Moody Monday!

"Growing up, I was the plain one. I had no style. I was the tough kid with the comb in the back pocket and the feathered hair." ~ Cameron Diaz

"A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

"It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or bread in it.' ~ M. F. K. Fisher







Moody Monday has given us the word plain for today..

The picture above is of two apparently plain ladies.. One of them is me.. I bet you can guess that I am the fat and plain one.. the other is my cousin Sheron.. I love her to death.. she is my longest time friend.. I would be friends with her.. if she would let me.. even if we were no kin.. neither of us wear makeup.. well maybe every once in a great while we might.. but it has to be something special.. we have gray hair and we are too plain to get that erased.. we both laugh to loud and say what we think and don't care too much about our clothes.. we fish.. and garden and keep chickens and dogs and all the things that plain women do.. we like to grow our own food.. we wear tank tops and cut off blue jeans.. we go barefoot.. we do brush our hair.. but I can't tell you how long it's been since mine was actually styled.. Maybe I am a little plainer than her.. She doesn't write but she can do the best story jokes of anyone I know.. she is funnier than me.. But I will say for plain folks we are both pretty funny.....

Plain~
•unadorned, without decoration; simple and ordinary
•clear and obvious; easily understood
•not beautiful

just above is the definition of plain according to Moody Monday! I agree with the first two.. I am simple and ordinary.. I am clear.. I am easily understood because I speak my mind.. I have always considered myself.. just Plain old me.. I am what I am.. you get what you see.. Sheron fits that too..

but I don't always agree with the last part.. not beautiful.. some things even when they are plain have a deep or hidden beauty.. Sheron is such a beautiful person..
she loves her family and friends deeply.. she would do anything ..and I do mean anything.. for any of her loved ones..she is very artistic.. she decorates her yard for each holiday with decorations she has designed and made.. most are wooden cutouts that she has draw then cut out and painted.. Ghosts for Halloween and Candy canes hanging from every tree for Christmas and Hearts for Valentines day..

Remember that those of us who appear plain.. me and Sheron included.. are not always what we seem.. if you ever got a half a chance to see inside our lives you would realize that there is way more that you never knew..in some cases .. more than you could have imagined.. and behind our plain wrapper.. there might just be a very fancy person.. Have a great Night!!
Patsy

Three for Thursday!

"I wish you a tolerable Thursday. That's all any of us can hope for."
~ April Winchell

"This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
~ Douglas Adams

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

***********************

#1-) Quick Snap: In My Room


thanks to Sh1ft.org I now have a good idea of what my junky bedroom looks like to other people.. with it's dolls and tins and baskets overflowing with books.. as you can see I have way to much stuff.. but am unlikely to part with any of our treasures.. If you have never been to Sh1ft.org you should check them out.. I love their quick snap projects..


************************************


#2-)a haiku



Paratrooper

nerves fiddle-string taut
heavy pack upon his back
free fall into fray


written By: Patricia Sawyer
1-12-2010



********************************


#3-) Every month at my poetry club meeting someone comes up with an assignment for the entire club to write.. a few months ago they tossed a few ideas around and finally someone said we should all write about Rodney... Rodney being our youngest member and though he doesn't write at all he does come to every meeting and sets up his equipment to play music for our entertainment just in case we were to have a few minutes that he could show us what he loves...
I am a relatively new member compared to all of them.. I wasn't a member for the years that Rodney was growing up right before their eyes.. I have watched him for only a short time compared to all of them.. I was a little bit worried about my poem.. I think I did ok.. Maybe you will comment to let me know what you think.. Have a great Thursday!!
Patsy






Rodney

Round eyes smiling
you greet everyone you meet.
respectful..musical..
quiet and neat..

Overcome with shyness
when we ask you to speak..
but with your music
you're neither timid nor meek..

Do you get bored
as we recite the time away?
sometimes.. leaving no time
for the songs that you would play..

Never an unkind word
have I heard you utter..
unlike most teens who curse
belittle and mutter..

Every single meeting
you set to entertain
then you tear it all back down
not ever to complain..

You are a rare young man
a great pleasure to know...
with a warm and welcome smile
everywhere you go..

Rodney they say that fate
is how lives are set apart
so I thank the fated stars
that you have touched my heart..

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
11-22-2009

Sepia Scenes

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." ~Ansel Adams


"My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph."

~Richard Avedon


"I hate cameras. They are so much more sure than I am about everything."

~John Steinbeck

I love Angels... I have many photo's of Angels that I see in all the different places that I may go.. I wish this photo showed all the great detail on this young miss.. her face almost looks real as she stands silent in the afternoon sunlight... her feathers deeply carved.. her job is not easy.... she stands guard against rabbits.. boogie woogies.. raccoons and other things that go bump in the night... at the foot of a baby's grave..

what a sad place.. but brightened by the presence of Angels..

Patsy

Watery Wednesday!

"If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it, write it in the sand near the water's edge."
~ Napoleon Hill

"Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking. " ~ Kahlil Gibran

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."
~ Ernest Hemingway

This Watery Wednesday Photo

is of a roadside pond that we often pass over.. though the photo doesn't show it very well.. this morning the water was frozen.. looking across the pond you can see the thawed spot between the two man-made damns in the picture... I have always thought this was a beautiful little spot.. The eighteen wheelers whizzing by freezing me with their 75 mile an hour wind didn't seem to be interested in it's beauty this morning though.. they were in a mighty hurry as they blew by me as I stood on the side of the road.. by the time I made a few photo's and Dave skipped some coins across the ice.. we too were frozen!.. Have a Happy Watery Wednesday!

Patsy

Happy Birthday my Sweet Emily!!

"If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

"Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again."
~Menachem Mendel Schneerson

"Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself."
~Tom Wilson

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

Twenty years ago..in a few more hours.. I rolled over in the hospital bed and coughed.. with just that cough Emily burst into the world.. the next few minutes were a blur.. she had managed to tangle her neck and one arm up in her cord.. she had decided to come into the world in a big way..I was surrounded by Doctors and Nurses and I think she and I were turned inside..outside and upside down before they were satisfied and she was safely delivered.. I heard a nurse call

6-11.. I hadn't a clue what that was.. I later found out it was her supposed weight.. I say supposed because when they weighed her in the nursery they said she only weighed 3 pounds and 11 ounces. They whisked her away to the incubator where she lay under the blue lights and sucked up their oxygen with her thumb tucked tightly into her tiny pursed lips..

Emily 6 weeks old... though you really can't tell from this picture she is still very tiny.. I stole her dress from a doll.. her hairband is actually a regular baby hair band cut in half.. If you look close at the bow on her head it appears to be giant for a baby hair bow.. She was a happy happy baby... sweet as sugar!!

Emily... 3 years old! She.. with Cooper's help... cut her own hair for the photo shoot.. can you tell? I was so mad with them both and she smiled and said.. But I will make a pretty picture.. I had a green Velvet dress picked out for her to wear too but she wasn't having that.. finally I decided that since the haircut was going to ruin the Pictures anyway I would just let them wear what they wanted.. she was right she made a great picture.. this is one of my favorite photo's of Emily..

Emily.. 5 years old.. one of the very few pictures of her by herself... she was proving she could stay clean for three hours.. what you don't see here is that as soon as we slid her ruffled dress back on she grabbed a cup of cool-aid and spilled it all over Cooper and Anthony./. but she did stay clean!

This is a recent picture of Emily along with her beloved.. Luke.. Happy Birthday Emily! I love You!

Emily brought a new chapter to my life.. one where we sat in hospitals and cancer clinics and drove for hours everyday for years and years... but one where I was in awe of her ability to smile even when she was in great pain.. The doctors would do a painful procedure to her and when they were done she would hug them tight.. She once told one of our very favorite doctor's.. Dr Red.. because he had red hair.. that she was "forgiving" him with a hug.. he and I both cried.. she was a good child if you over looked the hair cuts.. the painting of the walls .. the floors.. herself.. she always had a willing and ready partner for her mischief.. Cooper would do anything she said and then say it was all his idea... I am sure he had some idea's of his own and in those she was a willing accomplice....she loves to talk and has to have the last word.. were she here right now she would prove it by saying.." No I don't have to have the last word Mama..!"

smart.. and beautiful.. funny I always thought she was more like her Father but that last part sounds more like me!! Happy Birthday Emily Suzanne!! I love you!

I hope you enjoy my poem....Have a wonderful night!

Patsy

My Baby Girl!

Barrettes and ribbons
Baby dolls and lace.
Ah my baby girl
Such a sweet face.

Tea parties and Teddy bears
Tree climbing, Let's race.
She might be the smallest
But she demands her own space.

Schoolwork and Boyfriends
A Friday night date.
Hey mama don't worry
I just might be out late.

Ruffles on prom gowns
A mind of her own.
I'm not sure I like this
My baby girl is grown!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer

3-13-2008

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

Three for Thursday!

"A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror."
~Kahlil Gibran

"What a holler would ensue if people had to pay the minister as much to marry them as they have to pay a lawyer to get them a divorce." ~ Claire Trevor

"Imagination is like a lofty building reared to meet the sky; fancy is a balloon that soars at the wind's will." ~ Frank Gelett Burgess

1:)~ Just rambling! ~~ Today has been a pretty ordinary day.. I slept till almost 1:30pm...That part wasn't ordinary.. I'm usually up early.. I did wake up for a few minutes and looking at Dave there sleeping soundly.. I decided to just stay there and sleep along with him.. His work schedule means that I write and sleep while he works and he sleeps while I cook.. clean.. and compute.. we did all the normal daily things we do.. Most of our daily joint work revolves around out animals.. feeding takes a while longer when everyone has water frozen in their drinking containers.. the pig squealed and squealed this morning.. I had already went back for an apple and then for some bread with peanut butter and scratched her butt before I realized her water was frozen... as soon as we fixed that she went about munching on her red apple.. we had a few eggs this morning that were cracked open.. frozen.. but we also had a few that were not frozen and the chickens were fine.. when I checked on them all just before dark they were all roosting quietly.. they will be up and crowing at around 4am.. I guess they go to sleep early to get an early start... The weather channels are calling for snow tonight.. we never get snow.. well actually there have been a few snows here in my lifetime.. someone asked me if I had been to the store.. I just laughed at them.. in the southeast if there is even a rumor of snow the grocery store fills up and all the milk and bread vanishes... and people know we never get snow.. and even if a few flakes were to fall during the night it will melt just as soon as the sun rises.. oh well.. I don't have bread but I have a bread machine.. I have a well stocked pantry and a freezer as well.. I personally would like to see a little snow... I did check to be sure that my camp stove and the fuel were in the laundry room.... just in case... after all it never hurts to be prepared! If it does indeed snow... maybe I'll have a snowman party like I did when Cooper and Emily were small... It was just me and the two of them who lived here then and they were itching to get outside and catch a cold.. the snow was about an inch deep.. just a dusting at best.. I really think it took all we could roll up to make the three balls we needed.. he was a sad snowman for sure but they loved him... They both had a fit the next morning when all that was left of him was Anthony's old hat.. Emily's scarf.. some wet charcoal .. and a wilted carrot.. Maybe instead of a snowman party I'll just stay inside where it is warm.... after all it will be just another ordinary day! Have a wonderful night.. stay safe and warm where ever you are..
Patsy

2:) A Pantoum ~
3:) ~ a Haiku~

Poems.... I wrote this first poem for a contest and was delighted to discover that is a featured Poem on PoetrySoup this week.. folks always want to know what I get paid to be featured.. I get paid nothing.. but I still love to be a featured poet.. in fact I have been featured two week in a row.. the second poem was featured last week and has just passed into the final round in the contest it was entered into.. the contests began with almost a thousand entries.. the final round has narrowed the field to 263... I know I am still a needle in a haystack but at least I made it this far! YAY ME!!! Winning this prize would mean a small sum of money.. maybe enough to buy me some new pens and notebooks! I think you may have read these two poems before but maybe you will enjoy them a second time around..


~Omega~

In a place of standing stones
a mighty beast awakens
Ivory ribcage aglow
fire raging in his belly
a mighty beast awakens
scaled wings flutter
fire rages in his belly
he is Omega the last of his kind
scaled wings flutter
Ivory ribcage aglow
He is omega the last of his kind
In a place of standing stones.

Written BY: Patricia Sawyer
12-4-2008

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

~Wish~

dandelion spores
scatter with a breath's wind~
I make a wish

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
6-23-2009

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

Wednesday.. Watery.. Weird.. and in My Lens!

"I use music as some kind of weird salvation to get away from life!" ~ Billy Corgan

"Our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper." ~ Arthur Golden


"If you have not crossed the river, you should not abuse the crocodile."
~ Igbo Proverb
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Watery Wednesday challenges us each week to share a photograph of something to do with water.. This photo reminds me of the lagoon on the Television show "Gilligan's Island" Ever since I watched that show as a child I have always wanted to own and live on an Island.. then recently I started thinking about what if I got sick or what if I changed my mind and wanted to come back.. what if my radio didn't work.. Dave and I are getting older..what if we weren't able to garden.. what if we ran out of food.. needless to say I almost what iffed myself out of the notion for Island living.. This small Island Pictured above is little more than a sand bar in the Santee-Cooper lakes... You could swim back to land if you had too.. Dave could most likely throw a rock from the island to the nearest land.. I am thinking that I could live on one of these small islands and have the effect of being separated from the world until I wanted some company.. then I could just yell across the water to my neighbors on the shore.. I could toss a rope across to them and they could tie on some food or other things and I could pull it back across.. Yep.. one of these little islands would suit me just fine.. Dave could fish and we could garden.. with our animals in tow we could be right at home on our own little island..

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



This is where I answer a few weird questions.. I do not make these up myself even though I think I could most likely be even weirded than some of the people who write these questions.. I find them from the Internet and also accept them from other people who send them to me.. Sometimes I don't answer a question that is sent to me.. if you sent me a question and haven't seen it on my blog it was either something that I didn't want to answer or maybe it was way to weird even for me.. I can't answer anything that would cause heart failure to my Mom or my children.. that said.. here we go!

1:)-What was your imaginary friend's name as a kid, and did they ever annoy you or just us? ~
I personally never had an imaginary friend as a child.. my cousin had Tater and we got in trouble all the time because he swore that we sat on Tater.. man I hated tater.. on the other hand I had dolls who I told all of my secrets too and weirdly I had one who I called Toni.. he was actually a boy doll but I made him wear a wig and a dress.. he was Trudy's doll that she kept sitting on her bed.. I'd sneak in and steal him and stick a wig on his head and snatch his romper outfit off and replace it with a red dress.. I have a son Named Anthony but he wasn't named after the doll.. he was named after his Father.. But for some weird reason I always hated it when anyone called him Tony!!


2:)- If your neighbor is having a baby would you buy a baby gift for them? ~ I can't help but laugh at that weird question.. All of my neighbors are old people.. or at least older I'll say.. we have one family that I guess could medically still have a child but... Nah they won't.. All of us but one family have grown children and grand-children.. I guess If any of us were having a baby it would shake up the neighborhood.. I can't think of a thing any of my neighbors need because none of them would be weird enough to have a baby at our age.. but I think the question is simply would I buy an expecting neighbor a gift.. the answer is that if any of my neighbors were expecting I would crochet them a blanket and sweater combo.. The image of any of my neighbors expecting might be just weird enough to cause me to have nightmares.. see what you did with your weird questions..

3:)- Have you ever howled at the moon?~ what a weird question.. I have an equally weird answer.. last year Me and Sheri.. Cooper.. Erin.. and a few other people all came out of a Karaoke bar at the same time.. closing time.. the night was weird.. some of us had been drinking wine.. we were all standing there talking with Cooper's car radio playing in the background.. suddenly noticing the giant shadows we cast on the ground... we all began to dance.. our shadows danced on the ground.. it was awesome in a very weird kind off way.. Of course I am just weird enough to dance with my own shadow.. I don't remember any of us howling.. but I think it safe to say we shouted at the moon that night.. after our dance we all hugged and said I love you's all around.. it was a night to remember..

4:)- When the sun sets, what are you usually doing? ~ the sun sets so early now.. and it's cold as a well diggers feet here right now.. maybe even colder.. sunset usually finds me sitting in front of my computer either farming or cooking on Facebook.. those games are mighty addicting and for someone like me who doesn't watch television they are even more so.. I know it is weird to be almost addicted to a crazy game that you just click around on.. but I think I am.. I have quit them before and then the very next day I was back.. hoping my island was still there and wondering if I had left anything on the stove in my cafe... this will sound weird but I think it was easier to quit smoking that it will be to quit those games.. wouldn't it be weird if they came up with a patch or maybe some gum for those of us addicted to click games.. I'd be a super weirdo with patches everywhere and a mouth full of gum..

Weird questions all done and not to awful weird for a change.. or maybe they are taking it easy on us since we just started a NEW YEAR.. I for one hope this year is calm and normal... but then again Calm and Normal would be weird in my life!!!

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






The Lens Day Challenge for this week is Storm... this weird sky was the beginning of the end of a couple of days of cold cold rain.. my animals were wet and cold.. I was wading in ankle deep ice cold water to toss them food and look for eggs.. Seeing this tiny bright spot in the sky I thought the storm was over... needless to say it was not and the icy drizzling rain fell for another full day before finally moving on.. later this week the forecast is for a snow storm.. It hasn't snowed here in a long long time.. I will hope for snow.. I will dread the cold rain that will most likely be what we get here.. what ever falls it will be wet and cold.. I have a plan to warm things up.. a big pot of home-made vegetable soup ands some hot.. buttery cornbread!! Have a good night!
Patsy