. Either way, change is a given. The focus this week is: […]

Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

July 12, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

What a week. Within days of listing, we had several house showings. The fourth couple through showed interest. They had one other house to view the next day. “There should be an offer coming tomorrow,” the realtor advised us. She called the next morning to say she’d be by at 5:00 for us to sign. […]

Threes in Threes (or so)

July 10, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Amateur, I am, when it comes to photography. I’m excited to learn the ins and outs. This week, Nancy Merrill instructs on the rule of thirds. The featured image represents thistles leaning into the third. This daffodils are leaning outside the boundaries, but there is something interesting about this shot to me. Thanks Nancy Merrill […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #103: theme song

July 6, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Lovers like to claim a song as their own, a symbol of their passion. This never worked for me – the only partner who declared a song ours – “Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong” – dropped me shortly after. I dated a con-man once who dubbed “La Vida Loca” as my theme song. […]

Remember to Breathe

July 5, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

There’s an old black walnut tree that stands on the edge of our new property. As much as I try to not think about the next house and focus on this one – keeping it sale worthy – I can’t stop thinking about that tree. Viewed from the back deck, it is a prime model […]

Duck, Duck, Goose

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

Thanks to Our Eyes Open for hosting the Bird Weekly challenge and indulging my obsession. This week’s prompt is ducks and geese. The featured mallard found himself ditched.

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #102: Pace

June 29, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

“Don’t worry Grandma; I can go at a sloth’s pace!” my granddaughter once reassured me when I confessed that I can’t keep up. So, I’m a sloth. I like to think I’m more of an old tortoise: lumbering but steady. There was a time when I was the hare: fast, but not always winning the […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #101: decisions

June 22, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

I love our home. It’s the perfect size for the two of us plus our two doggies. We have all the amenities we need. The only thing that is missing, I confide to a friend, is nature. For two years, we lived in our 41′ motor home, traversing North America and discovering many wondrous places. […]

Pause Perspectives

June 21, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Is procrastination a pauseor fear seeping in?Let’s take a moment –broken silence –a timely pause …Reflectcollect our thoughtsleave a seedand rememberwonderBe like waterlike the squirreltouch the softnesswave goodbyeto the noiseobservetill the end of this ride. (This poem is an amalgamation of our collective thoughts on this week’s focus: pause. Thank you for the many inspired […]

Imagine

If we could lift understandingto indigenous teachingsexpand our loveto earth, sky, and seaMake personal gain tabooand Ancients a weigh point If we could witness the mountainsslow floating across the skyand touch the dolphin’s soulanxiously swimmingwhere tuna are netted Would we cower at our insignificanceor move forward, learning to acceptthat all of life is deeply woveninto […]

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 […]