daily haiku

purple finches fight

seed enough for all of them

jousting keeps them warm

We've had 4-5" of snow and it is beginning to snow again. Another 1-2 inches forecast. Sub-zero temps are coming on Tuesday so it looks like a white Thanksgiving. Haven't had one of those in a while. The last few years it's been sunny and in the 30's as we drove in to our friends in Sheridan for the Thanksgiving feast.

I don't mind snow, but the sunless grey days get to me. Since I can't do anything about them, I stay busy with projects and act like 'pioneer woman' getting wheelbarrows full of logs and stacking them near the door so I can reach them easily at night. Bought a new tarp to cover them so they'll stay dry.

The purple finches are flocking to the bird feeder - why are they called purple when anyone can see they are red? This keeps Snowy entertained as they fly around energetically, chatter and fight. I took her out to help me move logs, but she didn't think much of it, and "chicken cat" as I call her, wanted to go back in after only one load! Two pilgrims finding their way across a lonely winter landscape.

Weathering The Storm

Daily Haiku

paint weathers and flakes

a sign of impermanence

we must expect change

Walking around the outside of the house a while ago I was looking at the state of the fence. While not in the best of shape to begin with, it was hit hard by the big storm we had in July. Steph painted it in 2009 - but you would never know it right now. The hail plus summer sun have removed most of the paint; boards are broken and need to be replaced. Next spring there's a passel of work for Miss Fixit.

Looking at my life four months out from losing Peter, I think I am weathering better than the fence. My pain has lessened, I feel cheerful and experience joy on most days. I still experience moments when memories of Peter rise to stab my heart, but it is not quite so intense and doesn't last as long. I thank God for all the friends and our children who have helped to support me and who have cared for me knowingly or unknowingly. It will be a long winter but an interesting one, I think.

Striations

Daily Haiku

so many colors

the earth is being painted

by a loving god

Vision And Poetry

Sometimes the sky is a drama queen. Tonight she looked like something out of an art deco painting. One simply cannot capture it in a photo - for instance in this one the sky was far more turquoise. Besides which there is an interesting process in the mind. It sees the landscape and combines it with memory to enhance what we see; a part of the visual process, otherwise why would I have thought of the painting? Is this how we write poetry, consciously or subconsciously? Visual pictures or word pictures combine with our life images to produce something new?

Daily Haiku

day into evening

transitions before our eyes

heaven in a glance

Visual Poetry on a Windy Day

Today was a gusty windy day here - it felt wintry. The shadowed sun kept playing hide and seek with grey clouds and sparse rain was hurled by the wind, each drop stinging my skin. I felt like playing with it, so I did. I remembered my little Flip camcorder sitting idly on the desk here by the window, and decide to make wind images. I hope you enjoy the little video.

Daily Haiku

choke cherry leaves rattle
red flags in the autumn breeze
point the way to winter

As Winter Approaches

Daily Haiku

to embrace winter
put the house in order
the mental house too

We are expecting the first storms of the season in the coming week. I have grown to love these sunny days so much - I spend as much time as possible outdoors. A solitary winter has no appeal for me, but as with everything I have done so far, I will take it one day at a time and not project.

Robin Politics

Daily Haiku

on a cloudy day

the smell of democracy

juniper berries

The photo above is Robin poop. The last few years we have been attacked by flocks of American Robins - about fifteen of them in a flock. They come to feed on the cedar berries around the house, and this year there are plenty; perch on the trees and defecate all over the patio and rock path into the house.

Robin poop gets into the cleats of shoes and boots and tracks indoors. Messy. So once a day I sweep robin poop from the walkway, the only joy from doing this comes from the wonderful juniper smell when they are moved around - very fresh and very aromatic.

It struck me today that the USA is kinda like that. We descend on a country, with good reason or without, partake of it's substances and then poop all over everything that's left and track it around in our footprints. This is called giving them democracy. I suppose it must smell fresh and aromatic to the inhabitants but at what cost?