It's Hard to pass a Word Prompt!

"My advice is to consult the lives of other men, as we would a looking glass, and from thence fetch examples of our own imitation."
~ Terence

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, speak a few reasonable words."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Don't give cherries to a pig; don't give advice to a fool."
~ Irish Proverb

This week SIMPLY SNICKERS poetry prompt asks that we write a short poem that includes these key words: know, now, need

Also This week .. Simply Snickers celebrates the birthday of British painter Edward Wadsworth, who was born on October 29, 1889.

To honor this artist, they offer samples of this artist’s work to accompany this week’s prompt.

Above: Landscape By: Edward Wadsworth~ 1913

Looking at this image I get an idea of a broken mirror reflecting sad images of shattered dreams..

Shattered Dreams

knowing not your needs
my own wants.. demanded
I now stand alone

a broken soul.. with
reflections of dreams denied
scattered at my feet.

Written BY: Patricia sawyer
10-30-2009

and some thoughts on this wild and crazy.. busy..week~

this week I have been very busy trying to teach an old dog.. me.. a new trick... I wanted to be able to make slide-show DVD's for family and friends.. as a way to enjoy old photographs and to share them in a format that would be easy for the youngest and the oldest to enjoy.. I had seen a few before.. I really liked them..photographs flashing on the television screen.. set to music that seemed to match the mood of the Photo's or the person featured in the show.. My son's Father-in-Law~ Bob~ had the first set and still my favorite set.. I ever saw...he had photo's of ancestors for many.. many.. years back... and up to current day.. they looked simple enough to do.. I figured that I wouldn't pay to have mine done.. everybody knows I'm cheap.. I would do my own.. Let me tell you that my first attempt was a flop.. so being me and stubborn as I am often told that I am.. I would not give up... I had no idea just how time consuming these things are to make.. there are a bazillion( at least that many!!) programs out there that say they write Dvd's "simply and quickly"... my box says that too.. The box doesn't tell you that every photo has to be in a certain format... I figured that out soon enough since it said I had NO photo's on my computer.. so I had to change the ones I had or scan new ones to that format.. I did a little of each... and I tried again and again.. and yesterday I tried yet again.. I made an pretty good video.. it played perfectly well in my computer.. but it was a no go in the DVD player.. So I tried a different Program.. and I made one that would play in both the computer and in the DVD player.. but some of us had no heads and some of us had no legs.. one of us was just a rib cage.. I was almost ready to give up and pay someone else to do this crazy work.. then I spotted a button on the screen that I hadn't clicked yet.. I clicked it and it said to me.. " no photo has been selected to re-size... please make a selection and try again.." I re-sized and re-sized and then I re-ordered and transitioned.. I set effects and listened to music samples.. music samples are awful for this kind of thing.. unless you want elevator bong bong rap on your Video... I didn't ...so I searched for a CD that I liked.... I uploaded and previewed and re-sized twice more.. and at 5am this morning I watched my very first installment of Patsy's World DVDs on my Television.. WOW! who knew these things were so EASY to make!! I know what y'all are getting for Christmas!!

Have a great night..
Patsy

A Sepia Sun!

"A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes. " ~ Joseph Addison

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." ~ Steve Martin



Sepia Scenes # 54~




Welcome to SEPIA SCENES for October 29/2009.


I love smiles and sunshine.. I have these clay sun faces hidden in many spots around my yard.. you may stumble upon one smiling on you from above or even from a spot on or near the ground.. My Great Niece.. Dorie.. informed me on her last visit that they are secret path smilers.. She has such a wonderful imagination...She spots secret paths that were secret even to me.. have a great Night!
Patsy

There is Something About Being Near the Water....

"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." ~Isak Dinesen

"Filthy water cannot be washed." ~African Proverb

"Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war." ~Loren Eiseley




Watery Wednesday #59


Siblings enjoy Sunrise on the Ocean~
Cooper and Emily...



Looking for a morning meal!

Rather its the crashing waves of an angry sea or the babble of a slow moving brook.. there is something special about being near the water.. I love the ocean with it's breezes and waves and it's shells.. that though they may be broken.. still reflect a beauty unseen anywhere else on earth.. When we head down to the beach.. we will roll our windows all the way down and breath deeply as soon as we catch even the slightest whiff of the salty air.. some people think the marsh stinks... I always told my children that.. that was the smell of earth.. and yes.. some times the earth smells rich and loamy.. they just roared with laughter and said.." Mama.. you know it stinks!!"

Some of my fondest memories involve water...... swimming in the pool that my siblings and I dug with shovels when I was a little girl..... my late Mother-in-law saying the waves were nothing only to be flung onto the shore spread eagle five minutes later buy one of those "nothing" high tide waves.... My children fishing and catching fish on sticks that my oldest son rigged with diaper pins and fishing line... Dave an I star gazing in the back yard pool after all the children were in bed... There is something about being near water.. something soothing.. something peaceful... something special.... Have a wonderful watery Wednesday!
Patsy

Three Words ~ One Haiku

"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action." ~ William Shakespeare

"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend"
~ Henry David Thoreau

"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it." ~Napoleon Bonaparte

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Three Word Wednesday gives us three words each week.. We are then asked to think the words over and write something from those three words.. I am a nut for words.. I like to try and put together something from as few words as I can.. there are no set rules for what we must write.. I think it can be a story or a poem or even just a regular everyday post...Next we are asked to link our work to them by commenting and to link them to us..either by Button or by a link as I have above... finally we are asked to visit the web sights of others who have also written something and to comment and share our thoughts with other writers..

Tonight's three words were~

Incubate~ To develop and hatch

Nightmares~ vivid, frightening dreams

Vanity~ inflated pride in oneself or one's appearance

this is my haiku! please enjoy!
Patsy


~Tales Around the Fire~

nightmares incubate
as vanity chokes on fear ~
I roast marshmallows

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-28-2009

Manners if You Please!!... and Tuesday's What Is It??

"People who picnic along the public highway leaving a clutter of greasy paper and swill (not a pretty name, but neither is it a pretty object!) for other people to walk or drive past, and to make a breeding place for flies, and furnish nourishment for rats, choose a disgusting way to repay the land-owner for the liberty they took in temporarily occupying his property."

"The letter we all love to receive is one that carries so much of the writer's personality that she seems to be sitting beside us, looking at us directly and talking just as she really would, could she have come on a magic carpet, instead of sending her proxy in ink-made characters on mere paper."

"Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor."
All from Emily Post

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~ Update for Tuesday what is IT?? ~~ The puzzle has been solved.. I stated that the three things were related in some way.. They are all used for fishing.. I was beginning to think no one would guess till Anthony ( my oldest son) called me this afternoon..... while we were discussing children and soccer and where he might have possibly laid the thermometer cover.. he was browsing over the blog.. he recognized the third photo as a rod and reel holder... from there he was able to figure the other two out quiet quickly.. I think the net almost stumped him.. He is correct.. #1 is fishing rods... #2 is a dip net.. and #3 is a reel holder..

#1~ ignore the guys and just look at the right side of the photo.. fishing rods.. I cropped them and then turned them...

#2~ A dip net.. I cropped it down to just one knot.. I was trying to be sneaky..

#3~ a rod holder.. this one is bolted on the side of a fishing boat..This is the culprit that allowed Higgins to guess what this weeks "What is it?'s" were..

Thanks to everyone who guessed and thanks to those who visited and didn't guess.Have a great night!!
Patsy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Day Etiquette was Born

~ Emily Post was born in Baltimore, Maryland on this day in 1872. Born as Emily Price.. the only daughter of architect Bruce Price and his wife Josephine.. She was raised in an upper class .. wealthy..family.. with all the manners and etiquette that her family's lifestyle entailed. Growing up in an era of servants and chaperones..Emily was educated.. first at home and and then sent away to a finishing school that prepared girls for social life in New York, where her family had moved. She married Edwin Main Post, a banker and had two sons.

Emily Post and her husband soon drifted apart.. His constant cheating with chorus girls and actresses caused the marriage to end in a divorce. She asked for no money from him.. To add to her own small income and support herself and her sons.. she began writing short stories that were published in the popular fiction magazines Ainslie's and Everybody's. She also wrote several novels. She was encouraged by an editor at the Funk and Wagnalls publishing company to write a book on proper social behavior.... Etiquette—The Blue Book of Social Usage, was first published in 1922, and quickly became a best-seller, bringing her fame and fortune.

Etiquette- rules for proper social behavior.. Manners..
refraining from making others uncomfortable by our behavior..

I really think that my high school home economics teacher thought Emily Post was right next to God.. Mrs. Christy knew all the proper rules of etiquette and she did her very best to make sure that every student who came through her class learned them all..from which fork to use for what food... to what a woman should wear to her son's wedding.. Mrs. Christy drummed the rules over and over into us.. I once told her that I thought it was more important to learn how to cook and she said that it wouldn't matter what we cooked if we didn't know the right way to serve it.. she also said that there would come a day that etiquette would be no longer taught and would in fact be a thing of the past.. I do believe that she was right...

I can't help but think Of Mrs Christy when I hear some of the young people talking.. they have NO manners.. no etiquette... Mrs Christy would cringe.. if she were alive.. to walk down the halls of the school where she taught for so many.. many years.. and see the way they dress and hear the new Language that they speak in.. At least I guess it's a language.. it really doesn't sound like English to me most of the time.. for instance the other night I heard two almost grown men talking as I walked in front of the Courthouse headed for my poetry club meeting.. it sounded something like this.... #1 ~"wha sup hokey.." #2~ "nadda.. pokin.. dam ain't sum" ~ ..me thinking what??? slowing down and thinking maybe I might .. just maybe understand if I walked slower..
#1 " me an her..shit over.. Hell Nah Hell Nah bump dat! Dey ain't want no play.. " ~ #2 " porky on da cono.. watch dat.." I decided I better hurry on to my meeting.. I'm kinda fat and I was just stepping up on the corner.. I hurried along..

I wonder where our manners went? I'm not saying we should all dress and act according to a set of rules from 1922 but a few basic manners would be nice.. using inside voices.. no children running around the tables and screaming in restaurants.... a belt.. to keep me from seeing your crack!...an invitation that arrives before and not after an event.. and I would honestly like to be able to understand the so called English that most young people speak.. that way if you are talking about me right in front of my back.. I can understand you and run..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday's ..WHAT IS IT??

UPDATE~ I have decided to leave this for a few days just in case.. anyone wants to make a guess.. I have had a few people to offer questions and I will share those answers with everyone..

new clues~ #1: yes.. the second picture contains a knot..
#2: NO it is NOT a dream catcher
#3: The first picture is not a collection of rubber tubes...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And Now on to the reason all of you are really here today.. I have an idea that some of you are here to look and see what I have here tonight for my "What Is It?" post.. I get more phone calls and e-mails on Tuesday night than at any other time.. everyone just wants to try out a thought about it on me.. see what I think... can I offer a clue?.. is it alive? Sometimes I will let someone know if they are exactly right.. sometimes I won't.. I wonder if there is a rule of etiquette that I am breaking by saying "just comment and see what it is tomorrow"?

Tonight I have a total of three pictures.. they are all related in a way.. I think that if you can figure out what one of them is.. then you might be able to guess the other two.. Look at them close.. have your husband or your dad look at them.. Please leave me a comment with your guess.. I am sure someone will guess these things easily..

Picture #1~ I am actually a group of things.. what are we?

Picture #2~ I am only one thing..I look very odd from this angle.. what am I?

Picture #3~ I feel as if I have been cropped and stretched and twisted and maybe turned.. I am barely able recognize my own self here... Do you have a guess as to what I am??

Tonight I have given you three items to look at and to guess as to what they are... Do you have any idea what these things are? What do they look like to you? Have you looked at them from different angles? Did I twist them or turn them sideways? Someone out there has used these things.. Someone might even have used one of them today... If you think you know.. you should offer a guess... You might even be right....I enjoy the comments and the guesses.. I will post an update tomorrow of what they really are.. Have a wonderful night!!
Patsy

Bewitched!!

"Bewitched is half of everything" ~ Nelly Sachs

"Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I." ~ Lorenz Hart


Today the theme on Moody Monday is Bewitched! What a fitting theme for this time of year.. when the spooks and spirits and yes.. even the witches are stirring.. searching for the sweet energy of chocolate!!

~Bewitched~
spellbound, enthralled, captivated

Though Maya was enthralled by the late night frog hunt.. she wasn't nearly as captivated by my story... My own little princess scoffed at my fairy tale!!
"Oh Grand-Patsy... neither of these is a handsome prince.. Bewitched by a wicked spell.. They absolutely will NOT turn back if I give them a kiss... Can't you see.. they are just FROGS!"

Have a wonderful night.. allow life to bewitch you!!
Patsy

It's Harvest Time...

"Corn and grain, corn and grain, ~ All that falls shall rise again."
~ Wiccan Harvest Chant

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Fall, with her yeller harvest moon and the hills growin' brown and golden under a sinkin' sun." ~Roy Bean

"As soon as the harvest is in, you're a migrant worker. Afterwards just a bum. "
~ Nunnally Johnson

A local farm.. cotton ready to harvest..

Tonight was our monthly Poetry club meeting.... I am always after them to do assignments.. to challenge each other to write poems from one meeting to the next.. Last month one of the men folks decided to agree with me.. he offered to come up with a word right then and there for us to write on.. I agreed.. they all said I had to choose the style of poetry and I chose acrostic.. then he gave us the word.. It was sparkle... I struggled with the word sparkle but finally did manage to string together two short acrostic poems in the 15 minutes writing time they decided on..At the end of the allotted time I lay my pen aside and turned my paper over.. It wasn't my very best work but then it wasn't the worse thing I ever wrote down either.. It would do for a rush.. Paul.. (who chose the word sparkle to begin with) had also laid his pen aside and was waiting for the others to at least pretend they were done..One of the ladies simply ripped her paper in half and declared sparkle to be a crazy word... another swore she couldn't read her own writing and would have to pass on reading hers.. another said that hers hadn't turned out to say what she meant and she would re-write it and read it another time.. Finally Paul and I both read our Sparkle.. acrostic poems.. I have got to tell you... his sparkled way more than mine...His words flowing and swaying as if he had weighed and measured each word carefully.. his sparkle as beautiful as fireworks against a night sky..... It was almost as if he had already written that poem and chosen the word sparkle just to suit it.. But regardless.. his poetry always sparkles!! All of the members of "The Sunshine Poetry Club" are very talented....

After we read of our sparkles and passions and fizzles and fireworks and all the other things that got covered in the sparkle poems.. a few of them decided that we should have an assignment.. a monthly challenge that would be decided in parts.. in other words.. I might decide on the poetry style and someone else would come up with a theme or a title or a word list..or even a word limit.. I suggested a word limit poem.. the next decider said it had to be twenty five words long.. excluding the title..and the third decider said there would be no theme.. that it could be about anything.. I was happy with that... I was already imagining a Halloween poem that could be written in just 25 words..

But.. there were some people left.. the next Lady declared a second poem and she rather liked the idea of Acrostics.. the second Lady of the second group said that word limits were going to be a problem for her and she would rather not have one so the word count was declared unlimited..and the Final tidbit was the title that the third lady told us she had been thinking of and was so glad that she was able to Choose.. She Chose Harvest Time... Harvest Time.. an acrostic.. of harvest time.. no word limit.... I couldn't believe it... I have always hated the theme of Harvest Time... when I was in sixth grade Mrs Davenport made us write an essay on the local practices of Harvest Time... Yuck.. don't get me wrong.. it's not the actual harvesting that I hate.. I enjoy that.. I love to can and preserve food.. I have a full pantry to prove that I am not too lazy to like Harvest Time.. But the words don't bend easily to rhyme or maybe they don't flow.. at least not for me.. I guess that for me... they don't sparkle!

I have struggled with the assignment for this whole month.. finally I get them all to agree to try and do a challenge each month and I am feeling very little from the theme.. Harvest Time.. Harvest Time.. Harvest Time.. I said it over and over this morning at 2 am.. I had already wrote one poem.. It flowed and ebbed and wove it's way through me.. I liked it..but it was long.. It had wrung from me everything I could muster up for Harvest Time.... But it was long.. maybe too long.. But they said no word limit.. Finally I decided to just free-write.. pretend you never even heard the term harvest time.. what does it mean.. let the pen take control.. write something even if it makes no sense.. And believe it or not.. It made some sense.. I went to the poetry club meeting tonight with head hanging.. I had the poems I had been challenged to write.. But I had struggled to get them done.. I am sharing the longest one with you tonight.. I am sure that between now and then You will get to see the others.. But for tonight I share with you my version of Harvest Time... Please enjoy!

Harvest Time

Honey combs swell with rich gooey nectar..
~~ Rich and smooth.. spun by the daintiest of bees..
~~ just waiting to be harvested by Uncle in his funny suit
~~~ and packed into grandma's old mason jars...

Autumn is upon us.. cooler nights
~~ Daddy with the hoe over his shoulder..
~~~ Snakes crawling looking for a warm place to sleep..
~~~~ Keep that hoe handy.. Just in case...

Raking leaves into huge colorful piles.. browns..
~~yellows and grays..several different greens..
~~~Run Run Run as fast as you can....Now JUMP!
~~~ Daddy laughed and held out the rake.. Raking leaves... again

Verily.. Verily.. God said there was a time for every season
~~ A time to live.. and laugh.. a time to sing
~~~ A time to cry.. a time to Plant
~~~ a time to Pluck that which was planted..

Exhaustion at the end of every day...
~~ Drinking water from the quart jar..waiting at the end of each row..
~~~ Every one working together.. peas to be shelled
~~~ Fodder to be pulled and tied up.. Butchering ..before Thanksgiving

Seeds gathered for another season.. the summer already gone...
~~Squirrels with fat cheeks ..scurrying from tree to tree ..across power lines..
~~~ gathering the last crumbs for the winter.. store houses filled.. ours and theirs..

Take the time to be grateful for a fine harvest..
~~ know that each of us has a season.. our own season.. to shine
~~~ share joy with those who's season is now.. accept and give with a free heart..
~~~waiting and waiting.. hoping your season is next...



Tumble.. Tumble.. roll away.. time after time.. minute by minute
~~ The days get shorter and shorter and shorter
~~~ a cold wind blows now.. whipping a frosty breath around your knees
~~~~ telling you to put on your shoes...

In front of a warm fire I wiggle my toes.. turning this way and that..
~~ warming myself from all sides.. inside and outside..twisting ..twisting
~~~ nights cool enough for a fire.. campfire cookouts.. hot coffee and friends..


Money in the bank?.. a nest egg to grow.. Or is it keeping up with the Joneses
~~ what would give you cause to say it was a grand harvest? a fair hall.. or a great shake..
~~would you share ..your more than enough.. with your family.. your friends..
~~ Would you share with Your enemies?

Even now I can see my Daddy with his hoe.. chopping the weeds away..
~~~ tending the plants that would feed us.. for a year at the time..
~~ Working a full time job.. and working the fields.. raising the food..
~~~ banking the taters.. and shucking the corn.. working through Harvest time..
~~~ as another winter is Born...

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-25-2009



Just before we left the meeting.. our oldest member told me that I must choose the poetry style for the first of next months poem.. I was astounded by the Huh?s that rang out when I said Haiku... ten minutes and a few explanations later they had all promised to give ..what one member described as that funny Chinese poetry.. a try... they decided that it should be on the theme of Thanksgiving.. Then they decided that we should each find a new and different style of poetry and write a poem in our new style.. and bring some information to class about that style.. they then decreed that My second poem could not be a haiku since I already knew about that... and Finally one of the young men said we should all write a third poem for next Month on the theme of Rodney.. Rodney is a young teen aged son of the president of the club.. I am told that he has attended every meeting for nearly 15 years.. I have sat near him at every meeting I have went to for the last two years... he was the first member to befriend me really.. blind to the differences between us.. I will say no more than that I am a minority there... I am pretty sure I can write a poem on Rodney.. many of the others in this club are relatives of his.. I don't know him like they do.. but I watch and listen.. I see and learn.. I am not worried about the poems for next month.. I just thank goodness that they are over the need for words about Harvest Time!! Have a great night!!
Patsy

Mumbling.. Mutterings..and Words

"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind."
~ Thomas Babington Macaulay

"My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it."
~ Ursula K. Le Guin

"If you turn the imagination loose like a hunting dog, it will often return with the bird in its mouth."
~William Maxwell

I have mumbled and sputtered this day away.. I told Dave I was doing nothing but write while he worked today... what a notion.. where did I get such an idea.. First we had some people come up who said they were looking for the Crew family.. I sent them on down to the end of the road.. a few minutes later they were back and said that the crew family who lives at the end of the road was the wrong family of crews.. (not their real name of course..) So I said I didn't know any other crews.. then I spent the next hour watching for them because something about them raised my hackles.. I saw them drive slowly up and down my dirt road three more times.. finally pulling into the yard of the neighbor behind me.. he drove up on his lawn mower and I could see he was talking to them.. shaking his head.. shortly after that they drove off.. never to return.. we only have one crew family on our street.. maybe it sounded more like the truth from a man on a lawnmower .. then the phone rang and rang some more... then Thoi wanting eggs.. by then I was out of sor ts.. see I'm Mumbling ag ain!!

Unconscious Mutterings

Week 352

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Redskins :: potatoes or Indians? aren't they a football team? I guess I won't be having those fried then..
2. Show ::.. show me yours and I'll show you mine.. let's get this show on the road.. he was a no show.. show me how.. show up at least.. I might show out!!
   
3. Smoker :: Yep that used to be me.. outside by the butte can with the crowd of others.. I give it up though.. two years smoke free..
   
4. Bad movie ::I don't know.. I don't watch enough movies to know which are bad.. I'll say Another Teen Movie.. I hated those crazy things
5. Play :: Play the piano.. let's play a game.. don't play me for a fool.. Play it again Sam..
   
6. Jaguar :: that's a fast cat.. or a fast car.. both can kill..
   
7. Click :: click.. click ..click.. the remote or the computer..or.. the nearly forgotten sound of cardboard squares stuck in my bike wheels with Mama's clothespins..
   
8. Production :: you are slowing up production over here..
   
9. Sand :: sand in my shoes.. sand in your pants.. the sands of time.. let's build a sand castle..
   
10. Foreign :: foreign film festival.. foreign languages.. foreign countries.. foreign a music group? oh no that was Foreigner... a band.. they sang "I wanna know what love is".. great song..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORDS-- One Word still holds my interest.. Please try it if you haven't yet..

CRANE~ 10-24-2009~ there was a story of a sick child and if they made a gazillion paper cranes the child would be cured..OK!.. maybe not a gazillion.. but a whole lot of paper cranes.. the night before his surgery...(ten years ago now!) Cooper made a hundred tiny paper cranes.. staying up all night to fold squares of colored paper into tiny paper birds.. His cancer was benign..I still have one of his cranes here...

Dave climbs the big yellow crane on his job sometimes..from the top you can see for miles and miles..


INTUITION~ 10-25-2009~ my intuition tells me not to trust you.. should I listen to it? It's much smarter than I am.. it has been right many times.. I almost want to trust you.. but my intuition has been around a long.. ..long time ..maybe you should just move on....I trust my intuition.. it never fails me.. nor lies to me....Sorry Bub..I hear you saying "Trust me" with a very convincing smile.... But I have to trust my own gut!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and a final mumble.... I didn't manage to do many of the things I intended to today.. I still have to write a poem for my poetry club meeting tomorrow night.. I need to write another one for a class I am taking on-line too.. plus there is supper to cook and other things... like laundry and dishes ... the list goes on and on.. maybe I'll pretend I forgot... forgot the list.. forgot to cook.. forgot we needed clean clothes.. just plain forgot.. Have a great night!
Patsy

Camera Critters..

"The camera looks into your soul." ~ Joe Pantoliano

"Before I got in this business I was in the chicken business."~ Chubby Checker

“When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson”~ Will Rogers

Camera Critters #80

RULES~~~Welcome to the Camera-Critters meme. We hope that everyone enjoys this meme which is all about photos of animals/critters.......... So make your post, link back to the Camera critters site, visit other Camera-Critters captures, and have fun!

Today's critter is my newest little rooster.. We bought him at a livestock auction a couple of weeks ago.. We were amazed at how nice and calm he was in his little cage.. in fact the pair of ring neck doves we also bought were also being very calm despite the rough way they were being handled.. Neither of the four critters we purchased was fluttering or moving around.. When we got home we weren't able to simply lift them from their cages.. pulling back the hay from around their feet we were shocked to find that their feet and tale feathers were glued to the cage bottoms.. No wonder they were so well behaved and sat perfect in their tiny cages.. It's a good thing I only had a seller number and not a name.. I was not happy about my critters being glued.. anyone buying chickens or birds there would be aware that critters squawk and wallow.. But all is well with them now.. no more glue and they are all doing fine..This little fellow has been given the name of SPORT.. the pictures don't do him justice.. he is a beauty.. he is also very tame.. I love my critters... Have a wonderful day!

Patsy

Three for Thursday!

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." ~William Wordsworth

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." ~James Michener

"Ink on paper is as beautiful to me as flowers on the mountains; God composes, why shouldn't we?" ~Audra Foveo-Alba



1-}~ This Way Thurs-Way is a Thursday weekly meme of roads & its signs, signages, paths, passages, street scenes & the like.

Rules are pretty simple. Post photo/s on your blog that is relevant to the meme's theme. You can use the badge or simply make a link in your post to This way Thurs-Way site..

And sign in with Mr. Linky - on their site- which will be available every Thursday 12:01am GMT +8hrs.


What a wonderful path to the ..... Wait just a minute.... can you see the bridge railing here.. in the bottom corner of this photo? In the bushes right beside this rail.. almost in the water is the following sign..this would be the "path" to the left.. too bad I can't walk on water.. I had to follow the path to the right!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


2-}~ a Trio of Haiku...

Nature Rests

chilly winter sleeps
in shades of icy blue-
snow covered bear snores

Written By:
Patricia Sawyer
10-22-2009


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Revenge

fools stomp grumpily
dancing wildly with anger
I wait with a smile

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-22-2009


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Masquerade

old bones shimmy
in the pumpkin scented breeze
clowns and witches race

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-22-2009


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3-}~ Thursday Challenge a photo meme
Today's theme is~ "SIMPLE" (Minimalist, Simple Things, Simple Composition, Pure,...)

The "simple" way to harvest gourds from the top of a cherry tree... Climb as high as you dare..or at least 20 feet up.. whichever seems right.. Hop on one foot to shake the tree while reaching up with a 20 foot pole saw... bounce.. sway...reach... reach... reach...swing the saw and try to hook the vine.. Now PULL!!! Pull!! PULL!!!!!!.. try to dodge the falling gourds....while balancing in the tree and holding on to the pole saw.... See how simple that was..

That is my three for Thursday! This has been a very busy week and I am more than ready for the weekend!! Have a great day!
Patsy

Three Word Wednesday.. My one Word~ DON'T!

"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with those who are reckless with yours. ~ Mary Schmich

“Life has its music; let us seek a way - not to jangle the chords whereon we play”

~ Unknown

"No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds." ~ Red Skelton

Three Word Wednesday has offered us today the three words.. Jangle.. Reckless.. and Heartache.. as I read them today an image played through my mind.. I thought of a friend who's life was cut short because of one reckless jangle of keys.. below is my writing for today's three words..


DON'T!

a jangle of keys
a reckless celebration
infinite heartache

written by: Patricia Sawyer
10-21-2009

Three in One.. Wednesday Photo Memes!

"Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. " ~ Ambrose Bierce

“And now this pale swan in her watery nest ~Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending.”

~ William Shakespeare

"There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot."
~Steven Wright




Lighthouses it is!

Hunting Island Lighthouse~ The first lighthouse on Hunting Island was
constructed of brick. Built in 1859 to guide vessels along the coast,
between Charleston and Savannah, Georgia. It warned ships away from the

dangerous shoals, sandbars, and reefs along this stretch of the South Carolina coast. It was destroyed during the civil war to keep the union soldiers from using it for navigation. Reconstructed in 1875 with its distinctive black and white coloring; the new lighthouse was designed to be moved in case of barrier island erosion. Just as feared, within a few years, the ocean had cut away the northern end of the island, endangering the lighthouse and its outbuildings. In 1889, it was moved one mile southeast of the old site, where it stands today.


Bald Head Lighthouse, known as Old Baldy, is the oldest
Lighthouse in North Carolina! For nearly 200 years, it has marked the mouth of the historic Cape Fear River.

I love Lighthouses! I think I would have loved to have be en a light-keeper or maybe a light-keepers wife.. They lived very lonely lives at times and I' m going to say they would have had to love each other an awful lot to stand being there together all winter.. Many of them are easily
accessible now but that wouldn't have been the case when they were actually in use.... The barrier islands would have been hard to reach in winter storms...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lens Day Challenge for this week is Edible.

1. (n.) Anything edible.
2. (a.) Fit to be eaten as food; eatable; succulent; as, edible fishes.

How is that for Edible? Dave fought and caught him on a fishing trip that he went on with the guys from work.. We ate him fried and stewed .. stuffed and grilled.. finally giving some to some to a friend to eat.. He was edible several times over.. I wasn't on the trip but I would have needed a colorful..cold.. fruity drink after a workout like reeling that big fish in... just look at him.. he is half as big as Dear Dave!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you see what I see hiding along the edge of the shore? Dave and Cooper walked right up to her this time and a few other times to make her picture.. She is the mama gator that lives on Hunting Island.. in one of their ponds.. with some her children.. ( Incidentally.. she is also edible!)...This is an old picture.. she is twice this size now.. My newer photo's of her are gone with all the others on my now deceased computer.. Dave and I .... with the children.. have followed her growth through the last 15 or so years.. when we were there earlier this year we didn't stop by the pond to see her.. she is so used to people that she does her best to ignore everyone who snaps her picture.. She is often found laying on the bank in the sun and won't even flinch as people walk up close for a photo.. The park has now built barriers to keep camera toting idiots.... Dave and Cooper.. NOT me!.. out of harms way.. to me.. her tail is edible.. to her..all of me is edible..

Have a wonderful Day!
Patsy

Guilty Pleasures~ Ten On Tuesday!!

"Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings." ~ Euripides

"Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil." ~ Plato

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do." ~ Voltaire




Ten On Tuesday asks us today to name ten of our guilty pleasures.. I personally have more than ten to choose from.. I could most likely give a lot more than ten if I needed to.. Thankfully they only asked for ten so some of my secrets will still be safe.....

A guilty pleasure is something one considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it..Often, the "guilt" involved is simply fear of others discovering you're lowest obsession or embarrassing tastes, rather than actual moral guilt....Fashion... music... reading material.. and food.. are all examples of guilty pleasures...

1-}~ Chocolate.. I love it.. especially dark chocolate or chocolate covered cherries.. chocolate covered orange slices are fine indeed.. brownies.. chocolate pie.. chocolate cake..chocolate! YES!!

2-}~ Coffee.. I can drink it from sun up to sun down and have even been known to take a cup with me to bed..lucky for me it doesn't keep me awake..

3-}~ Home baked bread.. with REAL BUTTER!.. yes I am aware that it is fattening.. but it's too late for me to worry about that.. if I am going to the trouble to bake bread.. I want real butter.. (and yes it is a lot of trouble to use a bread machine!..)

4-}~ Tequila.. OK you don't have to drink any.. that means there is more for me.. salt and lime would be nice but I can drink it without.. Now before anyone gets all in a snit..and thinks me to be a drunkard.. I love it but haven't had any tequila in about a year.. but if you were running out to buy me some.. get the good kind please!..

5-}~ Birds singing in my greenhouse room.. yes they are caged.. they have adequate water and food.. they are babied and petted and have extra large cages... all but one of them has a mate..the room is glassed in all around and filled with plants.. they sing constantly so I am assuming they are happy.. they even have baths where they splash and play in the afternoon sun... but yes.. they are caged...

6-}~ Old fashion dolls... Barbie and before Barbie and after Barbie.. Barbie's friends.. naked dolls and dressed dolls and yard sale dolls and flea market ladies.. I really love the 18 inch versions of old fashion dolls.. I will take any that are in your way.. I love dolls.. My wonderful husband usually gets me at least one for Christmas as do some of my children.. Yes.. I am too old for dolls.. but I do enjoy sewing and crocheting them clothes..and I do of course need one of every kind for a pattern design model.. Do you have a kind that I don't have????

7-}~ Donny Osmond albums... I have a few.. I want some more of those too.. I have an old record player that still plays.... I used to share this great music with the kids in my life until they said it sucked.. after that I just played it every single day of the long long summer for spite... I listened to some of them a few nights ago while Dave and I were finishing up the bedroom we remodeled..
it doesn't have a television.. it has instead our albums and my very old record player....

8-}~ Ice cream.. I love ice cream..don't even go there with the fattening thing again.. I've already said it was too late for that.. I love the kind that has a lot of STUFF in it.. like cherries and chocolate and stuff!.. I'll eat any kind except for butter pecan.. I like pecans and I like butter but not in my ice cream..

9-}~ Leggings with a long t-shirt.. I am well aware that those are for "young" people.. I have been told that they are out of style.. Of course everything about me is out of style.. I still have a few pair and sometimes I sleep in them.. sometimes I wear them all day and cut the grass wearing them and feed chickens wearing them.. I cook and clean wearing them too... Dave doesn't mind if I'm out of style.. sometimes I even wear them with my old Indian moccasins... maybe I'll wear that outfit the next time I come to a family gathering... at your house...NAH I wouldn't do you that way.. scared you though didn't I?

10-}~Video games.. Roll playing games in particular.. I love games that allow me the chance .. for a little while.. to be someone else.. I play all the facebook games..I love the Sims games... I have played nearly every roll playing game to be offered for free on-line.. I have been a farmer and an island castaway...A mafia king pin and a chef in a fine restaurant.. I have played all of the Final Fantasy games and worn out two PlayStation-2 consoles on roll playing games... I can be someone else for a little while.. I can even be an alien.. then with the flip of a switch.. I am still me... in my out of style leggings... in my old house.. with my cup of black coffee.. and my caged birds cooing and singing.. chickens crowing and Old records playing.. And in the end.. I like me well enough!! Have a great night!
Patsy

A Short Story.. The Vandal

“When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of god we call him a sportsman.”

~ Joseph Wood Krutch

"Vandalism happens in almost all cemeteries around the world.. It has for hundreds of years.. Young people seem to be addicted to it."
~ Terry Page

"Vandalism costs... cover items such as graffiti removal, broken swings, burned equipment and broken equipment in general."
~ Bob Ferguson



Weekend Wordsmith gave the word vandal for it's weekend prompt this week.. I have no excuse for not posting it before tonight.. I could give a few but the truth is that I was simply tired and didn't take the time to type it up.. I write all in one sitting so it's not like I could have asked someone else to type it for me.. Maybe you will enjoy it enough to forgive it's being posted on Monday! Have a great night!
Patsy

The Vandal

The old mansion sat way back on its lot.. Creepy.. old..oak trees with twisted..reaching arms hanging with Spanish moss.. sheltered it from the main road.. Settled into the deep shadows..It appeared abandoned and empty...its front shutters hung split and lopsided....the hand carved frame of a screen door banged and slammed with the slightest breeze.. It was the perfect spot for a brave.. budding young artist to paint his newest mural.. Spray cans in every pocket the lone despoiler crawled through the old gates and slipped silently along the cobblestone path in the dark.. Unaware that he was not alone... he knew no fear.. The lust to create singing through his veins.. he was elated to have found such a wonderful new canvas.. Mapping the huge mansion in his minds eye.. he imagined room after room of his art.. It would be his own gallery and he intended to fill it with his best works..

Shana shook her hair back from her eyes.. and stepped from the sting of the hot shower.. she had been practicing her invisibility spell when the young hoodlum had suddenly stepped boldly into her house.. lighting a few stubby candles... he had began spraying everything in his path with purple and green paint.. She had been forced to stand silent and still as he painted her and the ball room wall with can after can of bright colors.. Hours and hours he had worked on his masterpiece.. sometimes stepping back and surveying his art from many different angles.. Shana had been totally drained by the time he had looked at his time piece and gathered up his empty cans.... he had walked around the room and mumbled to himself about the depth and shading of his graffiti before finally stepping up to the wall to run his rough palms over the images there.... letting his hang linger on her left breast as if he could feel her heartbeat hidden beneath his painting.. as soon as he had disappeared down the path with a contented whistle.. she had leaped from the painting and ran for the shower .. hoping to wash away his paint and his touch.... Had he looked back he would have been surprised to see the bright lights shining from the tower rooms...

Dressed in a warm sweat shirt and old jeans.. with a cup of peppermint tea to replenish her spirit.. Shana leaned against the doorway to the ballroom and surveyed the mural on the farthermost wall.. with the exception of the blank spot in the shape of her outline.. the painting of the dragon was quiet good.. It actually looked as if the body of a woman had stepped from the creatures heart.. Shana was impressed.. bending low she sought a name.. she had long ago learned that almost all artists sign their work in some way.. She couldn't believe it!! Was it even possible..? Her Granny May would have been elated!! YES!!.. It said... Newton Blue..

Running for the kitchen Shana snapped her fingers and fanned away dust as the large.... leather bound.. spell book struck the work table with a thump.. turning the pages of Granny May's old book with a slight flick of the fingers she hoped she had remembered right.. The rarest ingredient.. the most sought after...long lost.. and then she found it... an ingredients list... one frog leg.. one bat wing.. an ants breath and the eye of a Newt--blue...

With a snap of her fingers and a toss of her head Shana was tucked into her tower room bed.. her cat.. wisdom.. was snuggled next to her feet and her new dress hung on the closet door.. She had to get up early tomorrow morning.. She had a hunt to begin.. she had conjured up the uniform she would need to attend the fancy private school.. She allowed herself one shiver as she thought about the earlier touch of the hooligan.. She would feel no pity.. She would capture the rarest ingredient.. She would make Granny May proud.. Tomorrow she would zip herself into the ugly plaid uniform dress and carry a navy blue backpack.. her hair would shine and her eyes would sparkle with a youthful glow.... she would even have a tiny wiggle in her walk.. Tomorrow she would be a new girl.. lost and confused in a new school.. Tomorrow she would catch the most sought after ingredient.. Tomorrow... she would capture the eye of Newt!..

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-19-2009

One word.. One minute... Do you Care??

"Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home."- Mother Teresa

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government. "- Thomas Jefferson

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."
- Maya Angelou

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been back to the One Word sight again.. I have always liked words.. I like to find different ways to say what each word says.. I like to use words so that each one says a lot.. I like word lists and word prompts.. I like to twist words and turn words and use words in ever which way you can... I think I will be a regular at the One Word sight... I will race the timer to try and write as much as I can of the feelings I get from each word that they offer... yes I will race the timer..

..tonight their word is caring..

I try everyday to be caring....I had a lot more to say but the little thing popped up and said TIME!! Just the one word and so many images poured into my head.. I thought Of Nelma~ ( My Late Mother-In-Law... From my first Marriage~) and how much care she needed for a time.. my wonderful friend.. I cared for her.. I loved her.. I still love her.. I miss her very much!

Emily such a sick little girl..the scariest word I ever heard.. cancer...who knew a baby could be born with cancer?.. a hospital far from home...so many wonderful..caring doctors.. I wouldn't have her without them and I would have lost it so many times had they not been a "Family" caring group.. they cared for me so that I could care for her..seeing me and my life...fall apart
and caring enough to help me gather the pieces back into one shaky pile... Trudy caring enough to see that I never faced the treatments alone ...on the road before sunrise... getting home way after dark.... sharing one hot-dog and a diet coke while we waited for hours and hours.. whispering about the hair styles of the nurses and voting on which Doctor was better looking.. we didn't really care.. she had Danny and I had a divorce.. but it helped pass the long dreary hours...

My parents Caring for my boys while I was ..otherwise engaged.. at the hospital with Emily... My nights there lonely and scared.. My Daddy would drive Anthony and Cooper there and let me sit in the lobby with Cooper for a break.. Anthony caring for Emily.. reading to her inside the plastic bubble... sitting crouched into the tiny space.. uncaring that he would be stiff and cramped by the time my break was over.... Cooper hopping and skipping from end to end of the long lobby..uncaring that he was too loud... running up to strangers and saying "How ya -ana" ..( his version of How are ya?) with a big ..blue eyed.. smile.. me and Daddy laughing when we overheard a couple discussing where we "foreigners" might be from... Cooper too young to understand the break he gave me.. Daddy.. Mama.. and Anthony caring enough to make sure I got it.. Cooper finally wearing out and crawling into my lap for me to sing Kumbaya to him....before he went "home" to Grana's house....He cried when I finally brought him back home with me.. I said I didn't care.. Grateful for the care-taking they had done for so long.. I said I didn't care....

seeking a caring .. dependable..and loving person... I found Dave and his two crew... I have been caring for them for so long.. he has cared for me so many times as well.... caring for a very sick me.. twice.. caring for my kids and his kids and the family's kids and the Not his family's kids...thinking I married him... I married a crowd who would need many different kinds of care.... care for years and years.. sister and brothers and a wonderful Mom too.. even a wife-in-law to share cares with at times.. how can we not? ...we have two children together.. she and I...

Caring for so many different ones through the years...children.. friends.. family.. strangers.. always caring.. caring and giving every way I can..... some for a short time.. some for a life time.. doing all I can and many times wishing I could do more.. do something.. do anything.. but caring when no one else did sometimes..

sometimes caring isn't enough.. I would quit if I could.. I quit yesterday and today and many many days.. I quit caring!!! I refuse to care!! I don't care.. I won't care... I mean it!! I do!

But then the little timer said.... finish your sentence you are done!!! ...Then it said.. enter your name NOW!! ..YOU ARE DONE!!! ...so I didn't really get done.. but what it did let me say is below..

I know this is sorta rambling along.. but these are my thoughts on caring.. you could always go there and do your own.. in fact I suggest that you do!
Have a wonderful night!
Patsy


One Word~ 10-17-2009

caring.....

.. loving.. helpful..trying as hard as I can and it's not enough to be caring.... sometimes it takes more than that.. They don't want you to care.. caring gets you in trouble sometimes. You care... and they say " It's always me.. I can't do nothing right".. like you shouldn't care.. shouldn't say why was that or what's up with this???.. OK.. today I quit caring.....well I tried to at least......OK! I can't stop caring!!