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Friday, May 31, 2013

A girl needs a summer haircut

Lindy's mom accidentally linked this to last week's Camera Critters, so linking it again today. Sorry 'bout that, Lindy.
Mea culpa.


Lindy says, "I had my hair cut a couple of days ago, and my mom and her camera have been following me around the house, wanting to flash that thing in my eyes, but I managed to turn my head. I think my fingernails look quite nice, though. Black is very fashionable for fingernails these days, but I think I might prefer to try a nice hot pink."

Posted for Camera Critters
hosted by Misty DawnThanks, Misty!

and also for Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family
at their Pets Forever blog in Mumbai, India. Thanks, Bozo!

In the tunnel with my love

At the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Hannah has promised us twenty-two incredible places as poetic inspiration.

This week, Hannah presented us with the first of these: a photo of straight tracks running through a delightful spring-green tunnel of love in Ukraine.

(Image Via Photobucket: vivianandrea22)


the tunnel of love
can often be
a long and winding road
with twists
and unexpected turns
that bring
me back to you—
but if
the path 
of love

runs straight

how will 
we know

if it runs true?
Kay Davies, May, 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

This sky is not what it seems

My intrepid photographer and husband, Richard Schear, says this is not the contrail of a jet, no matter what I might think. He was there, walking our dog Lindy, and she has expressed no opinion, so I have to believe him, because he took the photo. It does make an interesting photo for





"Don't ask me, I was just along for the walk."

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Words count, so I counted

Over at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Mama Zen is the most concisely lucid writer I have ever read.
Today MZ asked us to write about a place where we felt perfectly safe, and to do so in 53 words or less. I've used 52.

Photo by Kay Davies, 2012


a woman I had just met
took me across the city
to a room full of strangers—
she said, “This is Kay,”
and they all said, “Hi, Kay, welcome!”
nobody asked questions
or looked inquisitive
they just said, “Hi, Kay, welcome.”
I’ve been there ever since
and I say, “Hi there, welcome.”

in memory of my friend Eroca, who died last year,
but who always made me welcome.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Manyberries: for our world this Tuesday

There is a small town in Alberta named Manyberries.
My husband visited it on a trip with the Grasslands Naturalists.
Until I saw these photos, I had no idea the streets were named after
...yes...many different berries.

Posted for
hosted by my friend Jenn in Ontario








Sunday, May 26, 2013

The ponytail, a true tale

The picture prompt at The Mag is called "The Ponytail, by Last Exit" — and one glance at it made me think of my childhood in the 1950s, when the ponytail was a fashion statement for girls. (Boys didn't start wearing them until decades later.)

Ponytail, by Last Exit

ponytails were popular
when I was very young
when my mother made me wear my hair in braids
and not just any braids
for they were very tight
and hurt me where the hair pulled from my head
so my friend across the street
who was never quite discreet
took out the braids and made a ponytail
“oh no!” I cried
“please don’t” said I
“for my mother will be very mad at me!”
I couldn’t go home,
so I didn’t go home
until hunger made my tummy very sore—
when I crept in
with hair of sin,
my mother took one thoughtful look at me
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
“I see,” said she,
“it’s plain to me,
“Gloria’s been at your hair again!”

Posted for
and also for
Open Link Monday
and dedicated to my lifelong friend Gloria, who works very hard at making everyone around her happy, but who has probably never had a poem dedicated to her. She often decided to unbraid my hair and put it up into a ponytail, and I was pretty much helpless because, in those days, she was bigger than I was.


Saturday, May 25, 2013

Walk around the block

Photo by Richard Schear, May, 2013

"Hi, Bozo," says Lindy. "My dad took me for a walk around the block after dark last night. We met several young people in the middle of the street, and they all petted me. I really like people!
"My mom says my walk around the block reminds her of this song, which you can hear if you get your family to click on the link for you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_JZcC0tHI
"My mom also says to tell you she is very old. I don't know why she said that."

Posted for
Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Oh, Bozo, I just noticed something about "pun" above your picture. My mom says my daddy makes too many puns, and so does my mom's brother, my Uncle Clint. I'm not sure what a pun is, but my daddy and my uncle sure do laugh a lot when they're together."



Ella brings L. Diane Wolfe to the Garden

Elephant Frozen in Time by L. Diane Wolfe

here lies an elephant frozen in time
while stallions dream of mares in the mist,
and there at the edge
painted faeries frolic in tiny puddles...
thus is the art,
and this is the art,
the art of the heart of Diane,
who inherited love
without teaching
from a father
passed young
but leaving his love to Diane



for Ella, who introduces L. Diane Wolfe and her photography to the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads today. 
Diane’s photography can also be seen at Deviantart —according to Ella, Diane is a visual poet, and a true talent—an opinion with which Toads and followers of the Imaginary Garden will probably agree.


All photos by L. Diane Wolfe

Where the deer and the antelope play...

Photo by Richard Schear, 2013
On a recent trip in southern Alberta with the Grasslands Naturalists group, my husband saw a few Pronghorn Antelope and managed to capture a shot of this beauty in profile, despite being in a moving vehicle. When I say "intrepid photographer" I mean he'll go to any lengths for a photo, except perhaps for jumping out of said moving vehicle.

Posted for
Camera Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn
Thanks, Misty!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Fireblossom Friday, the where of it




There is only one Fireblossom, I'm sure, and she spends most of her time (it would appear) in the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads. She loves to provide us with a Friday prompt to keep our imaginations and our poetry glands active.
  
This time,” she says, “I want you to write a poem in which the physical setting is integral to the poem” (oh, that sounds interesting, I think) and Fireblossom reiterates... “just make sure that the ‘where’ of the poem is a vital part of it.”

The place I have chosen is a vital part of our dog Lindy’s life, and therefore a vital part of my poem, written in response to Fireblossom’s prompt.


There on her Chair


Would you believe
that sleeping dogs lie,
just seeing her there on her chair?

Her curls, her ears,
her paws and her tail,
curled up in a ball on her chair.

Her gentle snore,
a twitch, and a sigh,
just as she wakes up on her chair...

You smile, you think
that she’ll want to play
as soon as she’s down from her chair

But to her dish
she goes, and your wish
to play is subsumed by her lie...

“No one feeds me”
implied pleadingly
proves to you sleeping dogs indeed lie.

Photo and poem by Kay L. Davies

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Karin's word list gets put to use

Rotary Corn Roast
Photo from Saskatoon Public Library

The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads has invited Karin (aka ManicDDaily) to provide a list of her favorite words to inspire the poets. I used the same set of words for both of the following nonsense poems, occasionally but not often using a word out of order from the original list.
This was a lot of fun. Thanks, Karin!

*

we braised the corn
as soon as it was shucked
and dappled it with butter
after we’d thrown all that
hairy yellow stuff into a basin.
tomorrow we have to take inventory
malingerers will have to eat a platter
of cold corn for lunch
twist your wrist and taste the tang
of the vegetable juice
whose flavor sets the pace
with a soupcon of orange juice
in the skillet with the vegetables,
it is delicious but not habit forming
and you can wipe your mouth on your sleeve.

*

Oh, shucks, I love you

with my vegetables, braised,
you will be amazed—
especially by the dappled apple scrapple.
and, my dear, oh your hair
is the best anywhere,
as you sit with a basin
and quietly hasten
to braid it — tomorrow
we surely must borrow
from inventory a camperized lorry,
Public domain image
and, leaving malingerers behind
we’ll make veg cacciatore
just like in the story
and served on a platter
whose beauty will flatter,
then we’ll chitterchatter
the crux of the matter,
and old songs will be sang
(please don’t mind the slang)
until your sweet wrist
just demands to be kissed.
then we’ll pick up the pace
and drive off, not in haste.
the vegetable rind,
for our peace of mind,
must be cooked in a skillet
with a touch of millet,
as has been my habit
learned from an old abbot,
and I’ll have, up my sleeve,
a sabbatical leave,
so we won’t have to hurry at all.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

The lighthouse, the light, and the house

Lighthouse Dandelions by Jamie Wyeth 

the molten light before the storm
kept everyone awake
except the lighthouse keeper—
he knew the storm would break,
then cease
as suddenly as it came—
he knew the light
and it was good

Posted for Mag 169
and for Open Link Monday at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

Shadow shot showing sidewalk's shadow


Lindy's daddy caught this shot of themselves and their shadows — no selves, just shadows, while coming home from a walk this month. Even the sidewalk has a shadow, and there are shadows of grass in the bottom left. A very-much Shadow Shot kind of photo, says Lindy's mom, who is in charge of decisions of that sort in this family.
 Photos by Richard Schear, May, 2013


Posted for (you guessed it)
Shadow Shot Sunday
hosted by Gemma Wiseman, and Rose,
and Magical Mystery Teacher.

Rictameter: a very modern poetic form

Wikipedia photo
Robin Williams, 2007

*
Robin
Williams and
his friends enacted a
paen to poets long dead—
two cousins took the idea and ran with it.
Jason Wilkins, Richard Lunsford
gave us rictameters
to remember
Robin
*

Richard Schear photo
Lindy Davies-Schear
2013
your dog
a warm bundle
of sweet adoration
from a heart that beats just for you
with true love and ever-firm devotion
filling you with deep emotion:
what if you don’t deserve
this much love from
your dog?
*
For the Sunday mini-challenge this week, Grace  (aka Heaven) introduced, to the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, a late 20th century poetry form, rictameter. It consists of nine lines with a syllable count of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 — and the first and last lines must be the same.

(Rictameter was) created in the early 1990s by two cousins, Jason D. Wilkins and Richard W. Lunsford, Jr., for a poetry contest that was held as a weekly practice of their self-invented order, The Brotherhood of the Amarantos Mystery. The order was inspired by the Robin Williams movie Dead Poets Society.
The first examples of the rictameter form to be made public were submissions made by Jason Wilkins to the website www.shadowpoetry.com in 2000 and were the first two poems created by both Jason D. Wilkins and his cousin, Richard Lunsford, Jr.
Source: Wikipedia





Saturday, May 18, 2013

Pet Pride: other people's blossoms

Posted for
Pet Pride
which is hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.

Lindy says, "Look, Bozo, I had to stop while my dad took this picture. I don't know why my dad wanted a picture of these blossoms. We had lots of blossoms in our back yard, and he didn't pay any attention to them. He says he liked these because they're growing through someone's fence. I wonder why they were doing that. Maybe they were trying to run away from home. They are quite pretty, in the sunshine, but I'd rather sit in the shade."

Photos by Richard Schear, 2013


White on black: Art prompt at Real Toads

Art by Chelsea Bednar
Yesterday Margaret posted the work of four young artists as a challenge to the poets in the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads. These works of art are unusual because they are done with white pencil on black paper. I think they are all amazing because Margaret tells us the teacher gave no details or explanations—just said "Go!" after giving the students the theme of "Tree Metamorphosis".

I studied each of the four, and an idea came to me as I looked at this one by Margaret's daughter Chelsea.


I always wanted a tree house
(although afraid of heights)
and always thought my tree house
would be 'specially good at nights
when I could see the stars
but not the ground


Below is a picture of a tree house my youngest brother made for his children when they were small. They'll be 12 and 10 this year, and they still enjoy it. Tree house love seems to run in my family.

Tree house, Rob Davies. Photo, Kay Davies. 2007

Camera critter photos never grow old

These photos were taken on our first major trip,  which was to Ecuador and the amazing Galapagos Islands, but photos of their critters are always fun to see.

Kay Davies photos
First, we have two red-footed boobies nesting near one another. From a distance, they are fairly well camouflaged by their brown feathers, but their blue beaks and red feet sometimes let visitors know they are there. However, the only predator on the islands is the Galapagos Hawk, so the birds and animals aren't afraid of people.


Nevertheless, the click of my camera made this mother-to-be check to make sure her egg was still safe.

All that work to get a baby who will look like this! Isn't this little fella cute?

And here is a face only a mother could love. This marine iguana goes into the ocean to dine on seaweed salad, but comes back onto the land to warm up again because he's a cold-blooded animal. Marine iguanas can often be seen in a large pile, but they haven't been thrown into the trash, they're just dog-piling for warmth. Maybe a few more iguanas climbed onto this guy after we took our photo. We were there in late November and early December, so you can see the red coloring starting to show on the iguana's black skin. Ecuadorians call them "Christmas Iguanas"!

The critter below is the poster child of the Galapagos Islands. Although Charles Darwin spent most of his time researching birds, he also devoted much of it to the Giant Tortoises. Did you know tortoises evolved differently depending upon which island they inhabited? Their shells had openings of different sizes and shapes, according to their different needs.
My husband took this photo of me talking to one of the tortoises at the Darwin Research Center, but I wasn't feeding it. There are very strict rules about the amount of interaction tourists are allowed with the animals and birds, some of whom are endangered species. Here, I'm just getting this big fella's attention.

Richard Schear photo

Posted for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters
Thanks, Misty!



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

At the dark end of the Spring



Photo from Google






Kay Davies, 2013
just as Spring is finally here
with tulips and blossoms and all
the wind blows in
at a terrible rate
and all of the blossoms fall
they cover the ground
with the white of the snow
and the wind hurts my ears
and my eyes
the house is shook up
and the house is shook down
but the rain doesn’t come
so we didn’t drown
then the buzzing of bees
can be heard in the trees
on the leeward side of the house
so I rush with my camera
pink blossoms to see
and I click until I
am scared off by a bee

Izy's Out of Standard challenge at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads asks us to write about the darker side of the season of Spring. We had some strong west winds blowing the blossoms off the trees in our back yard, just as the ornamental crabapple tree on the east side of the house was coming into bloom. Today, the tree is full of honey bees, and their buzzing did send me heading back inside.
I've included a video here, from one of my favorite movies, The Commitments (1991), because I paraphrased the name of the song for the title of this blog post.