Flash 55 - Can you relate?

I had it a moment ago

It was solidly there

In a flash it’s gone missing

To who knows where.

It was really important

Needed dealing with quick

It’ll have to wait till later

It just didn’t stick.

‘Till it shows up again

I’ll do otherthings instead

It’s out there somewhere
That thought in my head.

Zander's Fourth Birthday

The Zan Man,

Zander, our Mr. Z.

The busiest 4 year old

You’ll ever see.

In constant motion

Day in and day out.

No stone left unturned

Every toy strewn about.

Learning to swim,

He uses the float,

Or just rides around

In the rubber boat.

On a bicycle he’s speedy

Legs pumping fast

But in the race with his sisters

He’s usually last

He disappears in an instant

And when we hear

The silence of his absence

The search moves to high gear.

Something’s caught his attention

After all, there’s a lot to see

At Grandma and Grandpa’s

The garden, grapes, the apple trees.

Impatient for presents

He inventories the stash

“Open presents now?”

He continually asks.

Finally ripping and tossing paper

As fast as he can be

He holds each gift up

For us all to see.

He momentarily pauses

Thinking of a wish to make

Before he blows out the candles

And dives into the cake.

In a quiet evening moment

On the grass they lay

With Grandpa looking upwards

At the stars far away.

The party is over

Now its time to go

Another years's gone by

Oh, how fast they grow!

Flash 55 - Alzheimer's

Picking up the small tube, she twisted the bottom until
the pretty color was all of the way out.

 She brought it up towards her face, hesitated,
and looking at herself in the mirror,

smeared the color on both cheeks.

“Oh, Miss Opal,” the caregiver said coming into the room,
“that’s lipstick, dear.”

I'm Baaack!

Computer problems have been solved and I am back up and running.  More later!

Computer Problems

Be back as soon as I get my computer fixed.

Flash 55 - Unwelcome News

She cupped them gently in her hands as she looked down in despair.

Grief slid through her when she tried to imagine them not there.

“God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” she said out loud.

How in the hell was she going to handle this unexpected and frightening diagnosis of breast cancer?

(P.S.  This is not me, but it is one of my Ashland girlfriends)

Flash 55 - Penelope Rose

Meet our Granddaughter

Penelope Rose

Just the cutest baby girl

From her head to her toes.

Bright eyes, wide open

Assessing every face

Hands waving madly

But with purpose and grace.

Our wish for you

So pure and so new

Always learn and grow

And to your own self be true.

Welcome to the world!

Love,  Grandma Linda and Grandpa Cris

Cris the Inventor - for Walk

I promised Walk I would post something about Cris' lawn mowing invention.
 In an effort to reduce the amount of time he spends mowing our two acres,
he has experimented with a number of things.

This is the latest:

We already use the Cushman for grape spraying and harvest. 

He welded 5 lawnmowers together, two in front and three just behind for a 77 inch span.  

He has to manually start all 5 mowers and monitor that they are all still running. 

He tried pushing it, then pulling it. They are mulching mowers so they did do a very nice job. 

  However, he has now abandoned the project and sold the five mowers. 

It was too much work keeping them all going. 

 The turning radius was also a problem.

He is back on the John Deere riding mower

with a small mower attached at the side on a hinge

so it can be lifted when it is not needed. 

:)

My garden projects, or "what has taken me away from my writing for a bit"

With the start of warmer weather here, I have been spending more time outside working in the yard than inside working on my writing.  Both tasks are satifying because they are efforts of creation.  So, below is a smattering of pictures of my labors of love this spring.

Peonies in the circle:

 One of two matching pots at the driveway entrance:

Garden path before:

And after:

Meet Mme Julia Correvon Clematis:

And Prince Charles Clematis

Take a gander at the garden:

Now if we would just get some sushine, maybe my tomatoes, cukes, peppers and pumpkins would grow!

Flash 55 - Tell It Like It Is

“Do you suppose she thinks that pink spiky hair looks good?” Mom said loudly

as we watched the mid 40’s lady with punked hair and tattoos down both arms

order her coffee.

Alzheimer’s has robbed the filter present during her adult life and taken her back

to the childhood “tell it like it is” years.

Flash 55 - Shortest College Essay

This was sent via email from a friend who knows my interest in writing:



A college class was told to write a short story in as few words as possible. The writing instructions were:


It had to contain the following three things

1) religion

2) sexuality

3) mystery


Below is the only A+ short story in the entire class.


"Good God, I'm pregnant; I wonder who did it."