Guam

I think my nephew likes rubbing it in.  Toni is in Guam enjoying clear skies, white sand and fishing.  I'm sure he's enjoying more than that but he won't share all his secrets.

For those of you who are still in the deep throes of winter.  Close your eyes and imagine you are there.

I would like to see a smile.

Toni and Lee

Toni also knows I love rocks!

Wish I were there.

Two Shoes Tuesday...Late

Two Shoes in Texas have a few writing prompts weekly.  Today, a day late, I choose Two Shoes Tuesday.
With this prompt she provides two words to hopefully head us in a creative direction.

Memories

Rise and shine!  Daylight's awastin'  Biscuits on the stove and chores to do.

The smell of bacon and coffee drift in the air pulling me out of bed to begin a farmer's day.

Now only memories remain.

My childhood and my parents are gone...but the memories return with the smell of bacon.

Poet's Sleep

                                                                       Poet's Sleep, 1989, by Chang Houg Ahn     

Tess Kincaid prompts us to create words inspired by her picture of choice.  The Mag is a weekly challenge at Magpie Tales.  Join the fun or just enjoy the writings of others.  Either way you will not be disappointed.

As the poet sleeps

Skulls of discarded words

Gather and cry

"Why not me?"

As the poet sleeps

Words lay like stones

To be crafted

Into a poetical statue

As the poet sleeps

He dreams

People will read

Enjoy his words

As the poet wakes

He fears

There is nothing

But skulls and rocks.

Random Five Friday

Every one gets along

Flags still fly

Snow has melted.

Sun fills the sky.

Counting this one

That's my five.

Have fun at A Rural Journal with 

Random Five Friday.

Words and a Picture

HOPE

Beneath the ever-present dust and cardboard

Lay the stones

Semi-ruined humans

With a collection of doubt

Share a different roof than BEFORE

The crestfallen

Thought there was only

A dismal chance

For

A new beginning

Hours contained within hours

Give birth 

To future possibilities

This collection of humanity

Shared doubt and ideas

Although dreaming was illegal

Hope was not

One by one

Humans with old stones and fresh hope

Began to build 

Created to share Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Still Here

Just running around while keeping an eye out

for an opportunity to enjoy the sun.

For Sweet Shot Tuesday

Four Horses

Photo Credit Hindrik S with Photopin

Accepting the challenge

from Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

Sharing with Poets United

FOUR HORSES
Horses prance with grand feathered feet
Meticulously for the show
Owners hold reins and shout commands
In awe the spectators stand

Noses blow breath Dragon's smoke
Horses prance with grand feathered feet
Black coats reflect sheen turn as one
Graceful dance the beauty of the gods

A proud team as one raise hooves high
They circle they leap they woo the crowd
Horses prance with grand feathered feet
The black beauties steal my heart/soul

I float I glide horses my dream
Choreographed art brings tears
Of joy loving beasts forever
Hooves prance with grand feathered feet.

Dam Snow...

Been wanting to say that a long time

but had to wait til I crossed the dam.

 Norfork Dam and Mountain Home

 has less snow 

than we do.

Snow in our valley.

Every one stay safe.

Valentine's Day Tragedy...

The day was cold but ice and snow were trying to melt.  We had hopes of a snow leaving day but it didn't work out.

All my life I've been warned of the danger of icicles.  Never believed them!  Now I know.  The death of the recyclable bag of cans was very sad.  Impaled with a great force never to be whole again.

Then the depression and tragedy of the season made itself very clear to me.  I should follow the birds and go further South.  This poor bird house is uninhabitable.  The tragedies abound.

The frozen bird house cried out to me

reflecting  the essence of this season.

The Red Mule still stands tall.

The snow remains.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May yours be filled with sunshine and smiles. 

You Don't Know Dixie...

is a series on the History channel.  I lucked out and watched a two hour special.  I loved it...because it was the truth.  This special had Trace Adkins, Jeff Foxworthy, Al Bell, Bobby Bowden and Lynyrd Skynyrd along with some of today's best known Southerns offering their insight on our culture.

I laughed.  I agreed.  I am proud of my heritage.

Jeff said You can't put the South in one bucket.  We don't all play banjo and date our sister.

We don't talk the same. Different areas of Dixie have different accents.  People hear the accent and think our IQ is low.  Not so, we're pretty smart.  We like words and phrases like ain't, golldurnit, and fixinta.  We are polite, loyal and are concerned about our neighbor.  We can even be mean while seeming to be nice. Example:  Look at her pulling those boards out with spiders on them.  Bless her heart.  This phrase takes away the bite of saying someone was acting stupidly. So basically you can insult someone politely by simply adding Bless their heart!

We were the first true pioneers before the colonies.  We make do with what we have.  If you don't have it, you create it.  That junk piled up in the barn or behind the house is not junk.  It's parts!

Southern ladies are not helpless.  We can hunt and fish with the best of them.  We also know you party with a Redneck but you marry a "good ole boy".

Per state the South has three time the hunters and two times the fishers as any of the other states.  The rule is Don't kill anything you can't eat.  It's tradition.  Living off the land ties us to it.

National disasters...we dig in and survive.  Dixie experienced devastation during the Civil War.  Much was destroyed and took a generation to recover.  We learned to rebuild then and are passing that down.  Through each disaster we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and take a go at living again.

Southerner Bear Bryant was the first college coach to integrate players. Coach Bryant held a record for games won.  College and local football are things we love because we can win!

The South is called the Bible Belt and have more churches per capita in nine out of  ten states compared to the rest of the United States. The religions and denominations vary but it's okay.  Just go to a church.

Food and music are much loved through out the South...and every where else.  No one's barbecue tastes the same so we have competitions with no one revealing their secret recipe.  Trace Atkins said he liked any thing that was fried in deep fat.  He said he didn't care what it was.  "Put a lot of batter around the dead thing and drop it in the fat.."  The saying is you can cook anything if you have these ingredients...sugar, salt, lard or alcohol. With these you can make cat food taste good.

The South brought you Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, BB King, Elvis, Trace Adkins and oh, so many more!
The South gave you air conditioning, Jack Daniels Whiskey and Tabasco Sauce and then some.

 Here I am in the South and I ain't moving!

Cabin Fever and Guns...

Snow on the roof
Ice on the grass
Not telling how many times
I've fallen on my a--

All dogs are gone
Shot the chickens for fun
Downed the cattle from afar
My husband had better run

JOKING!  FICTION

Responsible Tracks...

We track through life

Yet never think

Who sees our tracks

Do they follow or sink

Our tracks should be strong and clear

Leading in good directions

We know not who follows

Our angle of reflection

Poets United:  Poetry Pantry

Sometimes I Write About Some One Else...

Today I write about Kathryn 

in Ohio who is an artist and now an author.

The Edge Of Silence

is the place to find her 

and her accomplishments.

Kathryn's new book, 

The Edge of Silence, 

is a collection of poetry and prose

available now at Amazon.com

Her art is available at Etsy

Pay her a visit and tell her Gail sent you.

Kathryn may your success continue.

Congratulations!

Lisa Graham's Art With Words

 Creative challenge by Grace from Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Art by Lisa Graham

Give me not the cities
With buildings in the air
Some have scary faces
More people than I can bare

Send me to the country
Where only trees grow tall
To sweet air and cool water
And sounds...I love them all.

I love the painting Lisa.  Thanks for the challenge, Grace.

Nonsensical Poem/Music

Snow on the mountain
Ice in my heart
All's frozen
Since we're apart

Met on line
Had a few dates
Asked you to marry
You didn't hesitate

Pretty as a puppy
In those fancy clothes
Should a guessed
But didn't know.

High heels you wore
To milk the cows
Stuck in muck
You didn't know how

Chickens were noisy
Horses too big
Cows had tails
Disliked smelling pigs

If I ever love again
I'll not look in the city
I find one in a Sale Barn
I'll find one just as pretty

One who knows
To run cattle in a chute
Knows how to milk
With some good boots

Snow on the mountain
Ice in my heart
All's frozen
Since we're apart

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

dVerse~Poets Pub

Random 5 Friday

Random Five Friday at A Rural Journal with Nancy was just the inspiration I needed today.  I may have to call my Ramble Five!

1.  Winter still hangs on in all it's glory.  This is supposed to be part of the south but someone didn't get that message.  We had just five inches of snow this time but add sleet, rain, freezing temps and you are walking on a ice rink.

2.  I'll not tell how I can no longer break through the ice with my boots.  I will not tell that when I come to an incline I sit and slide so I won't fall.  I won't tell how cold my backside is after that slide.

3.  Schools have been closed this time for a week and more weather is coming in soon.

4.  Farmers are loosing calves to the extreme colds.  We lost our last born.  Some farmers have lost five or more.

5.  Watching the dogs slide on ice is a little funny.  I laugh but the dogs don't.

Too Old For Love Poems @ Poets United

Poets United has a Mid-Week Motif~Love.  To participate or just enjoy the creations of others stop by.

I love new boots

That don't slide on ice

I love leg warmers

And flannels.

I love ice on cedars

And diamonds on fences

I love feeding cattle

Who don't care

What I wear

I love new damp babies

Big brown baby eyes

And tiny hooves ending

The warm fur

And the promise of sun.

Boots And Dogs...

Sunday Snow...Who Put Phil In Charge?

My ground hog At The Farm did not see her shadow since it snowed all day!  Late or early spring?

 As the big flakes fell

Cardinals were out in force

sitting in the pruned fig tree

waiting to steal dog food.

Sunday

Monday

Jill, our ground hog, says an early spring

and you know women are always right!

Morning update!

Jill may be hormonal.

This is a 9AM...another storm!

Wishing everyone a short winter.

Men Need Chocolate, Too

I like a schedule.  I'm usually in bed by ten but not this night.

Two sad male faces of Hubby and Andrew met me bemoaning the horrible place that had nothing chocolate and nothing sweet.  I promptly placed the cocoa can on my head and offered a kiss.  They were horrified.

"Is there something chocolate and sweet you can make quickly?"

"Yes, you can make fudge.  Take a quarter stick of butter...."

"No, not us.  We wanted you to make something before you go to bed."

It's 9:45 PM. I like to go to bed at ten.  I had fifteen minutes of Blue Bloods left while I was doing tax paperwork.  No one seemed to be aware I'd been crunching numbers for a day and a half.  All that stuff is magically done, by whom, they never know.

"What do you want?  Cake, cookies, fudge?"

"COOKIES!"

At ten I dragged into the kitchen, dug out my old recipe book and found no bake cookies...the easiest, quickest sweet chocolate item I knew.

I called Andrew for assistance.  He cooks a few things.  When I told him the art of chocolate dessert and how it affected women he almost became a willing participant...almost.

Instructing as we cooked, he measured and added items.  I showed him the cap trick with vanilla....a cap is close to a teaspoon.  He argued.  Had to prove it.  The recipe called for quick oats I had three minute oats but not quite enough so I added Cheerios.  Andrew is questioning my process.  I told him some of the best recipes have been made accidentally or by substitution.  He had a puzzled seventeen-year-old male look on his face.

Time to spoon the cookies.  I called them Drop cookies.  Again, the look.

Finally the cookies have all been "dropped" and still warm.  I stated that they needed to "set up"....yep, I got it again...The Look.

Hubby and Andrew grabbed bowls and spoons and walked away with still warm cookies and smiles.

Would you say the males here are spoiled?

I was in bed by 10:30.

Painted Toes for The Mag

Tess Kincaid, Magpie Tales, The Mag

Tess's picture prompt for our word creation

PAINTED TOES

Dance on ivory keys 

Recalling the craziness 

As we rolled 

The piano outside

My sheer dress 

Slid across the piano top

As you called me

Your music queen

We made our own music

Chiffon fluttered in the breeze

You ran the scales

Higher than ever known

Our souls sang a duet

Creatures watched

In Nature we became

The Wild Things

The Cock Crows For Me...

several times a night.  Now at 4:25 AM he is quite happily calling for the dawn.  I have given up sleep and he crows away in the light of my window.

God bless this guy.  The rooster mistakenly thinks since Hubby rescued him he should now sleep on our porch.  He sleeps peacefully on my wooden block chair sharing his excrement and dark crows throughout the night as if they were a gift.

The dogs are with him so he fears nothing.  His loyalty lies with Hubby who rescued him from an untimely death by untangling him from some vines where the rooster hung upside down.

My theory is his brain was oxygen starved for too long.

He should fear me when he crows so gallantly so early outside my window.

Rooster and dumplings are sounding good.

Be sore afraid, Mr Crowaholic, you are working to be a guest for dinner soon.