V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #43: Rain

April 8, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Raindrops, not tears,blur my vision –the line of trees before mea glistening blur.The pounding in my templesis just the steady rhythmof watery drip, drip, drip,not the incessant roarof my blood pounding –discordant is this day. I wrote this piece while stranded in Mississippi, with eighteen hours of driving still ahead of us, and no idea […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #39: Unanswerable

March 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“I always start with questions that I can’t answer. Otherwise you get bored halfway through if you already know the answers. If you’re asking what seem to be unanswerable questions, then you have to keep showing up.” – Barbara KingsolverFrom A Talk in the Woods, by Kevin LarimerFeatured in Poets & Writers, November/ December 2018 […]

Together a Tapestry

March 3, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Across the miles, our wordsconvene, threads of our livesintertwining to form a tapestry. Stories of sorrow and kindness,humanity restored –of observation and empathyof inspiration through resonanceof brilliance and artistry. Each thread as colourfulas another, delicately added,thoughtful ponderings Of generations and legacies,misunderstandings contributing to tragedy,of infatuation and love’s fallacy,of childhood and noses in booksand entanglements leadingto […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #36: Wild Card

February 18, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

This week, I am giving you a carte blanche…well, sort of… there’s a catch. Go back over the last week’s worth of posts or so, and notice any words or phrases that repeat themselves. I’m talking adjectives, or verbs, maybe nouns. For example, when I look over my posts leading up to writing this one, […]

Restoring Balance

February 17, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Fog has dissipated, as has the rain. Hallelujah. Although it is still overcast, we decide to take a drive, cameras in tow. Goose Island State Park is our planned destination. It has just the right combination of driving and walking trails. This is also where we saw the Whooping Cranes, so maybe we’ll get lucky […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #35: Balance

February 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I don’t think I’ve possessed good physical balance since that time I went down in tennis and cracked my kneecap, despite physiotherapy’s best efforts. Now that chronic illness has been added to the mix, I’ve learned to live without that certainty. I’m wobbly; what can I say? Balance in other areas of my life, however; […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #34: reaching

February 4, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“…she singled out a cedar, wide at the base, narrowing as it grew. If there was any kind of portrait worth doing, it would be the portrait of a tree. But a portrait had to convey character. The channels in this cedar’s raw umber all stretched upward, reaching toward light. It was more than a […]

An Upside Down World

February 3, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Two things happened this week, that sent me into a spiral of despondency. Two postings, actually, by people I consider friends. It’s not that I believe we should all share the same opinions, it’s that I would hope we are open to discussion. I guess, in retrospect, I am an idealist – I want the […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #33: Upside-Down

January 28, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Strong-minded, I am not easily swayed. In fact, I like to say that life has to hit me over the head with a frying pan in order to get me to pay attention. Another analogy I use is that I have to be tied around the ankles, dragged to the fire and hung upside-down – […]

Inspiration Evokes Stillness

January 27, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Days slow down as physical challenges demand. I am so blessed to be in this place, water just steps from our door. The Great Blue Heron remains a constant companion. He is a master of stillness, a quality I have challenged myself to achieve this week. I have brought out the paints again, as too […]

Monday Mood: rapt

Day three of rain. Feeling motivated to curl up with a blanket and heating pad and lose myself in a good book. Lucinda Riley’s, The Seven Sisters, currently has me rapt.

Colourless Expressions

Consciousness commandsa shift of focustired of the clash of coloursstimulation overloadmy muse is leaning towardsthe nuance of black and white A study of shadowsand shadingand how lightarouses the soul Speak to me in subtletiesshe whispersin tones suggestiveof hidden depthsI am listening And so I submerge myselfclear the palette of vibrant huesand take up the lowly […]