Sunday - Just a Few Words... a Visit to the Old Pond!

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."

-Gabrielle Colette

"If I had taken a doctoral degree, it would have stifled any writing capacity. "

- Barbara W. Tuchman

"Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous."

- Hyman G. Rickover

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- The Pond-

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September Mourn

shriveling towers
serpent cheering- mobs rejoice
fisher woman cries

written By: Patricia Sawyer
1-26-2011


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Temptation


We only craved a toddy
something frosty in a glass

And then she came in sideways
all eyes were on the lass

We giggled from our corner
she put on quiet a show

She acted like she knew us
though how we didn't know

She waved and yelled a hello cheer
across the room she ran

She fell upon my sidekick
and grabbed her by the hand

" I disappointed Mama"
she whispered through the tears

I thought about my own Mom
now getting on in years

Her story wasn't new to us
we had heard it all before

In fact sometimes was our tale too
a time or three or more

She said "God brought me to you
can you help me find the way?"

"I've been straight a long long time
until I failed today."

We promised her that life is hard
and filled with lows and highs

Disappointment finds us each in turn
the bold.. the meek.. the wise..

We told the lass to raise her head
forgive herself and smile

Temptation lures us each at times
it surely can beguile

She begged us not to hate her
before we parted ways

I know my thoughts will dwell with her
for days and weeks and days

We only craved a toddy
something frosty in a glass

And then she came in sideways
Heartbroken little lass....


Written By: Patricia Sawyer
1-29-2011

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Thanks for stopping by.. I welcome comments and followers..

Have a great day!

Patsy

Sunday.. Raining.. and Expensive Car Repairs.. TRADE??

"People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure." ~ Russell Baker

"He who has wronged you is either stronger or weaker than yourself: be he weaker, spare him; be he stronger, then spare yourself." ~ Walter Scott

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky."
~ Michel de Montaigne

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Week End Wordsmith... &
Haiku Heights...

Empty Corner...

a struggle abounds
embellishment torn away~

runaway... Headlines

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
8-15-2010

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Unconscious Mutterings

They say and I say..

1. Rhythm :: ~ Rocking with the Rhythm of the rain...


2. Baby :: ~ Babies are cute.. I don't want any.. but I'll hold yours..


3. Sanctimonious :: ~ I am not sactimonious.. I am always right..


4. I like :: steak and chicken and purple.. Roses and blue skies..
   way too many things to list here...


5. Constipated :: if that means full of what I think it means full of..
   then I know a few people who are constipated..


6. Sleep late :: ~ You don't sleep late when you have chickens...


7. Over easy :: yes two eggs and some grits.. bacon will be fine..
   it the cofee hot and fresh?


8. Erratic :: Don't make me act erratic up in here..


9. Umbrella :: Forget that old umbrella.. you only live once..
   RUN through the RAIN!!!


10. You don’t :: really care.. do you.. well. I didn't care first.. so Now
    do you care..

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Today I was remembering... sometimes a word will make you think.. I remember the first time I ever REMEMBER hearing the word Embellish..

"Don't embellish Patsy".. My grandma said...." just tell it like it is.. you add to many fancy words and stretch simple stories into long tales.... Now.. you get on over there and sit on that second step... Think about it and then afterwhile I'll ask you about how your dress hem got ripped out again.."

Head down I sat and wondered what embellish meant.. I knew I had told the truth.. anyone would think I was making it up about Sheron with her black kitty cat in her bicycle basket.. and how they had come got me.. we knew better than to go into the woods and surely the railroad track was off limits.. I told her I better not go... but she said it was the very bestest ever and ever secret.. that she had found back there.. how was I to know it was just an old shoe?... and then she said I could ride her bike... and she got on the handle bars.. I ain't got a bike so I'm not to good on them.. and then we came to the end of the road.. where the blackberries grow..and you remember it rained last week.. Uncle Neal ain't had a day off work yet so he ain't plowed that old road.. and it's got rain gullies...and then... them rain gullies are deep.. they are deeper than a bike tire.. I hit one and Sheron flew through the air.. not like she had wings though.. not like that.. she just flew like wham and flew.. and the grass is tall down there.. by the tracks..I tried to find her..I hid the bike in the woods.. If she was dead what would I do.. she wasn't dead.. I hoped she wasn't dead.. and I was looking and looking in the grass where I saw her go when she flew... If she was dead she woulda got wings.. and then she woulda flew..Bt I was scared already and then Sheron jumped out the grass and screamed at me.. she said I was too stupid.. I am NOT stupid but she said I was.. to even ride a bike and she said I couldn't ride hers anymore.. so She was mad at me and went to her own house... I followed her and then she screamed at me again.. she said "go home baby.. too stupid to ride a bike baby!".. so I ran and ran back to Aunt Lucy's fence.. Aunt Lucy and them wasn't home.. at least I don't think they were there.. the door was shut.. and I saw her new kitties .. I bet Sheron stole that black kitty.. and when I was trying to get over the fence...I was crying so hard because I am NOT a baby... and I got hung up... I hope my Mama is ok... they been gone after that baby all day.. Grandma won't let Reuben play out here in the yard with me and Jimmy.. she thinks we're babies too.. I was going to ask Grandma to fix my dress.. the hem is loose... and then she said I always tried to Embellish.. and said I had to think about it.. I wish I knew what I was supposed to think about.. always it...whatever it was.. and I sure do wish I knew what embellish meant.......

I don't intend to live a dramatic life.. I don't even mean to embellish things.. Maybe I just see things differently or maybe I tell things differently.. I don't really embellish do I?...?
I welcome comments.. Have a great day!
Patsy

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So Many Words... So little time!

"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch."

"The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis."

"Sometimes history takes things into its own hands."

All of these quotes are by Thurgood Marshall.. Thoroughgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2nd in 1908. He didn't like writing such a long name, so while in second grade.. he shortened it to suit himself... When he was naughty in school.. his punishment was to copy the Constitution of the United States.. . After high school at Baltimore and Lincoln University at Oxford, Pennsylvania, he wanted to study law at the University of Maryland... At that time, the school's segregation policy would not allow him to attend there and he took his law degree at Howard University School of Law.. graduating first in his class. He went to work for the NAACP and started winning civil rights cases, including Brown v. Board of Education. President Johnson made him the first black Supreme Court justice in 1967.

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I hope each and every one of you are having a wonderful and safe holiday week-end.. Dave and I are staying at home and will be grilling some chicken and vegetables later today.. Please remember the military men and women who are stationed all over the world.. who give so much.. to insure our Independence! Many of you will enjoy fireworks and other displays of freedom tonight and tomorrow in celebration of Independence.. Please remember those who often give their lives that the rest of us may celebrate this holiday!
May God Bless the USA!
Patsy




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Independence

Individual choices.. Identities allowed
No King to rule.. to none we bow
Determined are you to reach the top
Each of us can rise or flop
Perhaps you're one who doesn't care
Even that's allowed.. It is! I swear!
No one will ever force you to matter
Dance if you would at the foot of my ladder
Energy and drive heeds freedoms call
New recruits prepared to fall
Can we ever forget the price they pay
Ever thankful for Independence day!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
7-3-2010

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I have combined two word lists this week to write the following short piece..
I hope you enjoy the short story..

This week's words from~ Three Word Wednesday!~ hassle, inject, wealth


This weeks words from~ Word Beads!~ Gilt -Irritable- Corporation - All -Disable




Banishment


The loud oinks of the pet gilt made Sallie irritable.. She had always hated the rule that Corporation decided who or what would become a mother.. Just another part of their controlling schemes.. All decisions were.. of course.. decided by whatever scheme they thought would bring the powerful men the most wealth.. At only seventeen.. She had been one of the first to be injected with the disable serum.. They pretended that it was to save her the hassle of birth control .. They had even gone as far as to promise her that her turn to be a mother.. would come.. That was only two weeks before they had married her to the handsome drone that she knew as Adam.. They had been together for many years now.. She had aged through the years but Adam had remained the very same.. Green eyes following her around and sending his reports straight to corporation.. She wasn't surprised that they had called her in for an interview.. but she had been very careful.. Being one of the corporations chosen travelers had been perfect .. She hadn't minded the long journeys to outer zones.. It was in fact on her very first journey that she had given birth to her son.. unknowingly pregnant before the serum was administered she had been surprised by an onset of pain just before reaching her destination.. Luckily for her the zone she had entered had many babies born that year and one more hadn't even been noticed.. She had been lucky to have been found.. lost and confused.. by the old Granger who loved her son almost as much as he loved the extra provisions that Sallie's trips provided for him.. He had raised the boy to be a bright and cheerful lad.. though she had complained to Adam repeatedly that the boy was slow witted.. Sallie had planned well.. Adam had reported her theft of food just as she had known he would.. He had also reported her dislike of the zone where she had spent her very first mission.. and her almost obscene hatred of the nasty old Granger and his son.... Hands clasped behind her back.. she wept.. as they read out the sentence that she welcomed.. Banishment... to the old Granger's cabin for the rest of her life..


Written BY: Patricia Sawyer
6-30-2010



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A Few Words for Wednesday!

"There is no lighter burden, nor more agreeable, than a pen."
~Petrarch

"For every path you choose, there is another you must abandon, usually forever."
~ Joan D. Vinge

"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better." ~ Pat Riley

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The three words of today are... precise.. gradual... abandon..

Three Word Wednesday gives us a three word combination each week to play around with.. I often write poems with the words and many times haiku.. This week the word abandon seemed to strike a chord deep within this person I know as me.. I don't know why..

I did a couple of things with the words today..

#1~ a three minute brainstorm... very little all alone but it might show up again somewhere...

~ "let me be precise on what you are asking of me".. her boldness aglow beneath the darkening sky light.. "you expect me to plan a day-trip.. complete with a catered picnic.. and then just abandon the entire riding party to your Tom Foolery.."

She caught the barest nod of the silver curls.. his wicked smile achingly potent... a gradual persuasion to even his strongest rivals...

With a stomp of her booted foot and a toss of her head.. she pulled out her day trip planner.

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#2~ an etheree....

Bought

Please

let me

be precise...

I am the chief!

your every wish

now lies within my grasp.

There will be no gradual

lessening of your temptation.

But feel free to keep this thought in mind~

I would never abandon you cheaply!

written by: Patricia Sawyer

5-26-2010

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Thanks for stopping by my blog today.. I hope you enjoyed your visit! Have a great day!!

Patsy

A Few Haiku!

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

"Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances."

~ all by Maya Angelou

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In the Pines~

a rasping blackbird
lifts squirming worms to treetops~
Barefooted I climb

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-17-2009

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Domestic~

night falls silently
covering shades of violence~
sunlight strikes horror

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-17-2009

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Through The Window~

hopelessly in love
she escapes into the night~
moonbeams frown

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-17-2009


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The Concert~

under summer sun
rocking melodies rumble~
bottles disappear

Written By: Patricia sawyer
9-17-2009


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If anyone would like to send me some words or even a title .. I will write something from it.. I haven't had a word sent to me in a long time.. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great night!
Patsy

Mutterings.....

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
~ Ayn Rand

"The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount."
~ Joseph Addison

"It's a very good question, very direct, and I'm not going to answer it."
~ George H. W. Bush

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Unconscious Mutterings - a simple list of words that each week challenges us to give free rein to out thoughts.. write what you think.. Have fun!~
What do you think of when you hear these words?.. Have a great night..
thanks for visiting here!
Patsy

1. Furniture :: assets... you set on the broke couch and I'll set on the broke chair.... I once told someone that in court.. I wasn't nearly that nice though..



2. Beauty :: is only skin deep.. we should peel it back and take a peek.. or maybe a beauty mark.. I had one of those for years.. then one day my mole fell off... no more beauty mark.. do you think I might be ugly to the bone?



3. Sip :: sip a little wine.. a sip of water.. but you never sip beer or tequila!



4. Block :: please don't block my way... blockhead! Throw a block at them!



5. Forehead :: HEAL! screamed as I slap your forehead.. oh man you aren't healed? wow it worked for the guy on television..



6. Championship :: Baseball.. wrestling..



7. Hurl :: are we hurling another brick at some one who is blowing the horn in my yard? am I hurling from too much wormy liquor



8. Whip :: I will whip you with my yard stick... whip up a pound cake for desert.. or the game my Grandma played.. where she sat you on her knee and patted your back while saying "whippity whoppity on your back... say good master have good luck how many fingers do I hold up?" You then tried to guess how many fingers she was holding up... I was almost never right and got whippity whopped a lot!



9. Destruction :: you have completed the destruction of my opinion of you.. the wide spread destruction of Haiti..



10. Leather :: and Lace.. leather necks. leather boots... leather belts..

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

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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

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..

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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!


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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

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

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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!!

I am Awake in the Middle of the Night Again!!

"I haven't shaken my fists at the moon." ~ Ian Dury

"The day, water, sun, moon, night - I do not have to purchase these things with money."
~ Plautus

"The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to." ~ Carl Sandburg

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

The Moon

a silver sliver
frowns on me from above~
cars swarm lover's lane

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-4-2009


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


The Moon is a unique thing. It can light the night sky with a wonderful glow.. or it can peep out from behind the thick dark clouds and be a frightful thing.. there are those that believe that it was once a part of the earth.. they have even decided where it fit into a spot on the map.. I never was clear on how they think it got way up there. Did a volcano erupt and shoot it out into space?..
Weekend Wordsmith has the word MOON as it's theme for this week-end.. I love to look at the moon.. there is an old saying that if you shake your empty pocket at the moon when it looks like an empty bowl that when the moon "fills up" so will your pocket.. I might have to give that a try.. I was born in 1959 that is the same year the Soviet Union made it's first mission to the moon..It didn't land.. In 1969, the U.S. landed there and Neil Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the Moon's surface. We watched it on our Television.... I knew a lot of grown ups who thought it was a hoax.. They thought that it was all done in a hidden place and that the whole thing was somehow staged and filmed to fool or trick the public..I remember listening to some of them talk and wonder why the American government would want to go to all that trouble to fool the people of the world.. I couldn't figure out what they had to gain...and if there was nothing to be gain then why an elaborate hoax?.. I have marveled the many wonderful views of the moon for many years.. I don't have a desire to visit her.. but I sure do admire her beauty from afar...

Have a great Night!
Patsy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fast Facts

1:- The Moon has no atmosphere or magnetic field.

2:-Most rocks on the surface of the Moon seem to be between 4.5 and 3 billion years old, older than those usually found on Earth.

3:-The moon, which whirls around the earth, is the earth's closest space neighbor, and the only other solar body on which human beings have walked.

It can't get much Weirder!!

"Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat. " ~Eric Hoffer

"Every man should view himself as equally balanced: half good and half evil. Likewise, he should see the entire world as half good and half evil.... With a single good deed he will tip the scales for himself, and for the entire world, to the side of good. " ~Moshe ben Maimon

"Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one's balance in spite of them." ~ Carl von Clausewitz

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

In the city .. sometimes walls don't even look like walls.. This weird wall belongs to a Chapel in Dallas Texas ..

This is a wall of Trams... also in Dallas Texas..

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

words for today are~ Eclipse ... Languish ... Velocity

Behind the Wall

Willfully erected..obstructing..

emotional velocity halted..

Armor.. imprisoning..

safe and secure.. spiritless..

Layers of pain.. eclipse

and enclose..restricting ..

Languish not behind the wall..

surrender to the magnitude of emotion..

Escape the enchantment of safety..

passions unleashed.. fireworks erupting

Delight in the wonder of Love..

thrill to the sensations of life!

~ rejoice as the bricks tumble..

~ shout as the wall falls....

Written By: Patricia Sawyer

9-23-2009

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

Weird Laws

1:}~ In Mesquite, Texas it is illegal for kids to have unusual haircuts.
~ I kinda understand this law... I think it should also include weird colors like pink and green and even allow parents to make them wear a weird homemade watermelon costume if they color their hair pink and green striped... or a weird alien costume if they decide on blue and silver..All my kids had beautiful hair.. before they discovered the so called art of coloring it weird colors...

2:}~ In Oklahoma, people who make "ugly faces" at dogs may be fined and jailed.
~ Dave is a wonderful man.. until he sees a dog that he wants to "stare down" and acts all weird.. I don't understand what makes him decide to try this every once in a while.. I have seen dogs whimper and whine and crawl away from him.. I have also seen them try to eat him and bark and growl.. with their ears laid back as if they have spotted a weird monster..I hope he remembers this weird law in case we ever find ourselves in Oklahoma.. How weird would it be to go to jail for making "ugly faces" at dogs? I can just see Dave telling that weird fact to the other inmates....

3:}~In Cleveland, Ohio, women are forbidden from wearing patent leather shoes, lest men see reflections of their underwear... OK this law is really weird and stupid.. Don't men in Ohio have better things to do than to stare into women's shoes hoping for a reflection from their drawers? What if they don't wear underwear? Can they then wear patent leather shoes since they wouldn't have an underwear reflection? How weird does a man have to be to try and look at an underwear reflection anyway? They can go into any shopping mall and look at and touch underwear.. Why get a kink in their neck trying to get a reflection from some out of style patent leather shoe?? Next time I go to Ohio I better not catch any weird man trying to see a reflection of my drawers!

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

Weird Questions!!


1:-} ~You are standing in line (grocery store, bank, etc.), and someone gets in line behind you that stinks. The smell is so bad that people in line in front of you turn around and look at you as if you are the one they smell. Do you cover your nose, hold your breath, breathe through your mouth or just get out of line altogether? ~ It would be weird for me not to look at them and say.. "damn BO .. you stink!" If someone stinks as bad as this weird question says.. then their nose must be broke.. I would have no problem telling the lookers to quit looking at me either.. I am weird in that I don't care what the public thinks of me too much.. I am not holding my breath to stand in some line.. is there another line I can move too? Is this place weird and has only one line? How long is this line? Why would I be weird and breath through my mouth ? Man you can taste smells.. It would be weird to be willing to taste a stink that was too bad too smell..
Maybe I can come back later..

2:-} ~If we were to call your 6Th grade teacher, what would they say about you? ~ That might be a weird phone call since I know a couple of my 6Th grade teachers are dead.. One recently applauded me as I read a poem about Rosa Parks at the Local Black History celebration... and the rest for some weird reason moved away after they taught me.. If you could find them and they are still alive.. they would tell you what a wonderful and smart girl I was.. and they would be weird and say I talked too much in their class.. when report cards came out Daddy always looked at the back of mine first.. That's where they always tattled on me for talking.. I don't know why they were so weird.. I was only trying to help the kids who didn't understand what was going on.. without me they would have fell behind.. then the teacher got all weird and tattled on me..

3:-} ~ What does your sibling do for a living? ~ I wish one of them had some weird and glorious job.. that would serve you right for always being weird and asking nosy questions.. why do you care what my family does for a living? Are you some weird tax person or something? #1-Electrician... #2-Housewife/daycare provider.. #3- electrician.. #4- HP- something to do with power plants and outages.. (call me weird I don't know what he really does..)... #5-Good cop/bad cop- depends on what your weird behind did.. #6-I go here.. I'm a weirdo/ housewife/chicken keeper/quail-raiser and a writer.. #7-special agent to the weird and crazy people watchers/spy/something weird that we can't talk about..( he might be watching you!)..
#8- payroll/book keeper/secretary/employee advocate...are we weird enough for you?

4:-} ~Do you know the names of every member of the family who lives next door to you? ~How weird.. Do you know Janet and Rene' and their sons Jason and Josh?? How weird!! I know the names of the couple who has lived there ever since I moved here.. I know their kids names and the names of their oldest sons wife and their children.. I never met the other son's wife though I know he has one and a child.. I have lived here for 17 years and have been inside their house once.. they have never been inside mine although we often speak if we are all outside at the same time... We are all weird.. in fact the entire neighborhood is weird like that.. I know the names of all of the family members that have been here all along.. I know some of the in-laws ..we live next door to each other .. we are not friends really.. It might sound weird to you.. It works for us.. I think all five of the neighborhood families might be weird just like me.. We once had a family who moved in and lived here for 4 years and I am the only person who ever spoke to them... I gave them veggies from my garden.. They said we were all weirdos when they left.. that lot has stayed vacant .. one of the neighbors bought it so that it would stay vacant.. YES!! I SAID!! WE ARE WEIRD!

5:-} ~If someone said they would pay you ten million dollars to have sex in a mud puddle behind the local funeral parlor.. what would be the first thing you would buy? Why am I surprised that you would ask me something weird like this? Why do they call them funeral Parlors? I think that is a weird name for the place myself.. Has it been raining or are they making a special mud puddle just for the weird event? You ask this weird question as if it is a given that I am accepting this weird offer.. Who am I having sex with? Do I get to choose or is the weird person who will join me already chosen? How will they know if I had sex in the mud puddle? Is some weirdo watching? Am I going to be paid in cash? I will tell you straight up that I am buying a new computer first.. then a new car.. no wait.. Maybe I'll be weird and get a truck instead.. but unless I'm being paid in cash and can bring my own partner.. never mind.. It would be too weird to have sex in a mud puddle with a stranger..


Now that I am done with the weird questions for today.. I have got to tell you that This week has been so weird.. ever since last week really.. Dave's sister was here and we had a great time.. kids in and out.. Mason here for the week-end.. every time I left my computer and came back it was blank.. I was about to decide that for some weird reason someone or even a weird computer booger was deleting all my work.. That would have been weird but I was almost ready think it even so.. Then Monday my computer worked like a charm.. I was proud of it.. I wrote a blog and did some other writing.. I did all my entrecard stuff and played some games...
I went to bed thinking maybe it liked me again.. Then yesterday morning I woke up and came in here to a black screen that when I moved my mouse changed to say only NTSDR(or some letter combo at least) Compressed.. Press ctrl alt del to attempt restart.. What does that weird mess mean??? It means my computer died.. I had a spare but it doesn't run the DSL/ATT software.. wont' and can't because it is older than dirt.. Yes! I am computer-less.. Can you even begin to understand how weird that feels?? Dave has finally got the chance to take mine to the hero's at the saw mill who he thinks can fix and revive even a dead computer.. right now I am praying he is right and fearing that he will be wrong.. I have my eye on one that a friend has to sell.. It won't be brand new but new is out of the question right now.. I am writing this blog on Emily's laptop.. My daughter loves me.. she knows I'll be nuts without my writing.. she has loaned me her own personal computer for a few days..

I have always thought I wanted one of these tiny weird computers .. Now I am not so sure...They are WEIRD!!! They are tiny and everything is glued together.. I can't turn the keyboard to suit my weird taste..or tilt the monitor at some weird angle... The keyboard only has numbers on the top...Yesterday I was scared of it .. I know that is weird but It looks and acts different...I wasn't about to try that little touching box thing.. They hooked me up with a tiny teeny mouse.. That too is weird..but I have almost figured it out.. today I have managed to read my mail and write this blog.. I was scared because all of my widgets and buttons for the different blogs are on my computer and may never be recovered from it.. Even all of my carefully scanned pictures are most likely gone.. How was I going to do a Lensday Post with no Photo's?? Emily had mentioned that she had a lot of pictures on her laptop...hmmmm.. Thanks Em.. I borrowed a few pictures...and made me a folder that I filled with some widgets and buttons and stuff... I guess this tiny little thing isn't so weird after all..

Have a great day!!
Patsy

Friday~ Yes Kids I'm back!

"Love your children with all your hearts, love them enough to discipline them before it is too late.... Praise them for important things, even if you have to stretch them a bit. Praise them a lot. They live on it like bread and butter and they need it more than bread and butter."
- Lavina Christensen Fugal

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower."
- Shigenori Kameoka

"Give me the fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself."
- Vilfredo Pareto

Did Y'all think I was gone? I bet at least one of my "kids" was hoping I was done with the Friday's advice for the kids... No such luck.. I love giving advice to those younger and even older than me.. Now on to today's advice!

1:) Hating everything and everyone around you doesn't help! I know because I have tried this myself.. some mornings I even wake up mad with the whole world.. You might even ask me.." for what?" and I would have to reply.. "just for!" Sometimes people do things that make you angry.. sometimes it just seems like absolutely nothing goes the way you want it too; or feel that it should.. that's the days that most of us hate the whole world and everyone in it.. I guess it's just the way things are.. I don't think fate has anything personal against any one of us.. then again he has been rather nasty to me.. I have never won any lottery.. I didn't have any rich uncles to leave me a pile of cash... I can get both ends to meet in the middle every once in a while but I have never had them tied.. Not even once... and yet My oldest son says that I always survive.. he said it like that was a bad thing.. Maybe I won't be mad with the whole world.. just those who inhabit my own personal world.. do I have any volunteers to be first on my list?

2:) Just because someone else stopped talking doesn't mean they agree with you and what you are saying! This happens to me a lot.. when I am fed up with trying to tell someone something and they are obviously not paying any attention to me.. I just shut up and move on... if someone shuts up and walks away you should not assume that you are right.. you should instead realize that you just made it on to someones "I hate the whole world and everyone in it" list! ...Wouldn't you like to see where you are on other people's Hate list? Sometimes I'm sure I am way up near the top of every one's list.. other times I wonder why any one could ever dislike a wonderful humble little old lady like me.. ( WOW!!! I even scared myself with that comment!) I guess it's a good thing we don't all write down our "lists" otherwise we might all see just where we stand in the eyes of others.. I think I'd rather be ignorant...

3:) Going on Reality TV is not cool!!! First of all ~I truly hope that Not a single one of my "children" have ever done anything that Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil.. or any of the other TV hosts would find interesting enough to put on their show.. If you have done anything that stupid and have it hidden away like a skeleton in your closet~ then please keep it right there in your closet for here ever after!! If you ever go on any TV show and parade 100 baby daddies across a stage looking for a father for your baby~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you don't know who the daddy is then let that be just between you and God and the woman at the welfare office.. the rest of us would rather not know!! If you are one of the hundred baby daddies there for the same woman.. I will put my foot in your behind still....If you ever go on any of those shows for any reason~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you have done something that stupid.. try to forget it.. Let the rest of the world forget it.. because every time you remind me of it~ I will put my foot in your behind!! I don't care how much they paid you.. if you went on their show now the whole world knows you are stupid and careless it wasn't enough money... I might even show up there and put my foot in your behind for the whole world to see.. Just thinking about it makes me want to put my foot in some one's behind!!!

4:) The main difference between a cat and a Lie is that a cat only has nine lives... Daddy used to say that if you are planning to lie you should also plan to have a good memory... That is because a lie will be repeated and told over and over.. you will need good memory to keep all your made up details straight for the million and one times you may have to tell the same story... Have you ever noticed that people will believe the most absurd things about others and will carry a rumor all over town and it will get more and more outlandish with each re-telling? A cat you can kill.. you might have to run it over and then drown it and shoot it.... electrocute it.... stab it.. throw it to the bull dogs.. hit it with a hammer and lay it out on the tracks for a train to hit..... But eventually a cat will finally die and be no more.. Not a lie... and the more flamboyant and outrageous a lie is.. the longer it circulates.. if you don't trust me on this.. make up a "secret" about yourself.. let it be something harmless... lets say.. You fell into a sink hole and had to climb out while wearing only purple underwear..... it took you all day.. now tell this lie to a couple of people.. with-in a few days someone will ask you about your adventures in the sink hole.. So be careful what you say.. never make up or add to stories about other people.. you can damage someone for the rest of their life with just a few words spoken untruthfully.. Honestly I think it's better not to say anything about someone at all, unless of course, you know something good to say about them... Somehow though people usually only re-tell the bad things... apparently the good things about others are boring...The old saying about sticks and stones is ~ is only half true.. sticks and stones will break your bones; but WORDS do have the power to hurt others too....

5:) Go fishing! ~ It sounds simple doesn't it.. it is hard to be mad at the world~ ( and everyone in it) while you are sitting on the soft grass beside moving water.. Even at a pond or the Lake the water will lap the shore and every once in a while you might spot a minnow rushing by going about his tiny little life doing his minnow things.. If you are lucky and the time of day is right you may catch a glimpse of an old gray heron or maybe just a noisy quacking duck.. But there will be something there to take your mind away from your own troubles even for just a little while.. Anthony and I have caught our supper on baby diaper pins in water so shallow I just knew we were wasting time... Cooper and Emily have caught bream on sticks with line that barely reached the water. There were happy and I was getting a wonderful break from the same old same old of everyday life... I don't actually fish... I love to watch others.. the kids or even Dave fight and struggle and talk a fish up onto the bank.. It is like the closer the fish gets to shore then the more excited they get.. when they hook a fish even if he's just a tiny bait stealer their adrenalin kicks into overdrive and the battle begins.. I can sit in the sun on the grass or on an upside down bucket and crochet until they hook one.. then I just watch and enjoy.. I also love to lie back and listen to the sounds of the water and look at the clouds.. Go fishing.. it will relax you and things won't look so bleak afterward .. who knows you might even catch enough for supper and even if you don't catch anything you will have had a good time.. you will have relaxed for a while.

That's all of my crazy advice for today.. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!
Patsy

Three for Thursday! short and sweet!

"Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them."
- Adlai Ewing Stevenson

"The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of education."
- Antisthenes

"Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own."
- Carol Burnett

Good Evening and welcome to a short and sweet three for Thursday. It is just beginning to storm here so I will keep this as short as possible. Otherwise I will be knocked off-line over and over and By the time I have posted I will hate the rain and the internet and my computer. I will be saying words that will invite lightening to strike me in my nasty mouth... In order to avoid the likelihood of all this unpleasantness; I will simply share with you tonight three of my Haiku.. I will then watch the lightening from the safety of my bedroom window... No getting kicked off line.. no swearing.. no angry lightening striking me from the beautiful red sky...

~Yes I did say red sky. the sky here is red and fades to an almost lavender as it dips behind the trees across the dirt road from me.. I have never seen a sky quiet like this one... Beautiful and yet just a tiny bit UN-nerving for some reason.. birds are sitting on the ground as the winds begin to sway through the tree tops.. I have always heard that if the birds rest on the ground then a bad storm is coming your way... I am glad that I don't fear storms..... ~

Short and sweet.. Please enjoy my haiku tonight.. I hope that each of you have safety in whatever storms life may toss your way.. Have a great Night!

Patsy

Run Away

copper curls rest on
a bulging backpack pillow~
stars light the night sky

written by: Patricia Sawyer
6-16-2009



Stormy Night

rain beats out a song
drumming on a hot tin roof~
frogs croak with delight

written by: Patricia Sawyer
6-16-2009

Fiery Fingers



a lit Lucifer

falls from a fumbling fist

the burned oaf gawks



written By: Patricia sawyer

5-27-2009

Teeny Weeny Word Counts! ~ Acrostic poems

"Poetry: the best words in the best order." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand" ~ Plato

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words" ~Robert Frost

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom" ~ Robert Frost


One type of poem that I do enjoy writing is the acrostic poem. They will say something down the edge of the poem as well as whatever idea or emotion the writer my be trying to convey by the poem itself. I Often acrostic poems for words that people send to me. Yesterday I had a few words to arrive hoping to be turned into acrostic poems. There was a catch this time though. They all had Itty Bitty; Teeny Weeny word count rules. Or at least I thought they had small word count rules. For instance I had the word HEN with a word count rule of Four. That means that not counting the title, I could only use four words. It sounds tough to do because it is. Another one was the word Weakness with a word count of fifteen words. I have many weaknesses including a weakness for words. But Fifteen words is really not very many when you are writing a poem. It gets down to bare bones words. Every word has to count. You have to trim away every word that isn't positively necessary. But I think I met the challenge OK.

This is a very short Post today. I decided that since the poems had teeny weeny Word counts. I would stick to that theme for todays Post as well. Y" all have a wonderful day. I hope you will Enjoy todays Poems.
Patsy


Hen ~ (acrostic -word count of four)

How Many
Eggs
Needed?

written By: Patricia sawyer
1-30-2009

Weakness ~ acrostic ~ word count of fifteen.)

Work; worry;
Everyday!
Action ~ reaction!
Kindness? Never!
Needs not met.
Eventual eruption!
Somebody WILL
suffer!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
1- 29-2009

Never! NEVER! Never!

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never; in nothing, great or small, large or petty; never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." ~ Winston Churchill

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." ~Albert Einstein

"There was never a genius without a tincture of madness. " ~ Aristotle

"Never complain. Never explain." ~ Katharine Hepburn

"Men who never get carried away should be." ~ Malcolm Forbes

"There never was a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him asleep." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


How many times have you said Never? I have said I will never speak to them again. I have said I will never shop there again. Never eat that again. Never trust him or her again. And the list goes on and on. I could go on forever about all the things I have said never about.

I was never going to love any one but I did. I was never going to marry and have children. I was instead, going to be a career woman anywhere other than here and hopefully in a big exciting city. New York maybe or even Charleston, It even had Folly beach. But I definitely, certainly was NEVER staying here.

We all know how that turned out. Married at sixteen and three children and a divorce later I was never ever going to fall in love again. I even promised my children I was never going to marry anyone again. Yet where would me and mine be without him? He was never supposed to come along and make me forget to never love again but along he came with his two children to make our world complete.

I was never going to do so many things that I did anyway. I was never going to say things to my children that My parents said to me. Things like " No EVERYONE is not going away for the week-end because you're not!" or " NO EVERYONE's parents are not letting them get a purple Mohawk because your parents are not!" Then one day I was explaining something to ~(yelling at)~ one of the children and it dawned on me that I sounded just exactly like my own parents had way back then when I was making myself one of those never never promises.

One time when I was little Mama and Daddy had ventured off somewhere with the older children, leaving me, Jimmy, and Reuben with Grandma. He had hit me with a stick and scratched my leg. I was so mad at him. I didn't want a scratch on my leg! I was NEVER, NEVER, NEVER going to forgive him and I was going to be mad with him forever. He hadn't meant to hit me. He was throwing the stick but it had hit the ground and then bounced up and hit my leg but I didn't care right then. Grandma was sitting there holding Reuben and I had a scratch on my leg. I was mad at the world. I ran to her and told her I was never going to forgive Jimmy and I was never going to play with Reuben again and I was never going to be nice to anyone again. Never! And I hoped my leg fell off and NEVER grew Back on!

My Grandma Laughed at me! Man did that set me hot! I stomped around the end of the little white house and went up under the back steps and cried and promised myself I would NEVER forgive Jimmy nor Grandma nor even Reuben and especially Mama and Daddy because they left me there with her and Jimmy. I cried awhile but no body came around the house to check on me. I got worried then that Grandma might have been trying to come but fell down. Or maybe she couldn't come cause Reuben was sick. Or maybe Jimmy threw the stick and it fell and put his eye out!

I ran from under the steps and ran around the house but Grandma was still sitting out in the front yard. Reuben was tottering around close to her. Jimmy was still throwing sticks but had started throwing them at the azalea bushes now. They were not sick or hurt. They were ignoring me. I was Never going to forget that! I turned to run again but Grandma called me to her. She laughed at me again but before I could pull away she said to me " Patsy, Never is a long, long, long, time. Longer than we can imagine. Never say Never because never is like forever; Never, never ends." Than she patted my back and looked at my pitiful excuse for a scratch. It had somehow faded away to just a tiny mark. She sent me for the brush and brushed my hair and soothed my anger just by being who she was. I have always remembered her words. Every time I say I will NEVER do something I think about that day. I try not to say never very often Because everything I ever said Never about came to pass soon enough.
Today's poem is about Grandma's words to me that day. Have a great day. and Never say Never!
Patsy

Never Say Never!

"child"
she said
wrinkled hands
patting my back
her laughter ringing
"Never is a long time
longer when you're angry.
Tomorrow will be soon enough
For anger to end. But don't say
never. For never; never: ever ends!"

written by: Patricia Sawyer
12-2-2008

How Many Words?

"Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words." ~ Paul Engle


"Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them."
~ Charles Simic


"A poet who makes use of a worse word instead of a better, because the former fits the rhyme or the measure, though it weakens the sense, is like a jeweler, who cuts a diamond into a brilliant, and diminishes the weight to make it shine more." ~ Horace Walpole


How many words does it take to say what I want to say? How many does it take to say all I need to say? I always thought that you should use lots of flowing flowery words to "dress up" any story or poem that you wrote. I even thought that you had to use a certain amount of fancy words just to make it look good. I was recently informed that I was wrong about that. I had always known about word counts. Years ago when I took one of those by the mail writing courses, that were so popular back then, they talked about word counts a lot. Of course they had to set limits because the story did have to actually fit into their magazine with lots of space for the other writers stories and articles too. Not to mention the classifieds and pictures required to make a good magazine.

But word count in poetry? My dark poetry teacher called it the extra word law. He said take out every single word you can! Then read it over a few times to make sure you got them all. But to start out knowing you can only use a set amount, and a small amount at that, of words is often scary. I have tried to entice my poetry club into trying it. So far they all say I am limiting them too much. It is new to them and they can't imagine saying anything with less than a page full of words. I will eventually woo them over to at least try it I hope!

Today's poems were all written by prompts. Each of them gave a one or two word prompt plus a word count limit. So that we not only knew how many words we could use, but also the subject of our poem. However we are always able to interpret the word or words or even sometimes, pictures, in our own way. Maybe some of you have a word in mind and want to send me a word and a word count. Maybe you have a picture you'd like me to try and write something from. Just remember that some subjects require a few more words than others. But being me, I'll give almost anything a try. I hope you enjoy these poems. Have a great day!
Patsy


#1) PROMPTS: spiral, malleable, stranded ~ use one, two or all three.. your choice. 30 (thirty) words. ~ Emma

Behind a Wall
Hammers of your words
strike again and again.
My soul spirals downward
uncontrolled. My malleable
heart forever twisted by
wicked words. My Love stranded
behind an unbreakable wall of Pain.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-21-2008
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#2)PROMPTS: surreal, sunset; use both or use just one. you decide. ENTER♥
~ mesmerized--x

Sunset
Old gray heron
wades knee deep
along ponds edge.
Feeding.
Fiery reflections dance
across still waters.
Bass leaps through
sunset.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-20-2008

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#3) 35 words or less. no rhyme. anger and unrest found in the youth of the worlds cities today.
~ Norman

Pieces Of Me
On City sidewalk corners
stands anger, Desperation and Pain.
Buyers, Sellers, Pushers!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Stop; Look around
faceless stranger lays dead.
I calmly walk away.
Pieces of me dripping
into the river of unrest.

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-28-2008
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#4) Prompt: Manhattan chill - 30-40 words -Brevity and imagination are the key
~autumn gypsy

A Long Way Up
Big city socialites
Barely there dresses.
Midnight chill kept off
their shoulders by thick
chinchilla fur. Champagne
filled bellies.Strutting their stuff.
A wiggle in their midnight walk.
Frozen smile. Eyes as dead as the
animal about their skinny neck.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-30-2008