Poetry Thursday " If These Walls Could Talk"

If these walls could talk

If these walls could talk
They’d murmur tales of woe
Of a young women
Clad In fashionable attire
Cloaking Screams of exasperation
Disappointment and turmoil

If these walls could talk
They’d appeal to have
Black latex painted
Over a graffiti of anger
Erasing the aggravation
Of Christmas obligations

If these walls could talk
They’d spill the pain
Hidden in emotional creases
Between layers of distrust
Residing on a Small frame
Wreaking havoc physically

If these walls could talk
They’d spew the ramifications
Of the father remiss
Of obligation and compassion
To the needs and spirit of his child
Her tender heart and longing

If these walls could talk
You’d hear a young woman reminisce
wonderful childhood Christmases
When life appeared prefect
Mother hid presents and dismay

Before the magic disappeared

Poetry Thursday

What time of day are you?

I am playing catch up with my blog....seems like I can't do everything I want to!

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits.Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle.Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends. What Time Of Day Are You?

Decorating and "The Race"

Little Pepper in 1990 age 4
These are ornaments she made in elementary school


I am always thrilled to receive a new short Scott Stratton movie in my email. Today is an inspirational poem we could all heed when the going gets tough….a great little reminder.It’s called “The Race” and it has a lovely message for all! Please take a couple of minutes from your day to view this non religious spiritual poem set to music.

Today I need to finish decorating. I remember a time when I used to do it all in one day. Now it can take me days…..but I trudge on….Every year, I purge a few things from the past, lightening the Christmas load. Cherishing the angel Pepper made from a pinecone when she was very young, along with a small Ukrainian style blown out egg! Which sits nestled in my tree!

Off to decorate some more….enjoy the clip from Scott!

More Snow

Back woods trail


Poser in the snow, Bryan!

Lovers in the snow!

Friday was our Buy Nothing day in Canada! With more snow looming, I hate to say I’m glad I didn’t heed it! My daughter has been adamant about getting her Christmas shopping done for the past month…. That girl has incredible intuition….She kept saying “I don’t know why but I need to get my shopping done”…Saturday we popped back to Costco to get her last thing, and a few hours later the snow had started….now that’s timing. I haven’t even started my shopping yet. Somehow I don’t really feel concerned either. For now I will enjoy decorating and baking instead….while the gazing out at the white covered trees waiting to be snowed in. Praying the I don’t lose power like so many others have. If I do….well I have full supplies to cope, cozy and warm.

Sunday Scribblings " Sperm Donor"

From the front door!

From the back door!



It's snowing today….beautiful fluffy mounds of snow silently cover trees and bushes, much more is predicted! These pictures were taken from my front and back doors!

Today Sunday Scribbling we were to write about our nemesis. At first I started a personal poetry rant, and recanted by making it slightly more general. Sadly I had too many people in mind during the process of writing this. I’m contemplating posting the original rant on my poetry link later!

Sperm Donor

They’re the fakes, the flakes
Playing the part, they negate their roll
Religious hypocrites, alcoholics
The manic Fanatic, dramatic combative
Patriarchal categorical dead beat dads
Their eyes they judge me, begrudge me
But they’re friendly to my face
They undermine the conversation
With infestation of determination
Surmising I will concede…. and I do
Were we alone, I’d not condone
Such a reprehensible adversary
My vipers tongue would take the reigns
I spew blasphemy not in vain
I let the words punch them with the reality
Of their emotional brutality
Lack of affection, compassion, interaction,
With these amazing young folk
It’s an ugly nasty bitter actuality
An emotional contamination plaguing our generation
This unwarranted heinous emancipation
Breeding a vanishing connection
Changing inflection of the role dad!

Another Birthday!

Nobody said I couldn’t help myself to Birthday Cake! After all it is my first Birthday isn’t it?













Does it really matter if I wear four outfits in one day? You have a washer and dryer don’t you?

















Don't mind me, I'm just having a little nap.....No I don't mind if you guys sit on the floor. I prefer the couch anyway!

Is this a comfortable rescued greyhound or what? My friend Barbs dog Layah!
















Pretty young looking grandparents wouldn't you say! Rick and Barb with their grandchildren!













This little sweetie is a precious two years old. We speak on the phone a few times a week. I have such a weak spot for her. I just had to bring her something. So I got her a small doll in a backpack. It seemed to be a hit, all day she toted it around packed with treasures!



As you can see I went to my friend Barbs grandsons first Birthday party! It's such a joy to watch all the little ones interact! Today was our first winter snow. If it's still there in the morning I'll get some good pictures! We topped off the night with a game of four handed scrabble!

Not funny this friday

Please check out Gary Jules.... "Madd World" at the bottom of my blog! Beautiful song, listen to a few more on his myspace account!


Art is art, although bizarre at times! Here are some beautiful Clark Sorenson Urinals!



I’m not very funny this Friday. But hey I thought I might share a silly thing that happened to me twenty years ago. I was about seven months pregnant. My partner and I lived only five minutes from the border, so we slipped across to Blaine Washington for yummy tempura battered fish and chips. Of course when you’re pregnant the washroom can never be too close. Anyway, I toodled off to the washroom in my very pregnant way, and did my thing! Came bouncing back to my seat, only to have my partner ask me who my friend was. I said pardon. He repeated “who’s your friend” as he made a nodding gesture behind me, as though I’d brought someone along. Sure enough I looked behind me, to find I had a long streamer of toilet paper following me. I’ll never forget how mortifying it was to realize there was toilet paper attached to my ass, trailing out of my maternity pants, all the way from the washroom, into the middle of the restaurant. Like I say “you can NEVER be too close to a washroom when you’re pregnant”!

The thought really did count!

This is one of the Prints hanging over my fireplace.
While attempting to do a meme, I remembered my first Christmas as a single mom. Peppers dad wasn’t meeting her needs. He was too angry and self involved to worry about the state she was in. My friend took her Christmas shopping for me. I know she bought me a few things, all very well thought out. But what I clearly remember were the little note pads with Bessie Pease Guttman children’s pictures on them.

At the time I was doing tarot and would record each reading. The note pads were perfect size for my purse. Just ten years old Pepper conveyed her disappointed that each note pad was only fifty cents. I explained to her how much I loved them because they were a perfectly thought out gift, suitable for me and my needs. Especially since I adored Guttman prints.

I reminded her of the time she was seven and wanted a “Queen” tape, only ten dollars, but also received a very expensive hundred dollar Barbie. I asked her which gift she preferred. Of course it was the music, she didn’t even like Barbie’s, trolls were more her thing. I explained my similar feelings. How much I appreciated her finding the special note pads with my favorite children’s pictures on them, because they were what I loved and needed. That it really didn’t matter if they were fifty cents, or fifty dollars, it was picked with loads of thought, and they were precious to me. Had she picked something more expensive I may not have cherished it quite the same. My daughter knows me well, to this day; she has never bought me a gift that I haven’t loved. Some more expensive than others, all very wonderful!

Indy Artist "David Ford"

I thought I would share this recording artist David Ford from the UK, who’s being compared to Dylan and Ryan Adams. The kids were captivated by this dynamic character during his concert performance last thursday and couldn't wait for me to hear him. While in concert he was creating music mixes on stage, incorporating a variety of instrument at different intervals with a mixing board then harmonizing with his own voice.

We have a good selection of Indy music in our home and I will be featuring certain people on the bottom of my blog. It will be fairly eclectic array. Check below to hear David. I’ve included some articles written about this up and coming talented young man. It’s easy listening and I am planning on tracking down his Cd today! Also check out his my space account for a few more tunes!

In December I will be featuring some Christmas music, some old school and some newer, just for fun, so check below when you visit!

Sam and the fridge!

Life in retrograde had put things in a tizzy. Just over a week ago I reached into the freezer above my fridge to find the frozen black bananas I use to make bread, mush. Yes finally after two years of shoving towels under my leaky fridge the freezer above was kaput. So I read the manual, cleaned everything thoroughly. Put the salvageable food it in my deep freeze,winced as I threw some out, and cooked the rest. It was time consuming…and messy. Then during the power outage a spring on my garage door pulled out of the wall, with a huge bang so loud we were all alerted in a panic. Why it picked that moment, stranding me during the darkness to break, I will never know. So the kids and I powwowed deciding to invest in a new fridge. I was forced to call a sweet old Italian garage door guy to fix the spring. We always have philosophical talks while he fixes my door. He’s been here a couple of other times too.

Sam’s Doors is a family business, he met his wife in Italy when they were young kids. As children they were inseparable. When his parents moved to Canada he joined them. He settled in Canada as a teen. After dating a few girls, he chose a nice girl to go steady with. But he never forgot the young woman he left behind. Eventually he went on a trip to visit relatives in the old country. There he met up with his old sweetheart; the connection was the same as always. She was his one true love! So he brought her back to Canada, broke it off with the other girl, and married the love of his life! He has a few children, one son is involved in the family business. Sam also invests in property so his children will have something when they get married. He is a very ethical, old school man, with a great spirit. He gave me a discount saying I was a nice lady! I think he’s a pretty nice guy too.

As for the fridge freezer, I had placed two ice cube trays in it, hoping they would miraculously freeze. The first few days I checked it constantly, hoping for a miracle. After all I didn’t want to have to buy a new fridge just before Christmas. I was reluctant to put much more than a gallon of milk, a few cokes, in the hollow freezer now acting as a new compartment to the fridge. So five days later the power goes out for thirty one hours. Thursday night it comes back on, Friday morning I open the freezer to retrieve the milk for my morning raisin bran, only to find a really cold breeze. Sure enough miracle of miracles, there are solid cubes of ice in the trays, and a partially frozen gallon of milk. Yes the freezer is fully functioning and the fridge strangely no longer leaks….after two years of malfunctioning.
That is exactly how retrograde works, very unexplainable occurrences. I can’t be sure, but I think the back connection may have been frozen solid, and unplugging it for only a few hours never quite did the trick, but the full thirty hours did! Who knows! Merry Christmas to me ! My freezer is empty; so I think I may fill it with Christmas baking!

Sunday Scribblings " Richards Mom"

Barb Kobe Healing Dolls

This weeks Sunday scribblings we were to write about heroes or heroines!

Richards Mom

She had four kids, if I recall
And a man who beat her silly
She had no job, or place to run
Her life was willy-nilly

She promised her dear children
One day she’d take them all away
With each brawl, they ran and hid
Huddled waiting for that day

Days and nights and years passed by
Battered, bruised, and broken
He taunted and terrorized his kids
As she choked on screams unspoken


Still she promised all her kids
She’d find a job, so they could flee
Get a house for them to live in
Things would change, they’d see

Lamenting, Richard repeated
Words his mother said
They mirrored off his lips
To explosions in my head

Finally she sought a job and house
Leaving the tyrant behind
Said his mother was his hero
Something clicked in my mind

Words I’d said haunted me
I was afraid she’d hate my choice
“One day we won’t live like this”
Now I could heed my voice

Richard said his mother,
“Was the best women that he knew”
Those words gave me strength
The push to follow through

Richards’s mom’s my hero
Every woman just like her
Rescuing their kids from abuse
Running to a life unsure

Women who protect their kids
From a life of hell and fury
Show them peace, love and joy
Sheltered from the worry

Heroines or Hero’s
Call them what you will
They are the bravest of them all
Because that’s when some men kill

Poetry Thursday "Waiting for Justice"

Poetry Thursday we were to write about lies told. We’ve had a power outage because of what they are calling the storm of 2006. Still well over one hundred thousand homes without power and a boil water advisory. It was close to thirty hours with no electricity. Thank goodness for camps stoves, and my two gas fireplaces. It’s a real mess all over the lower mainland of British Columbia. During the power outage my garage door spring came out of the gyp rock and now my car is stranded….another bill on the horizon to match my fridge which is not working properly. Woe’s me!!! I have a roof over my head and food in my cupboard, so I am grateful. I didn’t complain, although I did miss my blog and computer. I loved the candle light, peace and quiet, and playing sequence for the evening. How much we rely on power. Imagine war torn countries. I had originally planned to write another piece…..being in the bite to blog. I am going post this depressing poem that I wrote just before we lost our lights! Then I am hopping into a hot bath, with a good cup of coffee that I made on the camp stove! I’ll have a late dinner…Just in case!

Waiting For Justice

Barefoot
Boot in the gut
Smack to the head
Potential drowning
An Arrest
Thousand Phone calls
All hours
Intimidation
Degradation
Mortification
Waiting On justice
Acquittal
Protection needed
Urgency to purchase
First cell phone
And Pepper spray

Tribute to My retired Mug!

This is my retired mug. The mug I could not bear to part with, the mug I used every morning noon and night for over a year. It now has four chips running around the rim. I put it under my sink in hopes one day it will be incorporated in a piece of art. Check out the other side of this heart mug in an old posting.

I now use one of the three cousin mugs. I love the cousins, but they're just not the same. I tried to find the pictures on Mary Naylors website to no avail, then realized I have them in an old post! For anyone interested in her art she has tour dates coming up, the first is this weekend in Seattle.

I just drew my heart mug with pencil then painted it with sparkling H2o’s and acrylics. I scanned it and played around with a couple of edits, so the original is in the fuchsia, purple colors, the edits are reversed and in orange. Very fun art challenge from Pam!

Isn’t it amazing how one small task (drawing your own mug) (wow that can be taken two ways), can segue into finding a great new website. Check out this funky site called Details Art, I am so excited about all the inspiration I found there.

Wow next I will do a whole posting on my fetish for drinking glasses....NOT!

You know you're in Vancouver when!!!

I have been struggling through the last few days, must be a time of retrograde. So I haven’t posted anything decent. I received this email, with a few realities of living in Vancouver. It certainly made me chuckle. Of course there are other more positive aspects, but again this just is what it is, and we all except it. I might add I live thirty minutes from the city! These are a few pictures I took off the net, of my favorite Vancouver spots. Kitsilano, Robson street, and gas town.Not posted are granville island and I haven't been to Stanley Park in years but it used to be a favorite place too!

You know you are in Vancouver when...

1. Your co-worker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.
2. You make over $250,000.00 a year and still can’t afford a house.
3. You take the bus, and are shocked to hear two people carrying on a conversation in English.
4. You know what these abbreviations mean: PNE, GVRD,
VPD, RAV, YVR.
5. You're shocked when it snows in the winter.
6. You've just had California rolls for lunch.
7. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
8. You know how to pronounce 'Coquihalla'.
9. A really great parking space can move you to tears.
10. Your hairdresser is straight; your plumber is gay and your next door neighbour grows weed.
11. At 8:30 AM, the guy at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and glasses who looks like George Clooney, IS George Clooney.
12. You car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
13. The gym is packed at 3 PM -- on a work day.
14. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Thai, and Chinese food.
15. You watch the weather from a Seattle TV station because it's more accurate.
16. You pass an elementary school and the children are all busy with their mobile phones while waiting for their personal rides home.
17. You're sure that you're the only one on the road with a REAL driver's license.
18. You don't even listen when the forecast announces chances of "showers."
19. The more expensive the car, the worse the driver.
20. You can tell the difference between Starbucks, Second Cup and Tim Horton's coffees.
21. You feel guilty when you throw paper, or aluminum cans, in the garbage.
22. You're not surprised to see geese throughout the whole year.
23. You can't remember: is pot still illegal or not?
24. If there's a day of snowfall, you consider not going to school or work.
25. You realize there are far more Rainbow flags in the city than Canadian flags.
26. You can name 10 Starbucks locations in less than a minute.
27. You don't blink at a same sex couple holding hands on the street, but it shocks you to meet a couple married for 40 years.

Check it out!

Today I haven’t much time to post, my friend sent me an email, at first I thought it was a joke…….then I was amazed…….so I will leave you with this name……a phenomenal artist…..well worth the google search of his art……..I was blown away by his work. Some may have heard of him, I hadn't, this is an untrained artist people….IMAGINE! RON MUECK…….Have a great day….I may be back later!

Sunday Scribblings " It is what it is!"

Sunday Scribblings
"I don't want to be a passenger in my own life."

It is what it is


Stowing away to the life of another
Bills would be paid in full
Fridges wouldn’t fail at the most inopportune moment
Phones are silent during the creative process
Friends and family wouldn’t need you on a whim
Health and weight no longer an issue
Marrying the right person would be simple
Cars and people wouldn’t get old and die
Friends and foe would never make assumptions
Fight, anger or have pms
People would forgive without reservation
Words would wear dancing dresses and dance on pages
In a perfect world, no one would feel pain,
Be hungry, angry, mentally ill, mean, ugly or racist,
A return to actuality, where perfection comes in fleeting moments
Friends and family needing you comes with love in abundance
Worrying about bills affords you the true meaning of faith
Issues with weight signify sustenance available
Fridges failing are a chance to experience reciprocated help
Phones ringing, proof you’re alive with friends and creditors that care
Marrying the wrong person, just a quicker path back to a relationship with self
Health issues can change perspectives, diets, tolerance levels and lifestyles
Assumptions are limits to authenticity, truth, and relationship, staid in mystery
Experiencing the daggers of negative false assumptions, forces cessation
Anger brings about courage to fight for change you never thought possible
Pms is just a day or two off from being nice, allowing a purge of ugly suppressed energy
If everyone forgave you, there would be too many friends, too many obligations
Stealing your moments for intuition, meditation, creativity and silence
Yet forgiving everyone brandishes peace, humility, harmony
Death, the most profound way to appreciate life, birth, love and memories
So most of the time, for love, I willingly ride as a passenger, but like PMS
A few days a month I will drive!

Remembrance

Reverence for the revered
Embers of grief burned in the hearts of
Mothers and fathers, family and friends
Ever haunted by the loss of
Men and women who served with
Bastions of bravery,
Rivaling for rights and freedoms
Altruistically protecting, and defending with
National allegiance
Costly sacrifice for many
Eternally we remember with deep admiration!

Funny Friday " Warped"

Check out the monkey kiss…..very silly!
Can you say bad breath!

Sorry Guys but this is so funny….kinky turtle sex….I howled...but again I have a warped sense of humor….Could you imagine if this was us??? Hilarious… I think he's trying to say " Hey Honey, WAKE UP!!!"

Poetry Thursday " Imbued Rights"

Poetry Thursday

Imbued Rights

Like the eye of a storm
A woman scorned
Can be ugly in its descent
During my youth
Women were expected
To comply to conventions
Of male intentions
Rarely having any of their own
Power sought
Took an onslaught
Where women organized
To garner compromise
In a patriarchal time
Women ganged collectively
To accomplish their right selectively
In defense, Men oppressed
To suppress the threatening hue
“Bitches,” the name we were deemed
Women who wanted it all
There was the Old school abstention
As they looked down in peril
Intimidated by impending mandate
Young Woman would collaborate
Conservatives would repudiate
The fight was hard,
We won
Decades later
Lapsed are reminders
Of the strife of that plight
Oh yes, now we freely think and speak,
Be the women of our choosing
Hold jobs of importance, and equality too
Although repression is not completely deceased
A wider spectrum of substance has notably increased
But has a trade off ensued with equal rights now imbued?
Is there twice as much to do?
Are we haunted by latch key kids?
Damaged children droning in masses
Aftermath of mothers who implode from overload
Resulting in a furor of divorce of emasculated asses
Causing a magnitude of broken homes
Struggling mothers now doing it all alone
Do we have time, energy or expectancy?
To enjoy the feminism of our legacy?
Can we keep the balance, is the tally in
Or should we revamp how we raise our men?

More Phone book Art

Sometimes tampering too much with your original piece of art destroys the fiber of the piece. Unhappy with the results I tried to remedy it and lost some of the original spirit of the faces. I thought two of them looked too angry. I am posting them anyway because they are the telephone book faces for Pams challenge!