While You're Waiting...

I probably won't post my Project 365 post until Monday night, so to tide you over until then here are a couple of pictures of my Dad and Amy dressed for their skit for the Unifour Senior Games last week. They were portraying a couple of women of a certain age trying to figure out how to get a man. It was apparently quite a hoot and they won a gold medal for their performance. My dad is the tall one. :)

Wherein the Bug Reaches DEEP Into the Archives...

Chris at Enchanted Oak is in charge of the Poetry Jam this week (the cook, as it were) and has given us the following prompts:

1) Write a poem about Father, fatherland, daddy dearest, your experience of fatherhood, the father you never had, your father or your own fatherhood, or the father of your children, or the father of your father, or your Heavenly Father, or go father afield and do what you will with the notion of fathers. 

2) Write a honky-tonk song. Wikipedia's discussion of honky-tonk music is here.

I chose the first prompt, and I have such a treat for you guys! I found this gem when I was visiting my dad in March and I've just been waiting for the perfect moment to share it. Enjoy! (Click on the pictures to make them larger)

Daddy I have a surprise for YOU!

For a Happy Birthday to you
This is a poem just for two
Get me up when you please
and maybe give me a little cheese
and I will work like 35 Elves
on Saturday until twelves

Please note the glasses on the little Dana figure on the cover of the card. This places it after 4th grade (which is when I got glasses) and before 8th grade (which is when I got contacts). I'm digging potatoes in the garden, something I hated to do. Also note my brother and his evil laugh while he fishes at our pond. The nerve!

Don't forget to go check out the other (probably more contemporary) poems here!

Thankful Thursday

Your intrepid reporter is in our North Carolina outpost & prepared to offer up some thanksgivings. [Note: I am not really intrepid]

• Dr. M & I are glad to be in NC even though both of us are a bit not well and the trip down was not the bucolic drive we had hoped for. Is it our fault there are so many annoying drivers out there? I think not! We still made fairly good time. 
• Even though I don't really think some rapture-type event is going to happen on Saturday, I'm glad that we'll be with family if it does. 
• I'm thankful for the angel food cake & home grown strawberries Amy had ready for us - yum!
• I scheduled my surgery today - August 8th will be the date. And now I'll begin obsessing at how uncomfortable I'll be. I don't care about pain, I just am not looking forward to the awkwardness of getting mobile again. And the 7:30 a.m. surgery time kind of blows too. I wonder if they'd just let me sleep there the night before - for free. No?
• I'm thankful that I might go by my uncle David's house & rag him about his Yankees. Ha! 
• I'm thankful to be spending a few days where there might be sun and warmer temps. I'll probably complain about the heat. Heh.

OK, what are you thankful for today?

Magpie Jam

My muse is still MIA (I think I might try to lure her out with some Ben & Jerry's later), but I decided to at least write something. The Poetry Jam prompt is Thunder & Lightening (thanks Butler & Bagman!), and the Magpie prompt is the picture below. I decided to combine those two incongruous prompts into one glorious sort of attempt.

See Spot Run

I wonder if it felt

like I had been

struck by lightening

that first time when

I knew that Dick was Dick

and Jane was Jane.

I devoured those

children and begged

for more please,

more.

Trixie and Pippi and Heidi,

Nancy and Encylopedia Brown

and that Old Black Witch.

And I was just gone.

Gone.

Burrowed into

the pages –

not resurfacing

until after the

storm had passed.

Please go to the Magpie Tales and Poetry Jam sites to check out other stories.

Monday Miscellany

Here we are at Monday again. It's amazing how it keeps turning up every week. Here's some randomness to commemorate the day.

• Last week our neighbor found this moth. I think it's pretty darn cool. If you'd like to read about it, click here.

• If my muse decides to show up (I recently described her as a sullen capricious teenager) there might be a poem posted laster today (I know - shocker!), but as of right now it's looking unlikely.
• I'm listening to a new audio book that I'm sure will give me nightmares later, but I don't care. It's Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. The narrator is doing a fabulous job & I'm getting pulled down into the story. At least I'm only listening to it in the car so I have plenty of other things to fill my mind with before bed.
• After staring at the computer for a while I realize that I have nothing more to say - oh except that Dr. M & I are leaving later this week to see our families in NC. I may or may not blog from there - depends on what's going on. But just in case, have a great week!

2011 Project 365 – Week Twenty

Well the Tax Time Pig enthusiasts are in luck this week – there are two pictures of it in new outfits. Also cement pond aficionados will be happy. 

If you get a chance, go check out Dr. M's latest post - it's for the birds (and squirrels). Really!

Sunday, May 8^th

Woodpecker attacking the suet with vigor. I wonder how they don’t get dizzy from swinging around on that thing!

Monday, May 9^th

The Tax Time Pig wishes everyone a happy Mother’s Day.

Tuesday, May 10^th  

I arrived at work on Tuesday to see this little guy in the fountain outside our building.

And the State of the Bug is the look on my face as my boss & discussed the prospect of a fake whale scaring off the geese (yes, that’s what it’s for). I was highly amused.

Dr. M found some sheep on his way home from school – imagine that! Their wool appears to be in quite a bit of disarray. Talk about bed head!

Wednesday, May 11^th

I took this picture (out the car window while I was driving) of the memorial to Sergeant Dulle (I wrote about him here). By Friday there were about four times as many flags & flowers.

Dr. M took a picture of the squirrel of the week – I love his ninja moves!

Thursday, May 12^th       

The Tax Time Pig makes its second appearance this week encouraging us to not be crabby. Oh I wish I would listen to you Tax Time Pig, I really do.

For reasons unknown to me I was compelled to take a picture of the messy “bun” I wore to work on Thursday. I had bundled it up that way to put it under my shower cap that morning & thought, “meh – I’m done now.” In case you’ve noticed that I appear to be wearing the same necklace as you see in the Tuesday picture – it’s my badge lanyard. Dr. M’s school colors!

Robin in the cement pond. These pictures never fail to make me laugh. And wait until you see the ones for tomorrow!

Friday, May 13^th   

One of our mourning doves decided to bathe today. Dr. M took a lot of pictures of it, but I’m only including the ones that made me laugh out loud – still a lot! Here he is just soaking for a bit.

Paddling…

Paddling…

Better get under my arms!

Oh that felt good! Let’s just shake some of this water off.

Done!

Saturday, May 14^th

I took another picture of our strange volunteer plant in the front flower bed.

Now it has a few blossoms – can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s full of blossoms!

I told Dr. M on Friday that I was inundated with helicopters (maple seed pods, whirligigs – whatever you call them) on the way home – it was like hail, or a brown out or something. Here’s the aftermath in our driveway. They’re everywhere.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants.

Thankful Thursday

Last night, courtesy of the two books I'm reading, my dreams were full of being chased by a creature AND an assassin for the CIA. I slept fairly well, but it was a disturbing sleep. So I think I'll just do a free association list for you. Today, in no particular order (except for the first one), I'm thankful for the following:

• Dr. M
• Potential daisies
• Warm days
• Frogs
• Birds
• The Tax Time Pig
• Family
• Friends
• Jobs
• Our little house
• That I finished reading the book with the creature in it so maybe I'll sleep more restfully tonight.

OK, that's enough for now - I could go on all day, actually. For what are you thankful this fine day?

Detour

Detour

This way isn’t straight.

It’s out of my way.

Going in the

wrong direction –

just wrong

I sigh loudly

and mutter

curses

and ignore

the winding

beauty of an

unknown road.

But this detour

is short and will –

eventually –

take me home

home home.

His grieving widow

and solemn-eyed children

wonder if perhaps –

Perhaps –

If it’s not too

inconvenient,

could I go

out of my way –

just a bit –

while his broken

colleagues

examine the site

of his final detour.

Just some catharsis going on here. I didn't know Sgt. Dulle or his family, but I did take a detour today because of his death. Read about it here if you'd like.

This is a One-Shot Wednesday poem. Please click here to read other Wednesday poems. 

Purpose

I want the peace that passeth all understanding
I watch the doves perched outside my door
The sparrows come and go and come again
While the doves sit perched outside my door

I see my reflection through the glass darkly
A macabre grin eating away any calm
The flesh disappears into that darkness
While my macabre grin eats away any calm

I walk this way in solitude and deluge
Prepared to reach outward and within
The dark glass can be shattered if I permit it
And let myself reach outward and within

Fragmenting glass rouses the doves from their dreaming
They fly off on wings charged with purpose
Feeling lighter of soul than I’ve felt in days
I watch them fly off on wings charged with purpose.

This is a Magpie Tale. Please go here to read other tales.

Monday Miscellany

The miscellanea just flows from my fingertips…

·         I am so glad that Mother’s Day is over! Whew! It was rough this year. I was an introverted sufferer & didn’t go to church yesterday morning. I just didn’t want to talk about the weeping. But I’m a little more contained now. No offense Mom, but you’re going back into your Mombox for a while, ‘kay?

·         I’ve been waffling about when to have the surgery on my hip, but I’ve finally decided (I think) that I will go ahead & do it in August.

·         It didn’t rain yesterday! It was sunny & got up into the 70s. Very nice day.

·         My Dad & Amy won a gold medal for their comedy performance piece at the Senior Games on Thursday. Apparently my father dressed as a woman? And there was a bicycle involved? I’ve requested pictures. You know I’ll put them here if there are any to be had. In any case, we’re going to visit later this month & I’ll force them to recreate it for me. Ha!

·         My cousin’s daughter K (yes, the very cousin for whom I wrote the poem I posted yesterday) won the Eastern National Gymnastic championship for her age group on Saturday. She is one amazing young lady.

·         I know I’ve mentioned this before, but between K and my niece J (the acrobatic cheerleader) I feel like such a slug. Note: I will increase my activity by 15 minutes per day this week!

OK, that’s enough drivel. Happy Monday everyone! 

I got poetry jam on your birthday card...

Rough Mother’s Day here. I don’t know why after 6 years this one is hitting me so hard, but I’m a weepy mess. That will make getting groceries later a lot of fun! However, if you’re in a place that’s celebrating Mother’s Day today I hope you’re having a fabulous one – or finding the solace you need if you’re in the same place I’m in. That said, let’s move onto more uplifting things.

The Poetry Bus has gone into a ditch somewhere and TotalFeckinEejit is no more. While we mourn the loss of both transportation and our fearless leader, a new forum has crept out from underneath the carriage (thanks NanU!). The Poetry Jam promises to be a great place to read fabulous poetry – I think we’ll have some new (what do we call ourselves now – not riders anymore – jammers? fiddlers? or, for heaven’s sake, poets?) anyway there’ll be new people participating along with our old favorites.

So, for the inaugural jam, The Watercats have asked us to write a poem about birthdays. I’m in the throes of a poetry drought, so I’m posting a poem I wrote to my cousin on the occasion of her birthday in about 1984 or 1985 when we were in college together. This is actually the second poem I’d written to her about the difficulty of getting her a birthday gift. The first one starts out this way: “You shore are a pain, you old Kim Jane.” But I decided not to share that one today. I’m a little offended by my use of what I must have thought was stereotypical mountain colloquial language – but I don’t want to clean it up just yet. Maybe later. So, here’s what you’re getting instead:

El Cheapo, El Brokeo

Kim,

Now, I love to buy gifts –

You know that’s so.

But, gifts are expensive

And money don’t grow

On trees in my yard.

(Though I work very hard)

There’s not much I can do

Without hurting your feelings

So I’ll try to make you

Understand what I mean.

I guess I’ll come clean

And explain my lament –

It’s hard to buy gifts

With just 18 cents.

My cousin and me just a few years before the poem was written

 Go here to read other birthday poems. You won't be disappointed!