Bills will not be here Super Bowl fifty seven Laudable season
Sunshine and blue skies Chamber of commerce weather Majestic weekend
Super Bowl 57 is this weekend here in Phoenix. I told Shawn we’re going to take advantage of having the big game close to home for photos. Last weekend we went over to the Goodyear Civic Square to take photos of the LVII sign – much more laid back than trying to get into the NFL experience in downtown Phoenix. No crowd or lines to contend with and I wanted to go before the big game, because on February 11th Goodyear is hosting a super bowl party there. It definitely will be chamber of commerce weather high near 80 tomorrow and they’re predicting 73 for kick off on Sunday.
Stuck in Wonderland Queen of Hearts not junoesque Yells, Off with her head!
Fall down rabbit hole Kaizen – change is gradual We’re all mad here
The last weekend in January we had a fun adventure with the Alice in Wonderland Experience in downtown Phoenix, following the map and clues created by cluedupp. After four hours we successfully freed Alice from the clutches of the Queen of Hearts. It’s a great way to spend time with family and get in your daily steps 3+ miles walking. I’ve purchased another scavenger hunt activity in Phoenix we’ll be embarking on soon.
The heat engulfs you within a lover’s arms impossible to resist her tantalizing touch
The flames rise up and lick all the oxygen, escalating your desires with her last gasp of air
She moves like a dancer surefooted across the stage captivating you with her every step
Watch her seductive dance You begin to fixate Caught up in the trance And slowly suffocate
NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). A couple of days ago, we played around with hard-boiled similes. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that contains at least one of a different kind of simile – an epic simile. Also known as Homeric similes, these are basically extended similes that develop over multiple lines. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they have mainly been used in epic poems, typically as decorative elements that emphasize the dramatic nature of the subject (see, by way of illustration, this example from Milton’s Paradise Lost). But you could write a complete poem that is just one lengthy, epic simile, relying on the surprising comparison of unlike things to carry the poem across. And if you’re feeling especially cheeky, you could even write a poem in which the epic simile spends lines heroically and dramatically describing something that turns out to be quite prosaic. Whatever you decide to compare, I hope you have fun extending your simile(s) to epic lengths.
Good afternoon and welcome to day twenty-six of napowrimo. I’m not sure how many of my readers are aware, but Arizona is fighting two wildfires right now. The one north of Flagstaff made national news. Last night I enjoyed watching a fire in the backyard contained in our fire pit; and as I posted my late prompt from yesterday, I realized it would be easy to talk about fire in simile. This poem quickly wrote itself. Thank you for reading my take on epic simile.
Canyon Giant hole Cut through bedrock River wears steady path Breathtaking
NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) prompt. Following up on yesterday’s love poem, I have for you another deceptively simple challenge. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about a very large thing. It could be a mountain or a blue whale or a skyscraper or a planet or the various contenders for the honor of being the Biggest Ball of Twine. Whatever giant thing you choose, I hope this chance to versify in praise of the huge gets your poetic engines humming.
Good afternoon and welcome to day eleven of NaPoWriMo where I write a small poem about a grand object. I’m a little slow today. My right ankle is very sore it started last night and hasn’t seemed to improve with a good night sleep. So this morning my ankle has been occupying a lot of my concentration but I realized the eleventh would be a good day to write an elevenie. Even though it is a small poem (or because it is) word choice makes all the difference. I think I came up with something decent. Thank you for reading my little poem about a very large thing.
Robin finished his first year at the Carlson School of Veterinary Medicine in June. We had a small staycation over at the Talking Stick Resort and the Arizona Boardwalk. We had a lovely time seeing the butterflies and the aquarium.
At the beginning of July, I reconnected with an old friend. She is selling color street dry nail polish and had a few patriotic sets. I asked if she could be my manicurist if I bought a set. It’s a little difficult for me to do my own nails. Of course she agreed, we had a nice time catching up while I got my nails done. Then I actually took a photo of my left hand to show it off.
4th of July nails with engagement wedding rings next to my new 25th wedding anniversary band.
After I had my nails done, Gretchen asked to see my wedding rings. Well the engagement ring came off without a problem, but the wedding band was a different story had to enlist Shawn to help me get it off. I thought since our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up a new ring would be nice. I saw the infinity knot on glityjewels.com not that long after writing a haiku for the haiku challenge.
Recall our first date Young man in search of prom date Finds forever ♾ love
I think Shawn likes my new band. He did acknowledge it fits better. There is no mystery there; when I saw how tight my wedding band was I ordered a bigger ring size. This past April, Shawn and I had our first date anniversary. We have been an official couple for thirty years now. Then we got engaged in April 1992 since I was still a senior in high school, we had a long engagement while I finished high school and college. Of course I wrote about it during #NaPoWriMo.
After our staycation and while Robin was on vacation up in Yellowstone with a friend, Shawn and I were planning our 25th wedding anniversary trip in October. And so my haiku challenge tweets have been focused on us.
Before our first date Watch him run around the track Surreptitiously
Young couple in love Settle into married life Twenty five years pass
Backyard trees grow tall to offer shade throughout the spring and summer Children play digging their way to China before vacation ends Palo Verde – green stick bursting with yellow flowers in April
Palo Verde in backyard
NaPoWriMo Prompt– In a prompt originally posted this past February, Poets & Writers directs us to an essay by Urvi Kumbhaton the use of mangoes in diasporic literature. As she discusses in her essay, mangoes have become a sort of shorthand or symbol that writers use to invoke an entire culture, country, or way of life. This has the beauty of simplicity – but also the problems of simplicity, in that you really can’t sum up a culture in a single image or item, and you risk cliché if you try.
But at the same time, the “staying power” of the mango underscores the strength of metonymy in poetry. Following Poets & Writers’ prompt, today I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that invokes a specific object as a symbol of a particular time, era, or place.
Good morning and welcome to day twenty two of #NaPoWriMo. I’m not exactly sure if I’m on prompt but when I read it last night the palo verde came to mind. Gretchen wrote a lovely poem about sitting in the backyard for her poetry class and the professor commented that her shade was generic and could be anywhere. I told her we have a lovely palo verde tree in the backyard, if you mention the tree by name he can’t fault you for being generic. So I think having a palo verde tree in my poem invokes a specific place. Also Gretchen and I were sitting in the backyard yesterday and it was very windy. I told her, you could have yellow flowers raining down on you in your poem. She wasn’t particularly impressed with that; Yellow flowers are shitting on us. Well okay (yes it was very windy) but I told her that’s not very poetic.
The middle part of my poem is a memory of when Robin and a friend dug a big hole in our backyard one summer. Pretty much in the same locale as Speedy’s summer residence. I’m not sure if their goal was to reach China, but I remember as a kid thinking it was a possibility if one dug straight down through the center of the Earth. Robin’s friend just thought it was cool they were allowed to dig in the dirt. The other reason for this poem besides trying the sijo form again is I told Gretchen yesterday I write poems about the backyard every April but haven’t written one yet this year. Oversight corrected Lol! If you read the link to my previous backyard oasis poem, I talk about how they are getting snow in April back east. Yesterday I saw all the lovely snow pictures from Buffalo. If you ask me that would be the proper usage for shitting on us.
Earlier this year the city of Goodyear was looking for poems to decorate the sidewalk – “8 poems were selected and are featured at Operators Park, 14222 W McDowell. After dark is the best time to view them although they can be read during the day on the sidewalk.” The selected poems were unveiled on Saturday April 10th. I have not seen them yet. I was relieved my poem was not chosen as the poets were to read their pieces at the unveiling. When I submitted my poem, I asked Shawn if he would read mine if it was picked. He said no; he isn’t very nice. Well this afternoon I saw an email informing me they compiled all the submissions into an ebook. It is well done. Go have a look. Now I have to convince Shawn to go check out the poetry sidewalk.
Sitting on back porch Hummingbird buzzes my head Sure sign spring is here
Good afternoon readers. Yesterday I got a text from Gretchen while she was supposed to be in German class; There’s a hummingbird outside my window. I think it was distracting her away from the computer screen. I just laughed wasn’t anything I could do about it. Later in the afternoon I went out into the backyard to enjoy the sunshine and as I was sitting on the back porch I heard a loud buzzing. I turned my head slowly and said, I hope you’re a hummingbird. Sure enough a huge hummingbird was hovering right near my ear. And of course I had to ask, You wouldn’t be the same hummingbird bothering my child earlier, would you? The bird didn’t answer me and flew off.
It seems every spring the hummingbirds enjoy our aloe. Here are a couple haiku I wrote two years ago about the birds and spring. And last year Patricia shared my hummingbird haiku on her Pea TV moment (once again hummingbird capture credit goes to Gretchen). This year is no different the aloe and hummingbird are once again a favorite subject in my haiku.
Hello and welcome to February, the shortest month of the year so it makes sense to have it also be the month to write short poetry forms. I wrote and submitted my three haiku to the azmatsuri haiku contest. I did not make it into last year’s ebook; we’ll see if I fare better this year. Over the weekend Shawn and I took another overnight camping trip at the White Tank Mountains Regional Park.
Camping Selfie 2021
Take sunset selfie Going for pandemic look Did I pull it off?
Sunset February 6, 2021
Camp out overnight Breathtaking desert vista Looks picture perfect
Resting on Mesquite Trail White Tank Regional Park
View stretches for miles Yet, it is never enough to see the future
Morning exercise How long have we been hiking Time to sit and rest
According to my husband I was sitting on a corner in Waddell, Arizona. I told him, I’m quite sure I’m in the wrong song (and town) 😉
This weekend is the opening of the Exotic show at the Alwun House and of course Valentine’s day. Last year, Shawn took the day off for the show opening and we spent the afternoon in downtown Phoenix. Close to our last outing together before the shutdown.
Valentine’s Day 2020 Downtown Phoenix
How long has it been Since we could go out maskless Feels like a lifetime
Sunset to sunrise Various photos taken Reflect passing time
Shawn and me recreate “The Kiss”
Pandemic highlights Graduation and then white Coat ceremony
Cook dinner at home Celebrate 24 years Steak medium rare
Then to now challenge Twenty nine years together Highlight of my life
Carve cat on pumpkin Veterinary student Highlights skeleton
Couple canoodles on overnight camping trip down the road a bend
Quite a lot has transpired since my last post about our haircut outing. The summer in Phoenix dragged on; what else would one expect in 2020. We broke a record of 100+ degree days – 146! It finally dropped below 100 (barely) last weekend and Shawn talked me into an overnight camping trip to test out the van. Unfortunately because of the hot, dry summer, we could not have a campfire. The van does have a DVD player; so we whiled away the evening watching a movie instead.
I spent most of the hot summer hunkered down in the AC except in August when we took a family road trip to drop Robin off in Corvallis to attend the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine. Then in September we were able to watch the white coat ceremony over zoom. This month Shawn and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. Shawn bought some filet mignon and learned how to cook it to medium rare; he always preferred steak char-char and that was never my preference. And up in Oregon, Robin has already gone to a pumpkin patch and carved his jack-o-lantern.
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