I have been watching the “monster” cactus hanging outside from a tree and its four buds. Two are almost open. They should make it before it gets too cold for the plant and we have to bring it in for the season. It really does not like the cold too much. Two buds that are just emerging will probably not make it but the other two will. I am absolutely thrilled we will have flowers from the plant. When we bought the plants months ago it had multiple flowers. They were gigantic several inches wide and tall. These probably won’t be that big. I think my wife bought the plant to spoof me. Its tentacles hanging from the tree are several feet long. I have never seen anything like it before.
Tags: "monster" cactus, autumn, cactus, cactus flowers, plants, summer, The cactus is blooming again, tree
Posted in flowers, local, marriage, nature, seasons, time |
“My wife is driving me crazy!” ‘Join the crew.’ my doctor said. It is amazing how the right words spoken at the right moment can validate you. And make you feel like you are not all alone. The worst thing is feeling you are going through something all alone. Or, at least, thinking you are.
Tags: my wife, the right words spoken at the right time, validate, you are not all alone
Posted in balance, local, marriage, relationships |
It is so odd not having any of our four dogs around. We kenneled them so we could leave on our trip to the shore the following morning. I fell asleep and none of them were at the foot of the bed. No barking. No locking the front door so Tilla does not let himself out by “popping” the screen door latch. No Tilla under our computer desk. Pax is not under his blanket facing the big fan. No Sweetie or Coco. No barking. No anything. I miss them already and we have not left on our trip.
Tags: Coco, Coco or Sweetie or Tilla, dogs, four dogs, kenneling our dogs, No barking at all in the house, no dogs at the foot of my bed when I retire, Pax, pets, Sweetie, Tilla, trip to the shore
Posted in animals, local, marriage, pets, relationships, time |
My wife cares about every living thing even the lowly earthworm. She gave me a hard time about buying worms to use for fishing. I did buy a dozen. Then she insisted I let loose the worms that were left after my fishing trip. That is one thing I love about her: her concern for every living thing.
Tags: earthworms, fishing with earthworms, my wife, my wife's concern for every living thing
Posted in animals, beauty, God, local, love, marriage, nature, relationships, time |
I am a homebody. The grass is not, necessarily, greener somewhere else. One of my sisters loves to travel. I don’t have the same wanderlust. It is true I don’t have the financial means she has. Nevertheless, I like being home. I still make discoveries every day in my backyard and in my house. I am surrounded by my books and music. I like having them at my fingertips. I do have seven cats and four dogs that make it more difficult to just leave and go somewhere but I love my animals, particularly my dogs, and always miss them when we go away once or twice a year. Sometimes I visit my oldest friend in New Orleans. And I go by myself. It is just easier that way. When I return from a trip, home is just that much sweeter. As Richard Thompson says in a song, ‘Every heart needs a home.’ Even when I am home I only go out briefly.
Tags: 'Every heart needs a home', books, cats, dogs, four dogs, grass is not necessarily greener, homebody, music, my backyard, my sister, New Orleans, oldest friend, pets, Richard Thompson, seven cats, travel, wanderlust
Posted in balance, beauty, life, local, marriage, money, music, nature, pets, relationships, time, wisdom |
The poem I write usually finds me. I just record it. Something happens to me. I just have to get it down. Or lose it. And in the beginning I do not edit at all. That comes later. I can never predict when my poems come. At that point getting it down and working on it is the most important thing in the whole world. I just obey my Muse. I usually know when I am done. There are no more words. The hard work comes later–the editing that is. I am lucky. I can run poems by my wife. She has good instincts.
Tags: editing, Muse, my wife, poem, poetry, writing
Posted in marriage, time, writing, your job/mission/profession |
This was a meal fit for a king: large delicious, sweet local blueberries with a cut up banana with milk and cereal. It was a perfect breakfast. I had sampled the blueberries before buying them. And only then did I buy them. My wife ate two bowls of them with some sugar sprinkled on them. I thought that was overkill. I was glad I bought a quart of them at the local Amish store. They are disappearing quickly.
Tags: Amish store, banana, fruit, local blueberries, meal fit for a king, milk and cereal, my wife
Posted in local, marriage |
It was only raining on one side of our yard. My wife pointed this out. I looked out the bathroom window and saw she was right. You could see where the shower was ending. It was amazing. I had never seen anything like that before.
Tags: my wife, rain, raining on one side of our yard
Posted in beauty, local, marriage, nature, time |
The two worse words in the English language are “I can’t”.
Nothing more than those two words can destroy a relationship.
Nothing more than those two words can destroy one’s potential.
And there is nothing worse than not trying.
“I can’t.” I can’t tell you how many times I flung those words at my wife. She flung them back at me. My two children, 4 and 5, are learning the same. I am now trying to undo the damage. For six years my wife has refused to listen to those two words. When I uttered them in her presence she would scream at me, “No! No! Anything is possible. Please don’t teach our two children to say those words and believe just because something is difficult that is enough reason not to try.” For six years she has been hammering at me. For years those around me had exclaimed, “There is absolutely nothing you can’t do.” I would just shrug my shoulders and continue my negative ways. I will turn 45 soon. For the first time in my life I believe I am capable. My wife has finally won. “I can’t” has been eliminated from my vocabulary and replaced with the attitude, “I can.” Every successful man has a woman behind him. I know that perfectly. And I have fought my wife every step of the way. But now I believe.
Tags: "I can't", "I can", anything is possible, believing you are capable, I believe, marriage, negative attitude, relationships, teach your children
Posted in balance, children, knowledge&learning, life, love, marriage, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom |
Different writing is handled different ways: my journal entries I do not edit–I just get it down redundancies and all. Blogs I edit right away and on the computer. Letters I do not edit. I read them before sending them and make sure there are no errors–usually of omission. Short autobiographical stories, which I do not write too many I first get down and run a hard copy after each set of editing. Poems are usually generated from my journal. I edit right away from my raw material and run a hard copy and then edit, again, and run another hard copy, sometimes, sitting on it and edit it again from the hard copy and print and repeat the process until I am happy with it. I failed to note my wife edits my material. My blogs, poems, and other written material I read out loud to her for a general reaction and modify my material according to her reaction. She has good instincts. Also it is amazing what I hear when I read the material out loud especially regarding poems. I am keenly aware of my material read out loud. It has to sound right. That is some of my techniques and process I go through. My web site I created with my wife’s help to aid other writers.
Tags: autobiographical, blogs, editing, editing blogs and stories, I am keenly aware the way poems sound out loud, my web site for writers, My wife edits my material, poems, read written material out loud, short stories, stories, writing, writing journals entries, writing letters, writing techniques
Posted in balance, local, marriage, time, writing, your job/mission/profession |
Editing when I write a poem (or blog) (or anything), is different for different types of writing. For blogs I edit as I go along. For journals entries that turn into poems I try initially to get the particular experience down. At that point I do not edit and if I decide to turn the entry into a poem I then start editing when I get to the computer. Letters I write I never edit. I do read my letter once. Sometimes I find omissions and add a word or two here or there but that is it. I but I really do not edit my letters.
I do write autobiographical short stories but this is rare. I could only remember three I wrote. There I write initially without editing and then when I get to the computer with it I get it all down, print the initial draft and then edit each subsequent draft which is done from the hard copy. This is my general process. I do use my wife as an editor. For a general reaction, which I always consider as I edit further. I am very lucky to have her.
Tags: autobiographical short stories, blogs, converting journal entries into poems, editing, editing blogs, editing poems from my journal, getting it all down in jounal entries, journal entries, my wife, poems, poetry, types of writing, writing, writing an autobiographical short story, writing journal entries, writing letters
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, local, marriage, relationships, time, writing, your job/mission/profession |
Books are very important to me. In fact, I married a “book” person and we have books all over my house. The books represent the legacy of other people. They are not equal in value. Some are more special than other. And I refer to these more often. Most of my “special” books are in my “pad”. In one book case I have quite a few of them. In another book case I have poetry books and most of mine (???) writing reference books. My books are like my “friends.” And I don’t want them too far away.
Tags: book case, book person, books, books all over the house, I have "special" books in my pad, my books are like my friends: I don't keep them so far away from me, my poetry books and reference writing books are in one spot, poetry books, reference writing books, writing
Posted in knowledge&learning, local, marriage, mental health, writing, your job/mission/profession |
