Today is Memorial Day. Here, then, I share with you two poems from the public domain.  Be forewarned: The poems are graphic. They are ugly. They are painful. As they should be. These poems give us a glimpse into the world of  men and women who live and risk dying in war, any war, so that corporations, businesses, churches, and other institutions may continue. I am not advocating for or against war by presenting these two poems. I'll tell you this though: I would love the ideal conditions that beauty contestants want, "World peace." This first poem was written by Alan Seeger , an American poet who joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914 so he could fight in the war against the Central Powers. He was killed in action in France two years later. Rendezvous by Alan Seeger I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air - I have a ren

The mama is a professional reuser and repurposer, and she doesn't even know it.  See the photo of different types of containers. I picked all those things up from behind her seat at the kitchen table the other day so I could mop the floor. That box is not empty. It's loaded with empty peanut butter jars. I'm sure I could find at least a dozen boxes full of empty jars stashed in the garage and the tool shed. Maybe one of these days, I'll take some of the boxes down to the recycling center. For as long as I can remember, the mama has saved jars, worn out clothing, boxes, paper bags, bread ties, containers and trays that food come on, tree branches, wood, linoleum tiles, and so on and so forth. She turns them all into functional things such as dust rags, garbage bags, seed containers, and plant saucers. The mama has a lot of soft kitchen towels that she made out of rice bags when rice was sold in white cotton sacks. As for tree branches, she keeps the sturdy tall ones that

The blogathon is a few days away from being done.  Hooray. I've decided that my daily posting experience would be incomplete without a mention of sweet baby Cu'Pie. Those who knew Cu'Pie would agree. Cu'pie stands for Cutie Pie and he was a bright (as in color and intelligence) little budgie that flew into our backyard in another place and time. He hopped into our house and lived with us for the next 11 years. Cu'Pie first hung out with the husband and me, then the mama, and finally with all of his three humans together.  He taught us many things, including unconditional love. We taught him how to say "Chirp. Chirp." So, dear readers, today I give you a post previously published on June 12, 2007 in my first blog, Cu'pie Baby Bird Says "Chirp. Chirp." (Yes, I like long titles.) Cu'Pie Speaks Cu’Pie was a bilingual baby bird. He spoke his brand of parakeet as well as human. When he hung out with Greening, another parakeet of a different br

I used to iron a lot, but it wasn't because I had a lot of clothes to press. Well, there was that. I liked ironing because it kept my body busy and focused while my mind aimlessly thought away at nothing and everything.  Nowadays  I play a game of Jungle Jewels or some other game that destroys virtual bunches of jewels or bubbles. Unfortunately, I'm getting pains in my wrist and forearm from playing them.  Bummer. But guess what? I found a mind easer that actually gets me back to writing sooner than later, and I can listen to the results of  the game as I work. It is called the Raindrop Melody Maker by Lullatone.com. You click on different raindrops to create  your own music. Here's the link .

This is how the husband's and my fifth 23rd date started: We sipped coffee and ate chocolate doughnuts. This is how our date ended: We sipped coffee and ate chocolate cake. In between: We went downtown to watch the Portuguese Festival Parade march up and then down. Caffeine and a parade on a Sunday morning. I didn't know I would love that combo. For more photos, click here . We drove over to the Great San Juan Bautista 2010 Rib Cookoff. Lesson I learned. Do not go to the rib vendor that has barely a line. Oh well, sitting on the curb and bobbing along to the rock and roll music of the Sound Bytes made the sandwich I ate taste better. The husband stood patiently as I went nuts taking shots of fences around town. We got back in the car and drove the back roads for awhile. See those brown specks. Those are happy bees minding their own buzzness. We drove up a mountain, then down it, only to get out of the car to start walking back up it. But only for a bit. Enough of a bit to se

I had no idea what this movie was about. I didn't know it was directed by Terry Gilliam. Nor did I know this was the last movie in which the late great Heath Ledger acted and Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell stepped in to play his role after he died.  Netflix categorized the film as fantasy/science fiction, so I  stuck it in the queue for the husband. I'm glad I did. The movie is stunning. I can't think of any other word for it. The story, the acting, the direction, the scenery, the camera work, everything about it is incredible. The storyline is simple, yet intricate: Dr. Parnassus makes a deal with the devil for immortality. Flash forward a thousand or so years, the man falls in love. He makes another deal with the devil so that the woman will fall in love with him. The catch: Should Dr. Parnassus have a child, the child becomes the devil's when she turns 16. Just before her birthday, Dr. Parnassus tries to make deals with the devil to change his mind. How Gil

Yesterday was designated Haiku Day for the Wordcount Blogathon. I missed it. Well, I could've posted my haiku, but then I'd have to think up something for today.  Drum roll please. . . . I give you the haiku that visited my mind. The Lawrence Welk Show Tenor Feeney sang. Daddy listened and then said "He earned his two bits." I have a feeling my haiku is really not one. Oh, well. That's all that's in the old noggin for now.