St. Lawrence river

Dawn creeps dimly through the mist.

Sitting by the window
In the cottage
The river is smooth
As a pane of glass.
First light reflecting
The serenity of new
Day's beginning.

Trilling, chirping, cawing
Winged wonders
Herald the morning light.
Come see, tweet tweet
Come see.
Stillness and calm infuse the senses.

Lakers plow the fleuve
Sending undulating
Patterns of water
To roll upon the shore
Whispering......
Make a wish, make a wish...
Follow me.

The train across the span
Clickety clacks
Whoooooting it's passing.
Travelers along
The river shore
Going there, or
Coming back.

Steadfast in its changing
the river flows.
Always and never
The same.
Friend today, foe tomorrow.
Tugging at your lifeline
Evoking fear and fondness.

Kayak glides silently
From river edge
Floating effortlessly to
Hypnotic quietude.
Peaceful bliss of
calm water
Replenishes the soul.

2007: Back at camp!

#61 - Simple

#61 - Simple

THANK YOU!

My friend Tara sent me this authentic vintage French Carte Postal, depicting the "Barber of Seville". She doesn't just pick something randomly though. She puts a lot of thought into her gifts...ie; she knows of my love of France and the theatre and she knew that my wife just returned from a trip to Spain.
Thank you Tara, you are truly a precious gem!
This post card came about because of an exchange that Tara proposed to her blog readers.....She would send a card to anyone who provided her with their smail addy and would send her a post card from where they are.

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

I was tagged by Robyn, ages ago, to do the seven (or 5, or 8, or 10, ;-)) random facts about myself. I'm supposed to tag seven others but I'll let any readers here chose , on their own, to do so.

1. I was the class clown in school. Still am!

2. I've shrunk 2" in the last 20 years. Yet I feel taller.

3. I rank in the top five list of the worlds best procrastinators.

4. Blogging has given me the outlet to write that has been festering in me for too many years.

5. When I was in the 8th grade, we had to take a series of aptitude tests in order for the school to make high school placement decisions. You know; regents scholar (college track,) trade school, etc. My parents received my report, and when they told me the results I was indignant as a 13 year old is allowed to be in front of his mother. The results showed that I was most suited to be a nurse or a journalist!!!!! Preposterous ,I said. (actually I was thinking, what kinda crap test was that anyway?)

6. I think war is an abomination.

7. I love my kids, and am proud of their successes. They've done well despite me. ;-)

8. oops .


Y' all have a great weekend!

The gnawing inspiration for this poem entered my consciousness while driving to work this past Monday. While the dawn's light shone brightly through my windshield, the idea for a comparison of love to an orchid, and lust to a weed came to me. I decided to pursue this line of thought for Poetry Thursday. I made a note (after I parked the car) in my moleskin of my thoughts. Enter the world of reality which bombarded my senses and sent all poetry muses into hiding. So the following is the first attempt to put something down to be worked out to better refinement at a later time.


MORNING CHAT

Good morning Calliope.
Glad to see you.
What was your delay?

Mourning you say?
For what, please say
What sadness there?

Goodbye to love,
Or was it lust,
Or only infatuation?

Tell me then....
Was it like an orchid?
Perhaps a weed run wild!

Love, a tender bloom
Requires gentle patience
To grow and flourish.

Lust, the weed, pops up
And seemingly feeds itself,
Satisfying no one else.

Nay, I mourn not for love, nor lust.
I mourn the death
Of epic poetry.

Week 51 - Viewpoints

Week 51 - Viewpoints

Welcome arms outstretched
Dawn's light peeks at spring's green leaves
Basswood tree unfurled.

#60 - Masks

#60 - Masks

"Masks. Literal: making or wearing masks for Halloween, Carnival, Mardi Gras, the theater, any other masky occasion. Or, you know, psychological: a mask you wear, that you hide behind; the face you present the world, or that you present just to one person."

Michelle; Oct. 1972

The dictionary gives the derivation of the word person as from; the mask an actor wears.

Oscar Wilde is credited with the quote: "man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth."

I am not just one person, but a composite. Being multidimensional, I wear many faces or "masks" if you will. No one mask is the whole me. What does the real me look like? I'm not sure that I can tell you. Not because I don't want to, but because I'm not sure I can give an honest description of who I am.



My Aunt Nellie used to say; "you're the sum of three things; how you see yourself, how others see you and who you really are." It's the part about how others see you where the mask comes in.
If you ask people from varied avenues of my life to describe me, you're liable to get 10 divergent pictures. So which is the real me?
The actor/entertainer?

The dreamer?

The Anesthetist (the masked man behind the mask)?

The grandpa?

The writer/poet?

The arguer?



The athlete?

The veteran?

The lover?

The friend?

The blogger?

Well you get the idea...;-)

Sometimes I wear a macho mask to hide my fears. Other times, I put on my mask of fear to elicit your compassion. My happy face relaxes you and makes you comfortable with me. Often my ego is displayed, occasionally my id, and almost never my superego.

Who am I? I won't tell you. I'm afraid to tell you!

You choose the one you like.
Ok?

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

THE END

and

GOODBYE

Mother's Day breakfast at 10 Fitch. May 13th, 2007
L-R: Josh, Jay, Kristi, rel, D., 'chell

Katie C. prepared the Waffles with Maple-Glazed Bananas, recipe found here.
They were as ambrosial as advertised!

Rel writes in his journal: " So I sit here in the bright, sunlit sunroom drinking coffee and putting ink to paper....This has been one of those soul satisfying, spirit renewing times, made more so by the rarity of their occurance."

Hugs and kisses all around and each goes their own way.
What are they laughing about?

Katie C.

Katie C., with a maturity beyond her 21 years, was the perfect hostess and chef. She fit in with us like a member of the family........ ;-)

Thanks Katie, Sean, Katie H. and Jay for a great weekend!!!!!

DULLERS

In the morning lockerroom

Came Stephen with a query...

What makes the earth seem

On rainy days, so verdant, green,

and brillant

That isn't there when sprinkled

From the tap?

Dullers, I said as quick as

I could form the words, my

Face set serious as stone,

Quickly he looked at me

And repeated in disbelief...

Dullers?

Waters water says he

Whether sprayed from sky or else.

Not so says I.

Let mw here explain:

Microscopic elements residing

In the earth, are washed

Into lakes and riverbeds.

Dullers these are called and

Disolve in the water.

When sucked and pumped upon

Your lawn a coat of dullers

Lays upon the here-to-fore

Verdant carpet there.

Until the sky washes them

away .

The cycle of the dullers.

Mother's Day Continued....

Saturday morning Katie C. with the assistance of Sean, prepared a sumptuous quiche and side green salad dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The original plan was for Sean to help Katie prepare a dinner for us Saturday night, but those plans fell through when Sean's employer negated the requested night off due to the expected large crowd at the restaurant. It was graduation weekend for numerous area colleges and universities as well as Mother's Day. We were confident in Katie's culinary skills. The gimpy knee is what concerned us, but she assured us that it wouldn't be a problem. Notice to the left one of the two purple flowered trees that bracketed the back patio steps. Every time I was out there I was captivated by their brilliance; all the more so because I'm colorblind.

At Katie's suggestion we decided to spend the day in Skaneateles, window shopping and enjoying a sunny day on its namesake finger lake. Michelle and Josh planned to do a visit to an antique shoppe and would return to the inn to pick-up D. at 1300. They would meet Kristi, Jacob, and me, who had gone on ahead to Skaneateles, at the Kabuki sushi restaurant, where Sean works, for lunch.

Our waitress to the left. Sean is behind the bar rolling sushi.

Kristi and Jay, who were the most familiar with sushi dining, coached the rest of us in picking items from the menu. Myself, I'm quite proficient in the use of chop sticks, having spent a number of years in the orient. All worked out remarkably well, and everyone was satisfied with their meal.

It must be noted here that Josh is a plain ol' meat and potato eater, and must be commended for his forays into what to him were major culinary experiments. Kudos Josh!!! I hope you had a cheese-burger when you got to Owego.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent walking the quaint streets and waterfront, while browsing antique emporiums and sundry shoppes and confectionery establishments.

I found the antiques, for the most part, very overpriced. Having an overage of things in our home, it was easy enough to pass by even those items that caught our eye. D. almost capitulated for a $12.00 clear glass syrup pitcher, but in the end, put it gently back in it's place.



Interesting to note; the day was sunny but cool, in the low 60's F.. Strolling the sunny side of the street (reminded of a song here) was comfortable, but the shady side was uncomfortably cool, and breezy. Mind you, I was dressed appropriately in jeans and hooded sweatshirt. Some folks were dressed for summer, in shorts and sleeveless tops which caused them to move along briskly.

After a final coffee and pastry stop, we rode the 7 mile return trip to the inn, where some of us, well, yours truly at least, took a nap for an hour before getting ready for dinner.

This was Katie's first large dinner party by herself. It was a successful practice for the much larger engagement coming up in a few weeks.

She did a splendid job with the entire presentation from the fig and goat cheese enhanced green salad, through grilled salmon fillets over sauted fresh spinach with pine nuts and roasted fingerling potatoes.


After our satisfying and delicious repast, we retired to the library for coffee and to watch the
hockey game. In the mean time Katie prepared decadent individual chocolate soufflé's with a succulent chocolate-orange sauce and sided by an orange slice. The piece-de-resistance for a marvelous dinner.

Michelle, Jacob, Kristi, and Josh

The game was a knuckle whitener which went to double overtime. Much to J. and K's, chagrin, Buffalo lost. D. and I retired to the boudoir after the first overtime. We got the score at breakfast the next morning.

Tomorrow; Mother's Day breakfast and goodbyes..........................................