well, who knew?
—
“if god had meant us to walk around naked, he would never have invented the wicker chair. “
-erma bombeck
—
saugatuck, michigan usa – july 2020
Jul12
Jul11
may all your weeds be wildflowers.
imagine my surprise
when coming home
noticing the landscapers
had mulched and manured and cleaned
my garden
but in doing so
had removed my garden vision
i’ve been nurturing for a while
a huge mix of wildflower seeds
a naturalized garden
most on the cusp of blooming
it was full and lush and green and tall with stems
so full of potential
the surprise beauty of new flowers
yet to be discovered
i’m sure they just saw weeds
were trying to help me by ‘cleaning it up’
leaving only what they recognized as flowers
i so appreciate all of their work
it’s clear we don’t share the same vision.
—
“man is the only critter who feels the need to label things as flowers or weeds.”
~author unknown
Jul10
twitterpated.
word of the day: twitterpated
part of speech: adjective
origin: American English, 1940s
- infatuated or obsessed
- in a state of nervous excitement
Examples of twitterpated in a sentence:
“‘Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime.’ — Bambi (1942)”
“The family is all twitterpated as they pace around the waiting room for the announcement of the new baby.”
When was the last time you were twitterpated?
—
“words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.”
-william shakespeare
Jul9
no one knows.
oh, audrey, class of 2020 –
this harkens back to my days
in the 70s
painting on my best friend’s parents’ new car
(my parents said absolutely not)
proudly plastering on
the glory of our days in school
the coming glory of our leaving
driving around all day
in the hot sun
noticing with surprise
when we scrubbed it all off
even though the paint was gone
the sun had baked our message on
the marks from the paint remained
never able to be truly washed off
memorializing our message into eternity
my friend’s parents with an equally surprised reaction
at least audrey painted on the windows, not the body
she will go far, that one.
—
“no one knows what’s a good idea or a bad idea until you try it.”
-marc randolph
Jul8
the circus arrives.
to avoid crowds, montreal’s circus festival will pop up in random places
Over the course of this week, some lucky residents in Montreal will be entertained with surprise circus acts that will pop up around the city at undisclosed locations.
The outdoor performances are organized as part of Montreal’s annual circus festival and are taking place from July 6 to 12 at random locations around the city in order to avoid huge crowds from gathering and maintain physical distancing.
As artistic director of Montréal Complètement Cirque, Nadine Marchand explains, a truck called the “Bonheur Mobile” will roll up to alleys, parks, streets, and squares in Saint-Michel, Anjou, St. Henri and the Quartier des Spectacles (to name a few) over the next week.
Ten Quebec circus performers will come rolling out and put on an hour-and-a-half-long show for any unsuspecting Montrealers who happen to be passing by or looking out the window.
Apart from breathing life and joy into the city, the festival has also been organized with the goal of providing work for the artists, as many have been out of work and unable to perform or tour due to the pandemic and it’s not clear when their industry will be back up and running.
Those lucky enough to happen upon one of these surprise performances are asked to stay on their front steps and balconies to avoid getting too close to others.
—
“the circus arrives without warning.”
-erin morgenstern, the night circus
—
story credits: marilla steuter- martin, cbc news, daily optimist magazine
Jul7
at long last.
at last, at long last
after many days of waiting
with no pending arrival date
once called ‘non-essential’
my glitter shoes have arrived
balance is restored.
—
“a little glitter can turn your whole day around.”
-barbara park
Jul6
paddle.
roads filled with cars
topped with kayaks, canoes, rafts
seeking water
going upstream
on a streak of hot summer days
looking like soldiers off to do battle
armed with water toys and sunscreen.
—
“as one goes through life,
one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe,
you don’t move.”
-katherine hepburn
Jul5
highest kite.
on the shores of lake michigan
at dusk
sunset coming
j keeps trying
imagining his kite
flying high in the wind
and then –
it does.
—
“imagination is the highest kite one can fly.”
lauren bacall
—
holland state park, lake michigan, july 2020
Jul4
stars and stripes.
The designer of our current 50-star flag was Robert Heft. It was 1958 and there was some talk that Alaska and Hawaii were going to officially become states 49 and 50. One of his high school teachers capitalized on the current events of the day and had his students design a new flag incorporating the two new states. Inspired by Betsy Ross, (and cutting up his parents’ flag), Heft did just that, arranging the stars so it wasn’t very evident that he had added any. His teacher gave him a B-, saying that the design was unoriginal. When Heft balked at the grade, his teacher told him that if he could get the flag adopted by Congress, he would bump the grade up to an A. Heft jumped at the opportunity, sent the flag to his congressman, and after a long campaign and a refusal to give up, he ended up getting the flag approved. Heft got his ‘A’ as promised. Since then, Heft’s original homemade flag has flown over every single state capitol building, over 88 U.S. embassies, and over the White House for five administrations. He is now deceased, but has left behind a design with 51 stars ready to go if the need arises.
happy 4th of july!
—
credits: mental floss, quora, wiki, readers digest
Jul3
jumps.
an early long weekend
a couple of hours drive
and miles away
it’s time to have a
three generation
light show/jump on the beds/stay up late
kind of end to the day
tonight we fly.
—
“it is not the jumps you made in your life,
but mostly the jumps you haven’t made that are the real source of regrets in your life.”
