Time for a Make-Over and Other Bits and Pieces

  I haven't been posting so much this month but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing.  I did a bit of a make-over on the design of the blog, as you can see. I changed the color scheme , going for a wintery white, clean look.  I couldn't resist putting some veggies in the back round though, just because....I like them!

    The most important change I've made is to the sidebars.  I peruse many blogs on a variety of topics and, to make it easier to do some blog-hopping, I divided them into categories.  So feel free to check out some of my favorites.  I plan to add more, as I find new ones that I enjoy.

    Since I don't do TV,   reading has become my leisure 'vice.'  I read everything........ recipes, book reviews, poetry, prayers, articles about health and wellness, fiction  etc, etc. and  many  blogs offer  nourishment for me.   I am especially fond of poetry sites and you will find many of those on the sidebar.

    Recently, I've been writing poems - lots of them!   This gives me a sense of peace, a feeling of accomplishment, and, if nothing else,  a wonderful hobby to pass the winter months, as I wait for my garden to reawaken.  In a word, writing poetry fills me with joy! Perhaps one day, I will let you into my poetry garden!

<<>>

translating 

one moment at a time

into poetry

<<>>

  Yesterday  I went to visit my almost-bed-bound mother.   I brought her some fruit compote along with  her weekly groceries. She loves sweets and is especially fond of this compote which she says "keeps things moving." Her memory fades with each passing week and  she has stopped trying to keep track of her life.

<<<>>>

old mama

she's forgotten everything

except her children

<<<>>>

     When I got in the car to come home, I spotted the car-seat we installed for my grandson and the irony of that hit me over the head.   I am certainly a member of the 'sandwich generation.'

<<<>>>

a little boy says

'amma, tell me everything

about the universe'

<<<>>>

   I feel  blessed to have my mother still with us and a young grandson to keep me on my toes. He still thinks Pappa and I know 'everything' about the universe!   Very soon, I suspect,  he will know infinitely more than we do.  Right now, we can still answer most of his questions.  He is coming to visit us for a 'sleep-over' this weekend. That means I have to put my running shoes on to keep up with him.  The good news is,  he'll probably love the fruit compote too!!  Here's the recipe.

Fruit Compote

1/2 lb dried apricots

1/2 lb dried prunes

1/2 lb raisins

1 stick of cinnamon

1 piece of ginger chopped

1 apple cut up

water to cover

Cook on a low flame for about 1 hour until all the fruit softens.

Thought for Today:  Every moment can be turned into joy, if not poetry.

Sharing with Rebecca and friends at Recuerda Mi CorazonRecuerda Mi Corazon Haiku My Heart

    

A Rest From Green

             Who would have suspected, back in April, when my eyes hungered for the first blush of green,  or in July when I gorged on it day after day, that  I would finally get my  fill of this fair color and go looking for another hue to feast upon?

              But here I am, this lovely autumn day, on a hunt for red (or gold, or bronze, or orange) October!

             I am a fickle lover after all, my sweet green.  But then, you did leave  me first!

             I promise to love you again, green,  when spring returns to my fair island.  But in the meantime, the Eternal Artist has lavished other colors on my world and enjoy them I will!

***

 heart open

to  the sensory feast

gratitude

***

***

red leaves

punctuate the brown

stream debris

***

***

neither

picasso nor monet

painted this

***

***

long shadows

beckon the dying leaves

rest here

***

***

who dropped

red and gold confetti

everywhere?

***

 the artist splashed 

color with no holds barred

mad with joy

***

***

spent needles

under old mother pine

a cone bed

***

***

bittersweet

do the birds save some berries

for the winter?

***

***

gold necklace

captures the sun's glow

in spite of mist

***

october gold

shimmers in the morning

slant light

***

 the sun and breeze

 play a game of hide and seek

in the tall grass

***

Today's thought - no sense longing for what is going, going, gone.  Might as well savor what is right here!

Shared with RECUERDA MI CORAZON Check it out for more Haiku My Heart!!
Shared with AT HOME WITH BOOKS.  Check it out for more Saturday Snapshots!

What Fun!!

What Fun!

        Now here is a sight to make an old woman's heart sing,

out of tune perhaps,

 but nevertheless......

An almost four-year-old

 with brand new orange sneakers

on a brilliant October day,

What fun!

'Lets go to the park,' says Orange Sneakers

'I want to be a leaf-blower 

and clean up all the leaves!'

 Off they go to the park,

 to hunt for monsters

build a campfire in the  playground,

boil some leaves for tea

and best of all 

 pretend to be really, really, really big leaf-blowers!

How great is that,

to be almost four
 AND be a really, really, really big  leaf-blower
 in October,

in a park full of deciduous trees?

When the shadows grow long, 
the leaf-blower and his grandparents 
head for home,and on the way,

Orange Sneakers  informs his audience  

'I came out of Mommy's belly,'

Hm......

'Whose belly did you come out of?'

he asks,

 'I came out of GG's belly',

his grandmother says.

'Oh.'
  

Then a siren sounds  on the street
and a hook and ladder goes by,

 and little Orange Sneakers

dashes off to put out a fire.

At home,

 sneakers come off with a flourish

       and grandson becomes...........

SUPER PIIIIIIIIIIG

leaping over sofa cushions, er...

tall  apartment buildings,
 driving 'vehicles' to Paris, France

and making up rules for unsuspecting grandparents,

'Everyone HAS to take their shoes off  in the house.'

'I don't HAVE to eat Brussel sprouts'

'I AM allowed to climb up to the top of the sofa'

'I don't NEED a shampoo tonight.'

'Oh really,' says grandmother,

'Is that so,' says grandfather.

When it is time to leave,

 Super Pig morphs into  grandson

and offers  hugs and kisses

to grandmother
 and grandfather too.

'Can we go to the park when you come again?'

'Yes, we can!'

Resting Place

ooooo

under moonlight

a spent leaf falls into bed

with the flowers

                          

ooooo

Today the prompt at HAIKU HEIGHTS is 'sleep.'

Tiny Gems

********

 jewel thief

 backflips,then vanishes

with the rubies.


********

     The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only hummingbird to visit my part of North America.  The male is an iridescent green with a brilliant red  throat which is only visible if the light catches it just right.

  They are notoriously difficult to photograph.  I have taken thousands of shots over the past 6 or 7 years and have never been satisfied with my photos.  These are the best of the lot.  Unfortunately, I have never caught a clear photo of the bird's jeweled neck, illuminated by the sun.

    Earlier in the summer, I wrote a poem posted here: DEAR RUBY-THROAT  shortly after the first hummer showed up in my yard.  They usually hang out with us until about October 5th or 6th.  Then they depart, following summer to the Southern Hemisphere.


   Today's haiku is a response to the prompt at HAIKU HEIGHTS . The word is 'hummingbird.'

 

Hallelujah!

****

a piece of sky

blooms on a trellis

morning glory

****

 HAIKU HEIGHTS is hosting a wonderful haiku  challenge for the month of September.  Today's prompt is 'glory.'

Catching the Light

*

dewy spider web
reflecting a million suns

in a fly prism


*

Today the prompt for HAIKU HEIGHTS is 'lights.'

Island Hopping

My brain hopped around yesterday and today with this prompt.  One might think it would be an easy one for an islander, but I was all over the map!  All the way to the moon and back, so to speak.

****

from that distance

the man in the moon sees

one island


****

islands
hold hands
under the sea


****

low tide......

two islands 

become one

****

one old goose
in a sea of goslings
prospect park


****

    The last, describes my afternoon yesterday - with my exuberant grandson at the playground near his home.

Today the prompt is "island" at HAIKU HEIGHTS

Putting Food By

cool morning

a gray squirrel hides acorns

in long shadows

  Today's  prompt at HAIKU HEIGHTS was challenging!  The  word is 'starve."  

  

  

Haiku Heights - Meadow

..........

the meadowlark
stops singing long enough
to plant a seed

...........

Today's prompt for HAIKU HEIGHTS is "meadow."  

Reeds

'''''''''''

Only the wind sings
in black bird's abandoned home-
on-stilts


''''''''''''

     The red-winged blackbird, a common summer resident along the shore and marshes in the Northeast, is a true harbinger of spring.  It arrives in February and a walk in the wintry preserve will bring hope to the heart of cold- weary northerners.  The bird has a distinctive call, heard here at Bird Jam and can be found wherever there are cattails, reeds and other marshland grasses growing.

    They nest among the tall grasses and are usually gone from my area by late August.  During nesting season they are known to be quite aggressive. On a number of hiking trips,  I have  been chased by  a  fearless  red-wing when I  veered too close to a nest!

   The sound of the wind in the reeds in autumn and winter  is one I am familiar with and have written about before, in prose and poetry.  This marsh grass, so much a part of my home all year round, seems to contain an echo of the birds who only come for a brief visit.

     My next project is to learn how to get my words onto my image, a computer skill I am not privy to at present.  Perhaps I need a program to accomplish this.

       Today's prompt for Haiku Heights is 'grass.'

 

 

  

Revelation

At dawn,

a billowing nightgown

pulls weeds

Today's poem is in response to the prompt 'revelation' at HAIKU HEIGHTS  A departure for me today.  A senryu, perhaps?

Sea Chantey

A fluted conch
whispers ocean's sonata
into a child's ear.

This was written as a response to the prompt 'symphony',  for Haiku Heights.  

Forecast

 '''''''''

Soft gray clouds 

 mourning dove flicks its tail

at the first drops

The prompt at Haiku Heights  for today, is 'rain.'  

Wings

A caterpillar 

Intuits  its own potential,

 then builds a cocoon

Today's prompt for Haiku Heights is 'divine.'

    I'm having lots of fun and learning so much about haiku by doing this month-long  exercise with the bloggers at Haiku Heights.

   The  daily prompt challenges me to look at words and meanings in a new way, write succinctly, observe my surroundings, and  then write a verbal snapshot of a moment in time.

  By linking to Haiku Heights, I can take a virtual tour to  other inspired  blogs to see how they interpreted the prompt.  It   feels like I've  tripped into a cornucopia of haiku.

  And   for my readers who are wondering, I AM planning to post something new, not necessarily measured in syllables, perhaps in the next few days!!

Aerialist

In  sunlight

a dragonfly performs
without a net.

My dragonfly is  performing today for Haiku Heights The prompt is 'agility.'

                            

A Tree-Hugger Runs Amok

   Imagine living on an estate like the one pictured below.

   There are many such places on Long Island, complete with mansions (summer homes) built and landscaped for the wealthy tycoons of the late 19th century. Some of these fabulous estates, once owned by people with names like Vanderbilt, Marshall Field and August Belmont, have been  donated to the state of New York  and have become state parks, open to the public.

   One such place is the Bayard Cutting Arboretum on the South Shore of Long Island. The estate was built by William Bayard Cutting,  an avid horticulturist and collector of plants and trees, in 1887.   The landscape design for 'Westbrook,' as the  property was called,   was done  by  Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect for New York City's Central Park.

   We spent a day there last weekend and it was a most peaceful and enjoyable experience.

   My favorite part of the day was walking underneath a massive weeping beech,  through a tunnel to a secret cave within the old tree's branches.   It was cool, dark and quiet and I felt a keen sense of kinship with the old tree.   The weeping hemlock was similar and seemed to welcome me into its embrace for a view of ancient gnarled trunk and branches.  The experience was a singular moment and I felt the presence of God.

 

Paths wind through about 300 acres

This old specimen has character

Idyllic places perfect for wandering 

A close-up of one of many evergreens in the Pinetum

This fading hydrangea is still lovely

A young egret poses for a photographer

Under the ancient weeping hemlock

The trunk of the weeping hemlock

Gingko leaves  

Butterfly garden

A stunning weeping beech

Under the branches of the beech

Path through the rhododendron garden

A place for quiet reflection

One of the old trees I wanted to hug!

Ferns decorate the floor of the woods

Mrs. Cutting's tea house stood on this site at one time

A bit of bird-house whimsy near the farm

The front lawn looks out onto the Connetquot  River

 


 Let's see, we had   perfect weather, a long walk with many   photo-ops,  lots of trees and flowers,  and a few truly sacred moments during the day.   What more could one ask for on a summer Sunday?

VISIT IF YOU CAN!!!

Still Alice

     I read 'Still Alice' a few weeks ago and  am still feeling its impact.  It was a book club choice for August's meeting and I have not yet been able to put this book to sleep and move on to another story.
   
    'Still Alice'  is a novel about a fifty year old Harvard professor who is diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease.  She is in the prime of her life, at the peak of her academic career, happily married, with three grown children.

   An avid runner, she finds herself in the middle of Harvard Square on a run one afternoon, confused and unable to recall the way home from a place she has known for 25 years.  That is the beginning of her story, a tale of her rather rapid descent into forgetfulness.

  The author, Lisa Genova, herself a Harvard professor, takes a calculated risk in choosing to tell this heart-breaking story from Alice's point of view, but it pays off in dividends for the reader.

  I both loved and hated this book.

  During my nursing career I cared for many people with Alzheimer's but never fully understood what might be going on inside their minds.  This story, in presented from Alice's perspective, gives insight into what it may be like for the person losing her ability to speak, her memory , indeed, her very self.

  As someone who is watching a parent lose large parts of her memory to dementia, I felt this story keenly from the point of view of the spouse and children.  It is truly a painful thing to witness and often there seems to be no way to comfort.

  But....I also loved the book and here is why.  Ultimately, Alice lives only in the present moment, her past is gone and she doesn't understand the future.  Her family, especially her children, have an opportunity to  make each day calm, comfortable and ultimately joyful for Alice.

   Since reading this book,  I look at my own situation in a slightly different way.  I have let go of the sadness that my mother is forgetting things that seem unthinkable for her to forget.

    Instead,  I hold on to the thought that only this day, this moment, filled with laughter or quiet conversation about the family or a new photo of her beloved great grandson, or the anticipation of trying a new recipe, is all that matters.  She doesn't have to recall today ever, because tomorrow will bring it's own moments.

  My book club, with members from thirty-four to seventy-one, agreed this was a terrific read and we gave it one of our higher ratings. The story is compelling and,  at the same time, provides so much information about a little understood illness, without hitting the reader over the head.  It is a gripping page-turner, guaranteed to  give a reader much food for thought.  


  Take-Away for Today -  'Still Alice' is a provocative read. 



 

An Early Riser

Weeding at

 six forty-five 

 A.M. and already

 I am perspiring.

Little rivers tickle down my back and face, mixing with the citronella I

bathed in,  before venturing into mosquito territory.  There is a sparrow

singing

 in the cherry tree, serenading  early risers.  I sweat and remind

 myself that  all this bending will keep me young, allegedly. I spot

a dragonfly
on the bee balm

right next to my leg.

Breath skips out

of me.  Now 

 he flies,
 spins,

thin 
as a
whis
per,

land

ing

on a

shoe, 

 resting

from

what

ever it
is a

dra

gon

fly

d
o

e
s

!

Thought for today - A zen moment with a dragonfly inspired me to write a poem.  Have you had a zen moment recently?