V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #82: whisper

February 3, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

I’m right behind you! The voice is whisper-scratchy, low and menacing. I can see you! I whisper back, giving my voice a threatening tone. The teacher strikes continue here and I am filling in for working parents. Granddaughter #1 and I are playing a game in which we think of normal sentences that are scary […]

Hello Sunshine!

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

Hunt for Joy Challenge this week is: sit in the sunshine. The sun is always shining when little ones are about.

Pick Me Up Reds

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

Winter’s whites fadeturn to drab greyand I search for signsto brighten, lightenred to make by day. For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: something red.

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #81: regulars

January 27, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

The sound of oversized boots dragging across wooden floors announced that it was 2:40 p.m. Shuffles, as we called her, would arrive each day, walk to the back of the store where the cash desk was situated, touch three things, and then turn around and slump on to her next stop. She had a mop […]

Practice Makes Permanent

January 26, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“This is a lot of stuff to remember, Grandma!” Seven-year-old Sloane and I are making a Zentangle. She’d tried to copy my work on her own with no success, so I’m teaching her step by step. “That’s why we keep practicing.” “Practice makes permanent!” “Do you mean perfect?” “No permanent. That’s what my teacher says.” […]

“Telling Sonny”: A Review

January 24, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

When nineteen-year-old Faby attends the annual Vaudeville Show in her small town, she is hoping to escape to the drudgery of day-to-day life in the Gauthier household, where chores are watched over by the critical eye of Maman and Maman Aurore. The year is 1924, the setting small town Vermont, USA, and even though she’s […]

Lines Lead

January 22, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Easily swayed, my imaginationfollows lines, dreams of new horizons spins and traces unknown spaces speculates about what might have been… (For Lens-Artists Challenge: Leading Lines)

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #80: habit

January 20, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Be careful of the habits you make,” my father used to lecture, cigarette in one hand, whiskey in the other. “They will either make of you a slave or a master.” Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about, and I hated that his sermons were always: “Do what I say, not […]

Subtract Expectations, Open to Possibility

January 19, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

The snow has been falling all day, filling in the roads behind the plow’s efforts. I am a bit of wreck as I write this. Tomorrow, I am planning a surprise party for Ric’s 70th birthday. The hall is booked, and I’ve delegated all the pieces, but the guest list is shrinking as people are […]

Midwinter Tease

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

Vibrant red,sweet pinks The joy of birdsong Oh, how I long for Spring. (For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Spring Scenes)

Back Seat Only

I can’t remember a timewhen elegance chose meto sit in the front seatride along in style She’d be clad in whiteand I’m ever too messycan’t control myselfmight tarnish the upholstery She’d want to go shoppingrings and jewels flashinglike Pretty Womanafter the haul I’m second-handtypically slink in and outgrabbing what I need and goinglest anyone see […]

Having a Why

(This is found poem, previously posted on OneWoman’s Quest II)

Over It!

One day it’s so mild that I don’t bother with a coat, the next we wake up to snow on the ground. The plants pushing up through the soil seem a little more patient than me – as if they are humouring nature’s fickleness. I’m ready for clear change. A pair of finches just flew […]