Forlorn

August 9, 2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

This sweet bushtit landed on my path while I was visiting Redding, California this past spring. After playing with the image, what emerged was a forlorn little fellow for whom I wrote this haiku. My heart goes out to all those in Redding, and elsewhere in the world where forest fires are ravaging lives. (Submitted […]

Home: A Wrap

August 5, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

We arrived Wednesday, our vehicle stuffed full, including a blow-up mattress for me, who would be camping out the remainder of the week. Ric would travel back and forth, staying at the RV, and I would manage deliveries, and oversee the laying of new floors. I set up in the living room (bedroom carpets were […]

Ghostly

July 31, 2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

“What can walk but has no legs; sleeps during the day, and is awake at night?” This is our six-year-old granddaughter’s latest joke. “A ghost!” On a recent visit to Northern Ontario, I photographed this solo loon. There is something so haunting about the call of the loon, and I’ve been pondering it ever since. […]

A Week of Celebrations

July 29, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The celebrations started last Sunday – dinner at a Greek restaurant with the family. It was a double celebration, Sloane having turned six just days before. Then we headed North to a friend’s cottage and had a meal rich with the summer’s harvest: corn on the cob, potatoes cooked with garlic on the barbecue, and […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #8: Celebration

July 23, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

By the time you read this, my celebration will have begun. The family and I will have met for a casual dinner at a local restaurant, and I’ll be glowing from pride to think that two generations all started with me. Miraculous, isn’t it? Today, we are headed up north, where I will celebrate my […]

A Week of Accomplishment (VJWC)

July 22, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

To know I have accomplished something each day, is as important to me as the first cup of tea in the morning. It is the satisfaction of knowing I have contributed, that I have made a stamp (no matter how minute) on the passage of time. Prior to illness, I didn’t think much about accomplishment; […]

CB&W: Signs

July 22, 2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Some signs are self-explanatory… some clearly cautionary…. and some requiring a bit of interpretation… (Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week is signs. Hope I made you smile. All photos from personal collection. Featured image from Catherine’s Landing near Hot Springs, Arkansas; “Wife Wanted” was spotted in a remote area of Northern Washington; and the […]

RDP: Duck

July 21, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Mother Mallard and her baby ducks foraged along the shoreline of Sparrow Lake at day’s end. As she waddled past the dock, her little ducklings fell in line, like wind-up toys trying to catch up. All except one little fellow, who lost in his own world got left behind. “Peep! Peep!” He let out a […]

Kitchy

July 21, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

“Duck under the table and see what you can find,” was Father’s pat answer to the question of what was for dessert. He was like that: quick-witted and full of comebacks. My husband is the same, and I compound the problem by walking into it every time: “What have you got on tomorrow?” I’ll ask, […]

VJWC: Driven to Succeed

July 20, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Children understand the mechanics of accomplishment: take a risk, try and try again, and bask in the accolades that follow. As I grow older, I wonder at what point in life I lost that simple understanding. Now, as I watch my granddaughters, I feel compelled to regain some of that old spunk: tackle the new, […]

Is This War?

“War is hell. You can’t photograph a flying bullet, but you can capture genuine fear.”– unknown The bomb has droppedcontrol slips from our grasp We pray for a parachutefor someone to pull the cord numbers escalate,lives plummet We offer encouragementisolated voices faltering moment of impact imminentthe implosion inevitable impact reverberatesresponsibility moot. ( Image my own.)

Promises

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 […]