Reading One by One

She opens a book
And turns its pages
One by one

And you
Delight in each picture.

But it was not always

This way.
In the beginning

You twisted

And turned
And looked

Around,

You grabbed

And chattered

And laughed at the dog,
While mom kept reading,

Savoring each picture,

Softly laughing,

Turning pages

One by one.

Though you played, 

You stayed on her lap,

And the little

By littles

Captivated;

The one

By ones

Enwrapped.

Now
 When mom reads

You melt into her lap,
Sinking into each word
Your mother whispers,

Savoring books

One by one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I visited my daughter and son-in-law for our grandson's first birthday last week, we were treated to the vision of our birthday boy snuggled in his mom's lap listening to her read a book.  His attention was intense.  He studied every picture, though he was relaxed and leaning back on her in her lap.  She reads 2 books to him every night before he goes to bed, and books "on demand" throughout the day.  He has a stack of board books on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, so that even though he is low to the ground, he can get a book any time he wants to.  Books are an important thing for him.  But I wonder if they would be if he hadn't had them from a very early age...like from day one.  

The day after his birthday, his mom looked over to see him sitting in the Pack n Play with one of his new birthday books open in front of him. He was turning pages, front to back, one at a time, looking at each picture.  When he got to the end, he looked at the back of the book as if to say (as we adults will do with a good book) "What?  That's all?  You're just going to stop the story here?"  Then he turned back a page and lingered on that picture as if savoring the "story" a bit longer.

My daughter is growing a reader.  She started little by little, one by one...here a book, there a book...EVERYWHERE a book, book!

In the Heat of the Moment

We've been out for a cooling drive in the air-conditioned car.  Getting out of the car, the warm, humid air hits me.  Pushing open the door to the house, there is very little temperature difference.

The dog greets me saying she needs to go out and then maybe have a little bit more water. The cat is yelling something about the dog pushing past the chair barricade and eating all the cat food in his bowl and, that being said, I'd better do something about it, or else.

The cat food is in the laundry room where I suddenly remember that load of clothes in the wash that have to be put in the dryer before they begin to sprout, OR having already missed the window of opportunity, either have to be washed again or taken outside and set free. Ah, they are still sweet smelling.  I grab more clothes and start another load of wash while they dry.

With those chores done, I towel off, grab a half dozen ice cubes and throw them in a glass with water post haste, before I give in to the inclination to toss them down my shirt instead.   I sit down for a few minutes with my iPad and tap Words With Friends to find that it's my turn again. My husband has played on all three games that we have going, and he is ahead of me by 150 points on a game that is really stupid, and by 58 points on one that is being played under protest. On the third game I am ahead by 15.  This is a very good game, and has been my favorite in fact.  But now with 6 vowels (e,e,e,i,i,o) and a q. I am thinking this game is losing some of its appeal, and I'm feeling too warm again.

Too bad, warm or not, it is time to Swiffer the house.  A Golden Retriever and a Maine Coon create a nest-like environment in short order.  So chasing dust bunnies is a frequent occurrence.  If I vacuum, the hair hares (they are not cute like "dust bunnies" would imply) scatter all over the place.  The Roomba we tried once stopped working immediately after sensing that there would be actual work to do here.  So it was back to me.

One thing I've taught the dog to do to help me out some is to shake before she comes in the house.  A cloud of excess hairs fly off into the all outdoors where true nest builders can use them.  Ever helpful in controlling the hair hare population, the dog also allows me to vacuum her.  She now will track you down if the vacuum is running and get under the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner.  We haven't tried the beater bar, but I'm picturing that as even more efficient. 

While the dog loves being vacuumed, the cat does not.  The cat tolerates brushing for a short while and only on particular days.  You will know if it's gone on too long or if it's not the right day.  The cat never makes you guess.

So my routine is: Swiffer the house, vacuum the dog, brush the cat, apply band aides, vacuum the house. 

And now, I think I hear something growing in the washing machine. I must be going. Towel down, throw laundry in dryer, towel down, get ice cubes, throw them down my shirt.  Forget the glass with water.

Yesterday

Tickled pink Phlox last week.

Well, yesterday they dug up around the house in Friendship to put in the new drainage, hook up the septic, take out the bulkhead and kill some flowers.
We lost our lilac bush in the process.  We were going to try to save it, but it seemed too difficult.  We may try sticking it back in the ground, but for now I'm going to try not to mourn the loss of it.  It wasn't very large anyway.
The forsythia got to be spared.  As the lawn was ripped up beside it, the poor, little, defenseless forsythia was probably shaking in it's roots...probably soiled itself...... but how would you know?

Forsythia is to the left of the ditch in front of house.

Flummoxed Phlox this week.

I took cuttings of the old fashioned rosebush and brought them home in case that didn't survive the upheaval.  But when we got out there, it looked as if they had potted the rosebush and quite a few of the Phlox, so we may have saved some of the original flowers and plants around the house.  I hope so.  They were so pretty.  But a wet basement has to come first...or a dry one that is.

Look, Ma, no bulkhead.

The bulkhead looks nice not there.  So I guess that would be the house looks nice without the bulkhead.  My husband often criticizes me for speaking backwards like that.  When I'm writing I can fix it.  When I'm talking, it's too late.
Today I think they are pouring the section of wall where the opening to the basement is.  Then the basement will be tarred and tiling placed around the perimeter.  And THEN the siding will go on shortly after it is all backfilled!
Yippee!!  I so want to see how the house will look on the outside.  The inside will happen after that...and that is when the real mostest fun will begin for me.
I have to still pick out a lot of things like colors, cabinets, sink, dishwasher, lighting, flooring...and probably other things that I'm not remembering that I need in a house but will notice when they are not there when I go to use them.
We bought a new table for the house at my brother's auction.  One of my brothers - oh, the one who had the ear removal and reattachment done - is an auctioneer, having taken over the business when my parents died.  We (the other 3 of us) work the auctions with him.  But I digress.  That may be something to write about on another day.
So the table is a gateleg so it can be up against the wall in the living room in our small space and pulled out when we have company.  It is a good thought, but we rarely have company.  Maybe life will change when we move there.  But that's another topic for another day, too.
Also bought a chair for the living room and a beautiful oak stand.  You would think we didn't have furniture in our house now.  We already have too much furniture here.  I have two kitchen tables in my kitchen now.  I'm counting the chairs we have in here.  10.  10 kitchen chairs.  Who does that?  When I inherited mom and dad's table I just added it to the room.  One pretty much serves as a regular table for everyday, and the other is like a dining room table for special occasions and for the cat to lie down on or sit on since I don't want him on the one we use all the time.  Maybe that's why we don't have company.
I guess that's enough rambling for today.
The recap is:
The house is on its way to being dry.
Some flowers may make it.
The forsythia is fortunate to have been spared.
We may get some friends someday when the cat lets us....but that's another story for another day.

Purrsee in the frying pan.

Walter Reed's Gulf Station

Today's Poetry Friday is being hosted by Rena J. Traxel at On the Way to Somewhere .  Head on over and click on links to some other great poetry sites.  She is also hosting a contest that you may be interested in.  Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

***********************

On Wednesday, I took a drive out to the area in which I grew up.  Many days over my ten years there were spent in front of Walter Reed's store waiting for the school bus.  I was able to stop and talk with the current owner of the property and reminisce some about growing up nearby.  The building won't be standing much longer it appears.  The front is being propped up now.  If you look closely you will see that the top is not a pitched roof, but one of those facades that goes straight up and has a step up kind of side.  It used to be a Gulf station with pumps out front.  But the inside is what I loved the most!

Walter Reed's Gulf Station and General Store, Woolwich, Maine

Walter Reed's Gulf Station and General Store

We’d be there every morning

And wait in a straight line
The bus would be there promptly
At seven twenty-nine.

Sometimes if it was raining
Or snow made us too chilly,
We’d go inside to wait awhile
Quietly, not silly.

The gas pumps out in front
Where cars could make a stop
Were not what I remember most;
Inside was where I’d shop.

Coke and orange soda,
Root beer and ginger ale,
Potato chips and French horns
Were always there for sale.

Some days we’d have some money
To spend on our lunch treat
A nickel was enough to buy
A whoopie pie to eat.

In summer we’d get bottles
And turn them in for cash
With two cents in our pockets
We’d buy a candy stash.

It took quite a few minutes
As we tried to wisely choose,
But Walter was so patient -
I'm sure we did amuse.

Two pieces for a penny
So two cents would be four;
And we were so delighted
As we skipped out the door.

No more candy here at Reed's;
It’s been emptied of all sweet,
But I can still remember
Being two-cents-rich elite.

©Donna JT Smith, 2012

And then there's this one that just came to me:

Crumbling sweetness,
Windows wide
If you could only
Go inside
You’d see treasures
Days gone by
Penny candy
Two for ones
Walter sitting quietly
Waiting
Waiting for whom
Or what I wondered
The new road is not
Stopping
It passed him by
Taking travelers
Faster
Down a different
Road
And time stood still
In this place
Until he passed.
Now time has moved on
And the building
Is passing, too;
Crumbling
Sweetness.

©Donna JT Smith, 2012

15 Words or Less Thursday

I visited Laura Salas' 15 Words or Less Thursday, and wrote this bit to go with her posted picture.  Go there if you would like to read others, try it yourself or just see the picture.

Monkey chased by T
Fell into the mud,
Mired, now history,
Making crude in crud.

©Donna JT Smith

Relax and Enjoy

Found at the Kittery Trading Post

*

******************************************

Days

 Of Summer,

Like diamonds -

Precious and few

Guarded and hoarded,

Luxurious and glorious,

Bedazzling our lives;

Priceless summer

Days!

******************************************

©2012, Donna JT Smith

Worthless Words

I am feeling like I should to write something worthwhile.
But I'm not feeling full of worthwhileness words.
I think I have run out of them.  They are all worthless words.
Well, at least not worth much.  Maybe a dime or two.
This is my 20 cents' worth - my 2 dimes' worth -
a quarter and here's a nickel's change worth.

Cat and mouse,
Hat and blouse,
Seesaw,
Hee-haw,
Down and out,
Twist and shout,
Good dog,
Wood log,
Sit right down,
Go to town,
Tight fist,
Light mist,
Row your boat,
Get your goat,
Slap happy,
Rap tappy,
Pick a flower,
Take a shower,
Tricky kid,
Sticky lid;
If I had a penny for every rhyme
I'd have 20 cents, or double a dime.
Rhyming 5 more times would make
A quarter, but that's too much to take.
So I'd pocket my dimes and skip away;
You keep the nickel and I will play.
Tomorrow I'll think of better words,
Not these ones that are for the birds...
Cheap cheep!

©Donna JT Smith 2012
******************************
So this is what came out when I just started writing with nothing in mind, no thought except "What in the world will I write for Tuesday's Slice?" and I knew I had nothing.  It's funny, but it seemed like nothing for quite a while as I kept putting things on screen.  A couple rhymes here, a couple there, then the thought of a another rhyme about the "worthless" rhyme...and finally the cheep of a bird and the cheap of worthless.  I believe I have 20 rhyming pairs.  You can't count cheap cheep - those are homonyms.
I guess my slice is really about "just write", even when you think there's nothing there.  Start writing worthless words and keep it up until something more than worthless emerges...even it is doesn't end up profound, it might just end up "pro-fun"!

WRiTE CLUB Competition Starts Today!

It's time to read and vote!   All writers are anonymous at WRiTE CLUB.  You can still submit writing also, but you NEED to sign up even to vote.  The first two pieces of writing are up now, and there will be two more on Thursday.  Each piece is 500 words or fewer, so it doesn't take long to read and vote!  Enjoy!  I've submitted my piece...but you will not know which one it is because, again, it is a nonny mouse.  I've cast my vote today for one of the writers.  Hop on over there and take a peak at the two selections for today, sign in and vote!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Filling Your Shoes

You left your shoes for me to fill
Sometimes I put them on
And hear you still 
Some days I feel you in the air
Facing indecision
I see you there
Practical words you'd give today
And comfort bestow in
Your special way
In many ways that can't be known
You have lent me wisdom
Beyond my own
So when I wonder what to do
I can look inside me
And see you too.

©2012, Donna JT Smith

10,000 Day

My celebratory iPhone swirl at nightlights...looks almost like fireworks!

Today is the day!  I have had 10,000 hits on my blog!  Yea!

I've been blogging on Mainely Write for just under a year and a half...since March, 2011.  Over the past couple of days I've been watching the stats creep up to 9000 and past, and today, TODAY, I see 10,003.  I missed seeing the 10,000 exactly, but that's okay.  This is so neat.  Now, I'm going to see if I can get the next 10,000 in one year or less.  Not sure how that will happen, but it seems like a goal. I guess I could turn off the "Don't count my own hits" button.  I could really rack up the points that way!  But I won't do that.  I'd have hit 10,000 way before this if I had counted myself as a visitor!

I never had a goal when I started, except to write and write faithfully in a sort of faithful type manner, whatever that is.  I think I've been pretty faithfully writing, and oft times writing faithfully.

I need to think about how I want to celebrate my 10,000 mark.
I thank everyone who has been reading! 
I hug everyone who has been commenting! 
I love everyone who has been encouraging! 
This is a good, no, a great day! 
Celebrate with me...what should we do?

What is Wrong with This Picture?

One of our "things to do" on Saturday now, is to go out for breakfast.  And when I am out I have trouble ignoring the things I see around me.  Most of the time it is wonderful and I enjoy watching the sights and the people as they come and go.

But this Saturday, it just struck me.  We were in a nearby small breakfast/lunch restaurant.  If I were to pick a genre for the restaurant, it would be a diner, just not in an actual "diner" car as one would usually think of a diner being.  Anyway, it has a "sit-at-the-bar" area on one wall and 4 tables on the opposite wall, and two tables with windowseats and chairs in the front window.  It is a small place, that serves up homemade foods.  It has great food and delicious coffee.  The walls are painted a cheery yellow, with a sage green trim, and has small floral print cotton curtains on the windows.  It's a happy, kitcheny place to go for breakfast or lunch...no suppers - they're closed then.

Usually we are at a table on the wall, but it was full when we got there, so we sat at the bar.  We aren't a fan of sitting up high, so when a windowseat became available shortly, we moved there.

From this spot, I could see the whole place.  And it struck me that this could have pretty easily been a diner set up from my childhood.  But the people were not from my past.  It was interesting, to watch how people have changed over the years, and how our expectations have changed.

I watched a young lady, probably 12 or 13 sitting beside her mother (there was no father with them, so that's the first difference) and across from her probably 10 year old brother.  From the back I could see her bra straps, since the tank tops of today don't seem to be made with any care as to where your underwear will be.  That just was a terrible "no-no" in days gone by.  It would be mortifying if a part of your bra strap peeked through from under your blouse (what's a blouse?), as sometimes it did, since straps were threaded in a clip and the end was free and unattached.

They were talking about where they should rent a cottage it sounded like, with the mother asking them how important it was to be right on the ocean because it was difficult to find one right on the water. Well, yes, and it is much more expensive, too (which I suspect was the concern, not the availability), so why should they really have a say in this (unless money is not object, I suppose)? They looked at a brochure for a bit and then girl felt rather free to speak her mind quite loudly and clearly about how she would and could NEVER live in Maine!  Well, again, when I was a kid, that wouldn't have been a topic for discussion.  It wouldn't have been spoken about loudly in a public place.  AND it wouldn't matter where YOU didn't want to live.  You lived where your parents were and there just wasn't a reason to talk about where you did or didn't want to live - we weren't paying for it or trying to find a job there.

When they had first gotten to the table, the brother sitting (and I use that term loosely) across from her, had immediately grabbed a creamer that was sitting in a bowl on the table.  He opened it and drank it before opening his menu.  Now, I know this again is a little thing.   But when we were kids, if we had done that, we would have been told - a. that is not good for you, b. that is not what that is for, c. that is not free: it comes with a coffee that you purchase, and d. if you had gotten away with it before those admonitions were given to you, don't, under any circumstances EVER do that again!

Then we would have been told to SIT DOWN...on your bottom, not with your shoes on the chair.  He was on his knees and feet, leaning on the table throughout the whole ordering, waiting and eating.  Someone is going to need to sit on that chair later, and won't expect it to be like sitting on a dirty sidewalk.  And then we would have been told to TAKE THE HAT OFF...not just AT the table, but upon entering any building.  Where did that go?  Of 5 males in there 3 had hats on.  The two males with hats off were my husband and another older adult.  The three with them on were the young boys (though I often see older men with their hats on at the table nowadays).

A mom with a 2 year old daughter was sitting at the farthest in table, near the kitchen area.  Mom ordered her a LOBSTER - yes, lobster - omelet!  What?  Who are we trying to impress here?  Certainly not the toddler.  The toddler was done with her meal in short order, and now mom was trying to entertain her while mom finished her own breakfast.  Finally, she told her she could get down and play with a wooden pull toy as long as she stayed away from where people would be walking.  So the child was at the front of the diner near the front door, out of sight of the mom who was way at the back.  The child made a few stops on her way to the front to stand and stare at the people eating.  She was cute, but that is beside the point.  You don't stand by people eating and just watch them.  We would have been told that was impolite, well, aside from the fact that we wouldn't have been turned loose in a restaurant for one second.

On their way out of the diner someone said what a cute little pull toy...to which the mom replied, "Oh, it's not hers. The shop down the street said she could take it with her when we went to eat...good advertisement...and we could bring it back after.  I don't know how that's going to go..."

Wow.  I want to buy that toy after it's been pulled down the street, set on a restaurant table, handled by a 2 year old, etc.  And what a great way to teach your child that it is okay to take things from a store - as long as you bring them back - used.  Or even better, a way to get your parents to buy you something.  I'm sure giving it back now will be easy to explain to her.  I'm sure she just handed it back and walked sweetly out of the store.

Now, before you go all "glad I wasn't there, she's really in a grumpy mood", or "chill out, lady", just remember, I'm just telling you (if you are young) and reminding you (if you are older), that it hasn't always been this way.  Once upon a time we had manners and respect for other people's feelings and property.  Things are changing.  Change is not always a good thing.
I'd like to see a return to a few of the niceties, the manners, the self-restraint, the thoughtfulness, that was a part of my childhood.

Keep your elbows off the table.
Please, don't talk with your mouth full.
Don't touch, it doesn't belong to you.

I'm sorry!  See.  I can't even write this without feeling guilty about criticizing.  But it's not like they are bad people, or that I am totally disgusted or angry or indignant...I'm just disappointed, I guess.

I Scream, You Scream...Dogs Scream?

Today is Poetry Friday and is being hosted by Tara, over at A Teaching Life.  Go there and enjoy sitting in the poets' corner today...have an ice cream while you read!

Does your dog enjoy a cold ice cream cone treat on these hot summer days?
Pippi says, "Make mine vanilla..."

I promise to brush my teeth afterwards.

I Don't Scream

I’d like a treat
If you don’t mind;
I’d like the kind
That you would eat.
Not just a bone,
Though that is good,
I think I would
Like a cone.

So, if you please,
Another ride
Where you have buyed
Cold sweets for these
Sweet tooths of mine.
I’ll lick it up;
Not in a cup
A cone is fine!

I know last time
I got brain freeze
And had to sneeze
And left some slime;
This time I’ll eat
Very neatly
And completely
In the back seat.

You’ll have no mess
I’ll eat with flair
No wear and tear,
Nor drippy-ness.
My tongue will wrap
Around my jaws,
and then my paws
I'll quickly lap.

Slurp steering wheel
Lick floor and door
Could I do more
To seal the deal?
I've heard it said
That you would scream
For this I-scream;
I'll bark instead!

©2012, Donna JT Smith

WRiTE Challenge

Are you ready to try this?

Here's the description from DL Hammons:

"Over the course of twelve weeks we’ll be holding weekly bouts to determine winners that will advance to the play-offs, which will ultimately lead to a single champion.  Bouts between who…or what…you ask.  Anonymous 500 word writing samples, submitted by anyone who wishes to take part, that’s who.   The submitted samples should be identified only by a pen name of your choosing (be creative) that nobody has ever seen before.  The writing can be any genre, any style (even poetry) with the word count being the only restriction.  It’s a way to get your writing in front of a lot of readers, without having to suffer the agony of exposure.  We’ll start accepting these submissions today and will continue to take them during the entire twelve week preliminaries, but beginning on July 30th, the first WRiTE will be held."

So head on over to Cruising Altitude 2.0 and sign up right away!  It sounds like it will be lots of fun!

A Slice of Golf

look down
swing up
then go again
the green goes on
forever

replace
retrace
then count your swings
the score is ending
never

deep grass

sand trap
then in the pond
the hazards rather
clever

look far
look wide
then go inside
this was my last
endeavor

On Since You Asked, Dawn was talking about the relative safety of golf versus football for her two sons.  When anyone brings up the topic of golf, I am instantly transported back to my childhood experience with the sport of golf...and I just have to disagree with its receiving a "Sporting Safety Award".   I know, I know, it is generally a safe sport.  But in my household, with two brothers close in age, we two sisters observed many a safe sport or activity turn treacherous.  I learned a lot by watching them.  There were so many things I decided not to do.  I really should thank them officially some day.
So, about golf. My mom and dad had decided to take up golf.  It was a short-lived jaunt to the country club life, just before their tennis era, so there were some golf clubs accessible somewhere in our house.  I don't think I was even aware of the opportunity to use them.  My brothers though, always took advantage of opportunities which I never knew existed.  I often found out later that there had been no standing invitation to use or do the things that created those memorable moments of instantaneous chaos in our relaxing weekends or evenings.
My two brothers (though they weren't officially "playing golf"), found the clubs, and were swinging my dad's golf clubs in the backyard.  One sure, swift swing from one brother met the side of the other brother's head, severing his ear.  I know, you are cringing.  I did, too.  But don't worry, it turns out okay in the end.
The good thing was that, the "slice" wasn't a fraction of an inch forward.  The outcome would have been much different had it hit just about anywhere else in that area. The other fortunate things were that we lived next door to a doctor, who escorted us to the hospital and stitched the ear back on; and that my mother was a registered nurse so knew how to take care of an errant ear.
Looking back it's incredible that we were able to survive some of our childhood fun.  When I started high school we moved into the city, so we could be closer to school.  The doctor was probably happy to see us move closer to the hospital and farther from him.  It must have made his backyard cookouts much more relaxing and enjoyable.
BTW, this same brother with the wild swing, has now taken up golf some 50 years later.  He keeps asking me if I want to play golf with him.  Uh, no.

Clever, Handsome Fellow

Thanks Jone at Check It Out, for hosting Poetry Friday today.  If you are visiting here, go there and check out more awesome links to all things poetic posted by others.

I'm hoping to get a picture today of a seagull on a pole or post to put here.  I tried a couple of days ago, but none of the seagulls were interested in poles that day...only rooftops.

People hate them on rooftops.  What a mess!  We used to have 60 -100 that would sit atop our school roof adjacent to the parking lot.  Needless to say, we complained - a lot!   At the end of the day our cars looked like they'd been splattered with white paint.  It didn't come off easily, so you had to decide if you wanted to drive looking around that splat, or if you wanted to try to use your wipers and make a fine skim coat of it to look through.  The school actually has installed a rooftop speaker system that periodically plays the sound of an injured seagull, and that seems to keep them away now...not a very empathetic group.

Here you can see that the seagull repellant isn't working.

The Seagull

A clever, handsome fellow
Is that seagull on the pole;
He sits up there to spy a clam
To pull out of its hole.
Whole?

He swoops down low without a sound,
He spies the clam's air bubble;
He grabs the clam out of the mud
And now that clam's in trouble.
Double?

He smashes it upon the rocks
With gusto and great zeal;
It makes a great big mushy mess,
Oh, such a tasty meal.
Appeal?

But that's not all the seagull
Likes to carry off to munch;
Be very, very careful
Or he'll abscond with half your lunch!
Crunch!

Try This!!!

Yesterday I had the most fun with some flash fiction!  
I had gone to a website to see about inspiration and challenges for writing some flash fiction, and came across Flashpoints: a site-specific mass writing event.  The challenge was to go to a public place, bring a pen/pen and paper, look around and get inspired in the area to write something that relates to your flashpoint somehow, write your piece on only one side of the paper, leave the piece of writing for someone else to find and read, record with a photo where you left your piece of writing, submit the writing and photo to the web site.
So, I went to Starbucks after doing some errands, and while I was there I thought..."Hey, I could try this out here."
I didn't have any paper, but I got a napkin and wrote on one side of it.  Then I typed it into my iPad, so I'd have a digital copy to email in to the Flashpoint site.  I took a picture of the blue wall and lights there, referred to in my writing, with the written upon napkin on the arm of the chair.
Instead of leaving, I went and sat down elsewhere, posted the Flashbomb to the website and waited to see if anyone would notice the writing, or if it would be just thrown away.
It was only a matter of a few minutes when two young women came in and spied the napkin  on the chair over in the corner even before ordering.  They went over to it, looked down at it and began to read it.  One of them picked it up then, folded it and put it in her purse.  They ordered and left.  I wish I'd heard their conversation, but I was too far away, and I'm not sure if they had read the whole thing before leaving the coffee shop.  But it was fun nonetheless!  I'm going to try it again very soon. This is the direct link to my Summer Relief.   Go to the site and visit other "flashbombs"!  And maybe you'd like to try one yourself. 

Two Rainbows and the Moon

Head on over to Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference, where this week's Poetry Friday is being hosted.  Thank you, Tabatha for hosting everything poetic this week! 
Okay, Linda, I did it. Thank you for the gritty grain of an idea you left in my comments from my previous post. And thank you Stacey for the idea for the "I Wish" poems from your Sunday, June 24 post.  I combined the two thoughts with my post from yesterday.

Two Rainbows and the Moon

I wish for you bright days ahead,
Joys full within your soul, 
A happiness that grows within,
As waves to shoreline roll.
I wish your days be long and light
With butterflies and breezes;
I wish for you the clearest skies
And nights with firefly teases.
When rain quenches the dry land's thirst,
May drops pit-pat a tune
And after that, be overhead
Two rainbows and the moon,
Reminders that forever more
Is just around the bend;
The past has just slipped past us and
To that we've put an end,
Today is what we have to live,
To love, to laugh, to dream;
Don't let it slip away without
Your dance, your song, your gleam.
And though some days hold back the sun
Remember very soon
To look above and see my wish:
Two rainbows and the moon.

©2012, Donna Smith

Missed it, but Got it.

I seem to have been so busy for the past two weeks, that it has been nearly impossible to settle my brain to writing something.  I have been either on the go or sleeping it seems.  There have been some good "Words With Friends" and "Spider Solitaire" games, too... perhaps that is when I should have been writing.  But it still seems like my games were more to try to settle in for sleeping after a long day.
So now I am sitting.  It is finally not too hot, too!  I cannot think in hot weather, and we've been having a bout of hot weather after all the rains.  We are still getting some great rains between sunshines.  Which reminds me of Sunday night.
Sunday night I drove home from church alone.  My husband had to catch an early flight the next morning out of Manchester (NH) to Salt Lake City, so we drove separately.  After evening church service, I headed home on my hour plus drive.  The sky was spectacular, but I was driving, so I couldn't get a picture of it without jeopardizing the lives of all around me.  Believe me, I tried, too!  But I finally resigned myself to the fact that it would be dumb to be in an accident all for the sake of a beautiful sky!
But let me tell you what I saw.
On my left, the horizon was sporting puffy golden and pink clouds with upper highlights of silvery white on the light blue watercolored sky.  To my right, there were heavy gray clouds, threatening rain.  But in the middle of those gray clouds was a rosy deep pink glow, like the flushed cheeks of a child with a fever...the glow seemed to emanate from the cloud, but in reality it was the reflection of the setting sun on that cloud...and then...
two rainbows over that fevered cloud!
As I made a turning exit off the highway, almost reversing my direction, I saw now between the two sun creations, the bright white, almost full moon in the clearing between the clouds of the setting sun and the reflective clouds with rainbow.
How much beauty can you take at one sitting, I wondered.
I was mesmerized and wished that I could somehow get this recorded.
I guess I did in a fashion...
I hope my memory of it remains clear.  At least I've written a photograph.

Ok, Farmer's Go Next!

I wrote about fishermen and boats, and the ocean's tugging on them...now it's the landlubber's turn.  So I wrote this earlier in the week, or maybe last week.  I had just been up north in Aroostook County in potato land where the tractors had been busy plowing and the potato plants have been busy growing.
I wrote and rewrote and deleted and added and started all over when I totally deleted, and finally I think I have what I want.  I tried to keep it short and sweet in somewhat the same format as Tugging of Tides.

Tellers of seasons

Plows and harrows,

Tillers and harvesters

Dancing in dirt,

Row upon row of

Timelined soil.

Anchored to acres 

Cultivating hopes

Harvesting dreams

With calloused hands, 

Loving 

The living land.

Who's Paying Attention?

Sometimes things just amaze me, and I have to remember who's in charge here and who to thank.  And it isn't I...

Sunset last night

Who's Listening?

Are you listening for His voice
When faced with doubt and fear?
Are you watching for His hand
When problems disappear?

So easily we take a bow
Or thank our lucky stars,
When really it's not luck that we've
Caught moonbeams in our jars.

It isn't we who've done the job,
It wasn't on our own;
Without the hand of God to hold
The victory'd be unknown.

Will you give credit where it's due
And thank Him for His love,
Confessing that it's not of you
But by His hand above?

He listens for your voice today;
And wishes that you'd see
The blessings that are given you,
Those things that could not be.

Donna J.T. Smith
6/22/2012

Tugging of Tides

Tellers of tides
Boats in the harbor

Nosed in

Facing homeward
In an ebb tide
Tug of war:

Moored by land,

Pulled by sea;

Straining, tugging

Heart strings and ropes,

A fisherman

And his boat.

When I watch the boats in the harbor or watch the fishermen getting nets and traps ready on land, I think about the dual lives they lead and the love of both that they have.  To be a fisherman takes a special love of the sea though, where farmers have the love of the land.  My grandfather was a lover of the sea, my husband's grandfather a lover of the land.  Perhaps sometime I will write about the differences and similarities there.  They both...nevermind.  I'm going to write about that another time.  It would have been good for Father's Day, but that's how it goes.

This week's Poetry Friday is being hosted by Mary Lee at A Year of Reading. Head on over to read more great poetry today!

Daisy Days

"I'll give you a daisy a day dear..."Remember that song?
Sweet.
I'm reminded of that as I spy my first daisy of the season.
Daisies bring back many memories now that I ponder a bit. 
Daisy is the name of a sweet little girl in Peru that I sponsored for years.
When I was her age, it was the name of my blue Schwinn bike.
It's also the name in a song my friend and I sang in a her backyard..."Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy over the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, but you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two." We were big into doing shows of any sort back then. My friend and I were having a circus to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy and that was our featured performance. We were really good, I'm pretty sure. It was a "Little Rascals" type affair, with all homespun skills and props. My brothers and sister were enlisted as local talent. I know we had an audience of neighborhood kids, so we must have made a little bit of change for the cause.
Being in the country, and so spread out it was a big deal to have a friend over or to go visit. You didn't just walk next door.
Walking next door meant hiking across the field in one of three directions.
Hiking through the daisies.
"He loves me, he loves me not..."

Cookie Cutters and Stars

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high;

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are!

My mother once told me that she imagined that the stars were little pinholes in a big blanket covering the earth, and the light on the other side was shining through them.  I have always had a fascination with stars.  I even took astronomy as an elective in college, thinking it would be the most fascinating course in the world.  It wasn't.  It's nothing like looking at the sky and dreaming.  It's about numbers and elements and drawing circles on a chalkboard with a piece of chalk and a string and about wondering when the spittle was going to form in the corners of the professor's mouth - which it always did before the end of the hour long lecture.  He tried to kill the stars for me, but I managed to hold on to them and resuscitate them.

Linda at Teacherdance has a collection of star shaped cookie cutters.  Her picture of the cookie cutter jar, got me to pull out mine and check for stars.  I have three as you can see in the photo.  In my cookie jar picture, I have the matching heart cutter for one of the stars she has.  Love those green handles!

Though it looks as if I might collect cookie cutters, I don't really.  I have a set of the 12 days of Christmas figures cookie cutters....hmmmm.  I haven't seen them in years.  I wonder where they went after the fire?  Guess I'll be hunting them down.  I haven't thought about those for a long time.
Anyway.  Collecting.  I've tried not to collect lately.  At one time, as a young girl I collected porcelain horses.  I got good at gluing their legs back on.
Then I collected gum wrappers, to make those long chains to see how tall your husband was going to be.  I think Tim is taller than as far as I got.
For a while in the 70's and 80's we collected real live horses on our mini-farm.  We had 10 at one time... bought high and sold low. 
I collected Cabbage Patch dolls when they were all the rage.  They were going to be very valuable someday, especially if I didn't take them out of the boxes.  MIB.  Yup.  Paid $32 each for them way back in the 80's.  I can sell them today for $30 each.
I guess I have never quite gotten the hang of collecting and cashing in.
I have a fairly good collection of The Night Before Christmas books stashed away for grandkids.  I started collecting when my kids were born.  I'd read them one of the books each night leading up to Christmas.  I loved the different styles of illustrations.  I started with one book a year, but by the second year, I was buying at least two.  Didn't take long to build up a good assortment.  As the years went by, I'd have to start reading earlier and earlier.  They got a bit tired of the story mid November.
I now collect anything thistle patterned, as that was my maiden name (my poem and picture of Thistles by the Sea).  I have pins, pendants, cups and saucers, mugs, trivets, butter molds, an old hand-carved cedar chest, and anything else I can lay my hands on.  But most of it is packed away.  As much as I love collecting, my passion for dusting is equal and opposite.
Here are the few items that I will allow into the light of day and the load of dog and cat hair.

Now I'm trying to collect my memories.  

They can be stored in particles smaller than dust.

Fall to Winter Haiku

I know, it isn't fall yet, but Renee LaTulippe challenged me to finish the year of dance...so I did. Funny, but I'd already begun pondering the other seasons' dances, so that's all the push I needed! I don't usually publish on Sunday, but I'm just riding in the car and the thoughts all struck me.

Fall's quadrille complete,
Winter's curtain rises on
A snowflake ballet.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The leaves are inside out,
Now what's that all about?
It seems without a doubt
There are no clouds enroute
That carry any clout.
We've had rain to end all drought;
Enough to make us pout,
Mosquitoes soon will sprout
In water from downspout.
So what's this all about
With the leaves all inside out?
"No more rain!" I want to shout.
"I'm feeling like a trout!"

Summer

Thank you Jama for hosting this week's Poetry Friday!

A haiku to the start of summer

Spring's exuberance
Pauses for lazy summer's
Waltz of golden fields

You know what?  I started to think about this poem off and on all morning after I wrote it, and now I'm thinking I should have done it this way:

Spring's jitterbugging
Pauses for lazy summer's
Waltz of golden fields

My first thought was with the word 'exuberance', but after using 'waltz', it seemed to make more sense to use another dance term for spring...and of course, it would have to be 'jitterbug'!

What do you think???

SssspppprrrriiiinnnnggggggggnnnniiiirrrrppppsssSSsssuuuummmmeeeerrrr

Can you feel it? Do you sense the changeover from spring to summer?

Here it starts as the migrating license plates return here to the north after wintering in the south.

If you can count three cars "from away" for each Maine plate, it must be summer.

If there are frantic people backing up on the busy highway to catch a missed exit, it's summer folk who don't know you really can take the next exit and still get here from there.

If there are trailers with boats on them cutting you off, it's someone from away who only tows a trailer twice a year - once to bring the boat to Maine and once to get it home again. And they can never quite remember it's following them.

If the highway is littered with life jackets, lawn chairs and styrofoam ice chests that have floated into the air from the back of a pickup or the inside of a towed boat, summer is back. There are some really good deals out there on the edge of the highway.

If someone thinks you said the guy's name was Mac, but you really were saying Mark...one of us is not from here. It HAS to be summer!

If you are standing on the dock and someone asks where the ocean is...oh, dear...

Ah, yes! Summer in Maine has started. Time to kick back and relax!

Lightning Flashes

Lightning flashed.

I don't like thunderstorms and I especially don't like them in the convertible. Well, not the storm IN the convertible, but me in the convertible with the storm outside it. I'm riding to Rhode Island with my husband to meet up with our daughter who is driving up from PA today. My husband will go to work and I will drive back home with her and the baby, so she only has to drive halfway by herself. Her husband will come up in a couple of days..

Her cousin, my niece, is getting married this Saturday, so any last minute fixes and photos she will help with.

On a tight budget, my niece enlisted the help of her sister to do the wedding photography. All was wonderful until the sister realized she, being the maid of honor, was going to have to be in many of those photos she had to take.

So my daughter said if only she had a good camera, she could learn how to do the wedding photography.

Hmmm.

I said, "Guess what? I have one of those good cameras. I have a Canon Evolt with an extra lens. It's a digital SLR."
"What is wrong with our family?"
"What do you mean?"
"That we think we can do something that we've never tried before? And that we want to do it."

I don't know. But I know what she means. We all love trying new things and proving that we can, at least at some level, do them!

When My husband and I got married, I made my gown, my veil and my candles. I made our handwritten invitations. And my soon to be husband and I decorated our wedding cake. I had never done any of those things before, nor have I since. My brother took the photos. He was in the Coast Guard, he was not and is not a photographer. We all had a wonderful time and our pictures came out great!

My daughter has had my camera for 10 days. She's downloaded the manual, studied creative wedding photos online, saved lists of "required" photo poses, and has some artistic poses in mind She's a wedding photographer now.
I'm not sure it's something wrong with her.

Oh, yea! The storm's over. I can look up again.

Memories Day

Memories Day

keeping

time
in a box
keepsakes
of spent time
memories
packed up and stored
forgotten trinkets
of parents' past
everyday clothing
Sunday jewelry
Coast Guard tags
calendars
watches
timekeepers
no longer
keeping
time

© 2012, Donna JT Smith

Saturday on Monday

I took a couple of days off, and have returned refreshed!  I have not finished compiling my poems, as I'd really like photos to go with them.  So I'll look into getting those this week.

We spent Saturday up at Gull Haven...my husband mowing the lawn, and me singing at the top of my lungs in the house.  No one could hear me because of the mower, I'm sure.  That's what I told myself anyway.

It was absolutely the most gorgeous day in the world.  I took this picture out the doorknob hole.  We brought up doorknobs for the two entry doors, so this will be the last time I look out the doorknob hole to see the view.  I guess that's what they make windows for.

blue and green ribbons

land, ocean and sky

 

picture perfect day

framing a moment

rushing to move on

put in the doorknob

and open the door

new beginnings of

adventure and rest 

renewed and refreshed

©2012, Donna JT Smith

Thank you, Lynn for the Kreativ Blogger award!  That was very kind of you!  I went to your post today and then went back to catch up on others, and saw my name there on your Friday post.  That was a pleasant surprise to get during toast and coffee!

 I will post my responses to this award later today.  I have to run up to Gull Haven with a toilet and the outside lights.

1.   Thank and link back to the person who presented you with the award.- See above!!

2.   Answer the ten questions below.

3.   Share ten random facts/thoughts about yourself.

4.   Nominate seven worthy blogs for the Kreativ Blogger Award.

 

Ten Questions:

What is your favorite song?

"It is Well With My Soul"

What is your favorite dessert?

Whoopie Pie - only chocolate with white filling, of course - the others aren't whoopie pies.  Are you listening?  The others are NOT whoopie pies.

What ticks you off?

See previous question!

When you're upset, what do you do?

eat ice cream

Which is/was your favorite pet?

This is too hard.  If ice cream could be a pet, then that would be my favorite.  But since it can't then, probably Butch, our tiger cat, that let our kids suck on his ears when they were babies.

Which do you prefer to wear, black or white?

Black, naturally.  I smallens me and my white hair looks better on it than on white.

What is your biggest fear?

that my waitress/waiter/waitperson will not refill my coffee cup in time

What is your attitude mostly?
Evenly joyful.

What is perfection?

Jesus.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Watching "Project Runway"

Ten Random Thoughts About Me

1.  My husband and I run a Christian addictions program.

2.  I danced en point.

3.  I owned my first horse after I got married, and later we had 10 of them.

4.  I won $10,000 in 2002.

5.  I love my husband more today than the day I married him 40 years ago this September.

6.  I love ice cream a lot, and I love a lot of ice cream (is that two things?)

7.  My husband and I lived in a motel for 11 months while our house was being cleaned after a house fire.  We had a half closet and one bureau for two of us, and ate out every meal that whole time.

8.  We have built 2 homes and are renovating an old house as our next home now.

9.  We have lived in Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and we have been  back in Maine for the past 23 years.

10. I have never colored my hair.  It is quite white now and I like it like that. 

I would love to bestow this Kreative Blogger Award on a few people I don't think have received it yet.  I hope they are paying attention.  We'll see now, won't we?

Heads up to

Linda at Teacherdance

Deb at Coffee with Chloe

The Lumberjack's Wife

One Sunflower/Wake Up and Write

Tara at A Teaching Life

Diana at One Literacy Coach

Donna (a different one, not me) at My Write Spot