Do you see what I saw?
Oh .... I pulled my car over and sat and watched
the dragon fly by
then I remembered that I had a pocket camera
and shot this remnant of him
Who says you can't be a kid again
I am
all the time

So much swirling around me lately
so many things to do, to prepare for,to let go of
Letting go...the hard one
I have embarked on spring cleaning early
well, if Mother Nature can arrive early..I can clean out early
but what do I keep, what do I throw or give away?
...Always the delay
Just as in the garden, what stays, what is to be moved or shared
dilemma
I have, in the past had to make choices about people too
Who stays as a friend, who is too much of a spirit sapper ...and goes
always choices to be made
So far, I have navigated well through these waters
But I am getting older and my energy levels..well, sometimes
I'd rather sit and read a good book
or just write one...finally
choices...we live by them and sometimes suffer and die because of them
So you see, this spring cleaning thing is important
what if I throw something out that later I regret..or worse...my daughters ask me for
If I ask them...they say...oh, don't get rid of that.....but I am the one they expect to store it all
choices....they are mine...not theirs....
one warning this time..and it goes
Ah... liberation

It's my mother's 82nd birthday
I have been blessed with her for a mother
smart,active,friendly,talented
thrifty,God loving,helpful
generous,gentle,loving
forgiving,respectful
a good cook
and my best friend
She was into herbs, natural things
and yoga before anyone else
she quilts,does puzzles
and can stretch a dollar further than anyone
She has lost a son, a husband,a brother, two sisters
and a late in life companion
and still she looks for life's next adventure
Sure she can't walk as fast, eat as much
see as well,
but she still has a glass of beer
before bed
Happy birthday mom

photo from google 

I stuck my head out of the window this morning

and

Spring kissed me

bang in the face.

-Langston Hughes



 

I love this daughter
and hold her in prayer everyday
for the journey she is on
not by choice
well, maybe by choice
she chose life
Tomorrow she moves to a new home
of tall oaks, cobblestone streets
and wrought iron
grandpa and I will have our grandson all day
Precious little guy
he thinks all that is going on is moving to a new house
and that his room has many windows
and places for his trains
Just about every friend I have
is going through trials or tribulations
This is life
ah..life...it is a gift truly
The older I get the clearer it is to me
that our footsteps touch many kinds of stones on the path
it is how we walk them that counts
Here's to a new life, dear daughter

magpietale # 108 ...Gone

old vision sees her

I know her scent in the air

but can't catch a dream

http://magpietales.blogspot.com

#108

Oh bother....I was getting into my car to go to writing group, when I heard the sound of a robin.
I turned around and in the tree alongside of my driveway...was a tree full of them....
I didn't have my camera......so use your mind
JOY

 Oh bother.

So many things to do today.

I am rewriting a short story today for my writing group tonight,

expanding it in parts.....such tough critics they are ..

But I will do as they suggest. They have been right before, I hate to admit...I love them

Before I begin the process..which takes me away so quickly to another place

I need to go outside and clip a few more branches and dried stems...clean up the garden

get ready for that day when nature says,  ready, set, go!

I hunger for the days when I can go outside and sit

sit and lose myself

empty and fill

unaware of this earthly place

unaware of my heart wrapped in lead

Yesterday, while in the garden I felt a presence near me

It was quite a spooky day in the garden...First I saw that witch toy in the bed of cone-flowers

after writing about needing to find the space of home within me

Then as I clipped away, a crow caw-cawed around me.....we haven't had crows here for years

so I stopped my clipping and listened... and then I felt this presence

as I sat on the moist ground,in the warm sun..wind blowing furiously around me

I expected to turn around and find a cat next to me.....I felt a cat's presence

but there was none...

but I sat there in the soil of the earth

and was comforted.....

I have a great sorrow inside of me

it affects my everything of everything

I  carry on...but it waits for me..for my family

it smothers our joy.....it troubles our dreams

it enters my stories.....seasons my soups

pollutes my breath..tightens my muscles

I wear sadness everyday

even in my moments of joy....sadness is a refrain

This I am not afraid of.....this is my path
Oh, to live in the Hundred Acre Woods.
Thanks for listening dear friends who hung in there 
to the end of this......now to do a little yoga 
to start this day

...and her little Boo too!
oh my goodness
look what I spotted in the garden this afternoon
It's a sign....don't you think?

I thought about the Tin Man yesterday
who said,
I know I have a heart, because it's breaking

Oh, if only there was a Wizard I could go to..
I'd kill a witch, fight flying monkeys
walk a yellow brick road
to Oz
dodge apples thrown at me...
take up with new friends...
pull my own tail
.
Today, is a day for the garden
cleaning up, cutting back
ah
yes
I hope I stumble on a moment...
warm sunshine on my face...
That lets me in
and out
to place of home

a sketch for the day
who is that on paper
unfinished,like me



I promised my friend April
that I would try to do a sketch a day
for the month of March
I am not an artist, but have a few wayward
artisty genes leftover from my father
so
this is my March 1st attempt
Not sure I'll post anymore
it is something that is very difficult and I constantly erase
and start over....big inner critic
and well deserved criticism I might add
AND I just couldn't help but attempt to make a haiku
out of it...hee hee
I love visual prompts......I use them for writing all the time
I cut pictures out of magazines or save ones from the internet that match
something I am writing about....or I use it to jump start a story
such as these pictures, that went on to become stories

I won't be doing much writing today, I have a mess of housework to do
How do two people create all this mess?
I attended 2 wakes this weekend and babysat for Finn
but the hardest thing I did was keep my heart together
So off I go to find the vacuum
and defrost some pork chops
-joy-

Magpie tale # 107 The Painting

http://magpietales.blogspot.com

Once a week

 he went to the Art Institute

 to stare at her.

 The brushstrokes captured

 the eyes of his Isabella,

the woman of long ago

that he lost to Fernando.

He knew she would be 70 now,

not the raven haired beauty

captured before him

in the sensual values of light and dark.

A painting as large as his desire

that still burned him every calendar day.

Did she have a good life?

Did she have regret?

Did she ever think of him

in the dark silence of night

as he had of her?

He unfolded a handkerchief

on his lap,in front of the painting,

 lifted out a ring

and began to cry, as he had every week

since the painting appeared 

on the walls of this public place,

for all to see.

Once he painted it just for his eyes,

now everyone could see what he loved

and lost.

silent winter dawn
I heard a tufted titmouse
March chorus tune-up