Mainely Write

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about today for SOLC.  And then Starbucks happened.

Well, we are in our second Starbucks for the day!  We left "our" Starbucks and drove to Freeport.  Summer Starbucks in Freeport is not good - too busy, but Winter Starbucks in Freeport is doable.  Quiet, no distractions...  oh, and the chairs are better!  It's the whole downstairs of a small house in downtown.

We left our usual haunt.  I will be selective when I am there from now on.

Our usual Starbucks had a lady there, about our age oddly enough, who was playing the radio through her phone loud enough to be heard throughout the place.  It was on so loud that it was kind of hard to understand, being so far in overdrive it was vibrating.  She sat between two tables, with her stuff on both - coat and sweater and coffee on her left, and purse, hat, scarf and some other items on the table to her right.  This is the second time I've seen her in this Starbucks doing this same …

Day 20 of Slice of Life Challenge, and I am on my way to a busy first day of the week.

Sunday is my down-time.  Well, it's an up-time, too.  But I just don't blog on Sundays.  I will link this early before setting out to church.  Church is a whole day thing for me and my husband.

We leave the house by 7:30 at the latest, to drive just over an hour - 72 minutes.  We stop for breakfast along the way.  At about 9:15, we arrive at church. If I'm to sing that day, I rush upstairs for a quick practice with my sister-in-law, the pianist.  After that I go back downstairs and I prepare for my Sunday School class of 4 to 6 year olds, getting crayons, scissors, or whatever else the lesson requires, set out for them.

After Sunday School I, go back upstairs to greet people, and nod to my husband who works the soundboard recording the sermons and posts them online.

I file in with the other choir singers to the back room so we can go over the music quickly before the service begins.  I s…

Yesterday afternoon the dog started barking as she looked out the window.  It was a warning bark, but her tail was wagging and she was smiling.  She was serious about something being out there, but not unhappy about it.  She seemed pretty excited, so I went to the window.  And there standing proudly on the lawn - though I think it was just listening to potential snacks - was our first robin of the year.

Robin hung around the lawn all day, going from front to side to back yards.  I watched as the wind picked up a few oak leaves and tumbled them across the lawn straight at Robin, who merely stepped forward a few steps to avoid them.  I wondered how Robin knew that the leaves were non-threatening.  But I guess, being a bird and spending lots of time around trees and leaves, they must know everything there is to know about that stuff.

At one point a couple of friendly juncos joined Robin and they all scouted for bugs in the winter-flat grass covering our rain soaked lawns.

It's starte…

It's the 17th day of the Slice of Life Challenge to write every day this month.  It is also Poetry Friday hosted at Robyn Hood Black.  So I guess it is the day to have a poem as a slice.  Let's see.

Yesterday I had went to our book club meeting at Starbucks.  I leave the house at 5:10 am to pick up a friend by 5:15, and get into town by 5:45.  It is always dark.  It is still cold.  It was foggy, too, this time.


Book Club and a Mug

I got up early to read a book
so early it meant
I forsook
the warmth of bed

Threw back the quilt and next the sheet,
then showered quickly -
naught to eat;
it's still nightdark,

So quietly sneaked past the dog,
out the door and
in the fog;
kept watch for deer.

I drove to town to Starbucks Land
and ordered coffee
just as planned;
paid with my card.

A sip or two of warming joe
and sun had risen
in my soul,
and I woke up.

Perhaps there wasn't really fog
and maybe I had
woken dog
and snoozing cat;

But who's to know what had occurred
or leng…

This post is doing double duty.  It's a Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers and a Spiritual Journey Thursday post.  It is my way of heeding my own advice here - simplify your life!  The Spiritual Journey Thursday link up is on Holly Mueller's blog.  Everyone there is writing on Linda Kulp's OLW "Simplify" and how it pertains to their Spiritual walk.


Last week I did two posts on a Thursday, separating my two voices - one voice was the everyday Slice, and the other was my Spiritual Journey post.  I realized I cannot and do not have to always separate the two.  My walk with God is a part of my daily life, and I'm not sure I've ever made that clear.

I do not blog on Sunday's.  I will blog the day before and schedule it to post though.  And I have broken my own "rule" a bit for SOLC and linked up on that day early in the morning before I leave for church or late at night after evening service.  I feel a little guilty about that even.  God sh…

It is Wednesday again, and the 16th SOLC day!  Join in the reading fun at Two Writing Teachers where the list of Slices is posted.

Yesterday, someone posted on the funny things kids say, and it put me in mind of a couple of things my oldest said when he was younger…

Here’s one of them:

One summer afternoon, my somewhere between 8 and 10 year old son came in hot and sweaty from playing hard outside.  He asked me if he could have some water, and I, being a wonderful mom, gave him a nice cold glass of water and watched him gulp it down.  He wanted another, being as spent as he was, so I refilled his glass.  Before downing this one though, he looked at me, and in all seriousness stated, “I think I have a drinking problem.”

I assured him that he didn’t, and he should drink all the water he wanted.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BTW:  Noah had a quiet night.  The monsters must have been too upset to return for a second assault.

So what was that all about last night?

"What was what all about?"

You know.  That little madness going on at the foot of the bed last night.

"Little madness?  There was a monster in your bed."

There was no monster.

"Oh, there was.  Believe me."

There was no monster.  I would have known.  I was sleeping and my feet would have been touching it.

"Your feet?"

Yes, my feet.  You were jumping all over them.

"Oh, that couldn't have been your feet.  It was too big to be feet, I'm sure.  And too squirmy.  Monsters are squirmy when you jump about on them, and these were definitely squirmy."

Yes, because you were jumping on them and wrestling them.  You got a claw through, too.  See my ankle?

"That is not my claw mark.  That is clearly the bite of a bed monster."

Do not do that again tonight!  I will kick you off the bed.

"If I hadn't been there to subdue the monster last night, who knows if you would even have feet tod…

It is Day 14 of the Slice of Life Challenge with Two Writing Teachers... plowing onward and Aprilward...

Since losing weight (24 pounds today, but I promise this won't become just a month long weight loss journal), and doing physical therapy, I have found my walk again.

When I say "found my walk again", I don't mean that I couldn't walk.  I could walk.  But my walk had been the walk of the wounded.  It was a walk of stiffness and pain.  It was a walk I could recognize in others as I cruised the grocery store aisles - walk I'd seen but refused to call mine.  It was a walk that enjoyed the rest of a shopping cart for leaning, for stretching, and one that sometimes required breaks at the front of the store to sit out the next dance.

But recently, my back and hip joints seem to have been released, whether from the weight loss or the physical therapy, or both.  Either way, I think I have reclaimed at least a half an inch in height, and have begun to enjoy the plea…

It's a Slice of Life Sunday at Two Writing Teachers.  I'll see if I have time to link!  My comments will be late tonight after I get home.

Wednesday night, March, 8th, a Barred Owl returned.  They stay around all year, but usually I don't hear them in the winter.   But this week he's back in our neighborhood.  Maybe the mice are more plentiful down the road a ways in winter, but spring mice are fresher here.

Friday night, as we were driving home and the crescent moon was so clear and bright, I wondered if we would hear him again.  And right on cue, as we got out of the car, we heard him howling, loud and close by.  I love to hear the lingering "who cooks for you" question.  Suddenly we heard a return call.  So there are two in the neighborhood! The second one sounded a little upset, giving an almost hawklike squawk before commencing to speak politely.  Maybe she was just excited to hear a friendly hoot out there in the dark. I hope they are here to set up h…

It's Cat - I mean Sat-urday.

"No, you were right the first time."

Well, really there is no day named 'Caturday'; it's Saturday.

"A grievous oversight."

Maybe, but that's just how it is.

"Be that as it may, today is still MY day.  And I'm wondering what wonderful things we  should say about me today."

I can't think of anything yet.  It's been a slow week for you.

"I did Pilates with the ball for a while.  Then I wrestled with that intruder, but you took it away."

Yes, well, that was the cord to charge the dog's training collar, so we didn't need it destroyed.

"Huh.  Really.  I am not fond of that collar.  I'm going to tell her it's you who is pressing a button to make her stop chasing me."

Do not tell the dog anything.  You tease the dog on purpose, and then she gets all excited and crazy.  I need to have her pay attention to me and calm down!

"Why?  She is very good at paying a…

This is Day 11 in March.  It is a wonderful day to be a Friday, don't you think?
This is my Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers, AND my Poetry Friday offering at Irene Latham's blog.  Click on either link to read more Slices or some Poetry.  Some bloggers others will also be doing double duty today, I'm sure!
So this is just the best day in the whole world to have a Friday!  Until next week - enjoy!  I am going to!  Yippee!




Melted

The flame burns hot, stretching,
Its black wick, an island
In a waxy sea that
Pushes its banks
Overflowing
Dripping
Down
To
Ripple.
Dripples
Droop down
Candle’s skin;
Spire shrinking
To join the puddle of
Candle bowels in the bobeche.

By Donna JT Smith, 2016, all rights reserved


I’ll bet you thought this poem was about a lit candlestick burning down.  The photo may have given it away.

It is.

And it isn’t.

It’s about me. (Isn't everything?)

I have been joking lately about being careful not to go tripping over my own skin as I lose weight…