Voting at WRiTE Club

Speaking of voting...

If you haven't been to DL Hammon's WRiTE Club yet, there's still time and plenty of good writing to read and vote on!  The first round consisted of 72 writing pieces of 500 words or less, 2 writers pitted against each other, until it was down to 36.  Then those 36 winners of the first bout were rematched down to 18.  The remaining 18 were allowed to edit their pieces if they cared to before the third bout.

So this is a good place to jump in if you haven't before.  These pieces will be up until Sunday on three websites (to spread the traffic around).  After that the 9 winning writers (plus the entry that didn't make it, but got the most votes) will submit a new story for the next round.

You can always go back and read the original entries if you care to.

BUT - Before you vote, you must sign up on the Linky here or it won't count as a vote:
Cruising Altitude 2.0

Then go on to the bouts and VOTE for the one that knocks your socks off!  Or at least tickles you somehow.
Today you can vote on Bouts 1 through 6.

Bout 1
Bout 2
Bout 3
Bout 4
Bout 5
Bout 6

As it gets down to the wire and more people are eliminated, a fresh batch of eyes to read entries would be wonderful!!!!!

Coffee or Cat Food

I hate when I wake up and need coffee.  But I need coffee.  Because I'm not really awake.  Got on the computer as soon as I physically got up.  Stared at it a while.  Realized it was Monday, so I clicked on the WRiTE Club button to vote on the next round of stories.  The cat yelled at me for not getting him food yet.  Now he's on the table right in back of my laptop screen, looking at me.  He's been rubbing on the stack of papers on the table and thinking about pushing them onto the floor.  That always gets my attention.  Sometimes I've rewarded him with food when he has done that.  Because he's persistent.  And he doesn't need coffee to be awake.
I think I will stop staring at this computer, and start the coffee and feed the cat.  Or maybe feed the cat, then start the coffee.  That's probably safer, though it delays my coffee...I think I need to go with safer.
I should set the coffee to come on automatically tomorrow morning, so I can vote at the polls (corrected spelling from poles - is anyone actually AT the poles' polls?)  with a better mind than I have right now (see previous parenthetical remark).  I'm sleepy.  I need cat food.

Poetry Friday! Yay!

Welcome to Poetry Friday from Coastal Maine!  I'm so excited to be hosting my first Poetry Friday.  You may link directly below by clicking "Add Your Link".  You may comment in comments also, if you like, but I won't be putting up links from there.  Just click on the links to go to the poetry site and let them know you read their post!
Did I mention that I'm excited?  Never tried this before.  This is up early, so if you need to post earlier than Friday...feel free!

November

October is gone and
Summer's long past
It's not yet December
With winter's white cast
It's plain old November
No leaves and no snow
Don't want it to stay
Just want it to go.
No sandals, no beach 
The sun isn't bright;
No snowmen, no boots
The time isn't right.
It's too cold for one,
Too hot for the other;
No wonder November
Is so much a bother.
I so wish November
Could be more like spring
And we could be happy
With what it would bring.

Tagxedo Fun!

I made a Tagxedo for our church's Sunday School program we are just finishing up...Puppets in Space...
The puppets are traveling to other planets, and I put words from their travels in the Tagxedo. Then I decided to try out Zazzle, where they print those Tagxedos onto items for sale.  I had a mug printed for our pastor...and it came out beautifully!
I drew the space ship to use as the Tagxedo image, but there are lots to choose from on Tagxedo, of course. 

You should try it with a Tagxedo you like especially well. 

It makes a wonderful keepsake/gift.  The mug ends up costing just under $20 when you get the colored inside.  If you choose no coloring inside, it costs less.

I placed my order late on the 22nd and it arrived yesterday, the 30th, by UPS, very well packaged.  It is excellent quality and just beautiful!

No, I do not own stock in Tagxedo or Zazzle.  I just love how it came out and think you should know!

Hurricane Monday in Maine

Hurry, hurricane,
Pass on quickly through;
I'm sitting inside
With nothing to do.

The rain's in buckets,
The wind is howling,
The lights just flickered,
The cat is scowling.

When the morning comes
There'll be branches to clear,
Puddles to wade in,
And stories to hear -

Tales of the night spent
With Hurricane Sandy,
And how that hand bailer
Came in pretty handy.

©2012, Donna JT Smith

Hope everyone made it through the night okay.  Lot of power outages and flooding.  The full moon has made the tide pretty high. Surf was wild today.
I guess in the light of day, I'll be able to see if I can get off the island.  The water's pretty high in places, so it floods over the road off...only one way in and one way out, unless you have a boat.
I hope we don't have to move any trees before we can go somewhere either.  We only had our lights go on and off a few times during the day, so I'm thinking that trees may not be an issue in the morning.  We'll see, though.  It could have been much worse.
It's still pretty noisy out there with the wind howling.  But I love that sound.

Morning note:
Looks fine out there.  Gray and wet, but only a few branches to move out of the way before I head into town.  I think we weathered that quite nicely.
Prayers for my niece and her in-laws who lost all in DE though.  Flooding was pretty bad there.

A Poem for Today

Thanks for hosting Poetry Friday, Linda!

Sweet Days of October

My favorite time
Since I was a child
Were the days of October
Because they were wild.

Colors once hidden
Now spring to the fore
The leaves begin talking
And rustling for "more".

More coolness of days,
Less sun and more night,
More acorns for squirrels,
More chatter and flight;

In the clearest blue skies
The geese form a V
Flapping their wings
As southward they flee.

Trees once soft edged
Become sparse and thin
Baring their arms just
When coldness sets in.

Tree fingers stretch out
They shiver and creak,
The wind howls and sighs
As it brushes my cheek.

But that only makes
Days that much sweeter
As here on the edge of
Winter we teeter.

Donna JT Smith
© Oct. 26, 2012


Today is my birthday (the 26th)...I feel like I'm teetering on the edge of winter...and days are sweeter.

What Not to Wear...Maine Mannequin

Orthopedic boots with fake buckles & fake fur.

Big stitch gray and ivory hat and scarf.

I warned them.
This is the second time I've gone into Cabela's in Maine and seen perfect examples of what not to wear.  This time I took pictures.
I'm wondering if the person who dresses the mannequins in Cabela's is from away and thinks this is the way we dress here, so our mannequins should reflect our actual style, or if he/she is making fun of the way we dress here.  Or perhaps they are trying to make us feel good about the way we dress and are encouraging us in our fashion attempts.  I'm not sure.  Because we do dress this way here.  It's just not the fashionable way to dress.  But we know it.  We just choose to ignore fashion, siding with function and comfort most of the time.  Given the need, we could dress up... for the most part, anyway.
We choose to dress this way, but please, not our mannequins.  We like our mannequins well dressed, fashionable and trendy...the way life could be - even if we dress...the way life should be.

Lightweight broom skirt, cable knit belted cardigan, white tee shirt. Slightly patriotic theme going?  The hat does look a little like a battle helmet...

Deceptive Reflectives

Shades of
Browns and grays
Deflected by
Reflections
Where shades of
Reds and oranges
Flutter to the ground
Now covering
The unfluttering
Deceived
By unnatural
Reflection.


And here's the correct answer:

Andromeda Jazmon Sibley

"I would guess it's about birds knocking into windows that reflect the autumn leaves falling, and leaves falling on the fallen birds...? "

Yup.  Now read it again, and see if you can see....

Okay, this one went through so, so, so many revisions.  Wish I'd done it in Google Doc's and kept the history, just so I could easily see its morphing.  I think this is the best I can do with it.  But really, wow.  I'm so strangely impressed with its development.  I guess, actually my bravery in cutting whole lines and groups of words...cutting way back from what I started with, to leave the essence (I hope.)  I don't know if it will make sense to anyone else in its simplest form.  Can you tell me what it is about?
I really wanted to try to write something that people would understand but that wouldn't be as straightforward as using the actual words/things I was talking about in it.  When I read it, I can tell what I'm talking about, but can you?
I don't think I'm being too obtuse, but then again...how does someone know that about themselves.
If you're obtuse, wouldn't you be too obtuse to know it?

Dog and Toad

Dog and Toad

He was here
A couple of days ago;
The dog found him
Galumphing along
Slowly,
Slowly enough to be caught,
Carried in her mouth
For a short while before
Being dropped back into
The soft cool of the grass
And fallen leaves.
I wiped her chin
Where the toad had been.
Gone is the toad
Must be too cold
Time for making
A home down deep
A place of rest and sleep
Until spring arrives
And warms him
Back to alive
And puts a jounce back
In his bounce.

©Donna JT Smith, 2012

Look! Look! See Lab Fetch!

On our way to the beach at Friendship yesterday, we spotted a few people out walking their dogs. It was a beautiful afternoon for walking. There's a leash law in Maine, so when you walk your dog they have to be on a leash or under your voice command, and, of course, you need to bring little baggies with you, in case your dog drops little treats anywhere.

So it was a bit of a surprise to round a hill and have this huge black lab meandering down the middle of the road and crossing in front of our car. We slowed down so as not to hit him, and then saw the owner, a woman, up ahead about 20 yards calling the dog, who was essentially ignoring her. So much for voice control, let alone leash. Often people from away come up here and think we don't have rules or laws. We're the wilderness, after all. It's amazing what we've seen people from away do that they wouldn't think to do at home. Anyway, that's another day.

So we avoided her dog and went on down to the beach where I walked on the beach, and my husband relaxed. We stayed probably only 15 minutes, before deciding it was time for supper at Moody's Diner.

As we headed back up the road, we encountered the woman first, no dog in sight. She was waving her arms a bit and telling us to be careful, as her dog was somewhere up ahead around the bend where she couldn't see him. We could hear her calling him as we slowly proceeded down the road.

Oh, it was near 100 yards down the road, around another bend, out of sight and sound (for us anyway) of the woman, when we saw the lab trotting at a slow pace up the middle of the road toward us. It looked like he had a white MacDonald's bag or bakery bag swinging from his mouth. Something in his trot told of his happiness with himself. Must have found someone's lunch, I thought.

But as he got closer, I saw something red sticking out to one side and two yellow sticks protruding out the opposite way from the bag. Nope, not a bag of snacks had he retrieved. It was a chicken! He had found a neighbor's nice plump white hen, and he was proudly bringing it to his unaware owner.

We stopped the car in the middle of the road - because everyone knows you don't have to follow the rules in Maine - to watch the proceedings.

The dog continued past our car to happily trot up the road, petrified chicken in his gentle mouth. If you can imagine a cartoon chicken in a dog's mouth with the chicken's eyes wide and bugging out and two stick drawn legs with toes sticking straight out like snowman stick arms, well, then you have the picture. I was concerned for the hen somewhat, but knowing how our retriever carries things around I really was only concerned for how freaked out the hen was, and that it might have a heart attack before she was released from the slobbery lips of Lumbering Lab.

MY dog, with her bag o' chicken!

Really, it did look like this to me.

Soon the owner came into sight as we watched through our rear view mirrors. She called to the dog who didn't change his pace in the slightest. The owner hadn't moved much either. Since she had the dog in sight, she just called to him.  She must not have noticed that huge white thing stuffed in his mouth yet.
She called some more and walked closer toward him when he slowed his pace a bit. Suddenly I heard her cry out and start running toward 'Ole Lumbering Lab.  Aha, she must have finally seen it!

This was confusing to him, and he stopped in his tracks.
"What? She seems upset! Why is she scolding me? I brought her a chicken. She loves chicken. I love chicken. We can share it."

Now the dog seemed a little ashamed of the perfectly natural thing he had done, and had been so proud of just a few minutes before. He put the hen down gently on the ground in front of him in the road as the woman came running up to him.

Of course, at this point the hen had begun to come to her senses and suddenly realized that it was her opportunity to exit stage left. She scrambled to right herself onto her stiff legs and ran into the bushes off to the side of the road.

Problem! Now the prize was leaving and the dog, forgetting to remain ashamed and in one spot, had to charge off into the bushes, followed closely by his master - which, by the way,  I'm not really sure you could call her at this point.

Obviously neither one of them listens to orders. And that is where we left them.

Thought about helping. We could have told her - "He's a bird dog. That's what he does. Tell the dog "Good boy!" and grab his collar (he does have one, right?). Then he'll drop the chicken and you can take the dog back in control to your cottage you're renting down the road." But it would be like aiding and abetting, or enabling, or something. How would anyone learn if it was too easy?

Note to summer folk: Our chickens are free range, but your dog shouldn't be. This is not the wilderness. I shouldn't have to watch out for your dog, and neither should the chickens. Next time wear your leash...both of you.

Warp and Weft

Yesterday was the 9 year mark for my mother's departure for Heaven.  She had surmised in her head that she would be leaving about the same time my father passed away two years prior.  She had her hair ready a few days before she died.  Her affairs were all in order.  She was ready to meet her Maker and see my dad.  Her passing was two years, a week and a day after my father's.  She was ready...not sure we were.  But this is for her.  It was supposed to be yesterday's blog.  I wasn't ready.

Two years after
his death
you left
With worldly reason
We mourned the theft
Bereft
Throwing off
Chain's heft
Now deft
Two soul mates
Once cleft
Again warp and weft
Two years after
He passed
At last
Heaven's Heavenly
Enmeshed
Flawlessly fleshed

I like to think of it that way, not sure God does it that way though. 
I guess I'll know later.

Anniversary Sunday

Today my husband woke up with a cough that started yesterday morning just before church.  In spite of that, we had a fun afternoon at my brother's and sister-in-law's house.  My sister came over and joined us for dinner.  Tim and I had run to the grocery store after church to pick up dessert.  We chose Cherry Chocolate Chip ice cream and strawberry cheesecake - without really thinking of the color scheme - ruby.
So when my sister said, "Good colors for today," it struck me that they indeed were good colors for a ruby anniversary dessert!

Then she brought out the presents.  Wow!  I didn't think we'd get presents!  But we did.  There was a basket of small presents wrapped in red tissue paper and a large red box with batteries stuck under red ribbons.

We decided to open the basket presents first, trying to guess what each could be before opening them.  Well, the first was a bottle of barbecue sauce - red, of course.  The next was a can of beets - um, red (Who gets beets for their 40th wedding anniversary besides someone in our family?)  Then a strawberry-rhubarb scented candle - an obvious choice for a red present.  After that came a strawberry-rhubarb jam.  And last, we felt a strangely tapered can inside the red tissue.  We had some trouble guessing that until my sister said sometimes it was pink and sometimes red.  A can of salmon!  Yum!

The box was opened last.  No guessing would have worked for this one.  Our best guess was electronic something, as the batteries attached to the outside by ribbon seemed to cry out "Use us!"

It was a pillow universal remote.  Now when I go to bed with the remote, it can't fall off the bed and pop open the battery compartment.  I will however, have to be careful not to fall asleep on it and change the channels.  It was not red though.  I think they ran out of red remotes.

After dinner and conversation, we went back to church for evening service.  It was followed by a surprise fellowship time with cake and sherbet punch and sandwiches and other wonderful treats supplied by ladies at the church.  I can't tell you how special it felt.  It was just like our wedding reception, only with a mostly new cast of characters.

Our wedding, 40 years ago, was held in a little church in the middle of Maine.  I made my wedding gown and veil.  My bridesmaids made their gowns.  I made candles for the women and myself to carry down the aisle in our evening service.  My husband and I ordered three different size round marble cakes with white frosting from a local bakery. We stacked our cakes largest to smallest, and I decorated them with some yellow frosting I had made.  I hand wrote 100 invitations with rsvp's.  My brother (who is now the pastor of the church I attend) was our very inexpensive (like free) photographer.  The ladies at the church made sandwiches and other hors d'oeuvres, and some punch to serve our guests.

It was a cozy, homespun event, and our celebration this day was another cozy, homespun event.  My favorite!

40th Anniversary Ride

Tomorrow is our fortieth anniversary and we are taking a week of  vacation to travel around the state taking pictures and doing things we either haven't done before or going places we haven't gone before or doing and going to places we've experienced before and want to do again.
Today we are taking the Maine Eastern train up to Rockland for the day. Never been on this train and always said we were going to do this someday!  Today is someday! We chose the Parlor Car though it was a bit more expensive. Quiet and roomy!

Lessons from Dad's Baseball Games

Today is the day my dad went to be with the Lord eleven years ago.  I miss him, but I can still see his twinkling eyes as he fashioned something out of nothing.  That was his life.


Lessons from Baseball

My father loved to play baseball,
And on Sunday afternoons
We would file out one and all
Ditching paper with cartoons.

We’d head off to our big backyard
With a Wiffle ball and bat
And even though he could not play,
Along came George, our cat.

The stately elm was our first base
Apple trees would make two more
The plum tree was the perfect spot
For the youngest's on-base chore

The plum tree spot was tucked away
Behind grapevine home plate
Where you could still be in the game
But safely watch and wait.

When we were very young and small
We’d get to swing and swing
He wouldn’t let us quit or stop
Till the plastic bat would ring

We always got a hit off Dad
From tree to tree we’d run
You might get tagged and make an out
But the running made it fun.

As we grew up and moved away
And found someone to marry
We’d still come home for our at bat,
Though base and team would vary.

With energy the baseball games
Were eagerly played anew,
Each soul would take a special place
As our young families grew.

When apple trees were hard to find
And Dutch Elm took first base
Still we could play the family game
Any time and any place

A Frisbee or a heel of bread
As targets for our feet
A vacuum cleaner tube for bat,
Rolled sock for baseball - sweet!

We learned you'd never go without
As long as you could see
Potential in the little things
Nudged to be what they could be.

I try to live by Dad’s wise ways
Whether bread or apple tree
I’m blessed to have the life I have
And that is all I need.

Love you, Dad!
©2012, Donna JT Smith

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.