V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #88: Domino Effect

March 16, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Should we cancel our community dinner? The text came in while we were watching the news. One after another, closures are happening in response to the coronavirus – schools, sporting events, legislature, etc. So far there have been no cases in our area. Our first instinct is to say no. My daughter’s company is preparing […]

Morning’s Chaos

March 15, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Morning comes and the calm of night is brushed off with a moment of chaos – the dogs wrestle and shake and sneeze, as if fighting off the effects of slumber. I am not as excited to rise early, have no routine for resetting my status from comatose to awake and alert. I mumble on […]

Boom, Boom, Bye, Bye

March 14, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I’m focusing my lens when we both hear it – duck and I – a boom, like from a cannon. Rattled, Mallard prepares for take off, while I try to shake off the nerves and get the shot. The boom comes again. A hunter in our midst. This duck escapes unmarred, as I do I. […]

Red: A Welcome Sight

March 11, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: red.

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #87: morning

March 9, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“You do more in a morning than some people do in two weeks,” a graphologist once told me, having analyzed my handwriting. It was not news to me. I was raised to be a morning person. Waking before the rest of the family and getting ahead of the day was my way. Until I got […]

Clichéd Fun

March 8, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

The grass is always greener –magnificent clichescarry on –the writing on the wall,a little bird told mein the nick of time,don’t cry over spilled milk –Is it cliché to saymuddied waters –me over the edge? Thank you all for keeping me entertained with your creativity. My poem is compliments of your gifted responses. Here are […]

Have a Cuppa

March 6, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I’m a mug kind of gal –Spot of tea – Earl Grey or herbal – Feet up, mug in handa warm sip and I’m calm Save the fancy chinafor the birds! (For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: glasses, cups, or saucers.)

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #86: cliché

March 2, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

This apple didn’t fall far from the tree – I am a chip off the old block,course that’s letting the cat out of the bag. Actually, I’m on the fencetrying to decide which way is upUsed to be confused, now I’m not so sure. Trying to weed through all this nonsensefind the light at the […]

February Begone So I Can Get On With My Mission

March 1, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

I fall for the same trick every year, it seems – get all excited about Spring’s arrival and then wham, Winter returns with a vengeance. Three days it snowed and the wind blowed, reducing visibility and causing cancellations. My mission to capture the first signs of Spring has been momentarily thwarted. No matter, February is […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #85: mission

February 24, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Winters in Ontario, Canada, can linger far beyond their past due date – not a scenario I look forward to – so this week I’ve made it my mission to seek out signs of spring. While the river is still frozen, I found this break in the ice on an offshoot stream. It’s a start. […]

Ukraine

Planted seeds for prosperity –images of children frolickingthe delight of yellow horizonstradition setting our fields ablaze Till greed came knocking –brother turning on brother Rhetoric and lies shrapnelshattering our dreams Only the deer frolic nowunwitting participants inthis unprovoked slaughterland mines defiling landscapes But seeds are not lost,nor are the legacy of generationswhose soil has known […]

Winter, Please

(Image my own)

Sing Along

Dove’s mournful cryspotlights Nature’s calling –Let us find a harmonic notesing along for conservation,for preservation, for a strongtomorrow – find our voicesand join the chorus. (Image my own)