Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Sunflower

cool breeze
autumn sneeze
breath torn asunder
at the end of summer
as a burnt umber face cries
to look at the skies
but all i can see
is the beginning of allergies
no cry for frost yet
i'll pay my dues, plenty wet
from the window seat indoors
with tissues & tinctures
and a memory of summer fun
and your beauty, hard won

Friday, September 7, 2012

Ode to Summer

As much as January is a time of rebirth and renewal, September isn't far behind it. Children return to school. Summer holidays cease and routines begin again. Reality seems to come crashing down with the gentle waves of time with it. Sigh...

It is time though. I am ready. I am going to try to renew some writing here, even as other changes transform the rest of my world. It has been too long and I miss this creative space. On that note, I will toss a little ode to summer poem into the ring for my friend G-Man's perusal and see if he will take me back into the Flash Friday ring.

Have a great weekend, my friends!


~
I skipped through summer,
like a school girl without care.
Lazy days by the water,
only to be thrown in unawares.
Idle books dangled
with pages flipped, like none were there.
Mealtimes;
Whenever…
Bedtime;
Who cares!
But September stole in,
now Responsibility -
everywhere!
So I’ll write those memories
to keep close
as winter glares.


Goodbye summer river!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Late Summer Days

Twirling and dancing,
I've 
skipped through summer. 
Laughter and smiles 
leading all the way.

From eastern excursions,
to 
miles west of home
it seemed perfection
graced all my days.


sand between my toes
sunshine on my shoulders fair
silence drowned the dawn



but dare I blink 
and spy this dream
fading into dusk
as autumn crowns 
the harvest morn
and 
toil resumes its thrust.





one cannot e'er lie
idle sleeping all their days
wake to life once more

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Summer Fun



The rag-taggle days of summer are
filled with joy and smiles




With meandering trips 
and sun-tinged dips


we've enjoyed the life 
thus far



Memories
and moments
are captured full
and often
on the fly


How can one
but possibly 
choose
any other season
to ally?


Aye, forsooth
these lazy days
are rampant
and addictive

but comes the day
when play must away
and to writing again
I'll be captive

so just for today
I welcome the delay
and raise cheers 
to summer-time 
fun


tomorrow will rise
with responsibilities
I do surmise
but for now
I live for the sun





Sunday, July 8, 2012

Morning Muse

The water laps against the dock that I perch on. A mug of strong coffee sits inches from the journal that I write in. Three girls excitedly explore the new world around them, in awe of the beauty that it holds.


And so they should. It is beautiful.


They have every reason to admire it. Green, treed hills surround the lake. If there are cottages around us, its hard to tell. No man-made structures mar the view. Only little crests of white foam punctuate the surface of the lake. A rock or two peak out of the surface of the warm waters closer to shore. Sure, a pontoon boat drifts forlorn just along the coast, but with the lack of human population, we can imagine that the whole world is ours and ours alone. Peace, laughter and tranquility are all that is asked of us. We comply.


This is day 1 of our stay at Coldstream Lake. This is my piece of Maine for a week. The sky offers an azure welcome that can't be beat. Well, maybe more a baby blue, but geez, it sounds nice. Looks it too! Any clouds that accentuate its canopy lie on the perimeter of the lake's edge. It is going to be a lovely day! The promise of swimming, canoeing and several more smiles fills the air. What else can one ask for? Ahhh!


The only thing that would make it better, would be...

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Summer Vibes

It is officially summertime. The kids are home from school and vacations are under way. There have been trips to trailers undertaken, near and far, playdates attended, with many more planned and an imminent trip getting sorted out as we speak. All of that, plus I have been trying to fit in a few hours to work as well. No easy task, but it needs to be done. Bills don't pay themselves, right? Plus, those trips need to be funded somehow.

What does this all mean, but a lapse in my own personal writing. A sad state of affairs in my books, but there are only so many hours in a day. Sometimes you just have to go out and live them, while the living is ripe. So I apologize, but you might not see me around these parts in the next little while. A cottage is beckoning from South of the border and the summer sun demands as many swimming breaks as I can fit in. I love you. I miss you and I will be back, but the summer vibe has struck...

Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Feast For the Soul

The sun shone brightly, beckoning us to step out of doors. Scorchingly hot weather had subsided, taking the humidity with it, but not the pleasant reminder of summer. It was a perfect day to attend a festival and I was not one to pass the opportunity up. So, off to the International Food Festival we went.

Now we have been to the Food Fest before. We have attended pretty much all the major festivals that stop in London over the summer. Some are better than others, but the Food Fest has rides. That makes it a favourite with the girls. Plus, they have barker-style games that are oh so tempting. Who can beat a midway? For my girls, not much.

As for me, I love the fact that we can all order food from around the world and eat it while watching belly dancing. At least that was our entertainment today. It is a beautiful art form, and the girls were enchanted. Not quite enough to get them up to shake their hips with the ladies on stage, but still enough to draw their attention with the colourful costumes and tinkling coins around their waists. And it went well with tacos el pastor, quesadilla, a spring roll, chicken balls with chow mein, pineapple on a stick and juice boxes. Yum.

I have to say though, that this year I was a little disappointed. Every year there is a wide plethora of food to choose from. We can order Thai, Korean, Jamaican, Greek, Ethiopian, Canadian (pizza anyone?) and so much more. But the other part of the festival is the vendors and this year they were sorely lacking. Normally Victoria Park is fairly bursting at the seams with vendors hawking jewellery, t-shirts, dresses, belts, knick-knacks and more. There was that, but at a fraction of the amount that is usually there. Or maybe I just forgot and am thinking that all the festivals were packed with quaint vendors selling instruments, internationally carved wooden statues, sarongs and other chachkies, when really that is more akin to Sunfest? Now that is a festival not to be missed, but sadly this year I shall. Bah!

As we wandered from the food booths, a tinkling sound drew my ear though. I looked around to see what was creating the musical interlude and spied this delightful machine!

Dutch Street Organ

What was it, I wondered, as I watched toddlers rocking back and forth on chubby ankles along with the music. Well, I don't believe I have ever seen one before today, but this incredible instrument is a dutch street organ, owned and operated by Henk and Irene Noordermeer. I dare say, I shall never see one again either, but this fantastic machine is located just up the road in Mount Brydges. Way cool!

As I stood listening to the tunes tinkling, I couldn't resist drawing closer to get a better look at it. The fair maiden in the middle waved her baton to the music and the two damsels at her sides chimed their bells in quite a pretty fashion. Its a shame that I cannot reconstruct the music for you, but let me just say that there were smiles on everyone's faces that walked by.

Scroll on right-hand side 

The closest I can get to reconstructing the music, is to tell you what instruments belted out the merry tunes. This scroll helped me to identify some of the instruments, namely snare drum, cello, violin, trumpet, wood block.



View of Percussion
from side of trailer
In fact, peering around the side, I discovered the percussion section thumping out tunes. No little men in this wagon (a laptop programmed the tunes)!

As I stood gazing at this fabulous instrument, none other then Irene approached me with a smile on her face. I believe she was loving all the attention that her unique street organ was garnering. She freely told me about the construction of it (it was made in Holland and took two years to complete) and how they toured around to local venues to show it off. Watching parents point and smile and children clap with glee was pretty good payment, as far as I could tell.


Before we shuffled off to find some cotton candy, my youngest tugged at me to get my attention. Look at her shoes! Across the crowd, I could see that Henk had an orange pair on himself. Authentic through and through.

Irene's Dutch Clogs

Doesn't that beat all! Thanks for making my day Irene!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Summer Night

The dark surrounds me. A gentle hum from the air conditioner precludes a cricket's chirp tonight. The heat is enough for me to believe that it's summer, but nocturnal noises don't hold many natural vibes tonight. 


The dog's bark only suggests a tussle with his increasing shadows in yonder yard. I ignore the cat's meowl to join me for a nightcap. 


A hint of a breeze stirs the wind chime overhead and I lift my gaze to the sky. A new moon won't hide the stars, as they slowly peek out from behind the sun's skirt. It has left me for the day. The sun that is. Now my moments are filled with a calm that only the night provides. No running is necessary anymore. 


The faint indigo is almost gone from the western edge of the world and I am quiet with my thoughts once more.


This moment of quiet, this moment of me, is a gift that I recognize today. Only a few years past, I would have rued these empty hours, afraid of the thoughts they would have spawned. Those thoughts have made me who I am though. What I am is still evolving and changing, but there is a quiet strength there that allows me to believe in me and the powers that be. Faith brought me tomorrow, when I couldn't fathom how to spell the word. Perseverance pushed me to see the next sunrise. Optimism reminded me that I would see a rainbow once again. 


And so it has.


Tonight, I sit in idle reverie awaiting my night-time prince on horse of thunder (the new beau rides a motorcycle my dears). Irritatingly small wisps of bugs fly up my nose, into my hair and nibble at my ankles, but I refuse to give up the warm air of the first night of summer. Just a touch more breeze and all my worries will be blown away! 


And so it is...


Brilliant.

Monday, May 28, 2012

CAUTION: Hot Monday

It's Monday. Its 31C and feels like 39C. That's 102.2F for you American folk who are enjoying the last of your Long Weekend today.

I have the radio singing behind me, but sadly I have nothing worth sharing with you folks. It is just distraction today. I am trying to block out the music of diggers, chainsaws and steamrollers that comes from outside my window. Construction season has begun and is in my neighbourhood for the remainder of the summer. The sound of backup beepers at a few minutes to 7am is not really what I would consider music to anyone's ears and certainly not how I would choose to be awoken on a Monday morning.

CAUTION: Grumpy Mama on Board

Perhaps I should have looked for an office job this summer? Anyone need a gal Friday? Can I get a do-over?

(Pretty thin for the MFM theme Do-Over, but my concentration is not what it could be as I watch orange-vested construction workers traipse across my front lawn and the pavement dissolves into a muddy gravel pit by my driveway. It's going to be a long summer people. This is only the beginning of my gripes I fear.)


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Barefoot with Tea and Music

Hello!
Grooving on the new tunes in my play list. Hadn't made a change up in a while and thought it was time. After going through illness, vacations and the busyness that is summer, I felt that I needed to ground myself in a few new songs. Go take a listen if you need some quiet music to chill out to. Feel free to make a suggestion, if you think something is missing too! While you are listening, you can also read about some of the other things I have been up to this summer. 

...

I have also read some new books. I started the summer with a light-hearted book entitled "Barefoot", by Elin Hilderbrand (© 2007 Elin Hilderbrand, Back Bay Books). Well, light-hearted might not be the right term, I guess. More light and easy to read. It was predictable and tied up nicely with feel-good vibes all around at the the end. A brief synapsis: Three women land in Nantucket to spend the summer barefoot and fancy free on the beach. Or do they? One sister is just beginning a battle with cancer and will be receiving chemo all summer. She has two young sons and is not ready to let go of life, but doesn't know how to let go of the stress of it all. The other sister has volunteered to assist her older sibling through chemo treatments and help out with the kids. It sounds altruistic, until we discover that she is also escaping her life back home where she lost her job as a professor at a university for having an affair with a student (mature student - older than herself).  Oh ho, getting interesting! The third woman is the best friend of our ailing woman. She needs a break from her life back home, because she has just found out her husband is cheating on her. After several rounds of failed IVF, she is devastated, but no more so than when she finds out that she is pregnant! And to add a romantic twist, they meet a young man at the airport, who becomes their babysitter for the boys, who of course ends up having an affair with our poor pregnant damsel in distress. It is all very predictable, but was a perfect read for sitting on the beach myself. Easy to read, and well enough written to keep me reading through to the end.

I followed that up with "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (© 2006 Penguin Books). Now this was another cup of tea entirely (pardon the pun). I originally picked up this book, as we were going to read it in book club, but we ran out of time the first year. It sat on my bedside table for ages and I finally cracked the spine this summer. Once I did, I could barely put it down. Relin is an accomplished writer and he brings Mortenson's story to life in vivid detail. I am sure that many of you have read the book or at least heard tell about it. It won the Kiriyama Prize (according to the sticker on the front of my book) and was on book club lists all over the continent. It is the story of Greg Mortenson's original failed attempt at climbing K2, that ultimately led him to set up the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which built many schools, community centres and irrigation systems around Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson struggled against political, religious, societal and economic hardships, but is painted as a hero that strives to accomplish good where all others failed. 

In pulling together information for this post, I did find out some interesting details though. It seems that there has been some scandal associated with Mortenson's dealings, just this past year. 60 Minutes did an expose back in April, that questioned many of his financial practices, as well as his claims to greatness. Regardless of the truth of the story that was unearthed, I still applaud the ultimate goal behind the book though. The message is that one person CAN make a difference. I think that this fact is a valid point and humanitarian aid always has a place in society. It is a shame if the rumours are true, but the book renews faith in the goodness of human kind none the less. It is a great story and one that is worth the read. 

Now, I must close my eyes for the night though. I am reading "The Book of Negroes" by Lawrence Hill, at present, and so far it is good. I fear that my brain is done for the night though and any reading will have to happen in the morning or beyond. I wish you good music, happy reading, and whatever else floats your boat this summer.

Peace
XO

Monday, August 30, 2010

Summertime

Summer Time

The last few days have been a wonderful break.
Company brought an excursion to the beach
where we encountered soft sand, feathered friends

waves, sailing ships

swimming and sunning to our hearts content.

 I love not feeling like I have to do anything
be anywhere, or worry about what life holds next.
It is all left behind
as the hot sand sears away all responsibilities
and worries of tomorrow.

I wonder what I would do if I lived there
with the beach outside my window
and the waves beckoning day and night
would I still love it?

Of course!
As I would always have stuff like this to come home to
that would drive me right back out again.

Anyone up for the beach again tomorrow?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Summer Poem

Of feathered things


and water wings;
This is what the summer brings



Kick up your feet
relax to the treat
of water's flow so sweet

 



wonders never cease
to release
the worries crease






into summer slumber
with naught to encumber,
but bliss of quiet labour 

lost under veil
of star shine's so pale
to close summer's hot travail.

***
A snapshot journey
of a day 
at play
~

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Camping comedown

   I have returned to the land of indoor plumbing, air conditioning and daycare (blissful daycare that I dropped my darling babies off to this morning!). I am welcomed home to a mammoth pile of laundry of truly gargantuan proportions. I think I counted 8 potential loads, but there might be more to be squeezed in. It is mind-boggling how much laundry can be accumulated in such a short span of time. I can barely step into my laundry room, with every square inch crowded with smoke-saturated articles. Dirt is ground into towels, jeans, shirts and shorts. Lake Erie sand is sprinkled in everything, but especially coated on bathing suits and beach blankets. Excuse me while I go switch over a load...

    Ahh, despite all the prep work before and clean-up after, I do love camping. Once you have set up your temporary enclave, the biggest task is to learn how to relax. Food and beverage is imbibed freely and regularly. Dishes seem to be never-ending, but somehow do not seem too taxing when done outdoors. We were at the beach every day soaking up the fresh air, sunshine and washing it all down with a hefty dose of swimming and splashing in the nearest Great Lake to our home. With it being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, the water temperature was quite warm. It was refreshing enough to cool you down and wash away the sweat from a hard days work (suntanning?), but not startling enough to turn all the men into eunuchs and women into glass-cutting nipple-wielding  terrors. One day, we enjoyed terrific wave bashing into a torrent of white-crested water, but the subsequent days were more along the lines of peaceful splashing in the rolling waves. Fun for kids and adults alike. 

    All that fresh air and fun was definitely enough to work up an appetite as well. My other favourite thing about camping is the food. Cooking on a Coleman is challenging at times, but nothing beats that morning cup of coffee it produces. The campfire is where the real magic is made though. Steaks seared to perfection were the order of the day on Day 1. Hot dogs just can't be beat over the open flame and where else does the humble marshmallow shine so brightly, as but over the glowing embers of a fire pit. It always amazes me how much I can eat while camping, but it is just all tastes so good! Oh yum. 

    As I change another load of laundry, I can smile at the memories that were created for my children. They thrilled at their beach days, sleeping outdoors in a tent, bush pees (everybody does it, don't they?!) and togetherness with friends and family. While I know I had my grumpy moments, I prefer to forget them and focus on the smiles of my children and laughter of my friends. I shall perhaps share a photo or two in the days that come, but today cleanup is the name of the game. I hope you are enjoying your summer, for those of you in the Northern hemisphere. I certainly am.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Dusky Dreaming


The summer sun creeps
to the western world's doorway
on cloud stream's breezes.

Up, up and away
the bright balloons do foray
with dusky dances.

Sail into the night
adventure drifted where may
dreams for tomorrow. 

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