Guardian Angels

"Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life."
~ Sophia Loren

"I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority."
~ Rita Mae Brown

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."~ Amelia Earhart, 1897 - 1937

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."
~ Judy Garland, 1922 - 1969

Ever since I was very young I have always thought that we all have Guardian Angels who watch over us. There is even a beautiful painting of an angel watching over two children as the follow a frightening path. The children appear to be in some danger as the beautiful female angel hovers behind silently guiding them to safety. I would dare to bet you that My own angel is not a beautiful young female.

Many people have asked the question "Are angels men or women?" I don't know that they would be either as we humans know gender to be. Whenever angels have appeared visibly to men, as recorded in the Bible, they have appeared in the physical form of men. The angels who met with Abraham came as strangers across the dusty fields and actually sat down and ate with him. (Gen. 18:8) Later, when the angels appeared to the inhabitants of Sodom, they were in such perfect manlike shape that the Sodomites were attempting to take these ‘men’ for homosexual purposes. The writer of the Bible's Book of Hebrews suggests that humans at times, ‘have entertained angels unawares’ (Heb. 13:2).

I like to think that each of us have our own Angel. I also think that they are able to guide us in some ways and protect us in many ways. I also believe that they may not interfere in the ability to make both bad and good choices for our lives that God gives us as free will. I feel as though I should often apologize to my Guardian. I have lived a very colorful life. I'm not saying that I go around doing wicked things or committing sins here, there and everywhere but I will admit to my share of youthful wrongdoing. I also admit that I was way older than youthful before I ever did anything remotely sinful. Finding yourself single and free in your thirties will do that to you sometimes. I can only say that at thirty the desire to sow a few wild oats thankfully doesn't last nearly as long as it might have if I had climbed fools hill in my teens.

I seem to be a magnet for dramatic events. Just for example, a few years ago while I was attempting to fly with Mason to New Mexico the security level went to red alert.I was searched over and over. Each time they searched me they took my Bra and one flip flop! Not a whole pair or not a left one time and a right the next. They took the left every time so that By the time we got to New Mexico I was bra-less and walking tall and proud in the cheapest pair of Flip Flops the Chicago Airport had. Paying twenty six dollars for a pair of flip flops is another sin! I would have worn a mix matched pair if I had been able to. I am cheap! I hated having to buy those expensive shoes. Flying always brings challenges to my life. It's like I have bad flying karma. Flights are canceled and delayed when I am in an airport. My oldest son won't admit it but I am sure that is why he never asks me to pick him up from or take him to the airport. He is afraid the karma might go with him!

I also have a very colorful array of friends. I have often been seen taking cigarettes to a young person who has found himself on the wrong side of the law and called "Miss Patsy" collect and asked for seven pairs of underwear and some shower shoes to be brought to them at the county jail. I have went with single Mothers with a teen-age daughters to get the girls from boyfriends homes in the wee hours. I have went with wives at their wits end to fetch husbands with bellies filled with peanuts, pretzels and alcohol from some of the worse bars you can imagine. It seems that if someone has drama in their life; somehow; whoever they are; they will become a part of my life. I will welcome them and their drama with open arms.

I have made it through some very tough times and have traveled a few dangerous paths with out harm. I have always thought that those safe passages were thanks to my Guardian Angel. I have never for one second thought that my Guardian was a beautiful blond princess with wings. I would much rather bet on him being a very daring and dramatically dark haired young man. A sissified, blond, girl would never be able to keep up with me. I would have left her in the red clay dust as I flew down a railroad hill when I was just four years old. I am sure he has a wonderful sense of humor and a great navigational memory to guide him and myself back to the straight and narrow over and over again as I seem to leap from the path so easily seen by everyone but me! Thankfully life has for a time settled down around me and I am sure my guardian has enjoyed the few weeks of rest. I can almost imagine him with his feet propped up and his eyes closed; but his alarms set for our next exciting adventure! I will be sure not to disappoint him.

Today try to behave and let your guardian rest and put his feet up for a few minutes. Don't behave long enough for him to get fat but every once in a great while just join me in giving our angels a break! Have a great day!
Patsy


Guardian

Following me
to the places
I have gone
can't have been easy
for you.

Wanting to hold
me back; afraid
to let me~ be me,
has been a trial
you have endured well.

Today I sit quietly
thinking of the tribulations
I have brought into
your existence
and mine.

I thank you
Guardian
for allowing me
to grow in my own way
becoming me~ day by day by day.

Holding me safe
as danger lurked near.
Foolishness races
knowing no fear.
The unknown a friend.

You know I can't promise
to behave for it would be untrue.
I will instead promise to try
to recall that you are with me.
close behind~ Protecting.

I will try not
to ever again
show you anything
that causes you
to cover your angelic eyes!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-27-2009

Today I wrote a Tanka!

"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." ~Robert Frost

"It's better to write about things you feel than about things you know about." ~L P. Hartley

"If you would write emotionally, be first unemotional. If you would move your readers to tears, do not let them see you cry." ~ James J. Kilpatrick

Tanka~ A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the others seven. In Japanese, tanka is often written in one straight line, but in English and other languages, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units: 5-7-5-7-7.

Today I wrote a Tanka.

The Tanka poem has long been considered the most important form and the oldest style of Japanese poetry. This form of poetry dates back to the 1300s. The Tanka poem is similar to the Haiku but it is a little longer. Over the years, the Tanka has changed a little but in some ways it has remained the same. It is written today as a five line poem usually having syllables as 5-7-5-7-7. Having a total of 31 syllables. In the original Japanese Tanka, it was written as a one line poem with 31 syllables.

Just as in Haiku there are many who dispute the original rules and now say that these poems should have less than 31 syllables altogether. Allowing shorter sentences but not longer ones.

The history of the Tanka is exciting because in Japan hundreds of years ago lovers used Tanka poems as a way of sending secret messages. After being together all night, it was their custom to have good manners and write a thank-you note for the night spent together. They used 5-7-5-7-7 onji in a poem to express their deepest feelings.

They sent their messages in paper containers or wrote it on fans. Then they knotted it on a branch or stem of a single blooming flower. A messenger was sent to deliver these things to the other lover's house. The messenger would wait, being given something to drink, and giving him a chance to rest. While he waited a Tanka would be written as a reply to the first note, which the messenger would then take back to his master. Back and forth the messengers would trot as their masters tried to come up with more and more words to entice their lovers to return for another night. It was said that a woman with a good head for words and a talented pen would have more lovers and money than the other women.

Tanka's are supposed to express one's deepest emotion.

Tanka may be beautifully written love poems, often about loss, longing, and similar aspects of our emotional lives, sometimes making a connection between an aspect of nature and some aspect of human nature. The resemblance of tanka to personal diary entries has also been noted. It is also said that they should not be the beginning of a story but should instead be taken from the middle. For example... in my poem of today.. I don't say why I need to pray, only that I am praying in my Garden. I leave the reader to wonder about many things. I have also posted a Tanka from an earlier class I took. In this poem we were instructed to write about a flaw in today's society. I chose the fact that people in today's world prey upon each other. Many times in the form of stalking. I did great in that class. I hope you enjoy my poetry today. Have a great day!
Patsy

gardening~

silent tears rain down
as upon my knees I pray
hands grasp the dark earth
tending the vegetables
as the master mends my soul

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-19-2009





Summer Stalking

Yesterday at noon
I sat alone in the sun
afraid to be seen
at last you sat down nearby
I smiled at you ~ my PREY!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
7-27-2008

I had to tell Y'all!

"Never, never, never give up. "
~Winston Churchill

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."
~ Samuel Beckett

"Try, try, try, and keep on trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything." ~W. Clement Stone

This will be a very short short post. I have so much going on right now.. I have way too much energy to sit still and write so I am doing things like cleaning and pulling weeds and yes I know it all sounds like work... Don't worry I won't stick to anything that sounds like work for long... I will be back with a much longer; real post most likely by tomorrow or the next day. I will have run out of things to clean by then. But I had to share something with Y'all tonight.

Everyone who reads me every now and again has likely heard me whine about my Haiku class. Y' all know.... the one I was sure I could finish in a couple of weeks.. Well today is my one year anniversary on that web sight and in their class programs. I don't think I started the Haiku class as soon as I joined but it wasn't long after. I would like to tell everyone that the teacher is mean and hates me.. I have thought that a time or two myself.. I would like to say that it's because the teacher is from the UK and I am an American... I tried that excuse to myself too at first.. Needless to say I have not finished the class in a few weeks and I have not had an easy time of it in this class. I have had to write the same Poem over and over before he would accept it.. Mind you every time he checked it he told me things that were wrong.. Maybe I had too many verbs or maybe the thing just plain didn't make sense to him..

So many times I said I was going to quit the class. A few times I even waited a whole two weeks before I would re-write a poem thinking maybe he would change his mind and just say "Hey I think it's good now"... Never happened!!... A few days ago I posted a haiku for a class. The next day I got a reply saying Basically that I needed another noun and that I needed to work on the flow of words. I took that to mean it sucked. I liked it. I didn't want to change it. I sat here and read it to myself. There really was something wrong with the flow.. And just saying fish instead of a particular kind of fish did take away from it a little.. So I adjusted it a tiny little bit and Man was I ever surprised when I got this response from the teacher!

"OK! Excellent haiku! A well-chosen fish. Nice flow in the phrase. Interesting jux of images.
Impressive work!" ~ Teacher who will remain anonymous( in case I have to whine and complain
again later!)

I know it's not a big deal... people write haiku everyday with no help from a teacher and they get it right the first time all the time.. But I don't. I'm a normal person who sometimes gets it wrong or at least not like the teacher wants it.. and this time I only had to re-write it once.. I will applaud myself. The rest of you can roll with laughter at me. I will still be happy that to me this Haiku was special! Laugh and start the day off on a happy note! Enjoy my haiku! Have a wonderful day!
Patsy


Riverside~ A haiku

weathered docks~
a bent old man on the pier
cleaning catfish

written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-10-2009

Sometimes I win!

“I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.” ~ Boris Becker

"Winning starts with beginning!" ~ Robert H. Schuller

“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
~John Wooden



I enter a lot of Contests. I write some little tiny something almost every day. Many times I never share those tiny things. Some of them are for other people and I might share then eventually. Some of them are just thoughts of mine that people might not accept or might even Miss-understand and I'll probably never share those exactly as I first write them. I may one day edit them or re-write them completely into a poem or story and might even share that some day. I actually have way more thoughts than most people would believe. I tend yo foll a lot of people. They find me terribly funny. They even take me for a joker. Most of the time when I say something.... unless I tell you to start with that I have a joke for you.... I am being serious. I guess it's good to be funny. I am glad I can make everyone laugh. Today I am posting a couple of poems that actually won in contests. The first on won bronze in a contests just yesterday! Yay Me! Yes! yes! I know bronze is THIRD place but at least it placed... and in my thinking third is at least better than last.

The second poem won GOLD in two different contests but didn't even place in the others it was entered in.. I guess it depends on who is judging and exactly what they are looking for.. I am always proud of any comment from my readers. Even if they say I misspelled a word then at least I know they read it.. Please enjoy my post today.... and have a great day!
Patsy

Go

Go
or stay?

Have it your way!

What
did you
expect me to say?

Just go. Go!
Please Go away!

I won't beg
I won't pray
I won't ever
ask you to stay!

Go! Go!
Please Go away!

I see how
you glance
at her hips as they sway.

Did you
think I was blind
to the games that you play?

Our life is over
Love ended today.
so please just go!
Just go away!

written by- Patricia Sawyer
3-4-2009

My Guardian Angel

Smudge of dirt
upon his cheek.
Scratch on his left knee.
Curly hair
a tangled mess.
Reminding me
~ of me.
Poorest soul~
who drew the lot:
My guardian to be!

written by: Patricia Sawyer
2-9-2009

Little Things!

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
~ Robert Brault

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." ~ Buddha

"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." ~ Kahlil Gibran

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little. " ~ Plato

Some days everything annoys me. Someone here left a sock on the floor. Not a pair of socks.. ONE SOCK.... DON"T THEY KNOW That this is how socks get lost!!! A little thing. But Lord knows I hate it. I pick up the sock that Most likely belongs to a male person who lives here because Me and everyone else knows I WOULD NOT drop my sock on the floor! Are any of you laughing? Do any of you see yourself in this? Yes the little things can annoy me. But on the other hand......

The strong smell of Coffee. Not the very expensive, so called, best brand but not the cheap chicory beverage stuff either. It's early. Frost still covers the ground. I have ignored them long enough. They will crow and cackle till I come out and break the ice. As I open the door and step out into the cold morning air I breath deeply. I thank God for a new day! I sip the hot black coffee and walk slowly out to the pens. The three Roosters all crow good morning then they try to see who can crow the loudest or maybe they are trying for the longest. I enjoy the show either way. I stop at the first pen and reach into the nest feeling around for a still warm egg. Peg rarely fails to lay first thing in the morning. As my hand closes on the warm brown egg I remember Daddy with his chickens and I also think of his fried eggs. He fried the very best eggs!

After checking the nests on all three pens I put the eggs I have gathered into an old Kitchen pot that I have left atop the first pen just for that purpose... ....Being a very organized person I do things like that.... Besides that pot didn't mean to loose it's handle. I found it a new use and saved it from the land fill.... Also on top of that pen is a big jug for filling the chickens water containers. They love water. They have to have lots and lots of water. I fill the jug and bring each pen fresh water. I love to throw the thick square of ice into their pens and watch them peck it. They will peck at it after it's on the ground and yet they squawk and fuss every morning until it is out of their water. Little things must annoy them too.

After I tend to the needs of my chickens I always sit on the upside down milk crate that awaits me and drink my cup of now half cooled coffee and watch the hens scratch in the dirt and leaves searching in their mindless way for a tasty bug or a fat worm. Sometimes one will unearth a tasty morsel only to have a sister hen snatch it up and run away. Some mornings I sit there and laugh at them. I can only hope that none of the neighbors are watching and wonder what on earth I am laughing at. Or better yet wonder who I am talking to out there by the pens where only chickens live. I do talk to them I thank the hens By saying good job as I gather the eggs. I do fuss at one rooster who's hens seem to be a bit lazy. He cocks his head and listens as if he understands. He usually then runs and jumps on a hen penning her down and pulling on her comb. So maybe he is trying to get them to lay more....

I pull grass for them from between the buckets in my bucket garden. They love the grass and I am getting two jobs done at once. Garden work by cleaning between the buckets and treating my hens with fresh green grass. They love it. I love to watch them with it and I have a clean garden.
Wow I'm about to be impressed with my own self.

I live a very simple life. I rarely leave my house or I guess I should say My Land. I grow a lot of my own food. I love flowers. I grow those too. For many many years my children and yes even my Husband have given me my own flowers for every occasion. When my children were small they would find blooming weeds in the ditch and pick some for me.. I put them in a vase and we sneezed but still enjoyed the blooms. Finally they graduated to picking what ever was blooming in my yard and I loved them. Last week Mason picked me two mayonnaise jars full of daffodils. I smiled as I thought about how many times his Daddy and I picked Daffodils along the cemetery road as we cut through Fuller Park on our tromps around Barnwell. I was pleased to see that he grows some flowers at his home in New Mexico. I offered to help them build their own Bucket garden but they said no.

I love to live a simple life. If I could I would grow all my own food. Dave says I can't have pigs so I guess I won't be growing any bacon or ham. I haven't asked about a cow yet but I thinking maybe if I promise steaks........ He loves watching the chickens as much as I do. Many mornings we drink a whole pot of coffee sitting on milk crates watching them scratch tossing them bits of bread or maybe a raisin. Laughing at their antics. Getting geared up for the day.

We all live in a time now that doesn't fit well with living the simple life. High costs of everything and the rush; rush; rush of the world running by keeps us all so busy and keeps our minds and bodies occupied 26 hours out of every 24 hour day. I hear my children talk about how every second of their day is already planned out for something. For two of them it's drive, school, drive, work, sleep, drive, work, drive.. a never ending cycle. The ones who aren't in school still have the cycle. They just go one less place. They still don't have any time to relax. I worry about our young people. They never have time or never take time to just sit down and drink a cup of coffee and watch the chickens scratch. They are missing so much in their busy lives.

They are missing the songs of the earliest morning birds. The tiny finches that bathe in the chilly saucer of water, splashing his face and then his body as he sings a sweet song. Shaking his feathers dry before flying away only to come back as a quick flash of bright color as he swoops down and snatches a bite of dog food to carry away with him.

They are missing the warm sunshine that shines on the dogs back as he lays upon the soft green grass at midday. Resting for a while. Stretching his muscles before jumping up to chase the rabbit who streaks through the dog yard, Hopping sideways before finally escaping with his cotton tail still with him. They are missing the squirrels who jump from tree to tree and leap across to the roof to fill his jaws with corn from Dave's feeder and then make the dangerous trip back to his home somewhere back there in the top of a pine tree. They are missing the lazy fish that swim in the shallow ponds and streams just hoping for a fat worm or a juicy cricket to fall into their trap. Little do they know when they bite that the trap was set for them and they will be a feast for someone tonight. In short I fear that The younger people are missing the simple things in life. Things that bring great beauty and pleasure to all of our lives if we only take the time to notice them. Our adult children don't have the time.. Life keeps them running in the rat race. Who will show their children?

Today my poem is an older one. It is called Little Things. I am a simple woman. I love the simple life. Today please take the time to enjoy one quiet simple thing. Maybe watch a bird or even stop just long enough to watch the sun set or enjoy a few minutes under a starlit sky. Be thankful for the simplest of things. Enjoy the Little Things in life! Have a great day!
Patsy






Little Things

It's the little things

that bug you

said a wise old man.

like shoes on the floor

and trash in the can.

I love the little things

for them I'd walk a mile

Keep your fancy words

and just give me a smile.

take my hand as

we walk along.

My knees go weak

but my heart beats strong.

Keep your money

and the fancy diamond rings

for all I need are the little things.

I want the sunrises, sunsets

the rainbows too

Midnight, starlight,

I'll gladly share with you.

Hugs, gentle Kisses,

a walk along the sand.

Fire flies Flickering

in a riverbank sky

it's the little things

that get me high

It's the little things that bug me?

No way my friend

I love the little things

I hope they never end

For it's the smiling,

the sharing,

the little things!

They make us friends!

By: Patricia B. Sawyer

2-27-1999

Happy Birthday Theodore Geisel!

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”

all By~ Theodor Seuss Geisel

Dr. Seuss!

Today would have been the 105th birthday of one of the most well-known names in children's literature. In honor of his Birthday I will share with you a few facts about the famous Dr.


1:) His name was Theodore Seuss Geisel - Seuss was his mother's maiden name. He started using it as a pseudonym, or alias, while still in college. He added the Dr later, as a joke, because his father, who was a brew master by trade, had always wanted him to get a doctorate and become a professor.

2:) Between 1937 and 1991, when he died aged 87, he published more than 40 books, which have sold half a billion copies between them - that's more than even J K Rowling's Harry Potter books. He nearly burned his first book, "And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street", after it was turned down by 27 publishers. Never give up !
~ I personally would love to get into his files of stuff he didn't ever publish!

3:) In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham.Oddly Cerf never paid him the $50. I guess with the millions of books sold by the good Doctor, Bennett figured he didn't need the extra fifty bucks.

4:) Having read that educators believed children couldn't learn to read because their books were boring, Seuss's publisher made up a list of 400 words he felt were important.He then asked Dr. Seuss to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using those words. Nine months later, Seuss, using 220 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. This book retained the style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Seuss's earlier works, but because of its simple vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. I myself remember the boring tales of Dick and Jane and how we were lucky enough to Have Mrs.Dumbar in first grade. She had a full shelf of fun books in the back of her room. Even though it wasn't my first choice to take home and read, I did eventually choose "Hop On Pop" to take home for the week-end. I loved it and was after that a fan of the wonderful crazy zany lines of Dr Suess.

5:) Dr Suess did not have children of his own. He liked them well enough it seems since he devoted many years to entertaining them. He wasn't really fond of spending time with them though. His widow, Audrey, said in an interview that she believed him to be slightly afraid of them. She said he was always thinking: "What will they do next? What will they ask next?" She added: "He couldn't just sit down on the floor and play with them."

6:)Dr. Seuss also wrote books for adults that used the same style of verse and pictures: The Seven Lady Godivas, Oh, The Places You'll Go!, and his final book You're Only Old Once. The final book is a satire of hospitals, and the geriatric lifestyle.

7:)At the time of his death on September 24, 1991, some 200 million copies of his books, translated into 15 different languages, had found their way into homes and hearts around the world. Since then, sales continue to climb year after year.

8:) Six books were produced posthumously, all based on Dr. Seuss materials, with one exception: My Many Colored Days was written by Dr Suess himself in 1973, but the text was not discovered until after his death. Many of these posthumous books, such as Daisy-Head Mayzie and My Many Colored Days, were made into animated specials.

9:) On March 2,2004 the Us postal service unveiled a Dr. Suess stampin celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday. The stamp featured Geisel surrounded by six of the charactors from his books including my two favorites , the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch.

10:) To show support for Dr. Seuss - originally known as Theodore Seuss Geisel - on his birthday, the National Education Association (NEA) will hold its annual Read Across America on Monday, March 2, 2009. The NEA hopes that parents and teachers around the nation will spend some time today to read with a child.


How wonderful an outlook one must have on the world to write such stories as the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. When asked where he got his ideas from Dr. Suess would usually frown and say he hated that question. He learned his way of rhyming from the pie selling chants his Mother used to sing him to sleep as a child but I would imagine his wildly animated charaters came from his own vivid imagination.

If you have children please spend some time reading to them today and every day. Children learn so much from being read to and they love the attention you give to them. Relax and enjoy a funny rhyming book from the long list of Suess books or choose something you like by another Author. Please spend time with your children. If you don't have children you can still read a childrens book and laugh. Even we adults need a chuckle now and then. Have a wonderful day!
Patsy