Sunday Morning-Some Poems I found on the Web

I was looking at some poetry on line this morning, something I enjoy, especially on a cloudy Sunday morning with some nice music playing in the background. I happened upon a website for a Cape Cod poet named Barry Hellman. You can find more of his poetry by clicking Here For Barry Hellman's web site. He is located in Eastham, but also has ties with the Cultural Center right in South Yarmouth. I spend a good part of the summer in South Yarmouth, so maybe I will get a chance to go to one of his open mic evenings...just to listen. 

In addition to his own poetry, he also selects some poems he likes and posts them on this site, including some poems by Jane Kenyon. I knew nothing about her until this morning. But, when I checked out her biography, I was sorry to hear that she died in 1995 at just 48 years old. Such a shame, but that's happened before on several occasions, that disappointment in discovering an artist just to find out he or she has passed away. But, we do have her poems forever. And I have chosen a couple to post here that Barry Hellman has on his site. For more of Jane Kenyon's poems click here to go to PoemHunter.com.

These are a little sad, but touching, and I think just right on a gloomy Sunday morning in March.

The Blue Bowl

Jane Kenyon

Like primitives we buried the cat

with his bowl. Bare-handed

we scraped sand and gravel

back into the hole.

They fell with a hiss

and thud on his side,

on his long red fur, the white feathers

between his toes, and his

long, not to say aquiline, nose.

We stood and brushed each other off.

There are sorrows keener than these.
Silent the rest of the day, we worked,
ate, stared, and slept. It stormed
all night; now it clears, and a robin
burbles from a dripping bush
like the neighbor who means well
but always says the wrong thing.

What Came to Me

by Jane Kenyon

I took the last

dusty piece of china

out of the barrel.

It was your gravy boat,

with a hard, brown

drop of gravy still

on the porcelain lip.

I grieved for you then

as I never had before.

TEA AND MUSIC AT THE WELLFLEET LIBRARY

Most of us are alone

when the man at the piano,

who is also a Minister of God,

says it’s alright to call out,
and some do.

A few have cups of tea on their knee,
so delicately balanced they are in danger
of spilling everything— and all the songs
are by people who have gone.

On some faces there is a light:
I know this song, and I am still alive—
and a few know the music from the first bar.

When he plays Deep Purple,
I see the awning over the entrance
to the home where my mother
spent her last days—

although she never left her room

to dream with others

gathered in the atrium,

and I can not understand why,

when he plays Good Night, Sweetheart,

I want to cry— and I am surprised,

because I have never written a sweet poem

about my mother.

There are many people who are tearful—
some because they know the words,

and others because they do not.

Barry Hellman

Published in

“ World of Water, World of Sand:

A Cape Cod Collection of Poetry, Fiction and Memoir”

Cape Cod Literary Press, 2006

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt March 20, 2010

Here is another Meme I thought I would try. It's pretty simple and kind of fun and is a good idea for those Saturdays when the time and inspiration for a new blog just don't come at the same time.

Every Saturday they post a theme and the object is to post a photo that reflects that theme. Last week the theme was "Spiral" and someone posted a snail. This week the theme is "Three". Next week's theme will be "Fresh".

So, here is my post for Saturday's Photo Scavenger Hunt. You can see other posts by going to Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Three tall, cool drinks from our family cruise 2007. Wish I was there right now! What a blast!

Have a great day!

Love.

Suz

Morning Folks-Skywatch Friday March 19, 2010

Today I am trying something a little different. I am linking my blog with lots of other Bloggers' posts. There are many of these "memes" out there, like Tuesday Tips and Thankful Thursday. Those are pretty self-explanatory, but then there is Sleeping with Bread, which I must look into one day. Or, Garden Blogger's Bloom and Letters That I'll Never Send, which sounds interesting. In fact there are MEMES that just list popular MEMES. Here's one that you might want to go to if you want to fine out what a MEME is. http://thedailymeme.com/what-is-a-meme/

As far as I can figure out, they are suggestions for topics to blog about and they are self-perpetuating in that everyone links together if you want to, creating a network of followers who post similarly focused blogs. So you, as readers, could just hop from blog to blog looking at all the Skywatch pictures, for example, and stay on that topic, or when you hop to someone else's Skywatch, you may find one of the blogs they are following looks interesting and hop over to that one. The possibilities are endless!

I am not certain I have done this correctly, so it may not work today. But I will figure it out. For now, just enjoy this little slice of the sky.

Have a great Friday and enjoy Skywatching!

Love, Suz

The sky at a beach in South Yarmouth, Cape Cod is a treat when you emerge from the path through the woods.

To see more Skywatch Friday posts, CLICK RIGHT HERE

Maggie May Monday ~ March 15, 2010

Maggie gets a Full Set-

For any of you unfamiliar with nail salons, the term "Full Set" refers to putting brand new acrylic tips on all 10 fingernails, which are fastened with super glue-type adhesive and then more or less overlayed with a mixture of some liquid chemical and powdered acrylic, carefully and skillfully constructing each nail...well, if you haven 't ever had them applied, just suffice it to know that it is a process that takes a while, costs a little bit of money, requires biweekly maintenance, but results in lovely nails. 

Almost all of the nail salons I have been to are owned and operated by Vietnamese families who Americanize their names so their customers can pronounce them. The licenses on the wall show their real names and they usually  contain extraneous y's, n's and h's. Most can't speak my language at all well, but usually you can communicate using the language of nails. I get what's called an American manicure on the acrylics, similar to a French manicure only using off-white instead of white, which they paint on, free hand, I might add. It is a natural look that I prefer. As I said they Americanize their names and I have had nail technicians named David, Laura, Charlie and Kelly. My current technicians are a husband and wife team named Dan and Bea. They speak almost perfect English, which is why I have been going to them for over a year, and they do a very nice job on my nails.

Anyway, I started out this blog to tell you about Maggie's Full Set. As most of you know, we adopted a shelter cat/kitten in January. She is a doll but has damaged curtains, leather couches, etc., with her claws and it was getting out of hand. I don't like the idea of declawing a cat and I hated her ruining things and me having to yell at her. So, I found these things called Soft Paws on-line. They are little soft rubber tips that you fill with Crazy Glue and stick over her claws. And they work great, so far. 

Although it took some doing to put them on her with me holding her like a baby, wrapped in a towel and Ed filling the tips and placing them on one by one. He is much better at placing them on and I am the wrapper and holder. We only did her front claws so it wouldn't be such a long ordeal. But those back claws can do some damage so the towel was a necessity. Then, after the tips are all on, I have to hold her for 5 minutes while the glue cures.

She wasn't really very happy about it, but we were thrilled!

She has been adjusting to her new nails over the past couple of weeks and as the claws grow, they do fall off one at a time making it necessary for each one to be replaced. She tries to chew them off immediately, but the glue seems to hold pretty well, as long as we get them on correctly. She has managed to get only one or two off so far and we replaced them right away. 

Her first full set was the clear tips, following with my preference for the "natural look".However, they come in all colors, even green and red for Christmas.

I just purchased a package of blue tips and a lovely hot pink. Last night we replaced one of her clear ones with a pink one and it looks fabulous! Before you know it, she will have a full set of hot pink.

Maggie's nail techs, Ed and Sue, are not as accomplished as Dan and Bea, although they do speak perfect English. Nonetheless, we have found it a little difficult to communicate with Maggie during these sessions of replacing the nails. But we are hopeful that, like I became accustomed to having to endure the sometimes slightly painful process of maintaining my acrylics, she will also become accustomed to her regimen. After all, what we gals go through just to be beautiful, in the end, is all worth it! And, I know the couch will be much better off!

Have a great day!
Love ,
Suz.

Morning Folks March 1, 2010

I was looking at the old home movies that Dad had put on a DVD the other day.  I can 'sort of'' capture stills from it when I play it, but unfortunately, they don't come out too clear. But I get such a kick out of them I thought it would be fun to share. I have already put some of these on facebook, so if you are also on facebook, you may have seen them. I like to use the old ones for my profile photo just for fun.

This one is from 1956. I remember the day very well when Chuck came home from the hospital after his appendectomy. I was so jealous because he got all kinds of presents. But the most memorable of them was the sunflower he got from Uncle John Hall, Aunt Marian's husband who lived across the street from Gram on King Philip Road. This is a clip from the day he came home from the hospital. I bet Dad couldn't do this now!

Chuck was 6 when he got his appendix removed. I had mine removed last November. I didn't get any stupid sunflower this time, either!

And here's some from a Children's Sunday, about 1956, I think. Don't you just love that skirt? I loved to twirl it. And, I am sure the whole lawn mower thing was Dad's idea.

It wouldn't be Children's Sunday without geraniums from Bartlett's greenhouse.

This one was from a day at our Godparents', Bob and Maryellen Phelps, camp in New Hampshire. Poor Cindy is in a cage. We kept our kids in cages back then.

But she's happier here in the next one. She's getting all the attention from Mom, Grandma and Grampy Waters and Great Grandma Paige.

And here is the rare shot of Cindy and Becky from those movies. I think the movie camera must have been retired shortly after these were taken. That's Gram behind them. I recognize her dress.

Here is another one with Cindy and Becky and Beth Toomey. (Becky is making Beth's little sister Caroline laugh. She's probably telling her a joke. Or doing her impersonation of Lilly Tomlin's Ernestine.) Beth is now the Chief of Police in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard.

This was Chuck's first day of school in first grade, 1956. I had a black eye in this one. I remember getting that black eye. We were playing Blindman's Bluff, which I called Blindman's 'Buff' because it was too much of a tongue twister for a 5 year old. Dad put a blindfold on me, turned me around a few times, and I walked right into the corner of the console table. Mom was furious. I was more worried about Dad getting into trouble with my mother so I pretended it didn't hurt that much.

I liked my hair this way. Mom called it a Pixie cut and I felt pixie-ish. It didn't start off to be that short, but she kept evenning the sides and that's where it ended up. I remember sitting in the back yard on that metal step stool, with a towel around my neck while she cut my hair.

This was my first day of school. I had an escort.

Arriving at the South School with Chuck and friend Christine Giddings. She lived in the red house on King Philip Road that my Grandparents had lived in before moving to their new house next door. She moved away within a couple of years.

Our first dog was Vanilla. That's Pokonoket Ave in the background before it was paved. They gave him away because he "howled at the moon" and it disturbed the neighbors. Or at least that's what we were told.

Here is another of our dogs. A Pekinese named Ming. He got hit by a car right in front of our house. It was terrible. We didn't have him very long. But he was cute.

Our cousins from California. Valerie, Johnny, Larry, Chuck and I at Gram's one Christmas.Uncle John. and Aunt Edith.

An Easter Portrait.

Uncle Lee hams it up for the camera. Wonder what year and make that car is?

This is Aunt Kath. Love the outfit. In the background you can see MacKinnon's house, further up Pokonoket. I think the trees that are down are being cleared to build the Ward's house which was next door to us.

Cousins-Chuck, Danny, Liz, Diane and  me, playing in the sand with spoons and old pots and pans. No plastic pails and shovels back then. We use sterling silver and aluminum.

Here's one of Uncle Alan washing his car at Gram's. I think this was later, probably around 1961. He should be able to tell us from the year of his car.

Chuck and I used to dress up once in a while. Here, I think Dad must have made Chuck's Pilgrim Hat. I think he looks a little like the Mad Hatter. We were in character as we went to Gram and Grampy Hall's for Thanksgiving. Their dog Duchesse welcomes us.

We are lucky to have some film of Great Grandmother May Budd Hall. We called her Lady May.

I loved her because she was just about my size.

My Grandfather, her son, and my Grandmother escort Lady May into their home on King Philip Road. That house in the background is where we lived when we had the fire in 1952.

Another session of dressup, although the grownups didn't make these costumes. I was a Native American, possibly Pokahontas. Chuck was...well I am not sure, exactly. Maybe he was John Smith or something. Anyway, this was a pivotal moment in my life.

I remember it so well, this garden of Eden epiphany when, due to the laughter of all the grownups, I realized that perhaps going topless was not appropriate for a young lady. I was about 7, I think.

This is when life first became complicated as I argued with them about it not being fair since Chuck didn't have to wear a shirt. Innocence Lost.

 

That is the last topless picture of me that you will ever see on the Internet. I can guarantee it!!!

Thanks for wandering down memory lane with me. I wish these photos were of better quality. But, if you kind of squint they might come into focus a little better.

Have a great day!

Love,

Suz