Many tasks to do
Too much for one day, really
Yet I’m here again,
Checking my mail and Facebook.
‘It’s lunch time!’ is my excuse.
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I need to pay bills
Should go shopping at Costco
Maybe do banking.
There’s baking I want to do
And, oh, yeah, cook some dinner.
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I’ll get back to work.
Outside is drizzle and cold.
Inside it’s cozy
But I’ll go run those errands.
Hey, a little chill won’t hurt.
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Wordful Wednesday is hosted by Angie of SevEn cLoWn CirCuS
Moisture-laden clouds
Grey and misty overhead
The rain streaks windows.
Sky streams soak the sponge-like land.
The river has topped its banks.
The rain falls, snow melts.
Where slush reigned, puddles abound,
Water-soaked terrain.
Instead of white snow blanket,
Winter rains return.
Exciting weather
First, unusually cold
Beautiful, bright snow.
Bad for drivers, good for sleds.
Now, too much rain and flooding.
This is our neighbor’s house at the corner of Alm Road and Gillies Road.
At the bottom of our road, looking south.
Gillies road looking south.
Gillies Road, looking north.
This shot is of the Sumas River (near Alm and Gillies Roads) which is really nothing more than a creek most of the time.
Guess who got stuck while taking these photos? My husband, the intrepid adventurer, and his noble sidekick with a camera, our daughter Laura!
Never fear! Our kind neighbor took a break from bailing out his flooding basement to rescue Rick and Laura from the muck.
Flooded Riverside Park near the Nooksack River.
Here is Rick by the flooded Nooksack River, pointing out to Laura that the water is still rising. These photos were taken at about 3:30pm today.
Thanks to Geraldine of My Poetic Path for this week’s prompt, a winter’s day.
Quiet days at home;
Snow has fallen, temps still low,
Sharp northeast wind blows.
We keep the wood stove going
As we converse, eat and play.
As snow is blowing
I’m bustling ’round the kitchen
Making fruit dumplings:
My way to make things cozy,
Time for coffee and dessert!
One Single Impression is a community of poets writing and sharing haiku and other poetic forms. Each week they offer up a new prompt that they hope will inspire your writing.
How to Participate in One Single Impression
* Post your poetry on your blog. This does not need to be today. You can post any time during the week.
* Go to the One Single Impression site and enter your link into Mr. Linky. Other participants can easily find you by clicking your name in Mr. Linky.
* Enjoy the beautiful poems of the other bloggers.
* There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one. Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you are participating in One Single Impression.
This picture, taken a couple of weeks ago by my daughter Laura while we were walking on our road, got me thinking. Look at all those good apples, just gone to waste under a neighbor’s tree.
Here is a series of four tanka poems that came to mind as I thought about that fallen fruit:
Sweet fruit on the ground.
Time of harvest neglected.
Autumn’s bounty lost.
The tree was planted; fruit grew,
Yet no one ate of it: Why?
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Were they too busy
To notice present blessings?
Were they too lazy
To harvest this sweet bounty?
This gift was given, not received.
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Each day is a gift.
I will live it, treasure it.
Each moment matters.
Whatever the challenges,
I will thank God, and live it.
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Life has its seasons:
Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
Each with its own work.
If I live each day wisely,
Good fruit will come, be enjoyed.
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This reminds me also of an old nursery rhyme about using time wisely that some of our children learned when they were little:
Sixty seconds in a minute:
How much good can I do in it?
Sixty minutes in an hour:
All the good that’s in my pow’r.
Twenty-four hours in a day:
Time to work and sleep and play.
My daughter Laura took some photos of our Thanksgiving preparations, including this of one of my old cook books, an insert included many years ago in our local newspaper. The recipe I was turned to, for Broccoli Salad, is one I know by heart, but I just enjoy getting out the old cook book. Laura remarked on how browned with age the pages are, so I got to thinking about why I love the old book, and wrote a Tanka about it:
Worn and discolored
Pages of this old cook book
Remind me of meals
Prepared with love, served with joy.
Precious mem’ries tucked within.
OK. I have some questions. I TRIED to get the clip art to be part of the text box upon which I typed the poem. When I then tried to publish from Word, the clip art would pop off. I selected ‘in line with text’ to try to keep it in place, but to no avail.
If you know what I should do, please tell me. Thanks.
Thanks to Gemma Wiseman of Gemma’s Greyscale Territory – Poetic Songlines for the One Single Impression prompt of GOLD.
Love your enemies;
Show kindness where none’s been done.
“Do unto others
As you’d have it done to you.”
The Golden Rule’s not easy.
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Love your family,
Laying aside selfishness.
Do what’s truly good
To those you hold near and dear.
Golden Rule: yes. Easy: no.
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(This photo is of my mother-in-law holding her dear little great-granddaughter. I think the following tanka goes along with the photo nicely.)
True satisfaction
The fruit of a life well-lived,
Problems faced bravely
During life’s fleeting seasons
Yield this abiding, sweet fruit.
These three tankas are a response to the prompt “Fleeting” given at One Single Impression. Please visit the site to learn more about participating, and to read more poetry!
Oh! I’m also participating in something new to me called Photostory Friday.Perhaps you would like to participate, too?
Writing prompt given
Last week at Three Word Wednesday
Not taken, plans awry;
Blame the duties of real life
For this writing hiatus.
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This silly Tanka utilizes the prompt given this week at Three Word Wednesday:
- Awry
- Blame
- Hiatus
Please play along. You may write whatever strikes your fancy, poem or prose, something very short or longer.
It is not living,
This habit of being bored,
This jaded ennui.
Laziness, ingratitude
Have settled deep in that heart.
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I truly hate the complaint, “I’m bored!” There is so much to learn about this wide world in which we live; there are so many books to read; so many skills to gain; so many places to go; so many people to meet. That’s what I have to say about that: Banish such a stupid thought!
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This tanka is a response to the prompts given today at Three Word Wednesday:
- Bored
- Habit
- Settle
Please play along, if you’re so inclined. Feel free to simply use these three words in a blog post, a short story, or a poem.
