Tag: writing

Trees

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This post inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #50

The prompt – Trees

I enjoyed trees all around me at my former home. In the quiet neighborhood where we raised our two children. Surrounded by…red maple, white birch, oak, dogwood, hemlocks, peach and apple trees.

We discovered some were hardier than others.

A favorite survivor was the white dogwood.

dogwood
Dogwood Tree

It was framed by a red maple and an oak tree that we planted as a baby in the ’90’s. Tucked in the backyard. Birches and hemlocks peeking out from behind.

The maple tree planted by the town stood curbside and center in the front yard. It transformed to white after a late winter snowstorm during our final year there.

snow maple
Maple tree

It lasted over 30 years…
Still standing the day we moved out.

 

 

Urban

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Nancy Merrill is hosting a photo challenge. The theme this week: Urban

 

Taylor park
Petworth Neighborhood
Washington, DC

One small boy
Not yet two
Pondering a chance
To make a basket

At his favorite playtime
City park
A few blocks from home

A ten minute walk
Over bumpy sidewalks
On tree-lined streets

Past parked cars
Row house porches
Tiny front yards

Stop for the lights!
One last crosswalk.
Look Both Ways!

Finally there…
Run. Jump. Climb. Slide.
Kick the ball. Take a shot.

Taylor Park!

 

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Flower

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This post inspired by Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge. The topic: Flower of Any Kind

 

I’ll admit it was strange to view flowers in anything but color, but I decided to explore my favorite flower photos with an open mind. And eye.

I was intrigued to discover how much I was drawn to the black and white version of the two “tulip survivors” from our former home. The two that were still bursting through the hard packed side yard after more than 30 years.

It seemed fitting to give them an antique look.

Version 2

Three

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balloons

When you turn three, maybe you can count that high.

With your fingers. Grapes on your plate. Cheerios. Green beans.

My grandson turned 3 today.  I was lucky enough to travel to Washington, DC to spend the weekend with him, his parents and his dog.

And attend…two parties.
One with his friends yesterday.
One with family today.

Whew!

Two days filled with doing his favorite things…

Climbing. Running. Jumping. Giggling. Singing. Eating. Walking. Talking. Baseball. Basketball. Shouting…

Grandma Come!

 

park
Saturday Party at the Park

Backhoes. Dump Trucks. Front Loaders. Construction Cones…everywhere!

 

bday morning
Sunday morning

 

Birthday morning visit to the National Zoo.  Lions…no tigers or bears…but monkeys, alpacas, an orangutang, cows, goats, donkeys, elephants and a gorilla family…oh my.

zoo

 

Afternoon with family from near and far. Sharing a small boy’s celebration of a third year of living life. Joyfully. Playfully. With energy to spare.

Blue eyes full of fun, love and mischief. Hints of his mother long ago, but mostly just uniquely him.

birthday 9th

 

Grampa and I fly home tomorrow.

We will look through the hundreds of photos we took.

Smile.

And sleep.

 

 

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Smiles

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Cee’s challenge topic this week: Smiles

Back in the 1970’s my boyfriend went on a cross country road trip with his best friend. They intended to make it all the way from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast. In an orange Ford Pinto.

road trip car

They drove as far as Wyoming and realized they were running out of time. Before starting for home, my boyfriend insisted on stopping at a local arts and crafts store to buy a souvenir gift.

A small handmade metal sculpture of two grinning figures, crafted by a local artisan.

Which he gave to me – his girlfriend of 2 years – a few days later…

Saying with a huge smile…

This is US seeing each other again!

 

smiles 1

 

 

 

One year later we were married.

 

Also inspired by Nancy Merrill at Photo a Week Challenge.

 

Green

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This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #51: Green

 

tree 2 copy

This was the view outside my home a few days ago.

The color green is everywhere.

Spring time explains it…before the heat of summer dries the grass to a crispy brown.

There is something comforting about blue + yellow.

I chose green as the color for my first bedroom-of-my-own when I was 11 years old. Emerald green carpet. Green diamond patterned wallpaper (which I loved, even though it aggravated the paper hanger). The only green in the house. A marked contrast to my sisters’ purple and pink florals.

The woods I explored. The leafy tree I climbed. The grass I sprawled out on. Looking up…studying cloud formations.

When I was seven…my favorite dress.

My birthstone…

All green.

Wild

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This post inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #48

The Prompt: Wild


Want some fungus, Ma?

My son’s favorite joke when he was growing up.

I loved mushrooms. He did not. I think it was the texture, because when I chopped them up into really small pieces…he didn’t spot any in the tuna casserole.

If his eagle eye discovered any recognizable mushroom sections, he calmly plucked them out. And arranged them in a semi-circle around the edge of his dinner plate.

When his grade school education included a science lesson on what constitutes a fungus, his delight in passing on this gem of information was palpable.

It didn’t stop me from eating mushrooms however. Fungus or no fungus. They are delicious. And nutritious.

One day last year, during my walk around the neighborhood, I spotted a clump of wild mushrooms.

The color is what I noticed first.

This fungus did not end up in a tuna casserole.

wild mushrooms
Wild Mushrooms

 

Acceptance

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This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #50:  Acceptance

“There’s release in knowing the truth no matter how anguishing it is. You come finally to the irreducible thing, and there’s nothing left to do but pick it up and hold it. Then, at last, you can enter the severe mercy of acceptance.”

Sue Monk Kidd
The Mermaid Chair

 

grasses

 

Acceptance…may mean making peace with an overwhelming, ugly truth. Living with it in your head.

My head.

The new raw reality nudges me. Breaks my concentration on a bright sunny day. I take it out. Examine it. Until a familiar gnawing sickness in the pit of my stomach makes me look away. I put it back before it drops from my shaking hands and explodes.

I’m a member of a club I never asked to join. But was accepted into anyway. I don’t belong here. But it turns out I do. Surrounded by the nameless who also lost their pasts. Exposing ragged edges of grief. Struggling to reach a place of resignation in a stark new reality. Healing measured in tiny steps.

Get over it Move on Let it go…well meaning, but frantic pleas from those who care, but…they aren’t in my head with the unimaginable truth. How could they possibly get it?

So for those of us who struggle to accept what life has thrown up on us…for those of us with battle scar tread marks on our backs…we yearn to be accepted…frailties, brokenness and all. In order to be whole again.

Not easy for them to accept the changes.

Even more difficult for us to go it alone.

 

 

 

 

My First Car

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Inspiration: Ragtag Daily Prompt – Memory

 

My First Car
(A slant six engine will last forever!)

 

Fresh out of college in 1976, I was hot on a search for the perfect car.
My first car.

The budget: under $4000.

The dream: a shiny, new, reliable, 4-door ORANGE set of wheels (this was the ‘70s after all). It needed to hold all my stuff; which remarkably – back then – fit completely inside a car.

I found just what I wanted at a Plymouth dealership in Nanuet, NY one blistering June day.

A bright orange Volaré complete with its famous slant six engine, real vinyl seats and AM/FM radio. It practically had my name on it. And it was under budget.

Sold!

Picture2

I signed up for a “how to take care of your car” class. I learned how to change the air filter, spark plugs and fuses. I waxed it until it practically glowed, even in the dark. It was easy to locate in a parking lot.

My Volaré lasted 12 years and over 106,000 miles. It took me to my first hospital job. From the church to my wedding reception. To Chicago for my college roommate’s wedding. Home from the hospital with my newborn daughter safely secured in her first car seat.

I even won a free sunroof in a radio contest in 1986.

In 1988 it was time for a new car. The evils of rust were starting to win the battle. After I negotiated a fair price on a Corsica at the local Chevy dealership, the salesman mentioned that I could probably get $400 wholesale for my Volaré. He also mentioned the slant six engine.

Good idea!

The next day I returned to the dealership. Late afternoon, around 4pm. My son and 6 year old daughter came with me. She waited patiently in the showroom with a book. My 6-month-old son, balanced on my left hip, accompanied me to the car lot to meet with the salesman…

Who no longer thought $400 was fair.

He called for the sales manager to join us.

Sales Mgr: I’ll give you $100 towards the new car.

Me: It has a slant six engine. Those last forever! Please take it for a drive! I was told it’s worth $400.

The manager drove it around the lot.

Mgr: Okay, $200. Look at the mileage!

Me: Maybe I don’t need a new car after all. This one runs great. It even has a sunroof.

Manager walked around it again. Salesman stood behind him.
Mgr: Alright…$300

At this point my son was getting more and more squirmy. He looked straight at the manager. And blew really loud raspberries.

Me: See! We both know this is a great car!

The salesman and manager went inside to talk to The Senior Manager. They both came out and walked around the car again. Went back inside the showroom. My son and I followed.

The sales manager finally returned…to where I waited with 2 hungry and cranky children. He shook his head, looked at me…okay $400.

Me: You’ve got yourself a deal!

As I was signing the paperwork, I heard a voice call my name. It was the Senior Manager sitting behind his big elevated-on-a-riser desk. In the middle of the showroom.  I looked in his direction…as he continued…

“Hey! Anytime you need a job, just call.”

Gadget

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This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #49: Gadget

Tell (or show) me about those gadgets in your life, or better yet, put on your creative caps and invent something new.

 

 

magnifier 1
flashlight magnifier

 

It is right here on my desk.

A gadget of sorts that I tossed in a drawer over 25 years ago.
Thinking…I can probably use this thing once in a while. If I ever need it. Someday. Maybe for teeny tiny print on a label…

Teasing my husband – who is a year my senior – you’ll probably need this before I do. 

Little did I know….

The truth is…I kept it because it was Oma’s. My grandmother, who ended up nearly blind from macular degeneration, viewed life through a blurry haze. Despite the thick glasses she was forced to wear in the last few decades of her life.

When Oma moved to an assisted living facility near me after Opa died, I arranged for her to have cataract surgery – with amazing results. Honey I can see colors!  At 84, the blurry haze was finally in color.

Many years earlier she had gone to the Lighthouse for the Blind in New York for help. Which is where she got this flashlight magnifier. A marvelous invention.

It turned out to be more than a gadget. It was her pathway to reading greeting cards, letters from family and friends. Reader’s Digest. Restaurant menus.

She died at the age of almost 87. I saved her letters. Her photographs. A few pieces of her jewelry. The hand mirror that emits a laughing sound when you pick it up. And the Lighthouse for the Blind flashlight magnifier.

It has been dusted off and put to use a few times over the years. However, the older I get – and the more I have to reach for those DARN reading glasses – the more I switch on Oma’s gadget instead…

So handy when I examine Opa’s color slides…checking for dust…before scanning them for this blog.

It works like a charm.

I think of her every time I use it.