INCARCERATED - the poem

I wrote this poem last year, but when I began to see the Christmas tree lots spring up along the highways, I decided to resurrect it for the holidays. I still like it very much!

yesterday i saw
a flock of evergreens
ensconced in a
Christmas tree lot
crowded together
pushing and shoving
jostling for position
tightly against a chain
link fence topped
with razor wire
confined with no
way of escape
incarcerated
through no fault of
their own looking
like puppies in a
pound up for adoption
anxiously peering
hopefully expectant
eyes pleading

choose me
pick me
please take me home
with you
pretty please
i'll be your best friend...

POSTSCRIPT

today the 26th of december
i again drove by the lot
and saw the aftermath

looking like photos
from news reports or
pictures from life magazine

the cut-off bodies
boughs laid flat
on the ground
in rows

silent except for
the sound of the
chipper being brought
to life

green expectant lives
new destiny
mulch

perhaps to protect and
nourish newly planted
evergreen sprigs
this spring

if they had mouths
or a voice

would they tell?

Huntington Beach State Park

After this wonderful trip to the beach I feel lazy and have no amazing words to describe our trip...so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Lake Lanier

This week spent in Cumming, GA was pay back for such a brutally hot summer in the south...this week was perfect. Sunny with enough breeze to keep things interesting - cool days and cooler nights making the hot chocolate taste great.


The leaves were just beginning to turn color and I had a pair of scissors, so of course I cut heart shapes to stick on boards and branches to photograph. I'm sure that's exactly what you would have done if you'd had such a beautiful day to enjoy.

Northern Adventure

OK, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you know that we like food and I like to take pictures of it. On our trip up north we stopped at a Mennonite weekend market called the Wind Mill overlooking Keuka Lake. I bought great pumpkins and we ate butter steamed potatoes and Zweigle's Italian sausage with peppers and onions. Then we ate ice cream at Seneca Farms in Penn Yan. I had a Mexican Sunday with coffee ice cream and chocolate sauce with Spanish peanuts. Maybe I should be a food writer!! But, back to the pumpkins...northern pumpkins are much more varied and exotic than those offered in Greenville. I think northern ones are "free-range" or perhaps anything bought on vacation just seems better.

One of our favorite family things to do in Rochester, NY was to go to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Walking down memory lane, Phil and I decided to stop by to see if the dioramas had been dusted and the tiny Indians and their bark canoes had been repaired. Good to say that all was fresh, dusted, and repaired! I took this photo because I have not seen a Mastodon in a very long time.

The Erie Canal flows right through my town and even offers canal rides and week-long adventures on old fashioned canal boats.

My home town of Fairport, NY takes fishing seriously and makes fresh bait available day or night through the use of "bait vending machines" placed strategically around town.

Lake Hartwell

We have only eaten in one restaurant in Anderson. It is called The Corner Bagel Shop and if it was in my neighborhood, I would go every day and weigh a hundred pounds more than I do. Homemade bread and bagels are turned into fresh creative sandwiches and bagel chips. mmmmmmm This may just be one of the main reasons we camp in this area. Lunch!

Lake level was way down and the shore was muddy, but oh so beautiful when you didn't look directly at it and just considered it all sandy beaches. The water sparkled and the fish jumped. It was perfect!

Although the weather was warm there was a touch of autumn in the air and on a few leaves as well.

Our campsite had a perfect view of the water and the lovely sunsets...as you can see...

Last Tomato

LAST TOMATO HANGING

dried vines
juicy red fruit
split from recent rains

bees and bugs
and butterflies
lick sweet fermentation

fly off with silly grins
spring's promise
summer's heat

boiled in its own taught
wrapper weeping
warm tears

crimson orb
pierced - penetrated
impregnated by things
with wings

robust living
pulsating
red womb
alive

funeral ants climbing
up golden stalks
crispy stems

dis-assemblymen
eager for
this season

Meet Horace

Meet Horace, our back yard tortoise. He was first spotted in the spring wandering around a crape-myrtle bush. Lately he has appeared in the garden and this morning he was lustily eyeing the fading tomatoes staked high on sticks. He is a rather quick turtle who moves right along when he wants to get somewhere.



He didn't mind having his photo taken, but then let me know that it was time for him to move on. He had interesting places to go, places I had never seen. I think he likes rotten vegetables and fruit as I've seen him frequent the compost hole. I know there is a poem about our Horace. I'll have to go find it!

Jocassee

With school back in session and temperatures blessedly below 90 degrees, we enjoyed another camping adventure at Lake Jocassee which appeared very tropical this week!

A water site allowed us to swim and launch the kayaks right out the back door.

We do like to camp with electricity which makes baking cupcakes in "the wild" possible!

Morning Glory

As some of you may know, because I talk about it all the time, I am compiling a collection of my poems about spring. Or, springish that captures a little summer as well. There are three, so far, about morning glories which flourish on our hillside. Enjoy this tasty one:



MORNING GLORIES ARE
PROLIFIC AND ADVENTUROUS

LIKE CURIOUS PUPPIES
THEY PEEK AND POKE

THEIR NOSES
AROUND

SNIFFING AND SNUFFLING
MORNING'S
FRESH DEW

EACH GLORY AWAKENING
FOR THE FIRST TIME

TRUMPETING PURE
UNADULTERATED
JOY

AT THE WONDER
OF SUCH

NEWNESS
SWEETNESS
KINDNESS

A NEW GLORY
FOR
EACH DAY

HIP HIP HURRAY!

Easy Sailing

Is that not one of the most beautiful amazing things you've ever seen? Summer has arrived hot and furious in the south which drives all of us southerners inside to partake of air conditioning and mint juleps (perhaps). Inside you may read books about other folks doing things or you can actually do something yourself. So, in the summer's heat I decided to make another art quilt using a sail-boat as my cooling motif. It is very cool!!!

Me in Black and White

I just returned from a poetry "camp" at Wofford College where I wrote a poem about a photograph we were given of a girl on a bicycle. The photo was probably 70 years old and taken in the Henry River Mill Village of North Carolina. When I first saw the photo, my reaction was "It's me!" I have a picture very much like it in my archives, only taken in Upstate New York.


It's me
It's me on a bike

I recognize the hair
hours spent
ammonia scented
tiny pink and blue rollers
tight against my scalp
shaping curls
cast askew by life and wind

I recognize the sweater
store bought
Momma didn't knit
pale yellow with plastic pearl buttons
freshly scented
cakes of lavender dissuading
moths and other creeping things

I recognize the dress
hand-made
Momma sewed
full skirted - pleasantly plaid
with pockets for important stuff
like tissues and hoppy toads
scented with Fels-Naptha
the dress, that is

I recognize the bike
it is fast
it is freedom
it is adventure and journey on wheels
it smells of red dirt
and green grass
and the fluffy yellow tops
of blooming dandelions

*******

I'm a goin'
and I'm a goin' fast
I may not come back
but
I probably will

I hear there's
chicken and biscuits for supper
and
dare I say
peach cobbler for dessert


postscript: My husband just saw the photo and had the same reaction - he thought it was me.

Lake Jocassee

When camping, I normally take pictures of our camper, camp-site or kayak, but this time I'm showing our early morning of berry picking at The Happy Berry. If you've never been, you should go and go early because it does get hot. The picking is easy and the place is beautiful and fun and delicious. I also enjoy eavesdropping on conversations going on round about me.

The prized black berries!!!

These are baby figs in progress.

A fruitful foto of luscious blue berries.

The cement statue was snuggled in the grass right where we parked the car. I loved the fact that it was in full view - but hidden. I'm sure most people passed it by as they raced to catch the freshest berries. I like it's quiet presence.

Liquid Fire

This morning I sat beneath my tent made of timber and shingles and watched last night's rain gently drip off of the roof. Catching or being caught by the sun, it blazed as bright as liquid fire. Of course it is not. It is merely the remnants of last night's rain and hail mixed with thick morning dew - a metaphor on the transforming ability of morning light.

Aluminum Can Flowers

Yippee!!!! They came out so great...like a little herd of chromatic tin adorning the garden.


These are flowers made out of discarded aluminum cans that once help soda or beer. It wasn't my original idea, but I've had so much fun creating them, layer by layer. When they are finished (sprayed with a clear acrylic) they will be nailed to wooden stakes and "planted" in my flower garden to bloom brightly and faithfully with no water or plant food. They are simple to make by cutting off the tops of cans, cutting again to even out the edges, cut down in strips to form petals, spead out petals, paint and assemble 3 cans to make the ones like mine. FUN!!!

Oconee Point

One of the best things about this trip was seeing all the bird babies. Our favorite was a pair of killdeer with their 3 chicks that looked like puff-balls on stilts zooming by. Protecting their babies, they ran off every perceived predator including squirrels and an overly aggressive goose.

Storms came through on Thursday evening leaving a trail of foliage debris and several downed trees including one that crashed onto a camper. But not ours.

Our campsite this week was on a point jetting out into the lake where all the birds wandered by. We saw ducks and geese and killdeer and a crane and several kinds of shore birds that looked to be more at home by the ocean than a lake. Again we saw a dead snake on the road.

I love our tacky Christmas lights set up between trees. Who doesn't love Christmas lights?
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It is amazing how much we miss even when we are intently looking. As we were pulling up stakes and getting ready to exit the campground, I spotted this little clump of some kind of blooming plant nestled below a towering pine tree. Someday I'll look it up in my wild-flower book. But, there it was all sweet and cozy and hidden. We never saw it 'till we left. I wonder what else we missed......

Bald Ridge Campground - Lake Lanier

A simply wonderful week at the beach at Lake Lanier near Cumming, Georgia where we used to live. There were no storms this week and lots of fun visiting our favorite places to shop and eat.

The water was so clear that you could actually see the fish!

The best spot for morning quiet time with a hot cup of coffee.

Our campsite was right on the water where we were able to see ducks and geese and jumping fish. This mom came by every morning with her brood around 10:30 for a quick snack of old hot-dog buns.

Down below the dam on Lake Lanier is a lovely hidden spot for many fly fishermen.

Coffee Mugs

Do you have too many coffee mugs and don't know what to do with them? Do folks give you mugs as a token, a joke, or a souvenir? There were way too many items in my kitchen cabinets and I decided to take control of the situation by removing many surplus coffee mugs. But, what do you do with them? Where can they go? And what of hurt feelings of those who so contentiously and meticulously chose them for you? As they sat on my kitchen counter awaiting their fate....I had an idea. I love fun stuff in my garden, and so I grabbed them up, carried them outside, and fitted them atop my picket fence where they look quite perky. They are now out of my cupboards and yet still available if I need extras for company. Being ceramic and slippery they do frustrate the neighborhood birds, which I admit is fun to watch!

Hawe Creek

The most perfect camp-site on Strom Thurman Lake.

These are "mystery" seedlings. Last fall we found some interesting seed pods and saved them till this spring when I soaked and planted the seeds. Amazingly 3 have sprouted and we hope they will grow and discover who they are. To keep them safe and watered, we take them camping!


We saw many wild things on this camping trip including this prehistoric lizard. We also saw a squirrel, ground bees, an eagle (yes), and a dead big snake on the road.


Our camp-site could not have been more perfect. All snuggled in the woods.....