VJ’s Weekly Challenge: trees

May 24, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Did you now that trees are community oriented, and that they can alter their chemistry to benefit their social families? I’ve been reading the Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, and recently viewed a Nature of Things episode on the same subject. Seems trees have much to teach us. This week I challenge you […]

Spots and Dots

May 18, 2021.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Can you spot the robin? Here’s a few more: lights in the night and early morning sun catching in the lens: For Lens-Artists Challenge: spots and dots.

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 […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: What could you talk about for 30 minutes without preparation?

May 10, 2021.Reading time less than 1 minute.

What could you talk about for 30 minutes without any preparation? Your answer is your prompt for this week. Send me photos, prose, poetry, or whatever else demonstrates your topic. Can’t wait to see what you come up with. Participate by creating a post and linking back here, or just leave a comment below.

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: roads

May 3, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

GPS indicated the road we wanted was just ahead. “There!” I coached. “Where that truck is coming out.” Too late we realized this was not a road at all, but a long driveway leading to a unwelcoming house. There was no backing up. Ric pushed all sixty-one feet of our rig (motor home and tow) […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: peripheral

April 26, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Movement in my peripheral vision distracts me from the chore at hand. Am I seeing things? Mostly, it’s the coming and going of birds and squirrels outside, but when the time is just right – moon in a certain phase or whatever – I can’t help but wonder if it’s something more. Maybe I’ve just […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: “I’m bored!”

April 19, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

“The kids are driving me nuts!” my youngest daughter tells me just as the province is going into lockdown again, school back to online learning. “What’s the problem?” “They’re bored. No friends, no school, and we’re limited in what we can do. They are always looking to us to entertain them, and we both work […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: The Chase

April 12, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

Not sure whether it’s just lockdown restlessness or an innate knowing that ‘something is out there’, but from time to time, I get an urge to grab the camera and go. This happened the other evening as I was finishing up supper. Even though I was tired, one glance at the weather forecast told me […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: nesting

April 5, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

“Grandma, I had a great day at school! We learned about birds!” Four-year-old August is as passionate about birds as I am. “What did you learn?” I ask. “Birds will use just about anything to build their nests, even shoe laces.” Her eyes are wide and her expression radiates amusement. Every morning this week, a […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: snippets

March 29, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Popping the bubbles on a newly tarred road… occasionally losing a flip flop and hopping one-footed to retrieve it. Climbing as high as I can up the Willow tree, where hidden from the world, I eavesdrop on passersby. Contemplating how beauty has never fit with the equation of self. All the glamorous dresses my father […]

Not Dead Yet

There is safety in apart-ment living;would corral the little ones, declareresponsibility, obligations as a maskfor this self-banishing compulsion… except that I am lying prone, exposed –brains spilling onto concrete – shadowsrevealing the darkness of my condition,hopelessly locked in physical inertia. I am an unwitting contributor toscientific (and pseudo) probing:audacious autopsies pronouncingconclusive evidence of motives. Too […]

That Kid

Not programmed to comply –cannot tolerate oppression:a pressure cookerready to explode Do-gooders sit upstraight and smileencouragement:I slouch defiance Don’t ask me to respectthat which is disrespectful –my fuse is shortof that I’m certain Don’t slot me;leave me –creative inspirationis not lacking here I’m a free agenta incorrigible scamp –authority doesn’t scare me’cause I’m beyond control. […]

Undefendable

Every child bears the sparkof eternity’s promise…Where’s the threat in that? What mechanism of hateequates slaughterof innocents with justice? This is society’s bane –the unconscionable policiesof greed lacking accountability (Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)