A POEM BY DARON BEASLEY “FROM THE FRONT PORCH”

Writing is medicine to me.  I write a lot of poems because it is fun, it is serious, it is happy, it is sad and it comes from my heart and head that way!    Oh I can make up stuff for a book, my imagination comes up with all kinds of things  but for some reason poems always seem to pop up.  These last few years I have met a lot of great writers and poets.  It has taught me a lot.  Not only on the how of writing but the how, who and what of life.  There are so many perspectives.  There are so many opinions to hear and learn from.

Every few years it seems I go through a spell when nothing wants to spill down the fall onto the paper.  Words might start to form but they don’t fit with each other.  That is why you see this blog go on for quiet mode for a while without movement.    So for awhile I take a break and read different blogs and books or stories to see what is out there.

I was doing that today and I read a friends poem and it was beautifully put of something I know I need to remind myself of and I know many other people also that get into the rut of life instead of living every moment we worry about what is ahead or behind or both.   I want to be aware of today, now, this minute!      I know I don’t enough.   I try, I enjoy every day but thoughts of past sneak in or worry or just excitement of tomorrow and what it may bring sneaks in to take you eyes away from the prize and that is this very moment, every one of these very moments.

I loved the way Daron captured it with his words put together in such a wonderful way that I felt I was there in that moment with him with the birds and the sun and the breeze.   Daron gets a lot of good thoughts on his front porch and this may be the start of a wonderful series I hope.

Thank You Daron for letting me share this!

From the Front Porch

I’ve been out here for hours now
And not one word has been put to paper
But the sun is warm and the breeze is a gentle caress
Maybe this moment is exactly as it should be;
To sit here and marvel at the gift of the consciousness
That records and governs my life.

All of it is Life:
The mailman, greeting as he walks past,
and the trees above me whispering to each other, 
and the birds, always the birds, overhead.
I’m going to sit here a while longer
Like nothing is happening
and experience every moment of this thing we call
Life.

By Daron M. Beasley  9/16/2016

FALL IS HERE

This is just a little fun thing I wrote a few weeks ago when I was telling my hubby that fall was here and he said he didn’t think Summer was over yet. LOL well Mother Nature always wins and Summer can try but Fall was given permission to come on in by Mother, LOL!

 

Fall is here

At least it’s near

Which no one seems to notice this year

Because still today

Summer is here to play

With its warm sunny days

But with deceptive ways

Sunny days shorter now but are too hot

Pretending fall is not here

Summer not wanting to get caught

Pretending that the evenings have not chilled

Or  tree leaves haven’t  started to change with colors filled

Mother Nature is ready to rearrange

She sets the stage of colors and conditions for fall to be

Usually it’s a very  vivid show and good for all to see

So now she has to push summer out

Because the show is ready to begin

And summer will fight her all the way

Because of course he wants it to be his day

Teasing us with the heat

He is sure he has fall beat

But of course it already shows

What everyone knows

No matter how much summer tries

Fall will come for summer’s demise.

 

 

 

IT IS ABOUT DOING THE WORK! WRITING ITS GOOD FOR THE BRAIN AND MORE!

 

Writing is such a good exercise for a brain, for a heart and for a soul.  You can say anything you want on paper and then you can throw it all away.  That can soothe a heart.  The thinking of it stimulates your brain along with the writing of it helps the brain and dexterity.   You can write on paper and tell a special someone something nice to brighten up their day.   They may want to keep it and reread it.  Maybe little notes tucked under the windshield wiper of their car to find on their way to work or long love letters.  That will put a little joy into both your souls.   You can express any feelings about things and express things that should be said but can’t and feelings that need to be released and not hurt anyone and free yourself of those feelings.   You may need several letters, who knows it may take a book!    Isn’t that” a   novel idea”!!!  Loll!! Loll!!!   Ok I am sorry just had to try that line our once, lollop!!

I fell away from that part of writing which is so important for me.    I focused on the fun part of it and such and came across too many road blocks.  I forgot you have to do the work to finish the job.  You most certainly should not give up the fun part which can use ones imagination beyond our wildest dreams.  That is good for the brain, the heart and the soul.  But you have to put in the work and balance it out.  Although as in most things good in life there is usually a little more work that makes the fun part so good.   

Well it is off to work for me.  Hopefully and can get down to the business of writing that I love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE THREE LEGGED DOG

I think instead of writingwildly I should be the Absentee Blogger, lol!

 

This is a re-blog from the beginning of the year.  I have several friends that are dealing with the  loss of or soon to be of a special friend,  their pet.    As all of us animal lovers go I think you all know how close we become and attached and how much they mean to us and how hard it is to take.    I have also known a couple of dogs with disabilities and this is what I have learned from it.

 “I am a three-legged dog,” that is what you say?

Well I am here to tell that I don’t see it that way!

I can run; I can fetch; and I can play.

I give you loyalty and love and save your day.

How can you tell me that I am not whole?

I have so much love in my soul. 

Have I ever let you down?

I am always there with kisses when you frown.

I do everything a dog can do.

Even when it hurts I make it through.

 I am a normal dog as far as I can tell.

I am here for you and will not dwell.

 Oh that thing missing from me?

I never even notice what I don’t see.

I am too busy living a full life.

Making you happy free from strife.

I will enjoy things while I am here.

I am living a good life without out any fear. 

So put down your coffee and come play with me.

You will feel so much better, you will see.

Especially in your heart and your soul,

That is what it takes to help make you whole.

There is no magic to this truth; determination is what you need.

Think good thoughts and that will help plant the seed.

Look beyond my missing limb,

 See who I am, I plan to win.

Don’t judge me on what is gone.

That perspective would be wrong.

Life is to enjoy and is a test.

I am here to help you, that is my quest

Don’t let yourself get too low.

Take it easy and take it slow.

                                            As many have written in a song,                                           

So many have something missing or something wrong.

Many have things that show or not.

That is the luck of the draw that they caught.

Life can be hard and make you hurt and cry.

What’s important is what you put into life ‘till the day you die.

 

THE WORLD NEEDS IT NOW

Dionne Warwick and Gene Pitney both passed on this song when offered it first, although Dionne later sang it in one of her albums.  Jackie DeShannon sang it first in 1965.  This applies yesterday, today and always.

“WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE”

This world is in desperate need of LOVE. Love for all life and this world we live in.  I am not saying we all will like each other but we can all respect the fact that we can all agree to disagree without killing each other. We are all different. We are all meant to be individuals. But as individuals we should all be able to work with each other without pushing our ideas on each other.  This is to keep the love of life and living going in a peaceful safe world. Color, race, nationality, religion, or size or any other reason other than the person is just not a good person should not matter or be used against anyone.  And it should not be used as an excuse for doing harm to anyone.

People will have different beliefs and ideas and not get along that is a given but why can’t we walk away from each other if we can’t resolve it.  The only reason it is a problem is because too many people try to push their ideas on others for power and money.  Greed kills love. In my opinion some of those people will get the power and money anyway because some people have that ambition and work for it.  But  if  you are killed you won’t be able to enjoy it anyway.

How can we judge someone we don’t know because their color or whatever is different? If we don’t know that individual how do we know that they won’t be a wonderful person?  We don’t so how do we justify Judgement like that?   Plus how many of us can honestly throw stones????   This judgement of others is one of the biggest things that kills love.

We now have our children growing up in violence armed with guns and hate. This is not how children should grow up. How can we stop it?  How can we get the world to be at Peace with one another so that everyone can live their life at least with the knowledge that they are safe?  I know I am not the only one that wants a PEACEFUL WORLD.

As we all know we have had a few shootings lately. It is horrible.   Our Police, Fire, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, AND ALL OTHER SERVICES involved in those fields  are there to PROTECT AND HELP US.  And maybe once in awhile you come across one that is not but that is not the norm.  We need these people and I know I Thank them every day for putting themselves out there in a world that doesn’t have all the love it should.  Remember you may need them one day, it can happen to anyone!

I watched the son of a man who was killed just recently get on TV and talk about the love we need not about getting even or revenge. GOD BLESS THIS WISE YOUNG MAN FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH and NOT LETTING THE HURT AND PAIN HE MUST FEEL BE HIS GUIDE.

Wishing PEACE AND LOVE to our beautiful world!

I will leave this rant with a quote!

“Each day is a gift. Cherish it. Use it wisely. Be grateful for it. Invest your time and energy to enhance your life and improve our world. This is your day. Make it count.”

~Nido R. Qubein

JUST FOR FUN!

garden rosesgarden rosesgarden roses

WELCOME TO MY GARDEN!

I got this goofy idea one day! I always wanted an old fashion claw foot bath tub.   But at my age and shape getting in and out would be too much plus it wouldn’t fit in the house.   SOOOOO!  I told hubby I wanted one or so for the garden.  Well the first one cost him more than he had hoped plus he had to drive two hours to get it.  He didn’t like the idea ,lol!  Well we have six now,  four are behind the white picket fence with veggies in them.  As you can see hubby built the garden up on cement and bricks and put a fence around it for me.

Well Now for the Roses:   I have moved these rose bushes many many times.  Some of them are quite a few years old and I am surprised they are alive.  Most of them were given to me for Mother’s day or Birthdays from my kids so I just kept moving them with me, lol.  This time they really seemed to be dying off.  So I decided to dig them up one more time and see if I could save one or two so I put them in the tubs.  WELL!!!!! They LOVE THE TUBS!  Someone told me it is because the heat stays around the roots in the tubs.  Whatever!!! It works,   This is the 3^rd set of blooms already.  Anyway Besides making great yard art it is recycling and it helps you not have to bend over and down so much while working in the garden!    It is just one fun way to garden!  ( I don’t do toilets!)  LOL!!!

TODAY’S FEATURE

THE BATHTUB ROSES!

 

Happy May- Part 3

Well the next morning we took off early and drove to Port Townsend where we stayed for two nights. When we first moved to Washington we went over there and fell in love with all the Victorian homes.  The buildings down town are beautiful old historical buildings and they are filled with good restaurants and some great art galleries and shops of all kinds of things as well as lots of hand crafted arts.   “Port Townsend was also known as the City of Dreams.”    It might have become “the Seattle of Washington” at one time.  It sits on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula within the site of the beautiful Olympic Mountain Range and it is just a two hour drive and a 30 minute ferry ride from Seattle.

There is nothing more stimulating to me than the smell and the feel of the ocean. It seems to wake up all my senses and cleanse them and open them up to all around me and Port Townsend is surrounded by water – the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, and Discovery Bay.  In a Seaport everything seems to interact and react with the sea.  And with all the things to see walking around it makes for a wonderful day.

We stayed at a Hotel called the Palace Hotel. It was wonderful.  Good rates, very clean, and very helpful and friendly and knowledgeable staff. It is all done in antiques and is spacious and unique and each floor has a great “living room” to sit and read, play games or whatever if you don’t want to sit in your room.

The hotel used to be the Captain Tibbals Building built in 1889. It is considered a beautiful example of Port Townsends architectural past. The building had been used as several different types of business.  In 1925 to 1933, the two upper floors where known as the Palace Hotel, but nicked named “the Palace of Sweets”.  It was a brothel and hotel.

It was like going back in time. Yet you have your modern needs. I loved the rooms and whole feel of the place.  But what impressed me the most was the service and how the people that worked there not only were willing but able to give you information on the town, the history, and the best places to eat and there are plenty of those.  And you were always greeted with a friendly warm smile and hello.  I would give this place a great rating.  And I thank you all at the Palace Hotel for such a good stay!

For two days we spent walking around in the crisp but not cold sea air, eating good food, seeing beautiful old buildings and houses and some great shops. It is a great place to see.  People are friendly and always willing to help.  Fort Warden Sate Park is out there close also.  It is definitely a trip I would recommend.  And if you do go take some time to go through the very small but interesting museum which houses the old jail house.  I had no idea the history of this unique town.  They have a really good short film that actually won an award that sums the history up which proves to be pretty interesting.

Well this is the end of our May trip! Happy travels to you all!

 

 

Part 2 of Happy May

 

First stop on our May Adventure was to the Kingston Ferry to take to Port Angeles to see a friend and then the next morning take a ferry over to Victoria B. C. from there.  We left our car at the hotel and walked on. The Victoria ferry was a 90 minute ride.  It was a great day.  The sun was out, still a bit chilly but not enough to get in the way.  I have always loved to take the ferries when I can, I love the ocean.  They only had the one ferry running that day to Victoria so we were up and there loading about 8:30 am and we didn’t get back to Port Angeles till about 5:15 or so.

We have been to Victoria a few times already and love it so we just planned on walking around and enjoying the sights.  We really hadn’t thought about how long a day it would be.  That was a bit harder than I thought but I survived.  But if you aren’t a walker I would suggest the tours.  Luckily loading on the ferry and off and getting passports checked (You do need passports to go into Canada) and the ferry crossing that all took time that keeps you busy for awhile.  But if you plan on doing it check your ferry schedules to see how many are going over that day.   Some days they have several that go back and forth. We spent a good 5 hours walking around and that isn’t easy so that is something to keep in mind. There are buses, and horse and carriages and taxi’s if you need them.

They had the Irish Highland Parade and games going on that weekend so it was full of people enjoying their day. I have to say everyone seemed to be happy.  That made everything brighter.

OH YES remember of course treat yourself to a trip to Murchies Tea and Coffee. (Oh don’t leave that one off your list, wonderful pastries, coffees and teas and lunches too, but you can bet we went for the pastries! Lol!)   We had a good lunch in this old bank building that had been made into a pub style restaurant in art deco style.  It was The Bard & Banker Pub.  There are many good options for food of all kinds.

There are many beautiful things to see in Victoria so you have many choices. The Royal BC Museum is a good place to go, we did not go this time but it is worth seeing if you haven’t been.  The Craigdarroch Castle is also wonderful to go through but if you’re walking it is a long walk. We have been there already so we didn’t include it this time. We were ready for an outside day so we spent most of the day outside.  There is nothing like sea air and sunshine. Victoria’s Fisherman’s wharf and other spots with shops and restaurants are all over in walking distance if you like walking.

I always recommend doing a walk-through of the Empress Hotel. It is a wonderful old Fairmont Hotel done beautifully.  They have High Tea and at Christmas time have a beautiful display of Christmas Trees from all over.  We went over for the night and got a great rate at Christmas a few years back.  What a great way to do Christmas shopping.   There are several gardens to see in Victoria also.  We have seen the Butchart Gardens several times and it is well worth it.  It is beautiful.  It is Mother Nature in all her splendor!  (With the help of a lot of gardeners, lol).  You can get Bus tours and such out there as it is not something you could walk to but you will be doing a lot of walking and there is so much to see.  It is worth the trip if you have more time.

It was a great day and it didn’t even rain till we got back to Port Angeles again. I would recommend this as a great day trip, although there is the Beautiful Empress Hotel and many others to stay at.  There are several options to get to Victoria. It is really a wonderful place to visit and so close to us here in Washington.

 

To Be Continued:

Happy May!

Happy May!

The year has already started going by too fast.   We just celebrated our 47th Anniversary.  I can’t believe that it has been this long.  Were did the time go I am not sure well that isn’t true I have a pretty good idea,

We have been working in our garden trying to get it set up for this year.  It seems something is always going on.   Now that Spring has finally decided to arrive the garden demands most of our attention at least to get started.   As for the weeds they steal the show every year until we attack madly only to look like nothing has happened because as soon as we pull them out they seem to be back again!   But the claw feet bath tubs was a great idea for the garden even if I say so myself!  LOL!

I am dealing with or should I say not dealing with too well too many distractions going on as far as my writing.  I am working on things but they aren’t working.  But I will not give up.  I will say I am learning a lot about myself and about and other things.  This is a good thing on the most part.  Lots of work to do as in all things in life nothing gets done without work.  I think my vacation on that is almost over, lol.

This year we decided not to take a big vacation and get some work around the house done and do little trips and get to know our state more.   We can discover a lot just in day trips and with an occasional sleep over somewhere we can see even more.  We have lived here since the end of Dec. 1979 and we have seen a lot of the state, but there is still a lot we haven’t.    Washington is a beautiful state and there are so many hidden spots and some not so hidden.  We have been lucky and traveled quite a few places that are gorgeous but I have to say I am always happy to get back to our great state.  Oh come on it doesn’t always rain!

To Be Continued:

BEING NICE!

 

 

Good Evening and Thank You for stopping by!   Well I didn’t get it done every day but I did get a lot more posted than usual.  I don’t think I am going to be an everyday blogger.

I have been gone all weekend but did want to finish this month with a poem.  It was written in about 5 minutes and has not been edited.  But I met a lot of really nice people today and this came to mind.  I call these my starts.  Because they come out quick and then I go back and read and edit them and sometimes they turn out totally different.  We shall see.

Have a great day!  And thank you to all my followers for all your support and encouragement and all the great bloggers out there I appreciate your work!

I met a lot of nice people today and I thank them for reminding me how much better it is to be nice!

 

What you put out is what you usually get back

We should never be on the attack

Now this is not written in stone

But it is a fact well known

It is really easy to try and be nice

Just think when it comes back it comes back twice

Yes some people will not participate and grumpy they will be

That will set us free

All we have to do with that someone is walk away

There is no need of someone like that in your day

So many out there are so gentle and kind

That is what stays in our mind

So if we all go out with a smile

It will take us that extra mile